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1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-08-14
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
4
5 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
6 For older news, see the file ONEWS
7
8 \f
9 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
10
11 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
12
13 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
14
15 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
16 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
17
18 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
19 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
20 to list them.
21
22 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
23 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
24
25 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
26 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
27
28 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
29 support 64-bit executables. See etc/MACHINES for instructions.
30
31 \f
32 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
33
34 * When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
35 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
36
37 ** Polish and German translations of Emacs' reference card have been
38 added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex' and `de-refcard.tex'.
39 Postscript files are included.
40
41 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
42 `dired-ref.tex'.
43
44 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
45 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
46
47 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
48 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
49 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
50 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
51 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
52 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
53
54 +++
55 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
56 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
57 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
58 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
59
60 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable because it contains
61 a version-dependent component.
62
63 ** The <delete> function key is now bound to `delete-char' by default.
64 Note that this takes effect only on window systems. On TTYs, Emacs
65 will receive ASCII 127 when the DEL key is pressed. This
66 character is still bound as before.
67
68 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
69 using that menu.
70
71 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
72 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
73
74 +++
75 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
76 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
77 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
78 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
79 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
80 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
81 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
82
83 +++
84 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
85 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
86 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
87 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
88 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
89 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
90 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
91 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
92 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
93
94 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
95 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
96
97 +++
98 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
99 point in a pop-up window.
100
101 +++
102 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
103 displays all characters in that character set.
104
105 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
106 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
107
108 +++
109 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
110 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
111 defined on newcomment.el.
112
113 +++
114 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
115
116 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
117 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
118
119 +++
120 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
121 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
122 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
123 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
124
125 +++
126 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
127 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
128 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
129 You can customize `auto-save-list-prefix' to change this location.
130
131 +++
132 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
133 on the display using several methods
134
135 +++
136 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
137 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
138 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
139
140 +++
141 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
142 equivalent ot specifying the frame parameter.
143
144 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
145
146 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
147 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
148
149 +++
150 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
151 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
152 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
153 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
154
155 +++
156 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
157 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
158 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
159
160 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
161 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
162
163 +++
164 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
165 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
166 this behavior.
167
168 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs' byte
169 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
170 Emacs dump core.
171
172 +++
173 ** New X resources recognized
174
175 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
176 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
177 is useful for debugging X problems.
178
179 Example:
180
181 emacs.synchronous: true
182
183 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
184 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
185 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
186 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
187 visual class names are
188
189 TrueColor
190 PseudoColor
191 DirectColor
192 StaticColor
193 GrayScale
194 StaticGray
195
196 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
197 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
198 meaning.
199
200 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
201 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
202 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
203 visual.
204
205 Example:
206
207 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
208
209 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
210 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
211 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
212 resource values are `true' or `on'.
213
214 Example:
215
216 emacs.privateColormap: true
217
218 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
219 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
220 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
221
222 ** User-option `show-cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to
223 display the cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is
224 shown, if non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown. This option can
225 be customized.
226
227 +++
228 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
229
230 +++
231 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
232 all frames except the selected one.
233
234 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
235 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
236
237 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
238 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
239 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
240 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
241
242 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
243 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
244
245 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
246 read mail from the menu etc.
247
248 +++
249 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
250 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
251
252 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
253
254 ** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
255 macros
256
257 Key binding Macro
258 -------------------------
259 C-c C-c C-s @strong
260 C-c C-c C-e @emph
261 C-c C-c u @url
262 C-c C-c q @quotation
263 C-c C-c m @email
264
265 ** Changes in Outline mode.
266
267 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
268 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
269 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
270
271 ** Changes to Emacs Server
272
273 +++
274 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
275 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
276 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
277 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
278 buffers to kill, as before.
279
280 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
281 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
282 this way.
283
284 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
285
286 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
287 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
288 use. Default is 1000.
289
290 +++
291 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
292 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
293
294 +++
295 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
296 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
297 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
298 buffers.
299
300 +++
301 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
302 under XFree86. To enable this, simply put (mwheel-install) in your
303 .emacs file.
304
305 The variables `mwheel-follow-mouse' and `mwheel-scroll-amount'
306 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
307
308 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
309 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
310 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
311
312 ** Faces and frame parameters.
313
314 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
315 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
316 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
317 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
318 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
319 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
320 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
321
322 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
323 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
324 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
325 `default' face and vice versa.
326
327 +++
328 ** New face `menu'.
329
330 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
331 Setting the font of LessTif/Motif menus is currently not supported;
332 attempts to set the font are ignored in this case.
333
334 +++
335 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
336
337 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
338 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
339 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
340 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
341
342 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
343 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
344 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
345
346 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
347 `ScreenGamma'.
348
349 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
350
351 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
352 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
353 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
354 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
355 the text.
356
357 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
358
359 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
360 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
361 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
362 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
363 specify a font.
364
365 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
366 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
367 under Lisp changes, below.
368
369 ** New default font is Courier 12pt.
370
371 +++
372 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
373 of its own. When the window is selected, the cursor is solid;
374 otherwise, it is hollow.
375
376 ** Bitmap areas to the left and right of windows are used to display
377 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
378 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
379 customizing face `fringe'.
380
381 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default. You
382 can change its appearance by modifying the face `modeline'.
383
384 ** LessTif support.
385
386 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see <http://www.lesstif.org>).
387 You will need a version 0.88.1 or later.
388
389 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
390
391 Emacs now uses toolkit scrollbars if available. When configured for
392 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scrollbar. Otherwise, when
393 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
394 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
395 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
396 Emacs.
397
398 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
399 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
400 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
401 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
402 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
403 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
404
405 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
406 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
407 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
408 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
409 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
410 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
411
412 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
413 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
414 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
415 image configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
416 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
417
418 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
419
420 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
421 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
422 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
423
424 +++
425 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
426
427 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
428 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
429 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
430 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
431 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
432 whitespace.
433
434 +++
435 ** Busy-cursor.
436
437 Emacs can optionally display a busy-cursor under X. You can turn the
438 display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
439
440 +++
441 ** Blinking cursor
442
443 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
444 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
445 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
446 the group `cursor'.
447
448 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
449
450 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
451 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
452 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
453 details.
454
455 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
456 have to do anything to activate it.
457
458 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
459
460 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
461 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
462 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
463 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
464
465 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
466
467 +++
468 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
469
470 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
471
472 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
473 LessTif/Motif one.
474
475 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
476 LessTif and Motif.
477
478 +++
479 ** Hscrolling in C code.
480
481 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
482 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
483 customized.
484
485 ** Tool bar support.
486
487 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
488 how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level changes.
489
490 +++
491 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
492
493 Different parts of the mode line under X have been made
494 mouse-sensitive. Moving the mouse to a mouse-sensitive part in the mode
495 line changes the appearance of the mouse pointer to an arrow, and help
496 about available mouse actions is displayed either in the echo area, or
497 in the tooltip window if you have enabled one.
498
499 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
500
501 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line switches between two
502 buffers.
503
504 - Mouse-2 on the buffer-name switches to the next buffer, and
505 M-mouse-2 switches to the previous buffer in the buffer list.
506
507 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name displays a buffer menu.
508
509 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
510 `*') toggles the status.
511
512 - Mouse-3 on the mode name display a minor-mode menu.
513
514 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
515
516 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
517 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
518 non-nil.
519
520 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
521
522 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
523 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
524 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
525 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
526 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
527 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
528 on terminals.
529
530 ** Sound support
531
532 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
533 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
534 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
535
536 +++
537 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
538 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
539 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
540 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
541 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
542 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
543
544 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
545
546 +++
547 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
548
549 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
550 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
551 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
552
553 +++
554 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
555 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi).
556
557 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
558 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
559 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
560
561 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
562
563 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
564 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggessively' is a
565 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
566 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
567
568 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
569 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggessively' is a
570 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
571 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
572
573 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
574 notably at the end of lines.
575
576 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
577 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
578
579 +++
580 There is a new command M-x replace-rectangle.
581
582 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
583 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
584 after each match to get the replacement text.
585
586 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
587 you edit the replacement string.
588
589 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB', lets
590 you complete mail aliases in the text, analogous to
591 lisp-complete-symbol.
592
593 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
594
595 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
596 longer than one line, Emacs now resizes the minibuffer window unless
597 it is on a frame of its own. You can control the maximum minibuffer
598 window size by setting the following variable:
599
600 - User option: max-mini-window-height
601
602 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
603 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
604 specifies a number of lines. If nil, don't resize.
605
606 Default is 0.25.
607
608 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
609
610 ** Changes to hideshow.el
611
612 Hideshow is now at version 5.x. It uses a new algorithms for block
613 selection and traversal and includes more isearch support.
614
615 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
616
617 A block is now recognized by three things: its start and end regexps
618 (both strings), and a match-data selector (an integer) specifying
619 which sub-expression in the start regexp serves as the place where a
620 `forward-sexp'-like function can operate. Hideshow always adjusts
621 point to this sub-expression before calling `hs-forward-sexp-func'
622 (which for most modes evaluates to `forward-sexp').
623
624 If the match-data selector is not specified, it defaults to zero,
625 i.e., the entire start regexp is valid, w/ no prefix. This is
626 backwards compatible with previous versions of hideshow. Please see
627 the docstring for variable `hs-special-modes-alist' for details.
628
629 *** Isearch support for updating mode line
630
631 During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active, hidden
632 blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' records the
633 line at the beginning of the opened block (preceding the hidden
634 portion of the buffer), and the mode line is refreshed. When a block
635 is re-hidden, the variable is set to nil.
636
637 To show `hs-headline' in the mode line, you may wish to include
638 something like this in your .emacs.
639
640 (add-hook 'hs-minor-mode-hook
641 (lambda ()
642 (add-to-list 'mode-line-format 'hs-headline)))
643
644 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
645
646 +++
647 If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes an
648 entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
649 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
650
651 +++
652 New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the current
653 buffer.
654
655 +++
656 New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries in
657 a log file.
658
659 Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log entries
660 if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
661
662 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
663 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
664 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be cutomized.
665 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
666
667 ** Changes in Font Lock
668
669 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
670 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major
671 mode.
672
673 ** Comint (subshell) changes
674
675 By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp' to
676 distiguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which parts of
677 the text were output by the process, and which entered by the user, and
678 attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use this information.
679 Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line, respect field
680 boundaries in a fairly natural manner.
681 To disable this feature, and use the old behavior, set the variable
682 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields' to a non-nil value.
683
684 Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
685 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
686
687 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
688 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
689 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
690
691 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
692 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
693 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
694
695 Packages based on comint.el like shell-mode, and scheme-interaction-mode
696 now highlight user input and program prompts, and support choosing
697 previous input with mouse-2. To control these feature, see the
698 user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
699
700 ** Changes to Rmail mode
701
702 *** The new user-option rmail-rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
703 set to fine tune the identification of of the correspondent when
704 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
705 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
706 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
707 as correspondent.
708
709 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
710 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
711 regexp matching your mail addresses.
712
713 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
714 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
715 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
716 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
717 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
718
719 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
720 like `j'.
721
722 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
723 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
724 digest message.
725
726 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
727 in which folder to put messages automatically.
728
729 ** Changes to TeX mode
730
731 The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
732 `latex-mode'.
733
734 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
735
736 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
737 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
738 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
739 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
740 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
741 can be edited from that buffer.
742
743 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
744 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
745 `A' to use all marked entries).
746
747 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
748 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
749
750 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
751 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
752 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
753 been cited.
754
755 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
756 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
757 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
758 in column 1 are always made leaves.
759
760 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
761 has the following new features:
762
763 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
764 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
765 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
766 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
767
768 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
769 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
770 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
771 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
772 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
773 defaults to 1.
774
775 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
776 file names.
777
778 +++
779 ** Tooltips.
780
781 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
782 mouse position. To use them, use the Lisp package `tooltip' which you
783 can access via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
784
785 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
786 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
787 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
788 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
789
790 +++
791 ** Customize changes
792
793 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
794 `State' menu to add comments. Note that customization comments will
795 cause the customizations to fail in earlier versions of Emacs.
796
797 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
798 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
799 default).
800
801 *** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
802 between custom options. Example:
803
804 (defcustom default-input-method nil
805 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
806 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
807 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
808 :group 'mule
809 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
810 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
811
812 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
813 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
814 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
815
816 ** New features in evaluation commands
817
818 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
819 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
820 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the
821 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
822 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
823
824 *** The function `eval-defun' (M-C-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
825 code when called with a prefix argument.
826
827 ** Ispell changes
828
829 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
830 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
831 spell-checks the current buffer.
832
833 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
834 added.
835
836 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
837 correction is made and re-checked.
838
839 *** An Italian and a Portuguese dictionary definition has been added.
840
841 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
842 cases.
843
844 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
845 on syntax errors.
846
847 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
848 end of the buffer.
849
850 ** Dired changes
851
852 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
853 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
854 is, delete only empty directories.
855
856 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
857 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
858 copy directories recursively.
859
860 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
861 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
862 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
863
864 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
865 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
866 directory.
867
868 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `w') shows
869 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
870 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
871 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
872 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
873
874 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
875 from ls switches.
876
877 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
878 use the -f option when sending mail.
879
880 ** CC mode changes.
881
882 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
883 current user setups (although it's believed that these
884 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
885 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
886 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
887 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
888 release.
889
890 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
891 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
892 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
893 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
894 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
895 have to bother.
896
897 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
898 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
899 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
900 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
901 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
902 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
903
904 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
905 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
906 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
907 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
908 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
909 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
910 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
911 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
912
913 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
914 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
915 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
916 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
917 above.
918
919 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
920 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
921 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
922 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
923 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
924 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
925 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
926 function documentation for more info.
927
928 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
929 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
930 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
931 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
932 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
933 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
934 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
935 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
936
937 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
938
939 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
940 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
941
942 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
943 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
944 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
945 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
946 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
947 style system.
948
949 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
950 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
951 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
952 as far as possible.
953
954 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
955 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
956 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
957 chapter about this in the manual.
958
959 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
960 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
961 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
962 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
963 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
964
965 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
966 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
967 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
968
969 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
970 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
971
972 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
973 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
974 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
975 inside CC Mode.
976
977 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
978 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
979 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
980 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
981 cc-mode/).
982
983 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
984 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
985 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
986 literals.
987
988 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
989 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
990 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
991 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
992 this function.
993
994 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
995 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
996 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
997 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
998 Thanks to Eric Eide.
999
1000 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
1001 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
1002 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
1003
1004 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
1005
1006 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
1007 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
1008 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
1009 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
1010
1011 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
1012 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
1013 the column specified by comment-column.
1014
1015 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
1016 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
1017 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
1018 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
1019 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
1020 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
1021
1022 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
1023 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
1024 arguments.
1025
1026 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
1027
1028 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
1029 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
1030 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
1031 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
1032 Provan).
1033
1034 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
1035
1036 ** Makefile mode changes
1037
1038 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
1039
1040 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
1041 Fontlock mode is active.
1042
1043 ** Isearch changes
1044
1045 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
1046 so that searches can be resumed.
1047
1048 *** In Isearch mode, M-C-s and M-C-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
1049 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
1050 that started the search.
1051
1052 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
1053 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
1054
1055 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
1056
1057 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
1058 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
1059 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
1060 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
1061 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
1062 `secondary-selection'.
1063
1064 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
1065 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
1066 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
1067 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
1068 usual snappy response.
1069
1070 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
1071 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
1072 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
1073 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
1074
1075 ** Changes in sort.el
1076
1077 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
1078 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
1079 new user-option sort-numberic-base can be used to specify a default
1080 numeric base.
1081
1082 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
1083
1084 +++
1085 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
1086 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
1087 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
1088
1089 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
1090 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
1091
1092 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
1093 output ^M at the end of lines.
1094
1095 ** Shell script mode changes.
1096
1097 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
1098 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizeable, and
1099 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
1100
1101 ** Etags changes.
1102
1103 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
1104
1105 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
1106 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
1107 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
1108 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
1109 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
1110
1111 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
1112 declarations when given the --declarations option.
1113
1114 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
1115 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
1116
1117 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
1118 types.
1119
1120 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
1121
1122 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
1123
1124 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
1125 are now tagged.
1126
1127 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
1128 variables are tagged.
1129
1130 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
1131
1132 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
1133 for PSWrap.
1134
1135 ** Changes in etags.el
1136
1137 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
1138 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
1139 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
1140
1141 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
1142 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
1143
1144 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
1145 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
1146 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
1147 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
1148
1149 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
1150
1151 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
1152 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
1153
1154 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
1155
1156 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
1157 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
1158 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
1159
1160 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
1161 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
1162
1163 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
1164 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
1165
1166 +++
1167 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
1168 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
1169 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
1170
1171 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
1172 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
1173 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
1174 There is currently no specific input method support for them.
1175
1176 +++
1177 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
1178 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
1179 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
1180
1181 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
1182
1183 +++
1184 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
1185
1186 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignore-regexps'
1187 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
1188 expression from that list, are not checked.
1189
1190 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
1191 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
1192 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
1193 the buffer, just like for the local files.
1194
1195 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
1196
1197 ** New modes and packages
1198
1199 +++
1200 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
1201 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
1202 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
1203 on certain projects.
1204
1205 *** The new package hi-lock.el, text matching interactively entered
1206 regexp's can be highlighted. For example,
1207
1208 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
1209
1210 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
1211 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
1212 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
1213 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
1214 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
1215 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
1216 corresponding file is read.
1217
1218 +++
1219 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
1220 Emacs is idle.
1221
1222 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
1223 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
1224
1225 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
1226 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
1227 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
1228
1229 +++
1230 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
1231 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
1232 separate Texinfo file.
1233
1234 +++
1235 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
1236 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
1237 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
1238 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
1239 enter checkin log messages.
1240
1241 +++
1242 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
1243 without invoking external programs.
1244
1245 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
1246 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
1247 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
1248 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
1249 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
1250
1251 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
1252 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
1253
1254 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
1255 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
1256
1257 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
1258 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
1259 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
1260 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
1261 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
1262 single step.
1263
1264 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
1265 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
1266 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
1267 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
1268
1269 +++
1270 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
1271 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
1272 actually modifying content of a buffer.
1273
1274 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
1275 PostScript.
1276
1277 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
1278
1279 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
1280
1281 ; comment (until end of line)
1282 A non-terminal
1283 "C" terminal
1284 ?C? special
1285 $A default non-terminal
1286 $"C" default terminal
1287 $?C? default special
1288 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
1289 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
1290 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
1291 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
1292 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
1293 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
1294 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
1295 C+ one or more occurrences of C
1296 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
1297 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
1298 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
1299 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
1300 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
1301 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
1302 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
1303
1304 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
1305
1306 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
1307 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
1308 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
1309 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
1310 equal signs of assignments.
1311
1312 +++
1313 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
1314 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
1315
1316 +++
1317 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
1318 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
1319 buffer menu with this package. You can use M-x bs-customize to
1320 customize the package.
1321
1322 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
1323
1324 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
1325 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
1326 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
1327 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
1328 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
1329 which answers different needs.
1330
1331 +++
1332 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
1333 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
1334 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
1335 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
1336 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
1337 to be enabled.
1338
1339 +++
1340 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
1341 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
1342
1343 +++
1344 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
1345
1346 +++
1347 *** hl-line.el provides a minor mode to highlight the current line.
1348
1349 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
1350
1351 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
1352 Pascal) language.
1353
1354 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
1355 the text at point.
1356
1357 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
1358
1359 +++
1360 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
1361
1362 *** whitespace.el ???
1363
1364 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
1365 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
1366 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
1367 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
1368 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
1369 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
1370 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
1371
1372 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
1373
1374 Here is an example of columns:
1375
1376 horse apple bus
1377 dog pineapple car EXTRA
1378 porcupine strawberry airplane
1379
1380 Doing the following settings:
1381
1382 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
1383 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
1384 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
1385 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
1386
1387
1388 Selecting the lines above and typing:
1389
1390 M-x delimit-columns-region
1391
1392 It results:
1393
1394 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
1395 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
1396 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
1397
1398 delim-col has the following options:
1399
1400 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
1401 before all columns.
1402
1403 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
1404 between each column.
1405
1406 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
1407 after all columns.
1408
1409 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
1410 each column.
1411
1412 delim-col has the following commands:
1413
1414 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
1415 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
1416
1417 +++
1418 *** The package recentf.el maintains a menu for visiting files that
1419 were operated on recently.
1420
1421 M-x recentf-mode RET toggles recentf mode.
1422
1423 M-x customize-variable RET recentf-mode RET can be used to enable
1424 recentf at Emacs startup.
1425
1426 M-x customize-variable RET recentf-menu-filter RET to specify a menu
1427 filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the recent
1428 file list can be displayed:
1429
1430 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
1431 - sorted by file pathes, file names, ascending or descending.
1432 - showing pathes relative to the current default-directory
1433
1434 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
1435 dynamically change the menu appearance.
1436
1437 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
1438 text.
1439
1440 +++
1441 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
1442 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
1443 specific to Message mode.
1444
1445 +++
1446 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
1447 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
1448 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
1449
1450 +++
1451 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
1452 interface to access directory servers using different directory
1453 protocols. It has a separate manual.
1454
1455 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
1456 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
1457
1458 +++
1459 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
1460
1461 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
1462 minibuffer with completion.
1463
1464 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
1465 with the diary features.
1466
1467 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
1468 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
1469
1470 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
1471 Fill mode.
1472
1473 ** Withdrawn packages
1474
1475 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
1476 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
1477
1478 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
1479
1480 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
1481
1482 \f
1483 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
1484 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
1485
1486 +++
1487 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
1488 is running in batch mode. For example,
1489
1490 (message "%s" (read t))
1491
1492 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
1493 to standard output.
1494
1495 +++
1496 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
1497 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
1498
1499 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
1500 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
1501 frame or window.
1502
1503 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
1504 were added
1505
1506 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
1507
1508 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
1509 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
1510
1511 - Function: remq ELT LIST
1512
1513 Return a copy of LIST with all occurences of ELT removed. The
1514 comparison is done with `eq'.
1515
1516 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
1517
1518 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
1519 has been changed.
1520
1521 +++
1522 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
1523 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
1524 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
1525
1526 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
1527 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
1528
1529 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
1530 function was declared obsolete.
1531
1532 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
1533 retained as an alias).
1534
1535 ** Easy-menu's :filter now works as in XEmacs.
1536 It takes the unconverted (i.e. XEmacs) form of the menu and the result
1537 is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
1538
1539 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
1540
1541 - Function: window-list &optional WINDOW MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES
1542
1543 Return a list of windows in canonical order. The parameters WINDOW,
1544 MINIBUF and ALL-FRAMES are defined like for `next-window'.
1545
1546 ** There's a new function `some-window' defined as follows
1547
1548 - Function: some-window PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
1549
1550 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
1551
1552 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
1553 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
1554 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
1555 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
1556 returned.
1557
1558 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
1559 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
1560 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
1561 minibuffer even if it is active.
1562
1563 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
1564 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
1565 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
1566 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
1567 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
1568 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
1569
1570 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
1571 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
1572 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
1573 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
1574 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
1575 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
1576 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
1577
1578 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
1579 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
1580 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
1581
1582 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
1583 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
1584 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
1585 Default value is nil.
1586
1587 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
1588 meaning no limit.
1589
1590 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
1591 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
1592 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
1593
1594 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information on the argument list
1595 of a primitive.
1596
1597 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
1598 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
1599 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
1600 than replacing the local map.
1601
1602 ** The obsolete variables before-change-function and
1603 after-change-function are no longer acted upon and have been removed.
1604
1605 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
1606
1607 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments, as
1608 promised long ago.
1609
1610 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
1611 \f
1612 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
1613
1614 Note that +++ before an item means the Lisp manual has been updated.
1615 --- means that I have decided it does not need to be in the Lisp manual.
1616 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
1617 so I will know I still need to look at it -- rms.
1618
1619 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
1620 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
1621 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
1622 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
1623
1624 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
1625 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
1626 when it finds 8-bit characters. Previously, it included `ascii' in a
1627 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
1628
1629 *** The functions `set-buffer-modified', `string-as-multibyte' and
1630 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer if it
1631 contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
1632
1633 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
1634 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
1635 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
1636 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
1637 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
1638 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
1639 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
1640 eight-bit-graphic.
1641
1642 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
1643
1644 A fontset can now be specified for for each independent character, for
1645 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
1646 character set as previously.
1647
1648 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
1649 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
1650 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
1651
1652 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
1653 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
1654 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
1655 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
1656
1657 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
1658 name of a font and REGSITRY is a registry name of a font.
1659
1660 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
1661 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
1662 "fontset-default".
1663
1664 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
1665 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
1666
1667 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
1668 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
1669 buffers and strings.
1670
1671 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
1672 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
1673 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
1674 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
1675 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
1676 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
1677 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
1678 also been deleted.
1679
1680 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
1681 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
1682 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
1683
1684 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
1685 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
1686 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
1687 may differ between buffer and string text.
1688
1689 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
1690 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
1691
1692 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
1693 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
1694 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
1695 `composition' from STRING.
1696
1697 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
1698 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
1699
1700 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
1701 obsolete.
1702
1703 ** The new character set `mule-unicode-0100-24ff' is introduced for
1704 Unicode characters of the range U+0100..U+24FF. Currently, this
1705 character set is not used.
1706
1707 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
1708 `japanese-jisx0213-2' are introduced for the new Japanese standard JIS
1709 X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
1710
1711 +++
1712 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
1713 are introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
1714 0xA0..0xFF respectively.
1715
1716 +++
1717 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
1718 that offset in the file before writing.
1719
1720 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
1721 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
1722
1723 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
1724 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
1725 from which the command was issued.
1726
1727 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
1728 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
1729 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
1730 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
1731 operate on.
1732
1733 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
1734 to `window-buffer-height'.
1735
1736 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
1737
1738 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
1739 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
1740 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
1741
1742 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
1743 respectively.
1744
1745 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optinal third argument
1746 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
1747
1748 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
1749 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
1750 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
1751
1752 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
1753 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
1754 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
1755 is currently displayed in some window.
1756
1757 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
1758 argument function's results.
1759
1760 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
1761 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails.
1762
1763 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
1764 header is the list of headers passed to it.
1765
1766 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
1767 ignores differences in case and text representation.
1768
1769 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
1770 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
1771 as follows:
1772
1773 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
1774 nil don't display a cursor
1775 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
1776 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
1777 others display a box cursor.
1778
1779 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
1780 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
1781 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
1782 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
1783
1784 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
1785 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
1786 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
1787 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
1788
1789 Example:
1790
1791 (string-to-syntax "()")
1792 => (4 . 41)
1793
1794 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
1795 other than 10.
1796
1797 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
1798 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
1799
1800 #b1111
1801 => 15
1802 #b-1111
1803 => -15
1804
1805 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
1806
1807 #o666
1808 => 438
1809
1810 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
1811
1812 #xbeef
1813 => 48815
1814
1815 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
1816
1817 #2R-111
1818 => -7
1819 #25rah
1820 => 267
1821
1822 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
1823 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
1824 and isn't a string.
1825
1826 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
1827 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
1828 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
1829 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
1830
1831 +++
1832 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
1833
1834 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
1835 for a regexp in a string.
1836
1837 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
1838 `mouse-position-function'.
1839
1840 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
1841 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
1842
1843 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
1844 Keywords are now always considered constants.
1845
1846 +++
1847 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
1848 returns it.
1849
1850 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
1851 returned by function `recent-keys'.
1852
1853 +++
1854 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
1855 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
1856 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding M-C-a
1857 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
1858 mode.
1859
1860 +++
1861 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
1862 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
1863
1864 +++
1865 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
1866 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
1867 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
1868 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
1869 been performed."
1870
1871 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
1872 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
1873 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
1874 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
1875
1876 +++
1877 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
1878 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
1879 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
1880
1881 +++
1882 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
1883 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
1884 specified table.
1885
1886 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
1887
1888 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
1889 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
1890 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
1891 what BODY returns.
1892
1893 +++
1894 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
1895 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
1896
1897 +++
1898 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
1899 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
1900
1901 +++
1902 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
1903 instead of being optional.
1904
1905 +++
1906 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
1907 modify read-only text.
1908
1909 +++
1910 ** New functions and variables for locales.
1911
1912 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
1913 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
1914 time functions like strftime. The new variables
1915 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
1916 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
1917
1918 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
1919 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
1920 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
1921 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
1922 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
1923 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
1924 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
1925
1926 +++
1927 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
1928 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
1929 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
1930 start sequences.
1931
1932 +++
1933 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
1934 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
1935
1936 +++
1937 ** New function `propertize'
1938
1939 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
1940 strings with text properties.
1941
1942 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
1943
1944 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
1945 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
1946 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
1947 specified value of that property. Example:
1948
1949 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
1950
1951 +++
1952 ** push and pop macros.
1953
1954 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
1955 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
1956 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
1957
1958 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
1959 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
1960 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
1961
1962 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
1963
1964 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
1965 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
1966
1967 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
1968 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
1969 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
1970 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
1971
1972 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
1973 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
1974 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
1975 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
1976
1977 +++
1978 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such
1979 as [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on.
1980
1981 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
1982 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
1983 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
1984 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
1985 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
1986 space, and DEL.
1987 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
1988 and DEL.
1989 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
1990 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
1991 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
1992 [:alpha:] matches letters.
1993 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
1994 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
1995 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
1996 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
1997 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
1998 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
1999 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
2000 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
2001 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
2002 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
2003 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
2004
2005 +++
2006 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
2007
2008 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
2009
2010 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
2011
2012 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
2013 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
2014
2015 :test TEST
2016
2017 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
2018 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
2019 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
2020
2021 :size SIZE
2022
2023 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
2024 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
2025
2026 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
2027
2028 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
2029 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
2030 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
2031 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
2032 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
2033
2034 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
2035
2036 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
2037 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
2038 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
2039
2040 :weakness WEAK
2041
2042 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
2043 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
2044 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
2045 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
2046 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
2047
2048 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
2049
2050 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
2051
2052 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
2053
2054 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
2055
2056 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
2057
2058 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
2059 values are shared.
2060
2061 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
2062
2063 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
2064
2065 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
2066
2067 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
2068
2069 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
2070
2071 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
2072
2073 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
2074
2075 Returns the size of TABLE.
2076
2077 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
2078
2079 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
2080
2081 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
2082
2083 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
2084
2085 - Function: clrhash TABLE
2086
2087 Clear TABLE.
2088
2089 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
2090
2091 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
2092 not found.
2093
2094 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
2095
2096 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
2097 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
2098
2099 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
2100
2101 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
2102
2103 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
2104
2105 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
2106 arguments KEY and VALUE.
2107
2108 - Function: sxhash OBJ
2109
2110 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
2111
2112 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
2113
2114 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
2115 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
2116 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
2117 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
2118 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
2119
2120 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
2121
2122 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
2123 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
2124 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
2125
2126 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
2127 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
2128
2129 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
2130 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
2131
2132 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
2133 (sxhash (upcase a)))
2134
2135 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
2136 'case-fold-string-hash))
2137
2138 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
2139
2140 +++
2141 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
2142
2143 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
2144 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
2145 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
2146
2147 +++
2148 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
2149
2150 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
2151 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
2152
2153 +++
2154 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
2155 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
2156 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
2157 is too short to reach that column.
2158
2159 +++
2160 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
2161 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
2162 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
2163 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
2164
2165 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
2166 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
2167 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
2168
2169 +++
2170 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
2171 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
2172
2173 +++
2174 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
2175 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
2176
2177 +++
2178 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
2179 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
2180 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
2181 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
2182 temporary-file-directory instead.
2183
2184 +++
2185 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
2186 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
2187 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
2188 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
2189
2190 +++
2191 ** assoc-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
2192 elements of an alist which have a particular value as the car.
2193
2194 +++
2195 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
2196
2197 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
2198 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
2199 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
2200
2201 +++
2202 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
2203
2204 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
2205 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
2206 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
2207 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
2208 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
2209 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
2210
2211 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
2212 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
2213 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
2214 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
2215
2216 +++
2217 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
2218
2219 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
2220 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
2221 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
2222 result string.
2223
2224 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
2225 string where arguments appear in the result string.
2226
2227 Example:
2228
2229 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
2230 (s2 "world"))
2231 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
2232 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
2233 (format s1 s2))
2234
2235 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
2236
2237 +++
2238 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
2239
2240 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
2241 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
2242 argument in it.
2243
2244 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
2245 (arg "world"))
2246 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
2247 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
2248 (message msg arg))
2249
2250 +++
2251 ** Sound support
2252
2253 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
2254 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
2255
2256 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
2257 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
2258 to enable sound support.
2259
2260 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
2261 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
2262 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
2263 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
2264 sound to play, before playing the sound.
2265
2266 The following sound properties are supported:
2267
2268 - `:file FILE'
2269
2270 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
2271 searched relative to `data-directory'.
2272
2273 - `:data DATA'
2274
2275 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
2276 may be present, but not both.
2277
2278 - `:volume VOLUME'
2279
2280 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
2281 0..1. This property is optional.
2282
2283 Other properties are ignored.
2284
2285 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
2286
2287 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
2288 a keyword symbol.
2289
2290 ** Changes to garbage collection
2291
2292 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
2293 of live and free strings.
2294
2295 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
2296 strings that have been consed so far.
2297
2298 \f
2299 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
2300 Lisp Manual
2301
2302 +++
2303 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
2304
2305 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
2306 image.
2307
2308 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
2309
2310 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
2311
2312 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
2313 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
2314 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
2315 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
2316 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
2317
2318 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
2319 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
2320
2321 +++
2322 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
2323 optional.
2324
2325 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center'.
2326
2327 When this property is specified, the image is vertically centered
2328 around a centerline which would be the vertical center of text drawn
2329 at the position of the image, in the manner specified by the text
2330 properties and overlays that apply to the image.
2331
2332 \f
2333 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
2334
2335 Note that +++ before an item means the Lisp manual has been updated.
2336 --- means that I have decided it does not need to be in the Lisp manual.
2337 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
2338 so I will know I still need to look at it -- rms.
2339
2340 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
2341 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
2342
2343 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
2344 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
2345 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
2346 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
2347 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
2348 just display it black instead.
2349
2350 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
2351 a line like
2352
2353 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
2354
2355 in your `.emacs'.
2356
2357 ** New face implementation.
2358
2359 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
2360 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
2361
2362 +++
2363 *** New faces.
2364
2365 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
2366
2367 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
2368
2369 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
2370 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
2371
2372 3. Font height in 1/10pt
2373
2374 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
2375
2376 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
2377
2378 6. Foreground color.
2379
2380 7. Background color.
2381
2382 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
2383
2384 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
2385
2386 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
2387
2388 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
2389
2390 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
2391 color.
2392
2393 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
2394 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
2395
2396 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
2397 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
2398 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
2399 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
2400 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each each of the face
2401 attributes mentioned above.
2402
2403 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
2404 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
2405 created frames.
2406
2407 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
2408 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
2409 `fully-specified'.
2410
2411 +++
2412 *** Face merging.
2413
2414 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
2415 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
2416 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
2417 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
2418 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
2419 results in a fully-specified face.
2420
2421 +++
2422 *** Face realization.
2423
2424 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
2425 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
2426 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
2427 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
2428 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
2429 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
2430
2431 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
2432 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
2433 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
2434 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
2435
2436 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
2437 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
2438 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
2439 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
2440 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
2441
2442 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
2443 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
2444 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
2445 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
2446 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
2447 Emacs.
2448
2449 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
2450 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
2451 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
2452 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
2453
2454 ++++
2455 **** Clearing face caches.
2456
2457 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
2458 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
2459 unused fonts.
2460
2461 +++
2462 *** Font selection.
2463
2464 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
2465 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
2466 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
2467
2468 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
2469 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
2470 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
2471 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
2472 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
2473
2474 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
2475 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
2476 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
2477
2478 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
2479
2480 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
2481 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
2482 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
2483 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
2484 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
2485 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
2486 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
2487
2488 Setting `face-alternative-font-family-alist' allows the user to
2489 specify alternative font families to try if a family specified by a
2490 face doesn't exist.
2491
2492 +++
2493 **** Scalable fonts
2494
2495 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
2496 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
2497 servers.
2498
2499 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
2500 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
2501 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
2502 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
2503 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
2504 that list. Example:
2505
2506 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
2507
2508 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
2509
2510 +++
2511 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
2512
2513 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
2514
2515 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
2516 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
2517 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
2518
2519 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
2520 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
2521 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
2522 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
2523 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
2524 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
2525 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
2526 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
2527 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
2528 of the face font sort order.
2529
2530 - Function: x-font-family-list
2531
2532 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
2533 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
2534 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
2535 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
2536
2537 - Variable: font-list-limit
2538
2539 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
2540 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
2541 matching font. The default is currently 100.
2542
2543 +++
2544 *** Setting face attributes.
2545
2546 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
2547 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
2548 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
2549 `face-attribute'.
2550
2551 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
2552 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
2553
2554 The following attributes are recognized:
2555
2556 `:family'
2557
2558 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
2559 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
2560 and `?' are allowed.
2561
2562 `:width'
2563
2564 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
2565 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
2566 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
2567 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
2568
2569 `:height'
2570
2571 VALUE must be an integer specifying the height of the font to use in
2572 1/10 pt.
2573
2574 `:weight'
2575
2576 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
2577 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
2578 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
2579
2580 `:slant'
2581
2582 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
2583 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
2584 `reverse-oblique'.
2585
2586 `:foreground', `:background'
2587
2588 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
2589
2590 `:underline'
2591
2592 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
2593 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
2594 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
2595 don't underline.
2596
2597 `:overline'
2598
2599 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
2600 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
2601 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
2602 overline.
2603
2604 `:strike-through'
2605
2606 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
2607 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
2608 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
2609 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
2610
2611 `:box'
2612
2613 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
2614 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
2615 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
2616 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
2617 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
2618 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
2619 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
2620 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
2621 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
2622 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
2623 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
2624 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
2625 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
2626 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
2627 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
2628 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
2629 box.
2630
2631 `:inverse-video'
2632
2633 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
2634 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
2635
2636 `:stipple'
2637
2638 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
2639 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
2640 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
2641 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
2642 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
2643 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
2644
2645 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
2646 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
2647
2648 `:font'
2649
2650 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
2651 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
2652 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
2653 versions of Emacs.
2654
2655 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
2656 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
2657 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
2658
2659 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
2660 `defface'.
2661
2662 *** Face attributes and X resources
2663
2664 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
2665 from X resources:
2666
2667 Face attribute X resource class
2668 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
2669 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
2670 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
2671 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
2672 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
2673 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
2674 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
2675 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
2676 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
2677 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
2678 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
2679 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
2680 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
2681 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
2682 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
2683 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
2684 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
2685 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
2686 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
2687 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
2688
2689 +++
2690 *** Text property `face'.
2691
2692 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
2693 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
2694 specification can be
2695
2696 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
2697
2698 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
2699 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
2700 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
2701 for face attribute names.
2702
2703 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
2704 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
2705 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
2706
2707 +++
2708 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
2709
2710 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
2711 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
2712 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
2713 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
2714 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
2715 used to clear the mapping table.
2716
2717 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
2718
2719 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
2720 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
2721 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
2722 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
2723 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
2724 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
2725 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
2726 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
2727 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
2728 modify their color-related behavior.
2729
2730 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
2731 any frame type.
2732
2733 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
2734
2735 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
2736 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
2737 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
2738 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
2739 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
2740 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
2741 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
2742 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
2743 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
2744
2745 +++
2746 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
2747
2748 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
2749
2750 The function minubuffer-prompt-end returns the current position of the
2751 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
2752 Otherwise, it returns zero.
2753
2754 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
2755
2756 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
2757 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
2758 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
2759
2760 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
2761 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
2762 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
2763 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
2764 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
2765 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
2766 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
2767 functions.
2768
2769 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
2770 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
2771 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
2772
2773 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
2774
2775 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
2776
2777 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
2778
2779 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2780 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
2781 constrained position if that is is different.
2782
2783 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
2784 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
2785 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
2786 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
2787 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2788 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
2789 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
2790 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
2791 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
2792
2793 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
2794 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
2795 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
2796 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
2797 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
2798
2799 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
2800 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
2801
2802 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
2803
2804 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
2805
2806 Delete the field surrounding POS.
2807 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2808 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2809
2810 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2811
2812 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
2813 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2814 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2815 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
2816 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
2817
2818 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2819
2820 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
2821 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2822 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2823 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
2824 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
2825
2826 - Function: field-string &optional POS
2827
2828 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
2829 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2830 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2831
2832 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
2833
2834 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
2835 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2836 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2837
2838 +++
2839 ** Image support.
2840
2841 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
2842 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
2843 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
2844 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
2845
2846 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
2847 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
2848 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
2849 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
2850 area.
2851
2852 IMAGE is an image specification.
2853
2854 *** Image specifications
2855
2856 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
2857 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
2858 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
2859 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
2860 described below are ignored.
2861
2862 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
2863
2864 `:ascent ASCENT'
2865
2866 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
2867 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
2868 to use for its ascent.
2869
2870 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
2871 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
2872
2873 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
2874 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
2875 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
2876 overlays that apply to the image.
2877
2878 `:margin MARGIN'
2879
2880 MARGIN must be a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put as
2881 margin around the image. Default is 0.
2882
2883 `:relief RELIEF'
2884
2885 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
2886 around an image.
2887
2888 `:algorithm ALGO'
2889
2890 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it. ALGO must
2891 be a symbol specifying the algorithm. Currently only `laplace' is
2892 supported which applies a Laplace edge detection algorithm to an image
2893 which is intended to display images "disabled."
2894
2895 `:heuristic-mask BG'
2896
2897 If BG is not nil, build a clipping mask for the image, so that the
2898 background of a frame is visible behind the image. If BG is t,
2899 determine the background color of the image by looking at the 4
2900 corners of the image, assuming the most frequently occuring color from
2901 the corners is the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must
2902 be a list `(RED GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the
2903 background of the image.
2904
2905 `:file FILE'
2906
2907 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
2908 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
2909 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
2910 may be present in the image specification.
2911
2912 `:data DATA'
2913
2914 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
2915 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
2916 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
2917 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
2918
2919 *** Supported image types
2920
2921 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
2922
2923 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
2924 properties supported are
2925
2926 `:foreground FG'
2927
2928 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color. Default
2929 is the frame's foreground.
2930
2931 `:background FG'
2932
2933 BG must be a string specifying the image foreground color. Default is
2934 the frame's background color.
2935
2936 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
2937 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
2938 instead of a `:file' property.
2939
2940 `:width WIDTH'
2941
2942 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
2943
2944 `:height HEIGHT'
2945
2946 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
2947
2948 `:data DATA'
2949
2950 DATA must be either
2951
2952 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
2953 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
2954
2955 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
2956
2957 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
2958 bitmap.
2959
2960 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
2961 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
2962 in the file.
2963
2964 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
2965
2966 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
2967 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
2968 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
2969 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
2970
2971 Additional image properties supported are:
2972
2973 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
2974
2975 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
2976 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
2977 name.
2978
2979 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
2980 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
2981
2982 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
2983 to display compressed images.
2984
2985 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
2986
2987 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
2988 mono images are supported. There are no additional image properties
2989 defined.
2990
2991 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
2992
2993 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
2994 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. Additional image properties
2995 are:
2996
2997 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
2998
2999 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
3000 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
3001 properties defined.
3002
3003 **** GIF, image type `gif'
3004
3005 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
3006 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
3007
3008 Additional image properties supported are:
3009
3010 `:index INDEX'
3011
3012 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
3013 multi-image GIF file. An error is signalled if INDEX is too large.
3014
3015 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
3016 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
3017 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
3018 every 0.1 seconds.
3019
3020 (defun show-anim (file max)
3021 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
3022 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
3023
3024 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
3025 (when (= idx max)
3026 (setq idx 0))
3027 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
3028 (save-excursion
3029 (set-buffer buffer)
3030 (goto-char (point-min))
3031 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
3032 (insert-image img "x"))
3033 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
3034
3035 **** PNG, image type `png'
3036
3037 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
3038 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
3039 properties defined.
3040
3041 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
3042
3043 Additional image properties supported are:
3044
3045 `:pt-width WIDTH'
3046
3047 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
3048 integer. This is a required property.
3049
3050 `:pt-height HEIGHT'
3051
3052 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
3053 must be a integer. This is an required property.
3054
3055 `:bounding-box BOX'
3056
3057 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
3058 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
3059 files. This is an required property.
3060
3061 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
3062 lisp/gs.el.
3063
3064 *** Lisp interface.
3065
3066 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
3067 which are supported in the current configuration.
3068
3069 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
3070 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
3071 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
3072 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
3073 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
3074
3075 *** Simplified image API, image.el
3076
3077 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
3078 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
3079 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
3080 define an image based on available image types. The functions
3081 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
3082 buffer.
3083
3084 +++
3085 ** Display margins.
3086
3087 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
3088 and images.
3089
3090 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
3091 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
3092 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
3093 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
3094 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
3095 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
3096 of the display margins.
3097
3098 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
3099 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
3100 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
3101 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
3102 in this file).
3103
3104 +++
3105 ** Help display
3106
3107 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
3108 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
3109 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
3110 that have a `help-echo' property.
3111
3112 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
3113 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
3114 the window in which the help was found.
3115
3116 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
3117 `help-echo' text property was found.
3118
3119 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
3120 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
3121
3122 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
3123 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
3124 mouse.
3125
3126 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
3127 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
3128
3129 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
3130 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
3131 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
3132 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
3133 used as help string.
3134
3135 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
3136 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
3137 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
3138
3139 +++
3140 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
3141
3142 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
3143 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
3144
3145 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
3146 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
3147 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
3148 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
3149 used.
3150
3151 (global-set-key [A-down]
3152 #'(lambda ()
3153 (interactive)
3154 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
3155 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
3156 (global-set-key [A-up]
3157 #'(lambda ()
3158 (interactive)
3159 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
3160 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
3161
3162 +++
3163 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
3164
3165 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
3166 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
3167 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
3168 is called with one argument, POS.
3169
3170 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
3171 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
3172 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
3173 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
3174 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
3175
3176 +++
3177 ** Tool bar support.
3178
3179 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
3180 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
3181 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
3182 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
3183 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
3184 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
3185
3186 *** Tool bar item definitions
3187
3188 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
3189 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
3190 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
3191
3192 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
3193 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
3194 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
3195 property (see below).
3196
3197 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
3198 binding are currently ignored.
3199
3200 The following properties are recognized:
3201
3202 `:enable FORM'.
3203
3204 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
3205 or disabled.
3206
3207 `:visible FORM'
3208
3209 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
3210
3211 `:filter FUNCTION'
3212
3213 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
3214 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
3215 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
3216
3217 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
3218
3219 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
3220 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
3221
3222 `:image IMAGES'
3223
3224 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
3225 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
3226 meaning of each of the four elements:
3227
3228 Index Use when item is
3229 ----------------------------------------
3230 0 enabled and selected
3231 1 enabled and deselected
3232 2 disabled and selected
3233 3 disabled and deselected
3234
3235 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
3236 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
3237
3238 `:help HELP-STRING'.
3239
3240 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
3241 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
3242
3243 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
3244
3245 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
3246 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
3247 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
3248
3249 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
3250 raised when the mouse moves over them.
3251
3252 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
3253 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
3254 pixels. Default is 1.
3255
3256 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
3257 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
3258
3259 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
3260
3261 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
3262 a tool bar item. If
3263
3264 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
3265 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
3266 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
3267
3268 is the original tool bar item definition, then
3269
3270 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
3271
3272 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
3273 item.
3274
3275 ** Mode line changes.
3276
3277 +++
3278 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
3279
3280 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
3281 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
3282 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
3283
3284 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
3285 a `local-map' text property.
3286
3287 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
3288 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
3289
3290 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
3291 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
3292 `local-map' property.
3293
3294 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
3295 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
3296 example.
3297
3298 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
3299 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
3300
3301 +++
3302 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
3303 variable mode-line-format to nil.
3304
3305 +++
3306 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
3307
3308 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
3309 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
3310 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
3311 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
3312 line.
3313
3314 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
3315 `header-line'.
3316
3317 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
3318 position in the header-line.
3319
3320 +++
3321 ** Text property `display'
3322
3323 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text, and
3324 also control other aspects of how text displays. The value of the
3325 `display' property should be a display specification, as described
3326 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
3327
3328 *** Variable width and height spaces
3329
3330 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
3331 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
3332 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
3333 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
3334 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
3335 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
3336 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
3337
3338 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
3339 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
3340 properties described below.
3341
3342 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
3343 characters having the `display' property.
3344
3345 - :width WIDTH
3346
3347 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
3348 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
3349
3350 - :relative-width FACTOR
3351
3352 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
3353 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
3354 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
3355 width of that character by FACTOR.
3356
3357 - :align-to HPOS
3358
3359 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
3360 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
3361
3362 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
3363
3364 - :height HEIGHT
3365
3366 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
3367 normal line height.
3368
3369 - :relative-height FACTOR
3370
3371 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
3372 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
3373
3374 - :ascent ASCENT
3375
3376 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
3377 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
3378 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
3379 equal to 100.
3380
3381 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
3382
3383 *** Images
3384
3385 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
3386 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
3387 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
3388 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
3389 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
3390 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
3391 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
3392 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
3393 as display specification.
3394
3395 *** Other display properties
3396
3397 - :space-width FACTOR
3398
3399 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
3400 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
3401 integer or float.
3402
3403 - :height HEIGHT
3404
3405 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
3406
3407 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
3408 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
3409 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
3410 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
3411 a font is available counts as a step.
3412
3413 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
3414 as tall as the frame's default font.
3415
3416 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
3417 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
3418
3419 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
3420 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
3421
3422 - :raise FACTOR
3423
3424 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
3425 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
3426 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
3427 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
3428 `:height' subproperty.
3429
3430 *** Conditional display properties
3431
3432 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
3433 has the form `(:when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC
3434 applies only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated.
3435 During evaluattion, point is temporarily set to the end position of
3436 the text having the `display' property.
3437
3438 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
3439 `(:when t SPEC)'.
3440
3441 +++
3442 ** New menu separator types.
3443
3444 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
3445 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
3446 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
3447 to specify other menu separator types.
3448
3449 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
3450
3451 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
3452 separator occurs.
3453
3454 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
3455
3456 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
3457
3458 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
3459
3460 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
3461
3462 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
3463
3464 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
3465
3466 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
3467
3468 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
3469
3470 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
3471
3472 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the the form
3473 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
3474
3475 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
3476
3477 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
3478
3479 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
3480
3481 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
3482
3483 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
3484
3485 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
3486
3487 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
3488
3489 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
3490
3491 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
3492
3493 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
3494
3495 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
3496
3497 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
3498
3499 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
3500
3501 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
3502
3503 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
3504 the corresponding single-line separators.
3505
3506 +++
3507 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
3508
3509 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
3510 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
3511 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
3512 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
3513 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
3514 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
3515 default foreground is black.
3516
3517 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
3518 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
3519 `ScrollBarBackground').
3520
3521 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
3522 settings for scroll bar colors.
3523
3524 +++
3525 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
3526 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
3527
3528 ---
3529 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
3530 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
3531 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
3532 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
3533 the original window start.
3534
3535 ---
3536 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
3537 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
3538 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
3539
3540 +++
3541 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
3542
3543 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
3544 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
3545 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
3546 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
3547
3548 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
3549 fixed-width and fixed-height.
3550
3551 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
3552
3553 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
3554 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
3555 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
3556 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
3557 temporarily to nil, for example
3558
3559 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
3560 (enlarge-window 10))
3561
3562 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
3563 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
3564
3565 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
3566 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
3567 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
3568 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
3569 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
3570 support a vertical-bar cursor).
3571
3572
3573 ^L
3574 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
3575
3576 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
3577 input.
3578
3579 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
3580
3581 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
3582
3583 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
3584 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
3585 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
3586 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
3587 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
3588
3589 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
3590 been added.
3591
3592 ^L
3593 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
3594
3595 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
3596
3597 ^L
3598 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
3599
3600 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
3601 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
3602 \f
3603 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
3604
3605 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
3606
3607 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
3608 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
3609 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
3610
3611 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
3612 is the one that is used.
3613
3614 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
3615 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
3616 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
3617 separate from the command's regular output.
3618 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
3619 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
3620 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
3621 the buffer name.
3622
3623 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
3624 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
3625 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
3626 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
3627
3628 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
3629 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
3630 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
3631 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
3632
3633 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
3634 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
3635 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
3636 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
3637
3638 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
3639 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
3640 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
3641 they never ignore case.
3642
3643 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
3644 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
3645 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
3646 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
3647 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
3648 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
3649 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
3650
3651 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
3652 the same format that was used in the file before.
3653
3654 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
3655 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
3656
3657 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
3658 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
3659 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
3660
3661 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
3662 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
3663 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
3664 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
3665 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
3666 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
3667 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
3668
3669 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
3670 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
3671 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
3672 format. You can now customize these variables.
3673
3674 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
3675 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
3676 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
3677 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
3678
3679 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
3680 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
3681 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
3682
3683 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
3684 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
3685 doesn't have any effect.
3686
3687 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
3688 not one per buffer.
3689
3690 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
3691 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
3692 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
3693
3694 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
3695 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
3696 `auto-show-mode' command.
3697
3698 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
3699 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
3700 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
3701 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
3702 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
3703
3704 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
3705 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
3706
3707 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
3708 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
3709 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
3710
3711 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
3712 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
3713 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
3714 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
3715
3716 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
3717
3718 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
3719 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
3720 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
3721 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
3722 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
3723
3724 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
3725 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
3726
3727 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
3728 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
3729 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
3730 `?' on other systems.
3731
3732 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
3733 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
3734 Unix.
3735
3736 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
3737 current codepage when it starts.
3738
3739 ** Mail changes
3740
3741 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
3742 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
3743 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
3744 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
3745 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
3746 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
3747 latin-1:
3748
3749 MIME-version: 1.0
3750 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
3751 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
3752
3753 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
3754 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
3755 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
3756 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
3757 buffer-file-coding-system.
3758
3759 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
3760 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
3761 mail.
3762
3763 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
3764 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
3765 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
3766 list of possible coding systems.
3767
3768 ** CC Mode changes
3769
3770 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
3771 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
3772 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
3773 docstring for details.
3774
3775 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
3776 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
3777 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
3778 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
3779 lineup functions use this feature currently.
3780
3781 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
3782 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
3783
3784 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
3785 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
3786
3787 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
3788 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
3789 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
3790 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
3791 anonymous classes.
3792
3793 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
3794 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
3795
3796 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
3797 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
3798 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
3799 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
3800
3801 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
3802 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
3803 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
3804 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
3805 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
3806
3807 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
3808
3809 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
3810
3811 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
3812 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
3813
3814 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
3815
3816 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
3817 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
3818 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
3819 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
3820 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
3821
3822 ** Gnus changes.
3823
3824 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
3825 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
3826 Gnus manual for the full story.
3827
3828 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
3829 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
3830 group, which is created automatically.
3831
3832 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
3833 values.
3834
3835 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
3836
3837 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
3838 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
3839
3840 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
3841 `C-u C-c C-c'.
3842
3843 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
3844
3845 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
3846 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
3847
3848 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
3849
3850 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
3851 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
3852
3853 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
3854 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
3855
3856 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
3857 control over simplification.
3858
3859 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
3860
3861 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
3862 limit.
3863
3864 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
3865
3866 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
3867
3868 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
3869 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
3870 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
3871
3872 *** Cancelling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
3873 `a' forces normal posting method.
3874
3875 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
3876 -- `W d'.
3877
3878 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
3879 to a non-nil value.
3880
3881 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
3882 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
3883
3884 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
3885 has been added.
3886
3887 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
3888
3889 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
3890
3891 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
3892 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
3893
3894 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
3895 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
3896
3897 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
3898
3899 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
3900 been added.
3901
3902 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
3903 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
3904
3905 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
3906 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
3907
3908 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
3909
3910 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
3911
3912 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
3913
3914 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
3915
3916 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
3917 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
3918 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
3919
3920 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
3921 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
3922 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
3923 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
3924 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
3925
3926 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
3927 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
3928 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
3929 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
3930
3931 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
3932 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
3933 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
3934 mismatch.
3935
3936 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
3937
3938 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
3939 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
3940
3941 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
3942 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
3943 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
3944 removed from the label.
3945
3946 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
3947 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
3948
3949 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
3950 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
3951
3952 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
3953 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
3954 expressions.
3955
3956 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
3957
3958 ** New/deleted modes and packages
3959
3960 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
3961 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
3962
3963 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
3964 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
3965 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
3966
3967 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
3968 changes with a special face.
3969
3970 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
3971 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
3972 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
3973 \f
3974 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
3975
3976 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
3977 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
3978 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
3979 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
3980 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
3981
3982 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
3983 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
3984 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
3985
3986 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
3987 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
3988 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
3989 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
3990 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
3991 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
3992 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
3993 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
3994 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
3995
3996 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
3997 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
3998 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
3999 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
4000 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
4001 program.
4002
4003 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
4004 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
4005 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
4006 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
4007 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
4008 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
4009
4010 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
4011 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
4012 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
4013 was not documented clearly before.
4014
4015 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
4016 This includes Tetris and Snake.
4017 \f
4018 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
4019
4020 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
4021 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
4022 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
4023 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
4024
4025 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
4026 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
4027 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
4028
4029 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
4030
4031 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
4032 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
4033
4034 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
4035 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
4036 integers.
4037
4038 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
4039 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
4040 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
4041 file names and attributes are returned.
4042
4043 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
4044 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
4045 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its atttributes.
4046 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
4047 returns the result.
4048
4049 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
4050 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
4051
4052 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
4053
4054 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
4055 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
4056 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
4057 optionally.
4058
4059 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
4060 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
4061
4062 **
4063 The new function process-running-child-p
4064 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
4065 terminal to its own child process.
4066
4067 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
4068 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
4069 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
4070 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
4071
4072 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
4073 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
4074
4075 ** easymenu.el Now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
4076 :included is an alias for :visible.
4077
4078 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
4079 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
4080 to move or copy menu entries.
4081
4082 ** Multibyte editing changes
4083
4084 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
4085 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
4086 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
4087 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
4088 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
4089 (setq char (sref str idx)
4090 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
4091 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
4092
4093 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
4094 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
4095 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
4096
4097 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
4098 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
4099 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
4100
4101 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibitted
4102
4103 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
4104 across the boundary.
4105
4106 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
4107 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
4108 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
4109 contains 8-bit characters.
4110 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
4111 contains invalid characters.
4112
4113 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
4114 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
4115 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
4116 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
4117 way.
4118
4119 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
4120 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
4121 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
4122 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
4123
4124 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
4125 compose Thai characters in a string.
4126
4127 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
4128 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
4129 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
4130 menus should always use the third argument.
4131
4132 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
4133 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
4134 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
4135 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
4136
4137 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
4138 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
4139 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
4140 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
4141
4142 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
4143 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
4144 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
4145 echo area contents.
4146
4147 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
4148
4149 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
4150 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
4151 requested feature cannot be loaded.
4152
4153 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
4154 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
4155 means to clear out that attribute.
4156
4157 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
4158 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
4159
4160 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
4161 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
4162 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
4163 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
4164
4165 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
4166 the gap of the current buffer.
4167
4168 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
4169 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
4170 current buffer.
4171
4172 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
4173 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
4174 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
4175 it back in after any modifications have been made.
4176 \f
4177 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
4178
4179 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
4180 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
4181 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
4182 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
4183 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
4184
4185 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
4186 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
4187 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
4188 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
4189 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
4190
4191 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
4192 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
4193 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
4194
4195 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
4196 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
4197 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
4198 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
4199 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
4200 results.
4201
4202 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
4203 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
4204 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
4205 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
4206 \f
4207 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
4208
4209 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
4210 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
4211 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
4212 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
4213
4214 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
4215 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
4216 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
4217 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
4218 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
4219 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
4220 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
4221 region.
4222
4223 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
4224 selective undo.
4225
4226 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
4227 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
4228 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
4229 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
4230 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
4231
4232 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
4233 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
4234 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
4235 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
4236
4237 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
4238 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
4239 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
4240 something that most users not do.
4241
4242 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
4243 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
4244 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
4245 applications.
4246
4247 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
4248 pasting operations.
4249
4250 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
4251 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
4252 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
4253 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
4254 `ps-printer-name'.
4255
4256 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
4257 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
4258 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
4259 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
4260 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
4261 hits a new word.
4262
4263 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
4264 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
4265 to be confused by TeX commands.
4266
4267 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
4268 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
4269 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
4270 of various alternative replacements and actions.
4271
4272 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
4273 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
4274 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
4275 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
4276 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
4277
4278 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
4279 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
4280
4281 ** Changes in input method usage.
4282
4283 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
4284 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
4285 respectively.
4286
4287 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
4288
4289 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
4290 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
4291
4292 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
4293 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
4294
4295 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
4296
4297 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
4298
4299 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
4300 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
4301
4302 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
4303 given in the following case:
4304 o When you are using a complex input method.
4305 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
4306
4307 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
4308 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
4309 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
4310 setting it to t is helpful.
4311
4312 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
4313
4314 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
4315 keys:
4316 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
4317 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
4318 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
4319 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
4320 environment.
4321
4322 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
4323 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
4324 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
4325 get
4326
4327 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
4328
4329 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
4330
4331 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
4332 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
4333
4334 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
4335 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
4336 its owner and group.
4337
4338 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
4339 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
4340
4341 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
4342 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
4343
4344 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
4345 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
4346 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
4347 by the left edge of the rectangle.
4348
4349 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
4350 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
4351 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
4352 for writing keyboard macros.
4353
4354 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
4355 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
4356 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
4357 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
4358 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
4359 info.
4360
4361 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
4362
4363 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
4364 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
4365 contents only.
4366
4367 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
4368 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
4369 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
4370 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
4371
4372 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
4373 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
4374 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
4375
4376 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
4377 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
4378 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
4379 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
4380
4381 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
4382 failure if the command produces no output.
4383
4384 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
4385 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
4386 the mouse.
4387
4388 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
4389 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
4390 function and variable names.
4391
4392 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
4393 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
4394 file-coding-system-alist.
4395
4396 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
4397 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
4398 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
4399 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
4400 according to the current fontset.
4401
4402 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
4403
4404 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
4405 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
4406 nonascii-insert-offset.
4407
4408 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
4409 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
4410 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
4411 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
4412
4413 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
4414 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
4415
4416 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
4417 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
4418
4419 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
4420 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
4421 command keys.
4422
4423 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
4424 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
4425
4426 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
4427 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
4428 all variables that have documentation.
4429
4430 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
4431 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
4432 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
4433 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
4434 it should show; the default is 20.
4435
4436 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
4437 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
4438 of your input.
4439
4440 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
4441 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
4442 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
4443 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
4444 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
4445 Newly added options are included as well.
4446
4447 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
4448 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
4449 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
4450
4451 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
4452 Customize menu.
4453
4454 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
4455 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
4456
4457 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
4458 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
4459 invoked.
4460
4461 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
4462 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
4463 The default is 1.
4464
4465 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
4466 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
4467 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
4468 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
4469 sensibly.
4470
4471 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
4472
4473 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
4474 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
4475 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
4476
4477 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
4478 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
4479 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
4480 every night.
4481
4482 ** Desktop changes
4483
4484 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
4485 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
4486
4487 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
4488 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
4489
4490 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
4491 read and post multi-lingual articles.
4492
4493 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
4494 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
4495 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
4496 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
4497 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
4498 made invisible again.
4499
4500 ** Mail reading and sending changes
4501
4502 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
4503 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
4504 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
4505 toggle.
4506
4507 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
4508 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
4509 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
4510 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
4511 rmail-default-body-file.
4512
4513 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
4514 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
4515 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
4516
4517 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
4518 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
4519 is evaluated to insert the signature.
4520
4521 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
4522 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
4523 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
4524 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
4525 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
4526 especially interested in trying feedmail.
4527
4528 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
4529 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
4530 provided by feedmail are:
4531
4532 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
4533 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
4534 there is also a queue for draft messages
4535
4536 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
4537 be prompted for confirmation
4538
4539 **** does smart filling of address headers
4540
4541 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
4542 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
4543 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
4544
4545 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
4546 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
4547 /usr/lib/sendmail, and elisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
4548 function for something else (10-20 lines of elisp)
4549
4550 ** Dired changes
4551
4552 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
4553 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
4554
4555 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
4556 run Dired on the directory name at point.
4557
4558 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
4559 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
4560 for a specified regexp.
4561
4562 ** VC Changes
4563
4564 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
4565 conveniently.
4566
4567 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
4568 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
4569 Dired.
4570
4571 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
4572 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
4573 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
4574 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
4575
4576 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
4577 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
4578 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
4579 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
4580 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
4581
4582 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
4583 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
4584 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
4585 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
4586 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
4587
4588 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
4589 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
4590 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
4591 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
4592
4593 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
4594 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
4595 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
4596
4597 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
4598 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
4599 session to resolve them.
4600
4601 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
4602 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
4603 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
4604 uses as well).
4605
4606 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
4607 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
4608 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
4609 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
4610 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
4611 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
4612 using ediff.
4613
4614 ** Changes in Font Lock
4615
4616 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
4617 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
4618 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
4619 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
4620 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
4621
4622 ** Frame name display changes
4623
4624 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
4625 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
4626 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
4627 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
4628
4629 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
4630 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
4631 menu.
4632
4633 ** Comint (subshell) changes
4634
4635 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
4636 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
4637 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
4638
4639 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
4640
4641 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
4642 that is, the line after the last line you got.
4643 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
4644
4645 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
4646 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
4647 the following line.
4648
4649 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
4650 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
4651 previously sent input.
4652
4653 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
4654 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
4655 as the search string.
4656
4657 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
4658 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
4659
4660 ** C mode changes
4661
4662 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
4663 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
4664 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
4665 definition.
4666
4667 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
4668 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
4669 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
4670 style is still the default however.
4671
4672 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
4673
4674 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
4675 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
4676 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
4677
4678 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
4679 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
4680
4681 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
4682 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
4683
4684 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
4685 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
4686
4687 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
4688 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
4689
4690 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
4691 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
4692 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
4693 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
4694
4695 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
4696
4697 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
4698 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
4699 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
4700
4701 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
4702 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
4703 expanding dynamically.
4704
4705 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
4706 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
4707
4708 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
4709 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
4710 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
4711 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
4712
4713 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
4714
4715 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
4716
4717 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
4718 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
4719 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
4720 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
4721 against the first word in the title.
4722
4723 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
4724 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
4725 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
4726 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
4727 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
4728 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
4729
4730 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
4731 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
4732 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
4733 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
4734
4735 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
4736
4737 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
4738 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
4739 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
4740 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
4741 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
4742 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
4743
4744 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
4745 Editing group once the package is loaded.
4746
4747 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
4748 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
4749 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behaviour.
4750
4751 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
4752 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
4753
4754 ** Ispell changes.
4755
4756 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
4757 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
4758 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
4759
4760 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
4761 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
4762 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
4763 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
4764 include:
4765
4766 o URLs are automatically skipped
4767 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
4768
4769 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
4770
4771 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
4772
4773 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
4774 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
4775 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
4776 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
4777
4778 *** New recursive parser.
4779
4780 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
4781 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
4782 recursive parser scans the individual files.
4783
4784 *** Parsing only part of a document.
4785
4786 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
4787 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
4788 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
4789
4790 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
4791
4792 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
4793
4794 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
4795
4796 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
4797
4798 *** Using multiple selection buffers
4799
4800 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
4801 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
4802
4803 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
4804
4805 *** References to external documents.
4806
4807 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
4808 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
4809 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
4810 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
4811 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
4812 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
4813 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
4814
4815 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
4816
4817 The builtin command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
4818 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
4819
4820 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
4821 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
4822
4823 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
4824
4825 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
4826 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
4827
4828 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
4829
4830 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
4831 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
4832 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
4833 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
4834 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
4835 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
4836 more.
4837
4838 *** Support for the varioref package
4839
4840 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
4841
4842 *** New hooks
4843
4844 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
4845 and citations are created. These hooks are
4846 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
4847 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
4848
4849 *** Citations outside LaTeX
4850
4851 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
4852 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
4853
4854 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
4855
4856 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
4857 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
4858 fontified, use
4859
4860 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
4861
4862 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
4863 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
4864 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
4865 directories that contain the same file name.
4866
4867 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
4868 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
4869 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
4870 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
4871 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
4872 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
4873 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
4874 directory.
4875
4876 ** New modes and packages
4877
4878 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
4879 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
4880 it, but some do not.
4881
4882 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
4883 code.
4884
4885 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
4886 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
4887 around in a buffer.
4888
4889 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
4890
4891 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
4892 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
4893 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
4894 established system of notation similar to Chess.
4895
4896 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
4897 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
4898 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
4899
4900 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
4901 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
4902 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
4903 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
4904 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
4905 the like.
4906
4907 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
4908 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
4909
4910 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
4911 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
4912 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
4913 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
4914
4915 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
4916
4917 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
4918 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
4919 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
4920 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
4921 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
4922 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
4923 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
4924 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
4925 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
4926 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
4927 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
4928
4929 Platform-specific modes:
4930
4931 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
4932 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
4933 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
4934 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
4935 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
4936 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
4937 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
4938 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
4939 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
4940 \f
4941 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
4942
4943 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
4944 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
4945 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
4946 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
4947
4948 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
4949 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
4950 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
4951
4952 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
4953 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
4954 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
4955 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
4956
4957 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
4958 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
4959 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
4960 environment.
4961
4962 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
4963 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
4964 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
4965 current input method for reading this one event.
4966
4967 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
4968 now control whether to output certain characters as
4969 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
4970 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
4971 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
4972 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
4973 \f
4974 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
4975
4976 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
4977 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
4978
4979 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
4980 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
4981 always increases point by 1.
4982
4983 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
4984 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
4985
4986 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
4987
4988 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
4989 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
4990 default value changed. For example,
4991
4992 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
4993 :type 'integer
4994 :group 'foo
4995 :version "20.3")
4996
4997 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
4998 :version "20.3")
4999
5000 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
5001 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
5002 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
5003 `:version' in the top level group.
5004
5005 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
5006
5007 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
5008 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
5009
5010 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
5011 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
5012 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
5013 to themselves.
5014
5015 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
5016 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
5017 values whatever.
5018
5019 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
5020 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
5021 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
5022
5023 ** Frame-local variables.
5024
5025 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
5026 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
5027 local bindings for that variable.
5028
5029 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
5030 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
5031 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
5032 parameter name.
5033
5034 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
5035 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
5036 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
5037 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
5038
5039 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
5040 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
5041 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
5042 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
5043
5044 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
5045 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
5046 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
5047 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
5048 See the documentation in sregex.el.
5049
5050 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
5051 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
5052 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
5053 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
5054
5055 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
5056 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
5057
5058 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
5059 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
5060 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
5061
5062 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
5063 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
5064 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
5065 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
5066
5067 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
5068 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
5069 empty input.
5070
5071 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
5072 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
5073 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
5074 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
5075 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
5076
5077 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
5078 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
5079 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
5080 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
5081
5082 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
5083 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
5084 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
5085 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
5086 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
5087
5088 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
5089 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
5090 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
5091 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
5092
5093 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
5094 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
5095 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
5096
5097 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
5098 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
5099 was directed to display this buffer.
5100
5101 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
5102 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
5103 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
5104 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
5105 set-window-configuration.
5106
5107 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
5108 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
5109 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
5110 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
5111
5112 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
5113 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
5114 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
5115
5116 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
5117 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
5118 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
5119
5120 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
5121 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
5122
5123 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
5124 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
5125
5126 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
5127 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
5128 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
5129
5130 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
5131 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
5132 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
5133 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
5134
5135 ** Menu changes
5136
5137 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
5138 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
5139 better supported.
5140
5141 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
5142 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
5143 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
5144 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
5145 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
5146
5147 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
5148
5149 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
5150 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
5151 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
5152 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
5153
5154 The format is:
5155 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
5156 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
5157 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
5158 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
5159 The supported properties include
5160
5161 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
5162 item is enabled.
5163 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
5164 item should appear in the menu.
5165 :filter FILTER-FN
5166 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
5167 which will be REAL-BINDING.
5168 It should return a binding to use instead.
5169 :keys DESCRIPTION
5170 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
5171 binding for for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
5172 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
5173 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
5174 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
5175 keyboard binding.
5176 :key-sequence nil
5177 This means that the command normally has no
5178 keyboard equivalent.
5179 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
5180 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
5181 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
5182 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
5183 value says whether this button is currently selected.
5184
5185 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
5186 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
5187
5188 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
5189
5190 ** New event types
5191
5192 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
5193 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
5194 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
5195 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
5196
5197 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
5198
5199 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
5200 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
5201 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
5202 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
5203 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
5204 forward, away from the user.
5205
5206 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
5207
5208 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
5209 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
5210 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
5211 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
5212 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
5213
5214 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
5215
5216 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
5217 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
5218 that were dragged and dropped.
5219
5220 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
5221
5222 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
5223
5224 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
5225 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
5226 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
5227
5228 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
5229 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
5230 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
5231
5232 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
5233 in Emacs 19 and before.
5234
5235 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
5236 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
5237
5238 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
5239 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
5240 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
5241 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
5242
5243 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
5244 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
5245 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
5246 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
5247 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
5248
5249 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
5250 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
5251 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
5252 consistent with the new representation.
5253
5254 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
5255 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
5256 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
5257 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
5258
5259 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
5260 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
5261 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
5262
5263 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
5264 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
5265 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
5266
5267 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
5268 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
5269 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
5270
5271 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
5272 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
5273
5274 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
5275 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
5276
5277 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
5278 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
5279 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
5280 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
5281
5282 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
5283 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
5284
5285 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
5286 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
5287 buffer or string being searched.
5288
5289 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
5290 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
5291 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
5292 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
5293 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
5294 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
5295 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
5296
5297 *** Structure of coding system changed.
5298
5299 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
5300 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
5301 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
5302 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
5303 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
5304 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
5305 define-coding-system-alias.
5306
5307 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
5308 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
5309 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
5310 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
5311 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
5312 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
5313 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
5314 `iso-8859-1'.
5315
5316 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
5317 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
5318 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
5319 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
5320
5321 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
5322 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
5323 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
5324 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
5325
5326 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
5327 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
5328 This function requires a user interaction.
5329
5330 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
5331 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
5332 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
5333 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
5334 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
5335 select-safe-coding-system.
5336
5337 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
5338 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
5339 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
5340 was done.
5341
5342 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
5343 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
5344 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
5345
5346 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
5347 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
5348 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
5349 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
5350
5351 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
5352 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
5353 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
5354 converted.
5355
5356 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
5357 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
5358
5359 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
5360 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
5361 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
5362 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
5363 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
5364 range of characters.
5365
5366 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
5367 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
5368
5369 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
5370 in the current buffer at position POS.
5371
5372 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
5373 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
5374 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
5375 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
5376 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
5377 binding input-method-function to nil.
5378
5379 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
5380 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
5381 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
5382 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
5383 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
5384
5385 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
5386 subsequent events of a key sequence.
5387
5388 *** You can customize any language environment by using
5389 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
5390
5391 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
5392 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
5393 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
5394 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
5395 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
5396 \f
5397 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
5398
5399 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
5400 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
5401 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
5402 tree structure.
5403
5404 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
5405 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
5406
5407 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
5408 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
5409 in your .emacs file.)
5410
5411 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
5412 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
5413
5414 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
5415 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
5416
5417 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
5418 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
5419 kills the region.
5420
5421 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
5422 delete the character before point, as usual.
5423
5424 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
5425 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
5426 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
5427
5428 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
5429 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
5430 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
5431 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
5432 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
5433 past.)
5434
5435 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
5436 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
5437 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
5438 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
5439 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
5440
5441 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
5442 and is an alias for it.
5443
5444 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
5445 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
5446
5447 ** Scrolling changes
5448
5449 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
5450 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
5451
5452 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
5453 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
5454 where it started.
5455
5456 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
5457 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
5458 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
5459 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
5460
5461 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
5462 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
5463 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
5464 recenters the window.
5465
5466 ** International character set support (MULE)
5467
5468 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
5469 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
5470 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
5471 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
5472 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
5473 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
5474
5475 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
5476 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
5477 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
5478 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
5479 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
5480
5481 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
5482 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
5483 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
5484 language, to make it possible to type them.
5485
5486 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
5487 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
5488
5489 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
5490 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
5491
5492 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
5493
5494 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
5495
5496 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
5497 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
5498 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
5499 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
5500 characters for their work until they want to change.
5501
5502 *** Input methods
5503
5504 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
5505 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
5506 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
5507 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
5508 support several input methods.
5509
5510 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
5511 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
5512 work.
5513
5514 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
5515 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
5516 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
5517 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
5518 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
5519 letter.
5520
5521 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
5522 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
5523 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
5524 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
5525 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
5526
5527 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
5528 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
5529 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
5530 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
5531
5532 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
5533 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
5534 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
5535 the first guess is wrong.
5536
5537 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
5538 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
5539
5540 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
5541 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
5542 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
5543 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
5544
5545 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
5546 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
5547 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
5548 translate automatically to and from either one.
5549
5550 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
5551
5552 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
5553 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
5554 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
5555 what you want.
5556
5557 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
5558 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
5559 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
5560 multibyte characters in that buffer.
5561
5562 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
5563 character conversion as well.
5564
5565 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
5566
5567 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
5568 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
5569 requires using many fonts.
5570
5571 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
5572 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
5573
5574 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
5575 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
5576 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
5577 you would use a font.
5578
5579 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
5580 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
5581 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
5582
5583 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
5584 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
5585 characters). If another font in the fontset has a different height,
5586 or the wrong width, then characters assigned to that font are clipped,
5587 and displayed within a box if highlight-wrong-size-font is non-nil.
5588
5589 *** Defining fontsets.
5590
5591 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
5592 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
5593 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
5594
5595 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
5596 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
5597 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
5598 standard fontset are created automatically.
5599
5600 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
5601 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
5602 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
5603 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
5604 name is `fontset-startup'.
5605
5606 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
5607 The resource value should have this form:
5608 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
5609 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
5610 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
5611 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
5612 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
5613 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
5614 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
5615 CHARSET-NAME should be the name name of a character set, and
5616 FONT-NAME should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
5617
5618 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
5619 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
5620 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
5621
5622 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
5623 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
5624 following resource,
5625 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
5626 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
5627 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
5628 Here is the substitution rule:
5629 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
5630 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
5631 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
5632 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
5633 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
5634
5635 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
5636 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
5637 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
5638
5639 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
5640 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
5641 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
5642 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
5643 fontsets.
5644
5645 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
5646 defaults for a particular choice of language.
5647
5648 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
5649 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
5650 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
5651 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
5652 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
5653 system for new files that you create.
5654
5655 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
5656 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
5657 whole Emacs session.
5658
5659 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
5660 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
5661 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
5662
5663 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
5664 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
5665 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
5666 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
5667 coding systems that Emacs supports.
5668
5669 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
5670 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
5671 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
5672 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
5673 is used for *the immediately following command*.
5674
5675 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
5676 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
5677
5678 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
5679 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
5680
5681 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
5682 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
5683
5684 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
5685 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
5686 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
5687 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
5688 of the file.
5689
5690 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
5691 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
5692 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
5693 translated into that character code.
5694
5695 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
5696 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
5697
5698 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
5699
5700 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
5701 the coding system for keyboard input.
5702
5703 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
5704 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
5705 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
5706
5707 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
5708
5709 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
5710 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
5711 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
5712 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
5713 designed to work with terminals.
5714
5715 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
5716 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
5717 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
5718 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
5719 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
5720 in the corresponding buffer.
5721
5722 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
5723
5724 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
5725 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
5726 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
5727
5728 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
5729 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
5730 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
5731 want to use.
5732
5733 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
5734 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
5735
5736 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
5737 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
5738 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
5739 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
5740
5741 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
5742 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
5743 related information.
5744
5745 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
5746 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
5747 scripts.
5748
5749 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
5750 information about the support for a particular language.
5751 You specify the language as an argument.
5752
5753 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
5754 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
5755 first dash.
5756
5757 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
5758 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
5759 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
5760 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
5761
5762 A alternativnyj (Russian)
5763 B big5 (Chinese)
5764 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
5765 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
5766 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
5767 E euc-japan (Japanese)
5768 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
5769 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
5770 K euc-korea (Korean)
5771 R koi8 (Russian)
5772 Q tibetan
5773 S shift_jis (Japanese)
5774 T lao
5775 T tis620 (Thai)
5776 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
5777 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
5778 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
5779 v viqr (Vietnamese)
5780 z hz (Chinese)
5781
5782 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
5783 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
5784 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
5785 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
5786
5787 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
5788 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
5789
5790 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
5791 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
5792 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
5793 Rmail files themselves.
5794
5795 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
5796 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
5797
5798 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
5799 for sending mail:
5800
5801 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
5802 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
5803 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
5804 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
5805 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
5806
5807 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
5808 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
5809 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
5810 translations.
5811
5812 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
5813 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
5814 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
5815 without any conversion.
5816
5817 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
5818 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
5819 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
5820 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
5821
5822 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
5823 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
5824
5825 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
5826 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
5827
5828 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
5829 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
5830
5831 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
5832 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
5833 in the buffer before point.
5834
5835 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
5836 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
5837 you are using.
5838
5839 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
5840 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
5841
5842 ** File locking works with NFS now.
5843
5844 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
5845 in the same directory as FILENAME.
5846
5847 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
5848 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
5849 can become a bottleneck.
5850
5851 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
5852 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
5853 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
5854 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
5855 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
5856 so useful that the change is worth while.
5857
5858 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
5859 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
5860 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
5861 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
5862
5863 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
5864 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
5865 show-paren-mode.
5866
5867 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
5868 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
5869 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
5870
5871 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
5872 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
5873 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
5874
5875 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
5876 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
5877 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
5878
5879 ** Changes in View mode.
5880
5881 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
5882 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
5883
5884 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
5885 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
5886
5887 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
5888 previous state.
5889
5890 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
5891 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
5892
5893 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
5894 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
5895 not just the selected window.
5896
5897 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
5898 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
5899 turns View mode on or off.
5900
5901 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
5902 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
5903 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
5904
5905 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
5906 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
5907
5908 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
5909 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
5910 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
5911 which version to compare with.
5912
5913 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
5914 blocks if a match is inside the block.
5915
5916 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
5917 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
5918 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
5919 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
5920
5921 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
5922 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
5923 blocks, all of them or none.
5924
5925 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
5926 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
5927 confirmation first.
5928
5929 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
5930 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
5931 However, the mode will not be changed if
5932 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
5933 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
5934 not suitable for ordinary files, or
5935 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
5936
5937 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
5938
5939 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
5940 these commands do not change the major mode.
5941
5942 ** M-x occur changes.
5943
5944 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
5945 it performs a case-sensitive search.
5946
5947 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
5948 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
5949 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
5950
5951 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
5952 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
5953 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
5954 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
5955 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
5956
5957 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
5958 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
5959 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
5960 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
5961
5962 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
5963 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
5964 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
5965
5966 ** Outline mode changes.
5967
5968 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
5969
5970 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
5971
5972 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
5973 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
5974 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
5975 was already active.
5976
5977 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
5978 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
5979 get confused by it.
5980
5981 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
5982 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
5983
5984 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
5985
5986 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
5987 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
5988 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
5989 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
5990
5991 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
5992 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
5993 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
5994
5995 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
5996 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
5997 values.
5998
5999 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
6000 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
6001 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
6002 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
6003
6004 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
6005 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
6006 can be. The default value is 30.
6007
6008 ** Changes in Mail mode.
6009
6010 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
6011 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
6012 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
6013 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
6014 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
6015 behavior.
6016
6017 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
6018 compose-mail-other-frame.
6019
6020 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
6021 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
6022 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
6023 buffer that shows the original message.
6024
6025 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
6026 with separator lines around the contents.
6027
6028 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
6029 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
6030 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
6031 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
6032
6033 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
6034
6035 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
6036 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
6037 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
6038 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
6039
6040 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
6041 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
6042 /etc/passwd.
6043
6044 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
6045 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
6046 /etc/passwd.
6047
6048 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
6049 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
6050 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
6051 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
6052
6053 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
6054 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
6055 be taken to be magic.
6056
6057 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
6058 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
6059 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
6060
6061 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
6062 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
6063
6064 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
6065 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
6066
6067 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
6068
6069 new key dired.el binding old key
6070 ------- ---------------- -------
6071 * c dired-change-marks c
6072 * m dired-mark m
6073 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
6074 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
6075 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
6076 * u dired-unmark u
6077 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
6078 * ? dired-unmark-all-files M-C-?
6079 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
6080 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
6081 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
6082 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
6083
6084 ** Rmail changes.
6085
6086 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
6087 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
6088 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
6089 each time you run it.
6090
6091 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
6092 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
6093
6094 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
6095 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
6096 means to move in the opposite direction.
6097
6098 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
6099 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
6100
6101 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
6102 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
6103 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
6104 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
6105 for output.
6106
6107 ** Gnus changes.
6108
6109 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
6110
6111 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
6112 Gnus.
6113
6114 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
6115 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
6116
6117 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
6118 article mode line.
6119
6120 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
6121
6122 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
6123
6124 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
6125
6126 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
6127 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
6128 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
6129
6130 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
6131
6132 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
6133
6134 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
6135 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
6136
6137 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
6138 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
6139 used to pick articles.
6140
6141 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
6142 another have been added.
6143
6144 `M-x gnus-change-server'
6145
6146 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
6147 generating lines in buffers.
6148
6149 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
6150 `M-C-_'.
6151
6152 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
6153
6154 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
6155
6156 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
6157
6158 *** Scores can be decayed.
6159
6160 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
6161
6162 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
6163 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
6164
6165 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
6166 the native server.
6167
6168 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
6169
6170 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
6171 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `M-C-d'.
6172
6173 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
6174
6175 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
6176 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
6177
6178 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
6179 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
6180
6181 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
6182 a group.
6183
6184 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
6185 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
6186
6187 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
6188
6189 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
6190
6191 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
6192
6193 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
6194
6195 Use the `Y c' command.
6196
6197 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
6198
6199 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
6200
6201 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
6202
6203 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
6204 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
6205
6206 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
6207
6208 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
6209
6210 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
6211 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
6212
6213 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
6214
6215 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
6216 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
6217 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
6218 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
6219 this issue.)
6220
6221 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
6222 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
6223 particular news group. This can be done by:
6224
6225 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
6226
6227 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
6228 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
6229 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
6230 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
6231 for reading and posting).
6232
6233 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
6234 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
6235 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
6236 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
6237 there.
6238
6239 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
6240 default. Here are some of these default settings:
6241
6242 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
6243 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
6244 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
6245 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
6246 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
6247
6248 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
6249 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
6250
6251 ** CC mode changes.
6252
6253 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
6254 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
6255 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
6256 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
6257 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
6258 loaded.
6259
6260 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
6261 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
6262 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
6263 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
6264 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
6265 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
6266
6267 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
6268 of the current buffer.
6269
6270 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
6271 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
6272 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
6273
6274 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
6275 style that the Python developers like.
6276
6277 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
6278 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
6279 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
6280
6281 ** VC Changes [new]
6282
6283 ** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
6284 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
6285 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
6286
6287 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
6288 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
6289 developers.
6290
6291 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
6292 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
6293
6294 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
6295 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
6296 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
6297 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
6298
6299 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
6300 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
6301
6302 ** Calendar changes.
6303
6304 A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or subclasses
6305 of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow you do this
6306 for the year of the selected date, or the following/previous years.
6307
6308 ** ps-print changes
6309
6310 There are some new user variables for customizing the page layout.
6311
6312 *** Paper size, paper orientation, columns
6313
6314 The variable `ps-paper-type' determines the size of paper ps-print
6315 formats for; it should contain one of the symbols:
6316 `a4' `a3' `letter' `legal' `letter-small' `tabloid'
6317 `ledger' `statement' `executive' `a4small' `b4' `b5'
6318 It defaults to `letter'.
6319 If you need other sizes, see the variable `ps-page-dimensions-database'.
6320
6321 The variable `ps-landscape-mode' determines the orientation
6322 of the printing on the page. nil, the default, means "portrait" mode,
6323 non-nil means "landscape" mode.
6324
6325 The variable `ps-number-of-columns' must be a positive integer.
6326 It determines the number of columns both in landscape and portrait mode.
6327 It defaults to 1.
6328
6329 *** Horizontal layout
6330
6331 The horizontal layout is determined by the variables
6332 `ps-left-margin', `ps-inter-column', and `ps-right-margin'.
6333 All are measured in points.
6334
6335 *** Vertical layout
6336
6337 The vertical layout is determined by the variables
6338 `ps-bottom-margin', `ps-top-margin', and `ps-header-offset'.
6339 All are measured in points.
6340
6341 *** Headers
6342
6343 If the variable `ps-print-header' is nil, no header is printed. Then
6344 `ps-header-offset' is not relevant and `ps-top-margin' represents the
6345 margin above the text.
6346
6347 If the variable `ps-print-header-frame' is non-nil, a gaudy
6348 framing box is printed around the header.
6349
6350 The contents of the header are determined by `ps-header-lines',
6351 `ps-show-n-of-n', `ps-left-header' and `ps-right-header'.
6352
6353 The height of the header is determined by `ps-header-line-pad',
6354 `ps-header-font-family', `ps-header-title-font-size' and
6355 `ps-header-font-size'.
6356
6357 *** Font managing
6358
6359 The variable `ps-font-family' determines which font family is to be
6360 used for ordinary text. Its value must be a key symbol in the alist
6361 `ps-font-info-database'. You can add other font families by adding
6362 elements to this alist.
6363
6364 The variable `ps-font-size' determines the size of the font
6365 for ordinary text. It defaults to 8.5 points.
6366
6367 ** hideshow changes.
6368
6369 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
6370 C++, ; for lisp).
6371
6372 *** Support for java-mode added.
6373
6374 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
6375 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
6376
6377 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the the comments at
6378 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
6379 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
6380
6381 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
6382 robust and a lot faster.
6383
6384 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
6385
6386 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
6387 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
6388 documentation for more details.
6389
6390 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
6391
6392 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
6393 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
6394 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
6395 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
6396 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
6397
6398 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
6399 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
6400 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
6401 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
6402
6403 ** Font Lock mode
6404
6405 *** Custom support
6406
6407 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
6408 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
6409 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
6410 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
6411 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
6412 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
6413
6414 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
6415
6416 *** Maximum decoration
6417
6418 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
6419 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
6420 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
6421 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
6422 to get the old behavior.
6423
6424 *** New support
6425
6426 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
6427
6428 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
6429 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
6430
6431 *** Configurable support
6432
6433 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
6434 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
6435 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
6436 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
6437 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
6438 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
6439 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
6440
6441 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
6442 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
6443 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
6444
6445 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
6446
6447 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
6448 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
6449 for any mode.
6450
6451 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
6452
6453 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
6454
6455 in your ~/.emacs.
6456
6457 *** New faces
6458
6459 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
6460 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
6461 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
6462 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
6463
6464 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
6465
6466 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
6467 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
6468 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
6469
6470 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
6471
6472 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
6473 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
6474 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
6475 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
6476 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
6477 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
6478 Lock mode behaviour and the behaviour of Font Lock mode.
6479
6480 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
6481 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
6482 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
6483 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
6484 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
6485 the command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
6486
6487 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
6488
6489 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
6490 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
6491 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
6492 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
6493
6494 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
6495 settings.
6496
6497 ** Ada mode changes.
6498
6499 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
6500 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
6501 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
6502 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
6503 stubs.
6504
6505 *** There are two new commands:
6506 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
6507 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
6508
6509 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
6510 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
6511 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
6512
6513 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
6514 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
6515 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
6516
6517 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
6518 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
6519 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
6520 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
6521
6522 ** Scheme mode changes.
6523
6524 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
6525 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
6526 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
6527 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
6528 have any effect.
6529
6530 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
6531 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
6532 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
6533 variables as buffer-local variables.
6534
6535 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
6536 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
6537
6538 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
6539
6540 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
6541 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
6542 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
6543 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
6544
6545 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
6546 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
6547 buffer in Emacs.
6548
6549 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
6550 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
6551 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
6552 option takes precedence.
6553
6554 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
6555 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
6556 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
6557
6558 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
6559 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
6560 the current defun.
6561
6562 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
6563 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
6564
6565 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
6566 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
6567 necessary).
6568
6569 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
6570 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
6571 these register values no longer become completely useless.
6572 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
6573 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
6574 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
6575
6576 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
6577 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
6578 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
6579 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
6580
6581 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
6582 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
6583 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
6584 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
6585 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
6586
6587 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
6588 since it applies only to the current frame.
6589
6590 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
6591 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
6592 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
6593
6594 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
6595 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
6596 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
6597 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
6598 instead of just the file you are editing.
6599
6600 ** RefTeX mode
6601
6602 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
6603 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
6604 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
6605 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
6606 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
6607
6608 C-c ( reftex-label
6609 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
6610 knows which kind of label is needed.
6611
6612 C-c ) reftex-reference
6613 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
6614 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
6615
6616 C-c [ reftex-citation
6617 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
6618 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
6619
6620 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
6621 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
6622
6623 C-c = reftex-toc
6624 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
6625 can quickly jump to every section.
6626
6627 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
6628 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
6629 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
6630 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
6631 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
6632
6633 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
6634
6635 *** Info documentation is now available.
6636
6637 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
6638 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
6639
6640 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
6641 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
6642
6643 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
6644 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
6645
6646 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
6647 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
6648 appropriate functions.
6649
6650 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
6651 entries. They are bound by default to M-C-l and M-C-h.
6652
6653 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
6654 been cleaned.
6655
6656 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
6657 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
6658
6659 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
6660 shall be delimited.
6661
6662 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
6663 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
6664 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
6665
6666 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
6667 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
6668 prefixed with `ALT'.
6669
6670 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
6671 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
6672 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
6673 documentation).
6674
6675 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
6676 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
6677 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
6678
6679 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
6680 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
6681
6682 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
6683 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
6684 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
6685
6686 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
6687
6688 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
6689
6690 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
6691 from alien sources.
6692
6693 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
6694 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
6695 crossref entries.
6696
6697 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
6698 region.
6699
6700 *** Added support for imenu.
6701
6702 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
6703 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
6704 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
6705 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
6706
6707 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
6708 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
6709
6710 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
6711
6712 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
6713
6714 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
6715 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
6716 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
6717 as an argument.
6718
6719 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
6720 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
6721
6722 ** browse-url changes
6723
6724 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
6725 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
6726 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
6727 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
6728 customization variables.
6729
6730 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
6731
6732 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
6733 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
6734 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
6735
6736 ** Changes in Ediff
6737
6738 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
6739 pops up the Info file for this command.
6740
6741 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
6742 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
6743 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
6744 directories).
6745
6746 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
6747 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
6748 files in the same directory.
6749
6750 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
6751 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
6752 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
6753
6754 ** Changes in Viper
6755
6756 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
6757 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
6758 instead of vip-.
6759 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
6760 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
6761 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
6762 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
6763 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
6764 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
6765 color when Viper is in insert state.
6766 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
6767 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
6768 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
6769
6770 ** Etags changes.
6771
6772 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
6773 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
6774 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
6775 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
6776 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
6777
6778 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
6779
6780 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
6781 constructs are tagged. Files are recognised by the extension .java.
6782
6783 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
6784 recognised by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
6785 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
6786
6787 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
6788 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
6789 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
6790 methods and protocols.
6791
6792 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognised by the extension
6793 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
6794 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
6795 paragraph name.
6796
6797 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
6798 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
6799 at least M times and as many as N times.
6800
6801 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
6802 in files has changed slightly.
6803
6804 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
6805 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
6806 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
6807 with old time-stamp-format values.
6808
6809 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
6810 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
6811 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
6812 reasons.
6813
6814 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
6815 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
6816 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
6817 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
6818 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
6819 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
6820
6821 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
6822 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
6823 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
6824
6825 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
6826 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
6827 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
6828 recommended now will continue to work then.
6829
6830 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
6831 details.
6832
6833 ** There are some additional major modes:
6834
6835 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
6836 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
6837 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
6838
6839 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
6840 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
6841 into Emacs.
6842
6843 ** New Lisp packages include:
6844
6845 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
6846
6847 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
6848 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
6849
6850 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
6851
6852 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
6853 in shell buffers.
6854
6855 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
6856 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
6857 and `elint-defun'.
6858
6859 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
6860 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
6861 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
6862 strings or comments.
6863
6864 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
6865 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
6866 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
6867 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
6868 at these points.
6869
6870 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
6871 can visit them by short forms of their names.
6872
6873 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
6874 Emacs Lisp function at point.
6875
6876 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
6877
6878 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
6879 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
6880
6881 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
6882
6883 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
6884
6885 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
6886
6887 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
6888 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
6889
6890 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
6891 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
6892 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
6893 original place after inserting the copy.
6894
6895 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
6896 on the buffer.
6897
6898 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
6899 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
6900 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
6901
6902 Enable mouse-drag with:
6903 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
6904 -or-
6905 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
6906
6907 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
6908 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
6909
6910 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
6911 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
6912
6913 *** ogonek
6914
6915 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
6916 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
6917 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
6918 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
6919 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
6920 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
6921 instance) and vice versa.
6922
6923 To use this package load it using
6924 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
6925 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
6926 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
6927 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
6928 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
6929 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
6930
6931 *** Interface to ph.
6932
6933 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
6934
6935 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
6936 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
6937 these servers.
6938
6939 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
6940
6941 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
6942 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
6943 while the real cursor does not move.
6944
6945 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
6946 for visiting your favorite web sites.
6947
6948 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
6949 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
6950
6951 ** movemail change
6952
6953 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
6954 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
6955 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
6956 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
6957
6958 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
6959 \f
6960 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
6961
6962 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
6963
6964 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
6965 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
6966 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
6967 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
6968 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
6969
6970 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
6971 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
6972 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
6973 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
6974 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
6975 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
6976 \f
6977 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
6978
6979 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
6980 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
6981 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
6982 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
6983
6984 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
6985 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
6986
6987 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
6988 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
6989 "win".
6990
6991 ** Basic Lisp changes
6992
6993 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
6994 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
6995
6996 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
6997 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
6998 or by the user.
6999
7000 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
7001
7002 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
7003
7004 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
7005 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
7006
7007 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
7008 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
7009 its argument.
7010
7011 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
7012
7013 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
7014
7015 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
7016
7017 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
7018 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
7019 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
7020 `format' function.
7021
7022 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
7023 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
7024 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
7025
7026 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
7027 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
7028 adding one of these suffixes.
7029
7030 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
7031 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
7032 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
7033
7034 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
7035 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
7036
7037 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
7038
7039 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
7040 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
7041
7042 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
7043 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
7044
7045 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
7046
7047 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
7048 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
7049
7050 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
7051 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
7052 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
7053 works using `save-current-buffer'.
7054
7055 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
7056 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
7057 of the last form.
7058
7059 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
7060 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
7061 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
7062 as the last form.
7063
7064 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
7065 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
7066 matches.
7067
7068 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
7069
7070 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
7071 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
7072 Then it returns that string.
7073
7074 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
7075
7076 (with-output-to-string
7077 (princ "The buffer is ")
7078 (princ (buffer-name)))
7079
7080 returns "The buffer is foo".
7081
7082 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
7083 is non-nil.
7084
7085 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
7086 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
7087 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
7088
7089 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
7090 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
7091
7092 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
7093 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
7094 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
7095 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
7096 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
7097 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
7098
7099 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
7100 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
7101 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
7102 characters".
7103
7104 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
7105 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
7106 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
7107 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
7108 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
7109
7110 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
7111 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
7112 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
7113 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
7114
7115 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
7116 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
7117
7118 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
7119
7120 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
7121 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
7122 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
7123 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
7124 guaranteed.
7125
7126 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
7127 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
7128 character).
7129
7130 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
7131
7132 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
7133 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
7134 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
7135 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
7136 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
7137
7138 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
7139
7140 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
7141 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
7142 more than the number of characters.
7143
7144 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
7145 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
7146 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
7147 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
7148 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
7149 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
7150
7151 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
7152 and returns a string containing those characters.
7153
7154 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
7155 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
7156 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
7157 character, sref signals an error.
7158
7159 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
7160 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
7161 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
7162
7163 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
7164 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
7165 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
7166
7167 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
7168 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
7169 to a vector of the characters in it.
7170
7171 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
7172 of a string. You call it as follows:
7173
7174 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
7175
7176 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
7177 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
7178 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
7179 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
7180 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
7181
7182 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
7183 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
7184
7185 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
7186 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
7187
7188 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
7189 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
7190 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
7191 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
7192
7193 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
7194
7195 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
7196
7197 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
7198 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
7199 are not included in the resulting value.
7200
7201 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
7202 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
7203 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
7204 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
7205
7206 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
7207 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
7208 character extends across that column), then the padding character
7209 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
7210 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
7211 column START-COLUMN.
7212
7213 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
7214 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
7215 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
7216 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
7217 changed text, before the change.
7218
7219 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
7220 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
7221 one character set for each script, not for each language.
7222
7223 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
7224
7225 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
7226
7227 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
7228 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
7229
7230 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
7231 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
7232 which identify the character within that character set.
7233
7234 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
7235 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
7236 opposite of split-char.
7237
7238 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
7239 of all the characters between BEG and END.
7240
7241 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
7242 of all the characters in a string.
7243
7244 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
7245 and specifying coding systems.
7246
7247 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
7248 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
7249 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
7250 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
7251 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
7252 as what to do about code conversion.)
7253
7254 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
7255 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
7256
7257 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
7258 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
7259 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
7260
7261 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
7262 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
7263 to match against a file name.
7264
7265 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
7266 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
7267 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
7268 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
7269 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
7270 specifies the coding system for encoding.
7271
7272 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
7273 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
7274
7275 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
7276 the coding system to use for network sockets.
7277
7278 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
7279 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
7280 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
7281 service names.
7282
7283 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
7284 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
7285 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
7286 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
7287 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
7288 specifies the coding system for encoding.
7289
7290 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
7291 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
7292
7293 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
7294 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
7295 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
7296 start the subprocess.
7297
7298 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
7299 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
7300 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
7301 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
7302 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
7303
7304 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
7305 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
7306 subprocess.
7307
7308 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
7309 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
7310 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
7311 connection permanently or until overridden.
7312
7313 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
7314 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
7315 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
7316 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
7317 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
7318 system for one operation at a time.
7319
7320 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
7321 files, subprocesses or network connections.
7322
7323 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
7324 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
7325 The value is a cons cell,
7326 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
7327 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
7328 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
7329 input to the subprocess.
7330
7331 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
7332 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
7333
7334 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
7335 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
7336 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
7337
7338 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
7339 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
7340 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
7341 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
7342 customization.
7343
7344 Thus, instead of writing
7345
7346 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
7347 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
7348
7349 you would now write this:
7350
7351 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
7352 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
7353 :type 'boolean
7354 :group foo)
7355
7356 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
7357 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
7358 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
7359 for a description of them.
7360
7361 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
7362 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
7363
7364 (defgroup ispell nil
7365 "Spell checking using Ispell."
7366 :group 'processes)
7367
7368 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
7369 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
7370 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
7371 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
7372 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
7373
7374 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
7375 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
7376 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
7377 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
7378 first-level subgroups.
7379
7380 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
7381
7382 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
7383 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
7384
7385 ** easy-mmode
7386
7387 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
7388 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
7389 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
7390 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
7391 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
7392 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
7393
7394 ** Text property changes
7395
7396 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
7397 text property.
7398
7399 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
7400 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
7401 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
7402 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
7403 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
7404
7405 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
7406 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
7407 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
7408 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
7409
7410 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
7411 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
7412 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
7413
7414 ** Changes in invisibility features
7415
7416 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
7417 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
7418 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
7419 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
7420 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
7421 make the overlay visible.
7422
7423 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
7424 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
7425 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
7426 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
7427 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
7428 t when it should hide it.
7429
7430 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
7431
7432 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
7433 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
7434 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
7435 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
7436 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
7437 Here is an example of how to do this:
7438
7439 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
7440 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
7441 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
7442 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
7443
7444 ...
7445 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
7446
7447 ...
7448 ;; When done with the overlays:
7449 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
7450 ;; Or respectively:
7451 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
7452
7453 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
7454
7455 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
7456 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
7457 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
7458 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
7459
7460 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
7461 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
7462 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
7463
7464 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
7465 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
7466
7467 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
7468 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
7469
7470 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
7471 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
7472 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
7473
7474 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
7475 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
7476 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
7477 determine the syntax type of the character.
7478
7479 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
7480 of the current buffer.
7481
7482 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
7483 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
7484 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
7485
7486 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
7487 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
7488 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
7489 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
7490 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
7491
7492 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
7493 text property.
7494
7495 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
7496 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
7497 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
7498
7499 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
7500 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
7501 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
7502 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
7503 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
7504
7505 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
7506 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
7507 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
7508
7509 ** Changes in face features
7510
7511 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
7512 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
7513
7514 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
7515 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
7516
7517 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
7518 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
7519
7520 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
7521 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
7522
7523 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
7524 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
7525 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
7526 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
7527 overlay property).
7528
7529 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
7530 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
7531
7532 ** Changes in file-handling functions
7533
7534 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
7535 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
7536 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
7537 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
7538
7539 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
7540 begins with ~.
7541
7542 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
7543 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
7544
7545 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
7546 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
7547
7548 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
7549 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
7550
7551 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
7552 character code conversion as well as other things.
7553
7554 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
7555 (formerly it did not).
7556
7557 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
7558 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
7559
7560 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
7561 instead of constant strings.
7562
7563 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
7564 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
7565 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
7566
7567 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
7568 in the same way as before.
7569
7570 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
7571 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
7572 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
7573
7574 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
7575 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
7576 else, and returns nil.
7577
7578 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
7579 directory cannot be listed.
7580
7581 ** Changes in minibuffer input
7582
7583 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
7584 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
7585 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
7586 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
7587 ways:
7588
7589 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
7590 It is available through the history command M-n.
7591
7592 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
7593 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
7594 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
7595 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
7596 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
7597
7598 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
7599 argument in this way.
7600
7601 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
7602 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
7603 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
7604
7605 ** Echo area features
7606
7607 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
7608 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
7609 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
7610 after the echo area is cleared.
7611
7612 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
7613 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
7614
7615 ** Keyboard input features
7616
7617 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
7618 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
7619
7620 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
7621 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
7622 by keyboard macros.
7623
7624 ** Frame-related changes
7625
7626 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
7627 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
7628 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
7629
7630 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
7631 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
7632 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
7633
7634 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
7635 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
7636 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
7637 in the selected frame.
7638
7639 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
7640 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
7641 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
7642
7643 ** X Windows features
7644
7645 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
7646 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
7647 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
7648
7649 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
7650 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
7651
7652 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
7653 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
7654 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
7655
7656 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
7657 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
7658
7659 ** Subprocess features
7660
7661 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
7662 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
7663 automatically.
7664
7665 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
7666 and returns the output from the command as a string.
7667
7668 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
7669 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
7670
7671 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
7672 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
7673
7674 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
7675 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
7676 goes after the other menu items.
7677
7678 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
7679 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
7680 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
7681 are in use.
7682
7683 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
7684 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
7685
7686 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
7687 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
7688 form.
7689
7690 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
7691 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
7692 but its hook is still run.
7693
7694 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
7695 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
7696
7697 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
7698 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
7699 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
7700
7701 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
7702 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
7703 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
7704 warned.
7705
7706 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
7707 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
7708
7709 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
7710 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
7711 functions like display-time.
7712
7713 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
7714 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
7715
7716 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
7717 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
7718 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
7719
7720 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
7721 if there is an error in compilation.
7722
7723 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
7724 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
7725 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
7726 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
7727
7728 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
7729 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
7730 the *scratch* buffer.
7731
7732 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
7733 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
7734 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
7735 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
7736
7737 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
7738 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
7739 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
7740
7741 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
7742 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
7743 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
7744 and compose-mail-other-frame.
7745
7746 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
7747 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
7748 full name of the specified user will be returned.
7749
7750 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
7751 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
7752 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
7753 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
7754 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
7755 files at all.
7756
7757 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
7758 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
7759 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
7760 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
7761
7762 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
7763 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
7764 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
7765 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
7766
7767 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
7768
7769 ** imenu.el changes.
7770
7771 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
7772 item from menu created by imenu.
7773
7774 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
7775 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
7776 select one of those items.
7777 \f
7778 * Emacs 19.34 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
7779 \f
7780 * Changes in Emacs 19.33.
7781
7782 ** Bibtex mode no longer turns on Auto Fill automatically. (No major
7783 mode should do that--it is the user's choice.)
7784
7785 ** The variable normal-auto-fill-function specifies the function to
7786 use for auto-fill-function, if and when Auto Fill is turned on.
7787 Major modes can set this locally to alter how Auto Fill works.
7788 \f
7789 * Editing Changes in Emacs 19.32
7790
7791 ** C-x f with no argument now signals an error.
7792 To set the fill column at the current column, use C-u C-x f.
7793
7794 ** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
7795 conversion. If you type the abbreviation with mixed case, and it
7796 matches the beginning of the expansion including case, then the
7797 expansion is copied verbatim. Using SPC M-/ to copy an additional
7798 word always copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is
7799 all caps.
7800
7801 ** On a non-windowing terminal, which can display only one Emacs frame
7802 at a time, creating a new frame with C-x 5 2 also selects that frame.
7803
7804 When using a display that can show multiple frames at once, C-x 5 2
7805 does make the frame visible, but does not select it. This is the same
7806 as in previous Emacs versions.
7807
7808 ** You can use C-x 5 2 to create multiple frames on MSDOS, just as on a
7809 non-X terminal on Unix. Of course, only one frame is visible at any
7810 time, since your terminal doesn't have the ability to display multiple
7811 frames.
7812
7813 ** On Windows, set win32-pass-alt-to-system to a non-nil value
7814 if you would like tapping the Alt key to invoke the Windows menu.
7815 This feature is not enabled by default; since the Alt key is also the
7816 Meta key, it is too easy and painful to activate this feature by
7817 accident.
7818
7819 ** The command apply-macro-to-region-lines repeats the last defined
7820 keyboard macro once for each complete line within the current region.
7821 It does this line by line, by moving point to the beginning of that
7822 line and then executing the macro.
7823
7824 This command is not new, but was never documented before.
7825
7826 ** You can now use Mouse-1 to place the region around a string constant
7827 (something surrounded by doublequote characters or other delimiter
7828 characters of like syntax) by double-clicking on one of the delimiting
7829 characters.
7830
7831 ** Font Lock mode
7832
7833 *** Font Lock support modes
7834
7835 Font Lock can be configured to use Fast Lock mode and Lazy Lock mode (see
7836 below) in a flexible way. Rather than adding the appropriate function to the
7837 hook font-lock-mode-hook, you can use the new variable font-lock-support-mode
7838 to control which modes have Fast Lock mode or Lazy Lock mode turned on when
7839 Font Lock mode is enabled.
7840
7841 For example, to use Fast Lock mode when Font Lock mode is turned on, put:
7842
7843 (setq font-lock-support-mode 'fast-lock-mode)
7844
7845 in your ~/.emacs.
7846
7847 *** lazy-lock
7848
7849 The lazy-lock package speeds up Font Lock mode by making fontification occur
7850 only when necessary, such as when a previously unfontified part of the buffer
7851 becomes visible in a window. When you create a buffer with Font Lock mode and
7852 Lazy Lock mode turned on, the buffer is not fontified. When certain events
7853 occur (such as scrolling), Lazy Lock makes sure that the visible parts of the
7854 buffer are fontified. Lazy Lock also defers on-the-fly fontification until
7855 Emacs has been idle for a given amount of time.
7856
7857 To use this package, put in your ~/.emacs:
7858
7859 (setq font-lock-support-mode 'lazy-lock-mode)
7860
7861 To control the package behaviour, see the documentation for `lazy-lock-mode'.
7862
7863 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
7864
7865 *** For all entries allow spaces and tabs between opening brace or
7866 paren and key.
7867
7868 *** Non-escaped double-quoted characters (as in `Sch"of') are now
7869 supported.
7870
7871 ** Gnus changes.
7872
7873 Gnus, the Emacs news reader, has undergone further rewriting. Many new
7874 commands and variables have been added. There should be no
7875 significant incompatibilities between this Gnus version and the
7876 previously released version, except in the message composition area.
7877
7878 Below is a list of the more user-visible changes. Coding changes
7879 between Gnus 5.1 and 5.2 are more extensive.
7880
7881 *** A new message composition mode is used. All old customization
7882 variables for mail-mode, rnews-reply-mode and gnus-msg are now
7883 obsolete.
7884
7885 *** Gnus is now able to generate "sparse" threads -- threads where
7886 missing articles are represented by empty nodes.
7887
7888 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
7889
7890 *** Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server.
7891
7892 To disable this: (setq gnus-message-archive-group nil)
7893
7894 *** Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
7895 referred.
7896
7897 *** Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions:
7898
7899 (setq gnus-use-grouplens t)
7900
7901 *** A trn-line tree buffer can be displayed.
7902
7903 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
7904
7905 *** An nn-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
7906 buffers.
7907
7908 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
7909
7910 *** In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode:
7911
7912 `M-x gnus-binary-mode'
7913
7914 *** Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy.
7915
7916 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
7917
7918 *** Gnus can re-send and bounce mail.
7919
7920 Use the `S D r' and `S D b'.
7921
7922 *** Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
7923 is possible.
7924
7925 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
7926
7927 *** Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
7928 groups of groups.
7929
7930 *** Caching is possible in virtual groups.
7931
7932 *** nndoc now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews news
7933 batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything else.
7934
7935 *** Gnus has a new backend (nnsoup) to create/read SOUP packets.
7936
7937 *** The Gnus cache is much faster.
7938
7939 *** Groups can be sorted according to many criteria.
7940
7941 For instance: (setq gnus-group-sort-function 'gnus-group-sort-by-rank)
7942
7943 *** New group parameters have been introduced to set list-address and
7944 expiration times.
7945
7946 *** All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used.
7947
7948 *** There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on
7949 process marked articles on the `M P' submap.
7950
7951 *** The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
7952 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
7953 bound to keys on the `/' submap.
7954
7955 *** Articles can be made persistent -- as an alternative to saving
7956 articles with the `*' command.
7957
7958 *** All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
7959
7960 *** Article headers can be buttonized.
7961
7962 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
7963
7964 *** All mail backends support fetching articles by Message-ID.
7965
7966 *** Duplicate mail can now be treated properly. See the
7967 `nnmail-treat-duplicates' variable.
7968
7969 *** All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
7970 buffer.
7971
7972 *** Frames can be part of `gnus-buffer-configuration'.
7973
7974 *** Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process.
7975
7976 *** Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to filter spam.
7977
7978 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
7979
7980 *** Groups can be made permanently visible.
7981
7982 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
7983
7984 *** Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
7985
7986 *** Gnus respects the Mail-Copies-To header.
7987
7988 *** Threads can be gathered by looking at the References header.
7989
7990 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7991 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
7992
7993 *** Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
7994 refetching.
7995
7996 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
7997
7998 *** A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
7999 buffer to allow easier treatment.
8000
8001 *** Gnus can suggest where to save articles. See `gnus-split-methods'.
8002
8003 *** Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving.
8004
8005 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
8006
8007 *** gnus-uu can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
8008 articles.
8009
8010 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
8011
8012 *** Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text.
8013
8014 *** Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
8015 cited text to hide is now customizable.
8016
8017 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
8018
8019 *** Boring headers can be hidden.
8020
8021 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers)
8022
8023 *** Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
8024
8025 *** Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
8026
8027 The Gnus manual has been expanded. It explains all these new features
8028 in greater detail.
8029 \f
8030 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 19.32
8031
8032 ** The function set-visited-file-name now accepts an optional
8033 second argument NO-QUERY. If it is non-nil, then the user is not
8034 asked for confirmation in the case where the specified file already
8035 exists.
8036
8037 ** The variable print-length applies to printing vectors and bitvectors,
8038 as well as lists.
8039
8040 ** The new function keymap-parent returns the parent keymap
8041 of a given keymap.
8042
8043 ** The new function set-keymap-parent specifies a new parent for a
8044 given keymap. The arguments are KEYMAP and PARENT. PARENT must be a
8045 keymap or nil.
8046
8047 ** Sometimes menu keymaps use a command name, a symbol, which is really
8048 an automatically generated alias for some other command, the "real"
8049 name. In such a case, you should give that alias symbol a non-nil
8050 menu-alias property. That property tells the menu system to look for
8051 equivalent keys for the real name instead of equivalent keys for the
8052 alias.
8053 \f
8054 * Editing Changes in Emacs 19.31
8055
8056 ** Freedom of the press restricted in the United States.
8057
8058 Emacs has been censored in accord with the Communications Decency Act.
8059 This includes removing some features of the doctor program. That law
8060 was described by its supporters as a ban on pornography, but it bans
8061 far more than that. The Emacs distribution has never contained any
8062 pornography, but parts of it were nonetheless prohibited.
8063
8064 For information on US government censorship of the Internet, and what
8065 you can do to bring back freedom of the press, see the web site
8066 `http://www.vtw.org/'.
8067
8068 ** A note about C mode indentation customization.
8069
8070 The old (Emacs 19.29) ways of specifying a C indentation style
8071 do not normally work in the new implementation of C mode.
8072 It has its own methods of customizing indentation, which are
8073 much more powerful than the old C mode. See the Editing Programs
8074 chapter of the manual for details.
8075
8076 However, you can load the library cc-compat to make the old
8077 customization variables take effect.
8078
8079 ** Marking with the mouse.
8080
8081 When you mark a region with the mouse, the region now remains
8082 highlighted until the next input event, regardless of whether you are
8083 using M-x transient-mark-mode.
8084
8085 ** Improved Windows NT/95 support.
8086
8087 *** Emacs now supports scroll bars on Windows NT and Windows 95.
8088
8089 *** Emacs now supports subprocesses on Windows 95. (Subprocesses used
8090 to work on NT only and not on 95.)
8091
8092 *** There are difficulties with subprocesses, though, due to problems
8093 in Windows, beyond the control of Emacs. They work fine as long as
8094 you run Windows applications. The problems arise when you run a DOS
8095 application in a subprocesses. Since current shells run as DOS
8096 applications, these problems are significant.
8097
8098 If you run a DOS application in a subprocess, then the application is
8099 likely to busy-wait, which means that your machine will be 100% busy.
8100 However, if you don't mind the temporary heavy load, the subprocess
8101 will work OK as long as you tell it to terminate before you start any
8102 other DOS application as a subprocess.
8103
8104 Emacs is unable to terminate or interrupt a DOS subprocess.
8105 You have to do this by providing input directly to the subprocess.
8106
8107 If you run two DOS applications at the same time in two separate
8108 subprocesses, even if one of them is asynchronous, you will probably
8109 have to reboot your machine--until then, it will remain 100% busy.
8110 Windows simply does not cope when one Windows process tries to run two
8111 separate DOS subprocesses. Typing CTL-ALT-DEL and then choosing
8112 Shutdown seems to work although it may take a few minutes.
8113
8114 ** M-x resize-minibuffer-mode.
8115
8116 This command, not previously mentioned in NEWS, toggles a mode in
8117 which the minibuffer window expands to show as many lines as the
8118 minibuffer contains.
8119
8120 ** `title' frame parameter and resource.
8121
8122 The `title' X resource now specifies just the frame title, nothing else.
8123 It does not affect the name used for looking up other X resources.
8124 It works by setting the new `title' frame parameter, which likewise
8125 affects just the displayed title of the frame.
8126
8127 The `name' parameter continues to do what it used to do:
8128 it specifies the frame name for looking up X resources,
8129 and also serves as the default for the displayed title
8130 when the `title' parameter is unspecified or nil.
8131
8132 ** Emacs now uses the X toolkit by default, if you have a new
8133 enough version of X installed (X11R5 or newer).
8134
8135 ** When you compile Emacs with the Motif widget set, Motif handles the
8136 F10 key by activating the menu bar. To avoid confusion, the usual
8137 Emacs binding of F10 is replaced with a no-op when using Motif.
8138
8139 If you want to be able to use F10 in Emacs, you can rebind the Motif
8140 menubar to some other key which you don't use. To do so, add
8141 something like this to your X resources file. This example rebinds
8142 the Motif menu bar activation key to S-F12:
8143
8144 Emacs*defaultVirtualBindings: osfMenuBar : Shift<Key>F12
8145
8146 ** In overwrite mode, DEL now inserts spaces in most cases
8147 to replace the characters it "deletes".
8148
8149 ** The Rmail summary now shows the number of lines in each message.
8150
8151 ** Rmail has a new command M-x unforward-rmail-message, which extracts
8152 a forwarded message from the message that forwarded it. To use it,
8153 select a message which contains a forwarded message and then type the command.
8154 It inserts the forwarded message as a separate Rmail message
8155 immediately after the selected one.
8156
8157 This command also undoes the textual modifications that are standardly
8158 made, as part of forwarding, by Rmail and other mail reader programs.
8159
8160 ** Turning off saving of .saves-... files in your home directory.
8161
8162 Each Emacs session writes a file named .saves-... in your home
8163 directory to record which files M-x recover-session should recover.
8164 If you exit Emacs normally with C-x C-c, it deletes that file. If
8165 Emacs or the operating system crashes, the file remains for M-x
8166 recover-session.
8167
8168 You can turn off the writing of these files by setting
8169 auto-save-list-file-name to nil. If you do this, M-x recover-session
8170 will not work.
8171
8172 Some previous Emacs versions failed to delete these files even on
8173 normal exit. This is fixed now. If you are thinking of turning off
8174 this feature because of past experiences with versions that had this
8175 bug, it would make sense to check whether you still want to do so
8176 now that the bug is fixed.
8177
8178 ** Changes to Version Control (VC)
8179
8180 There is a new variable, vc-follow-symlinks. It indicates what to do
8181 when you visit a link to a file that is under version control.
8182 Editing the file through the link bypasses the version control system,
8183 which is dangerous and probably not what you want.
8184
8185 If this variable is t, VC follows the link and visits the real file,
8186 telling you about it in the echo area. If it is `ask' (the default),
8187 VC asks for confirmation whether it should follow the link. If nil,
8188 the link is visited and a warning displayed.
8189
8190 ** iso-acc.el now lets you specify a choice of language.
8191 Languages include "latin-1" (the default) and "latin-2" (which
8192 is designed for entering ISO Latin-2 characters).
8193
8194 There are also choices for specific human languages such as French and
8195 Portuguese. These are subsets of Latin-1, which differ in that they
8196 enable only the accent characters needed for particular language.
8197 The other accent characters, not needed for the chosen language,
8198 remain normal.
8199
8200 ** Posting articles and sending mail now has M-TAB completion on various
8201 header fields (Newsgroups, To, CC, ...).
8202
8203 Completion in the Newsgroups header depends on the list of groups
8204 known to your news reader. Completion in the Followup-To header
8205 offers those groups which are in the Newsgroups header, since
8206 Followup-To usually just holds one of those.
8207
8208 Completion in fields that hold mail addresses works based on the list
8209 of local users plus your aliases. Additionally, if your site provides
8210 a mail directory or a specific host to use for any unrecognized user
8211 name, you can arrange to query that host for completion also. (See the
8212 documentation of variables `mail-directory-process' and
8213 `mail-directory-stream'.)
8214
8215 ** A greatly extended sgml-mode offers new features such as (to be configured)
8216 skeletons with completing read for tags and attributes, typing named
8217 characters including optionally all 8bit characters, making tags invisible
8218 with optional alternate display text, skipping and deleting tag(pair)s.
8219
8220 Note: since Emacs' syntax feature cannot limit the special meaning of ', " and
8221 - to inside <>, for some texts the result, especially of font locking, may be
8222 wrong (see `sgml-specials' if you get wrong results).
8223
8224 The derived html-mode configures this with tags and attributes more or
8225 less HTML3ish. It also offers optional quick keys like C-c 1 for
8226 headline or C-c u for unordered list (see `html-quick-keys'). Edit /
8227 Text Properties / Face or M-g combinations create tags as applicable.
8228 Outline minor mode is supported and level 1 font-locking tries to
8229 fontify tag contents (which only works when they fit on one line, due
8230 to a limitation in font-lock).
8231
8232 External viewing via browse-url can occur automatically upon saving.
8233
8234 ** M-x imenu-add-to-menubar now adds to the menu bar for the current
8235 buffer only. If you want to put an Imenu item in the menu bar for all
8236 buffers that use a particular major mode, use the mode hook, as in
8237 this example:
8238
8239 (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook
8240 '(lambda () (imenu-add-to-menubar "Index")))
8241
8242 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
8243
8244 *** Field names may now contain digits, hyphens, and underscores.
8245
8246 *** Font Lock mode is now supported.
8247
8248 *** bibtex-make-optional-field is no longer interactive.
8249
8250 *** If bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is non-nil, inserting new
8251 entries is now done with a faster algorithm. However, inserting
8252 will fail in this case if the buffer contains invalid entries or
8253 isn't in sorted order, so you should finish each entry with C-c C-c
8254 (bibtex-close-entry) after you have inserted or modified it.
8255 The default value of bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is nil.
8256
8257 *** Function `show-all' is no longer bound to a key, since C-u C-c C-q
8258 does the same job.
8259
8260 *** Entries with quotes inside quote-delimited fields (as `author =
8261 "Stefan Sch{\"o}f"') are now supported.
8262
8263 *** Case in field names doesn't matter anymore when searching for help
8264 text.
8265
8266 ** Font Lock mode
8267
8268 *** Global Font Lock mode
8269
8270 Font Lock mode can be turned on globally, in buffers that support it, by the
8271 new command global-font-lock-mode. You can use the new variable
8272 font-lock-global-modes to control which modes have Font Lock mode automagically
8273 turned on. By default, this variable is set so that Font Lock mode is turned
8274 on globally where the buffer mode supports it.
8275
8276 For example, to automagically turn on Font Lock mode where supported, put:
8277
8278 (global-font-lock-mode t)
8279
8280 in your ~/.emacs.
8281
8282 *** Local Refontification
8283
8284 In Font Lock mode, editing a line automatically refontifies that line only.
8285 However, if your change alters the syntactic context for following lines,
8286 those lines remain incorrectly fontified. To refontify them, use the new
8287 command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block).
8288
8289 In certain major modes, M-g M-g refontifies the entire current function.
8290 (The variable font-lock-mark-block-function controls how to find the
8291 current function.) In other major modes, M-g M-g refontifies 16 lines
8292 above and below point.
8293
8294 With a prefix argument N, M-g M-g refontifies N lines above and below point.
8295
8296 ** Follow mode
8297
8298 Follow mode is a new minor mode combining windows showing the same
8299 buffer into one tall "virtual window". The windows are typically two
8300 side-by-side windows. Follow mode makes them scroll together as if
8301 they were a unit. To use it, go to a frame with just one window,
8302 split it into two side-by-side windows using C-x 3, and then type M-x
8303 follow-mode.
8304
8305 M-x follow-mode turns off Follow mode if it is already enabled.
8306
8307 To display two side-by-side windows and activate Follow mode, use the
8308 command M-x follow-delete-other-windows-and-split.
8309
8310 ** hide-show changes.
8311
8312 The hooks hs-hide-hooks and hs-show-hooks have been renamed
8313 to hs-hide-hook and hs-show-hook, to follow the convention for
8314 normal hooks.
8315
8316 ** Simula mode now has a menu containing the most important commands.
8317 The new command simula-indent-exp is bound to C-M-q.
8318
8319 ** etags can now handle programs written in Erlang. Files are
8320 recognised by the extensions .erl and .hrl. The tagged lines are
8321 those that begin a function, record, or macro.
8322
8323 ** MSDOS Changes
8324
8325 *** It is now possible to compile Emacs with the version 2 of DJGPP.
8326 Compilation with DJGPP version 1 also still works.
8327
8328 *** The documentation of DOS-specific aspects of Emacs was rewritten
8329 and expanded; see the ``MS-DOS'' node in the on-line docs.
8330
8331 *** Emacs now uses ~ for backup file names, not .bak.
8332
8333 *** You can simulate mouse-3 on two-button mice by simultaneously
8334 pressing both mouse buttons.
8335
8336 *** A number of packages and commands which previously failed or had
8337 restricted functionality on MS-DOS, now work. The most important ones
8338 are:
8339
8340 **** Printing (both with `M-x lpr-buffer' and with `ps-print' package)
8341 now works.
8342
8343 **** `Ediff' works (in a single-frame mode).
8344
8345 **** `M-x display-time' can be used on MS-DOS (due to the new
8346 implementation of Emacs timers, see below).
8347
8348 **** `Dired' supports Unix-style shell wildcards.
8349
8350 **** The `c-macro-expand' command now works as on other platforms.
8351
8352 **** `M-x recover-session' works.
8353
8354 **** `M-x list-colors-display' displays all the available colors.
8355
8356 **** The `TPU-EDT' package works.
8357 \f
8358 * Lisp changes in Emacs 19.31.
8359
8360 ** The function using-unix-filesystems on Windows NT and Windows 95
8361 tells Emacs to read and write files assuming that they reside on a
8362 remote Unix filesystem. No CR/LF translation is done on any files in
8363 this case. Invoking using-unix-filesystems with t activates this
8364 behavior, and invoking it with any other value deactivates it.
8365
8366 ** Change in system-type and system-configuration values.
8367
8368 The value of system-type on a Linux-based GNU system is now `lignux',
8369 not `linux'. This means that some programs which use `system-type'
8370 need to be changed. The value of `system-configuration' will also
8371 be different.
8372
8373 It is generally recommended to use `system-configuration' rather
8374 than `system-type'.
8375
8376 See the file LINUX-GNU in this directory for more about this.
8377
8378 ** The functions shell-command and dired-call-process
8379 now run file name handlers for default-directory, if it has them.
8380
8381 ** Undoing the deletion of text now restores the positions of markers
8382 that pointed into or next to the deleted text.
8383
8384 ** Timers created with run-at-time now work internally to Emacs, and
8385 no longer use a separate process. Therefore, they now work more
8386 reliably and can be used for shorter time delays.
8387
8388 The new function run-with-timer is a convenient way to set up a timer
8389 to run a specified amount of time after the present. A call looks
8390 like this:
8391
8392 (run-with-timer SECS REPEAT FUNCTION ARGS...)
8393
8394 SECS says how many seconds should elapse before the timer happens.
8395 It may be an integer or a floating point number. When the timer
8396 becomes ripe, the action is to call FUNCTION with arguments ARGS.
8397
8398 REPEAT gives the interval for repeating the timer (measured in
8399 seconds). It may be an integer or a floating point number. nil or 0
8400 means don't repeat at all--call FUNCTION just once.
8401
8402 *** with-timeout provides an easy way to do something but give
8403 up if too much time passes.
8404
8405 (with-timeout (SECONDS TIMEOUT-FORMS...) BODY...)
8406
8407 This executes BODY, but gives up after SECONDS seconds.
8408 If it gives up, it runs the TIMEOUT-FORMS and returns the value
8409 of the last one of them. Normally it returns the value of the last
8410 form in BODY.
8411
8412 *** You can now arrange to call a function whenever Emacs is idle for
8413 a certain length of time. To do this, call run-with-idle-timer. A
8414 call looks like this:
8415
8416 (run-with-idle-timer SECS REPEAT FUNCTION ARGS...)
8417
8418 SECS says how many seconds of idleness should elapse before the timer
8419 runs. It may be an integer or a floating point number. When the
8420 timer becomes ripe, the action is to call FUNCTION with arguments
8421 ARGS.
8422
8423 Emacs becomes idle whenever it finishes executing a keyboard or mouse
8424 command. It remains idle until it receives another keyboard or mouse
8425 command.
8426
8427 REPEAT, if non-nil, means this timer should be activated again each
8428 time Emacs becomes idle and remains idle for SECS seconds The timer
8429 does not repeat if Emacs *remains* idle; it runs at most once after
8430 each time Emacs becomes idle.
8431
8432 If REPEAT is nil, the timer runs just once, the first time Emacs is
8433 idle for SECS seconds.
8434
8435 *** post-command-idle-hook is now obsolete; you shouldn't use it at
8436 all, because it interferes with the idle timer mechanism. If your
8437 programs use post-command-idle-hook, convert them to use idle timers
8438 instead.
8439
8440 *** y-or-n-p-with-timeout lets you ask a question but give up if
8441 there is no answer within a certain time.
8442
8443 (y-or-n-p-with-timeout PROMPT SECONDS DEFAULT-VALUE)
8444
8445 asks the question PROMPT (just like y-or-n-p). If the user answers
8446 within SECONDS seconds, it returns the answer that the user gave.
8447 Otherwise it gives up after SECONDS seconds, and returns DEFAULT-VALUE.
8448
8449 ** Minor change to `encode-time': you can now pass more than seven
8450 arguments. If you do that, the first six arguments have the usual
8451 meaning, the last argument is interpreted as the time zone, and the
8452 arguments in between are ignored.
8453
8454 This means that it works to use the list returned by `decode-time' as
8455 the list of arguments for `encode-time'.
8456
8457 ** The default value of load-path now includes the directory
8458 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp In addition to
8459 /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp. You can use this new directory for
8460 site-specific Lisp packages that belong with a particular Emacs
8461 version.
8462
8463 It is not unusual for a Lisp package that works well in one Emacs
8464 version to cause trouble in another. Sometimes packages need updating
8465 for incompatible changes; sometimes they look at internal data that
8466 has changed; sometimes the package has been installed in Emacs itself
8467 and the installed version should be used. Whatever the reason for the
8468 problem, this new feature makes it easier to solve.
8469
8470 ** When your program contains a fixed file name (like .completions or
8471 .abbrev.defs), the file name usually needs to be different on operating
8472 systems with limited file name syntax.
8473
8474 Now you can avoid ad-hoc conditionals by using the function
8475 convert-standard-filename to convert the file name to a proper form
8476 for each operating system. Here is an example of use, from the file
8477 completions.el:
8478
8479 (defvar save-completions-file-name
8480 (convert-standard-filename "~/.completions")
8481 "*The filename to save completions to.")
8482
8483 This sets the variable save-completions-file-name to a value that
8484 depends on the operating system, because the definition of
8485 convert-standard-filename depends on the operating system. On
8486 Unix-like systems, it returns the specified file name unchanged. On
8487 MS-DOS, it adapts the name to fit the limitations of that system.
8488
8489 ** The interactive spec N now returns the numeric prefix argument
8490 rather than the raw prefix argument. (It still reads a number using the
8491 minibuffer if there is no prefix argument at all.)
8492
8493 ** When a process is deleted, this no longer disconnects the process
8494 marker from its buffer position.
8495
8496 ** The variable garbage-collection-messages now controls whether
8497 Emacs displays a message at the beginning and end of garbage collection.
8498 The default is nil, meaning there are no messages.
8499
8500 ** The variable debug-ignored-errors specifies certain kinds of errors
8501 that should not enter the debugger. Its value is a list of error
8502 condition symbols and/or regular expressions. If the error has any
8503 of the condition symbols listed, or if any of the regular expressions
8504 matches the error message, then that error does not enter the debugger,
8505 regardless of the value of debug-on-error.
8506
8507 This variable is initialized to match certain common but uninteresting
8508 errors that happen often during editing.
8509
8510 ** The new function error-message-string converts an error datum
8511 into its error message. The error datum is what condition-case
8512 puts into the variable, to describe the error that happened.
8513
8514 ** Anything that changes which buffer appears in a given window
8515 now runs the window-scroll-functions for that window.
8516
8517 ** The new function get-buffer-window-list returns a list of windows displaying
8518 a buffer. The function is called with the buffer (a buffer object or a buffer
8519 name) and two optional arguments specifying the minibuffer windows and frames
8520 to search. Therefore this function takes optional args like next-window etc.,
8521 and not get-buffer-window.
8522
8523 ** buffer-substring now runs the hook buffer-access-fontify-functions,
8524 calling each function with two arguments--the range of the buffer
8525 being accessed. buffer-substring-no-properties does not call them.
8526
8527 If you use this feature, you should set the variable
8528 buffer-access-fontified-property to a non-nil symbol, which is a
8529 property name. Then, if all the characters in the buffer range have a
8530 non-nil value for that property, the buffer-access-fontify-functions
8531 are not called. When called, these functions should put a non-nil
8532 property on the text that they fontify, so that they won't get called
8533 over and over for the same text.
8534
8535 ** Changes in lisp-mnt.el
8536
8537 *** The lisp-mnt package can now recognize file headers that are written
8538 in the formats used by the `what' command and the RCS `ident' command:
8539
8540 ;; @(#) HEADER: text
8541 ;; $HEADER: text $
8542
8543 in addition to the normal
8544
8545 ;; HEADER: text
8546
8547 *** The commands lm-verify and lm-synopsis are now interactive. lm-verify
8548 checks that the library file has proper sections and headers, and
8549 lm-synopsis extracts first line "synopsis'"information.
8550
8551
8552 \f
8553 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
8554
8555 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
8556 Copyright information:
8557
8558 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
8559
8560 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
8561 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
8562 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
8563 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
8564
8565 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
8566 of this document, or of portions of it,
8567 under the above conditions, provided also that they
8568 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
8569 \f
8570 Local variables:
8571 mode: outline
8572 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
8573 end: