1 @c This is part of the Emacs manual.
2 @c Copyright (C) 2005-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 @c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions.
6 @appendix Emacs 23 Antinews
7 @c Update the emacs.texi Antinews menu entry with the above version number.
9 For those users who live backwards in time, here is information
10 about downgrading to Emacs version 23.4. We hope you will enjoy the
11 greater simplicity that results from the absence of many Emacs
12 @value{EMACSVER} features.
16 Support for displaying and editing ``bidirectional'' text has been
17 removed. Text is now always displayed on the screen in a single
18 consistent direction---left to right---regardless of the underlying
19 script. Similarly, @kbd{C-f} and @kbd{C-b} always move the text
20 cursor to the right and left respectively. Also, @key{RIGHT} and
21 @key{LEFT} are now equivalent to @kbd{C-f} and @kbd{C-b}, as you might
22 expect, rather than moving forward or backward based on the underlying
23 ``paragraph direction''.
25 Users of ``right-to-left'' languages, like Arabic and Hebrew, may
26 adapt by reading and/or editing text in left-to-right order.
29 The Emacs Lisp package manager has been removed. Instead of using a
30 ``user interface'' (@kbd{M-x list-packages}), additional Lisp packages
31 must now be installed by hand, which is the most flexible and
32 ``Lispy'' method anyway. Typically, this just involves editing your
33 init file to add the package installation directory to the load path
34 and defining some autoloads; see each package's commentary section
35 and/or README file for details.
38 The option @code{delete-active-region} has been deleted. When the
39 region is active, typing @key{DEL} or @key{Delete} no longer deletes
40 the text in the region; it deletes a single character instead.
43 We have reworked how Emacs handles the clipboard and the X primary
44 selection. Commands for killing and yanking, like @kbd{C-w} and
45 @kbd{C-y}, use the primary selection and not the clipboard, so you can
46 use these commands without interfering with ``cutting'' or ``pasting''
47 in other programs. The @samp{Cut}/@samp{Copy}/@samp{Paste} menu items
48 are bound to separate clipboard commands, not to the same commands as
49 @kbd{C-w}/@kbd{M-w}/@kbd{C-y}.
51 Selecting text by dragging with the mouse now puts the text in the
52 kill ring, in addition to the primary selection. But note that
53 selecting an active region with @kbd{C-@key{SPC}} does @emph{not}
54 alter the kill ring nor the primary selection, even though the text
55 highlighting is visually identical.
58 In Isearch, @kbd{C-y} and @kbd{M-y} are no longer bound to
59 @code{isearch-yank-kill} and @code{isearch-yank-pop} respectively.
60 Instead, @kbd{C-y} yanks the rest of the current line into the search
61 string (@code{isearch-yank-line}), whereas @kbd{M-y} does
62 @code{isearch-yank-kill}. The mismatch with the usual meanings of
63 @kbd{C-y} and @kbd{M-y} is unintended.
66 Various completion features have been simplified. The option
67 @code{completion-category-overrides} has been removed, so Emacs uses a
68 single consistent scheme to generate completions, instead of using a
69 separate scheme for (say) buffer name completion. Several major
70 modes, such as Shell mode, now implement their own inline completion
71 commands instead of using @code{completion-at-point}.
74 We have removed several options for controlling how windows are used,
75 such as @code{display-buffer-base-action},
76 @code{display-buffer-alist}, @code{window-combination-limit}, and
77 @code{window-combination-resize}.
80 The command @kbd{M-x customize-themes} has been removed. Emacs no
81 longer comes with pre-defined themes (you can write your own).
84 Emacs no longer adapts various aspects of its display to GTK+
85 settings, opting instead for a uniform toolkit-independent look. GTK+
86 scroll bars are placed on the left, the same position as non-GTK+ X
87 scroll bars. Emacs no longer refers to GTK+ to set the default
88 @code{region} face, nor for drawing tooltips.
91 Setting the option @code{delete-by-moving-to-trash} to a
92 non-@code{nil} value now causes all file deletions to use the system trash,
93 even temporary files created by Lisp programs; furthermore, the
94 @kbd{M-x delete-file} and @kbd{M-x delete-directory} commands no
95 longer accept prefix arguments to force true deletion.
98 On GNU/Linux and Unix, the default method for sending mail (as
99 specified by @code{send-mail-function}) is to use the
100 @command{sendmail} program. Emacs no longer asks for a delivery
101 method the first time you try to send mail, trusting instead that the
102 system is configured for mail delivery, as it ought to be.
105 Several VC features have been removed, including the @kbd{C-x v +} and
106 @kbd{C-x v m} commands for pulling and merging on distributed version
107 control systems, and the ability to view inline log entries in the log
108 buffers made by @kbd{C-x v L}.
111 To keep up with decreasing computer memory capacity and disk space, many
112 other functions and files have been eliminated in Emacs 23.4.