1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
26 ** Emacs can be compiled with ACL support.
27 This happens by default if a suitable support library is found at
28 build time, like libacl on GNU/Linux. To prevent this, use the
29 configure option `--disable-acl'.
31 ** The configure option --with-crt-dir has been removed.
32 It is no longer needed, as the crt*.o files are no longer linked specially.
35 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
38 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
40 ** Key ? also describes prefix bindings like C-h.
43 ** `apropos-variable' is now `apropos-user-option'
44 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
45 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
46 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
47 non-nil, they output the same results.
50 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
53 ** If the new variable `enable-dir-local-variables' is nil,
54 directory local variables are ignored. May be useful for some modes
55 that want to ignore directory-locals while still respecting file-locals.
57 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
58 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
59 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
61 ** `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function to set up the
64 ** `write-region-inhibit-fsync' now defaults to t in batch mode.
66 ** ACL support has been added.
68 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
70 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
71 entries of a file. On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via
72 libacl. On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the
75 ** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
76 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
77 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
78 of the buffer is visible).
80 ** In compiled Lisp files, the header no longer includes a timestamp.
82 ** Multi-monitor support has been added.
84 *** New functions `display-monitor-attributes-list' and
85 `frame-monitor-attributes' can be used to obtain information about
86 each physical monitor on multi-monitor setups.
89 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
91 ** `split-window' is no longer a command, just a non-interactive function.
92 As a command it was a special case of `split-window-below', and as such
93 superfluous. After being reimplemented in Lisp, its interactive form
94 was mistakenly retained.
96 ** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
97 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
99 ** In keymaps where SPC scrolls, S-SPC now scrolls in the reverse direction.
102 ** New command `kmacro-to-register' to store keyboard macros in registers.
106 *** `sh-mode' now has the mode own `add-log-current-defun-function'.
107 You can pick the name of the function and the variables with `C-x 4 a'.
110 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
112 ** `remember' can now store notes in separates files
113 You can use the new function `remember-store-in-files' within the
114 `remember-handler-functions' option.
116 See `remember-data-directory' and `remember-directory-file-name-format'
117 for new options related to this function.
118 ** `ido-decorations' has been slightly extended to give a bit more control.
120 ** More packages look for ~/.emacs.d/<foo> additionally to ~/.<foo>.
122 ~/.emacs.d/timelog replaces ~/.timelog
123 ~/.emacs.d/todo-do replaces ~/.todo-do
124 ~/.emacs.d/todo-done replaces ~/.todo-done
125 ~/.emacs.d/todo-top replaces ~/.todo-top
126 ~/.emacs.d/vip replaces ~/.vip
127 ~/.emacs.d/viper replaces ~/.viper
128 ~/.emacs.d/ido.last replaces ~/.ido.last
129 ~/.emacs.d/kkcrc replaces ~/.kkcrc
130 ~/.emacs.d/quickurls replaces ~/.quickurls
131 ~/.emacs.d/idlwave replaces ~/.idlwave
132 ~/.emacs.d/bdfcache.el replaces ~/.bdfcache.el
133 ~/.emacs.d/places replaces ~/.emacs-places
134 ~/.emacs.d/shadows replaces ~/.shadows
135 ~/.emacs.d/shadow_todo replaces ~/.shadow_todo
136 ~/.emacs.d/strokes replaces ~/.strokes
137 ~/.emacs.d/notes replaces ~/.notes
138 ~/.emacs.d/type-break replaces ~/.type-break
140 ** Delphi mode is now called OPascal mode.
141 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
142 *** `delphi-newline-always-indents' is not supported any more
143 use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
144 *** `delphi-tab' is gone, replaced by `indent-for-tab-command'.
146 ** Eldoc Mode works properly in the minibuffer.
148 ** jit-lock-debug-mode lets you use the debuggers on code run via jit-lock.
150 ** completing-read-multiple's separator can now be a regexp.
151 The default separator is changed to allow surrounding spaces around the comma.
155 *** Battery information via the BSD `apm' utility is now supported.
157 ** Calendar and Diary
160 *** New variable `diary-from-outlook-function', used by the command
161 `diary-from-outlook'.
165 *** New macro cl-tagbody.
168 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
172 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
173 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
174 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
175 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
176 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
178 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
179 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
180 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
181 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
184 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
188 *** `desktop-auto-save-timeout' defines the number of seconds between
189 auto-saves of the desktop.
193 *** New minor mode `dired-hide-details-mode' hides details.
197 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
198 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
199 amounts of data into the ERC input.
202 ** New F90 mode option `f90-smart-end-names'.
204 ** Icomplete is a bit more like IDO.
205 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
206 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
207 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
211 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
212 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
213 directory, respectively.
215 *** New commands to show specific frames of multi-frame images.
216 `f' (`image-next-frame') and `b' (`image-previous-frame') visit the
217 next or previous frame. `F' (`image-goto-frame') shows a specific frame.
220 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
221 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
222 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
223 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
227 *** New face `info-index-match' is used to highlight matches in index
228 entries displayed by `Info-index-next', `Info-virtual-index' and
233 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
234 and adds it to the search string.
236 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.5.
237 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
240 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
241 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
244 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
245 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
248 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
250 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
251 New features include:
252 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
253 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
254 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
255 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
256 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
257 (point) when the function is invoked.
259 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has two types of operation:
260 when its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
261 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
262 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
264 ** New `cycle-spacing' command allows cycling between having just one
265 space, no spaces, or reverting to the original spacing. Like
266 `just-one-space' command it can handle or ignore newlines and
267 leave different number of spaces.
272 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
273 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-program'
274 can be used to adapt the path of the "adb" program, if needed.
276 *** The connection methods "plink1", "ssh1", "ssh2", "scp1", "scp2",
277 "scpc" and "rsyncc" are discontinued. The ssh option
278 "ControlMaster=auto" is set automatically in all ssh-based methods,
282 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
283 which support POSIX ACLs.
287 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
288 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-* faces instead.
292 *** Added Eshell-TRAMP module
293 External su and sudo commands are now the default; the internal,
294 TRAMP-using variants can still be used by enabling the eshell-tramp
297 ** Obsolete packages:
299 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
301 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
304 *** yow.el is obsolete; use fortune.el or cookie1.el instead.
307 *** The Info-edit command is obsolete. Editing Info nodes by hand
308 has not been relevant for some time.
311 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
312 ** New `superword-mode' in subword.el
313 `superword-mode' overrides the default word motion commands to treat
314 symbol_words as a single word, similar to what `subword-mode' does and
315 using the same internal functions.
317 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
319 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
320 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
321 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
322 much like `defadvice' does.
325 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
327 ** `read-event' does not return decoded chars in ttys any more.
328 Just as was the case in Emacs-22 and before, decoding of tty input according to
329 keyboard-coding-system is not performed in read-event any more. But contrary
330 to that past, it is still done before input-decode-map/function-key-map/...
332 ** Removed inhibit-local-menu-bar-menus.
334 ** frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
335 More specifically, the redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
336 value when looking up variables.
338 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
339 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
340 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
342 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
343 special-forms any more.
345 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
346 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
347 spurious warnings about an unused var.
349 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
350 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
351 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
352 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
353 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
356 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
358 ** Obsoleted functions:
360 *** `lisp-complete-symbol'
362 *** `minibuffer-completion-contents'
364 ** `with-wrapper-hook' is obsoleted by `add-function'.
365 The few hooks that used with-wrapper-hook are replaced as follows:
366 *** `abbrev-expand-function' obsoletes `abbrev-expand-functions'.
367 *** `completion-in-region-function' obsoletes `completion-in-region-functions'.
368 *** `filter-buffer-substring-function' obsoletes `filter-buffer-substring-functions'.
371 ** `get-upcase-table' is obsoleted by the new `case-table-get-table'.
373 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
374 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
375 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
376 'inotify' API on GNU/Linux systems. On MS-Windows systems, this is
377 supported for Windows XP and newer versions.
379 ** Changes in autorevert.el
382 *** If Emacs is compiled with file notification support, notifications
383 are used instead of checking the time stamp of the files. You can
384 disable this by setting the user option `auto-revert-use-notify' to
385 nil. Alternatively, a regular expression of directories to be
386 excluded from file notifications can be specified by
387 `auto-revert-notify-exclude-dir-regexp'.
390 *** The new user option `auto-revert-remote-files' enables reversion
391 of remote files when set to non-nil.
395 *** The `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
396 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
397 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
398 property using the supplied face spec.
400 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
401 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
403 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
404 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
409 *** `image-animated-p' is now `image-multi-frame-p'.
410 It returns non-nil for any image that contains multiple frames,
411 whether or not it specifies a frame delay.
414 *** When animating images that do not specify a frame delay,
415 Emacs uses `image-default-frame-delay'.
418 *** New functions `image-current-frame' and `image-show-frame' for getting
419 and setting the current frame of a multi-frame image.
421 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
422 ** New function special-form-p.
423 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
424 text-property on the first char.
426 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
427 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
429 ** The lock for 'DIR/FILE' is now 'DIR/.#FILE' and may be a regular file.
430 When you edit DIR/FILE, Emacs normally creates a symbolic link
431 DIR/.#FILE as a lock that warns other instances of Emacs that DIR/FILE
432 is being edited. Formerly, if there was already a non-symlink file
433 named DIR/.#FILE, Emacs fell back on the lock names DIR/.#FILE.0
434 through DIR/.#FILE.9. These fallbacks have been removed, so that
435 Emacs now no longer locks DIR/FILE in that case.
437 On file systems that do not support symbolic links, the lock is now a
438 regular file with contents being what would have been in the symlink.
440 ** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
441 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
442 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
443 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
445 ** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
446 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
447 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
449 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
451 ** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
452 `preserve-extended-attributes' as it now handles both SELinux context
455 ** Changes to the Emacs Lisp Coding Conventions in Emacs 24.4
457 *** The package descriptor and name of global variables, constants,
458 and functions should be separated by two hyphens if the symbol is not
459 meant to be used by other packages.
462 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems
465 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
466 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
467 directory where Emacs was running.
470 ** The variable `buffer-file-type' is no longer supported.
471 Setting it has no effect, and %t in the mode-line format is ignored.
472 Likewise, `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist' is now obsolete, and
473 modifying it has no effect.
476 ** Lock files now work on MS-Windows.
477 This allows to avoid losing your edits if the same file is being
478 edited in another Emacs session or by another user. See the node
479 "Interlocking" in the Emacs User Manual for the details. To disable
480 file locking, customize `create-lockfiles' to nil.
482 ** Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.
483 Both native (>= OSX 10.7) and "old style" fullscreen are supported.
484 Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change style. For >= 10.7
485 native is the default.
488 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
490 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
491 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
492 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
493 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
494 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
495 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
497 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
498 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
500 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
501 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
503 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
504 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
505 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
506 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
507 the results may be useful to developers.
509 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
510 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
511 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
512 check that this option enables.
514 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
515 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
517 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
518 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
519 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
520 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
521 links between the various manuals.
523 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
524 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
527 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
529 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
530 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
533 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
534 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
535 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
538 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
540 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
541 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
542 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
544 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
547 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
551 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
552 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
553 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
554 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
555 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
557 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
558 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
559 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
563 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
564 :background image specification property.
566 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
567 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
568 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
569 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
571 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
572 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
573 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
575 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
576 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
577 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
582 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
583 next and previous path separator, respectively.
585 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
586 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
587 non-nil before enabling the mode.
591 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
592 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
593 that does not have its own specialized help text.
595 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
596 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
600 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
601 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
602 or expression to evaluate.
604 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
606 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
607 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
608 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
609 that support backtraces.
611 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
612 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
614 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
615 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
616 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
618 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
619 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
621 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
622 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
624 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
625 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
626 files (use this with caution).
628 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
629 variables on remote hosts.
631 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
632 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
634 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
635 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
637 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
638 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
639 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
640 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
642 ** Internationalization
644 *** New language environment: Persian.
646 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
648 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
650 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
652 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
656 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
658 ** Search and Replace
660 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
661 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
662 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
663 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
664 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
666 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
667 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
669 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
670 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
673 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
674 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
675 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
677 ** Navigation commands
679 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
681 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
683 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
684 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
686 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
687 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
688 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
690 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
691 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
692 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
694 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
696 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
697 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
699 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
700 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
703 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
704 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
708 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
710 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
711 the text to put between collected texts for use with
712 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
715 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
717 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
719 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
720 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
721 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
722 use the "cl--" prefix).
724 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
725 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
726 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
727 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
728 rather than `cl-foo*'.
730 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
731 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
733 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
734 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
735 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
736 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
738 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
739 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
740 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
741 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
744 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
745 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
746 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
748 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
749 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
750 to nil rather than being made unbound.
752 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
753 (use features from gv.el instead):
754 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
755 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
756 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
757 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
761 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
762 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
763 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
764 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
765 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
767 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
768 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
769 changes in context diffs.
771 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
772 whitespace introduced by a diff.
774 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
778 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
779 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
780 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
783 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
784 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
785 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
786 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
787 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
789 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
791 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
793 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
794 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
796 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
797 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
799 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
800 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
802 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
803 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
805 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
806 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
809 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
810 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
811 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
812 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
813 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
814 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
815 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
816 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
817 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
818 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
819 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
820 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
821 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
822 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
823 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
824 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
825 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
826 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
827 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
828 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
829 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
833 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
835 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
837 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
838 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
840 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
841 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
843 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
845 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
846 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
848 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
850 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
852 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
853 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
857 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
858 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
859 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
861 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
862 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
865 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
866 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
867 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
869 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
870 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
871 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
873 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
874 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
878 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
879 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
881 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
884 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
885 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
887 ** reStructuredText mode
889 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
890 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
893 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
895 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
896 Sphinx support has been improved.
898 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
900 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
902 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
904 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
908 *** Support for percent literals and recognition of regular expressions
909 in method calls without parentheses with more methods, including Cucumber
912 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
914 *** New command `ruby-toggle-block', bound to `C-c {'.
916 *** Some non-standard keybindings/commands have been removed:
918 **** `ruby-electric-brace'; use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
920 **** `ruby-mark-defun'; use `mark-defun'.
922 **** `ruby-beginning-of-defun' and `ruby-end-of-defun' are replaced by
923 appropriate settings for the variables `beginning-of-defun-function'
924 and `end-of-defun-function'.
926 **** Non-standard keybindings for `backward-kill-word', `comment-region',
927 `reindent-then-newline-and-indent' and `newline' have been removed.
931 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
933 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
935 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
939 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
941 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
943 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
945 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
949 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
950 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
951 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
953 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
954 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
958 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
960 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
961 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
965 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
966 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
967 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
971 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
972 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
974 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
976 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
977 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
981 *** The major modes from the parser generators "Bovine" and "Wisent"
982 are now properly integrated in Emacs. The file suffixes ".by" and ".wy"
983 are in `auto-mode-alist', and the corresponding manuals are included.
987 **** Menu support for the "Configuration" feature. This allows users to
988 choose the active configuration (such as debug or install) from the menu.
990 **** New command `ede-set' to interactively set project-local variables.
992 **** Support for compiling, debugging, and running in "generic" projects.
994 **** Autoconf editing support for M4 macros with complex arguments.
996 **** Compilation support for the "linux" project type.
998 **** "simple" projects have been removed; use "generic" projects instead.
1002 **** Support for parsing #include statements inside a namespace in C/C++.
1004 **** Improved support for 'extern "C"' declarations in C/C++.
1006 **** The ability to ignore more common special C/C++ preprocessor symbols,
1007 such as '__nonnull' and '__asm'. Add '__cplusplus' macro when parsing C++.
1008 If available, include cdefs.h as an additional source of preprocessor symbols.
1010 **** Improved C/C++ function pointer parsing.
1012 **** In Python, support for converting imports to include file names.
1014 **** Ability to dynamically determine the Python load path.
1016 **** Support for the Python 'WITH' and 'AT' keywords.
1018 **** Improved tooltip completion.
1022 **** The SRecode manual is now included.
1024 **** Tag generation supports constructor/destructor settings and system
1025 include differentiation.
1027 **** Addition of 'Framework' support: Frameworks are specified when a
1028 particular kind of library (such as Android) is needed in a common language
1031 **** Support for nested templates and let variables override based on priority.
1033 **** Support for merging tables from multiple related modes, such as
1034 default -> c++ -> arduino.
1036 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
1040 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
1042 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
1043 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
1044 these commands now).
1048 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
1049 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
1051 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
1052 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
1053 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
1057 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
1059 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
1063 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
1064 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
1065 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
1066 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
1067 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
1069 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
1070 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
1071 in case that is not properly encoded.
1073 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
1074 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
1077 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
1078 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
1079 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
1081 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
1082 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
1083 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
1085 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
1086 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
1088 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
1089 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
1091 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
1092 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
1094 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
1096 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
1097 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
1098 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
1100 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
1101 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
1102 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
1103 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
1105 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
1106 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
1107 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
1109 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
1110 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
1112 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
1115 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
1116 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
1118 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
1120 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
1121 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
1122 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
1123 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
1124 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
1125 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
1126 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
1127 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
1128 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
1129 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
1130 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
1131 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
1132 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
1133 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
1134 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
1135 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
1136 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
1137 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
1138 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
1139 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
1140 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
1141 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
1142 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
1144 ** Obsolete packages
1147 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
1148 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
1149 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
1158 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1160 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
1161 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
1162 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
1163 `custom-variable-p'.
1165 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
1166 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
1167 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
1168 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
1170 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
1171 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
1172 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
1173 sequence in later calls.
1175 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
1176 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
1177 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
1179 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
1180 It does so even if the window was selected before.
1182 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
1183 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
1184 depends on the graphical library.
1186 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
1187 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
1189 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
1191 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
1192 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
1193 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
1194 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
1195 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
1197 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
1198 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
1199 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
1201 ** Miscellaneous name changes
1202 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
1203 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
1205 *** Renamed functions
1206 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
1207 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
1208 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
1209 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
1210 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
1211 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
1212 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
1213 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
1216 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
1217 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
1218 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
1219 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
1220 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
1222 *** Renamed variables
1223 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
1224 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
1225 deactivate-current-input-method-function
1227 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
1228 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
1229 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
1230 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
1231 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
1232 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
1233 *** `set-char-table-default'
1234 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
1235 *** `compile-internal'
1237 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
1238 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
1239 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
1240 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
1241 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
1242 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
1243 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
1244 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1245 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1246 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
1249 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1251 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
1252 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
1253 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
1254 `gv-define-setter', etc.
1256 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
1257 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
1258 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
1259 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
1260 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
1261 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
1262 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
1264 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
1265 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
1266 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
1267 CPU time or memory allocations.
1269 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
1270 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
1272 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
1274 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
1276 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
1277 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
1278 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
1279 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
1280 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
1284 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
1285 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
1287 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
1288 table, but with a different prefix.
1292 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
1293 These do not trigger the debugger.
1295 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
1296 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
1298 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
1299 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
1300 to work out which code is doing something.
1302 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
1303 recursive invocations.
1307 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1310 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1311 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1313 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
1314 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
1316 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1319 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
1320 window's point when switching buffers.
1322 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1323 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
1325 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1326 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1328 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1329 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1332 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1333 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1335 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1336 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1338 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
1339 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
1341 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
1343 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1344 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1346 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1347 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1348 **** `display-buffer-function'
1349 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1350 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1351 **** `special-display-function'
1352 **** `special-display-regexps'
1356 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1357 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1358 by the underlying C implementation.
1360 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1361 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1362 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1363 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
1364 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1365 stamps are still accepted.
1367 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
1368 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1369 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1370 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
1372 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1373 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1377 *** Improved security when handling persistent objects:
1379 **** `eieio-persistent-read' now features optional arguments for specifying
1380 the class to load, as well as a flag stating whether subclasses are allowed;
1381 if provided, other classes will be rejected by the reader. For
1382 compatibility with existing code, if the class is omitted only a
1385 **** New specialized reader for pulling in classes and signaling errors
1386 without evaluation of suspicious code.
1388 **** All slots that contain objects must have a :type. Slots with lists
1389 of objects must use a new type predicate for a list of an object type.
1391 *** Support for `find-function' and similar utilities, through the addition
1392 of filename support to generated symbols.
1394 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1395 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
1396 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1397 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1398 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1400 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1402 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
1404 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
1406 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1408 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1410 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1411 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1413 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1415 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1417 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1419 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1421 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1423 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1425 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1427 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1429 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1431 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1432 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1433 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1434 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1435 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1436 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1437 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1438 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1441 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
1443 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1444 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1446 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1447 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1448 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1449 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1450 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1452 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1453 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
1454 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1456 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1458 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
1459 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1461 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1463 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
1464 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1467 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1469 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1472 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1474 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1475 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
1476 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
1479 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
1480 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1481 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1482 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
1484 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
1485 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1486 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1487 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
1489 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
1490 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1491 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1492 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1493 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1495 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1496 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1497 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1498 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1500 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1501 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1503 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1504 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1505 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1508 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1509 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1510 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1512 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1513 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1514 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1516 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1517 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1519 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1520 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1523 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1525 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1526 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1527 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1529 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1530 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1531 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1535 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1539 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1540 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1542 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1544 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1545 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1547 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1549 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1550 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1552 *** New completion style `substring'.
1554 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1556 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1560 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1561 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1562 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1563 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1564 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1565 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1567 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
1568 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
1569 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
1572 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1573 and Mail mode changes
1575 ** Emacs server and client changes
1577 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1579 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1581 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1582 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1584 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1585 its exit status is 1.
1587 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1588 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1589 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1591 ** Internationalization changes
1593 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1594 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1595 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1596 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1597 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1598 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1600 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1601 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1603 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1604 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1605 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1606 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1609 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1610 the right window edge.
1612 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1613 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1614 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1615 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1616 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1618 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1619 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1621 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1622 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1624 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1625 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1626 automatically select it.
1628 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1629 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1630 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1632 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1633 selected for installation.
1635 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1637 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1638 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1639 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1641 ** Custom theme changes
1643 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1644 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1646 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1647 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1648 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1649 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1650 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1651 built-in Custom themes.
1653 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1654 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1655 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1656 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1658 ** Improved GTK integration
1660 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1661 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1663 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1664 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1665 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1667 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1668 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1669 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1672 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1673 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1675 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1676 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1678 ** Graphical interface changes
1680 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1681 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1682 displayed as a space.
1684 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1685 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1687 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1688 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1689 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1693 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1694 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1696 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1697 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1698 do the right thing in batch mode.
1700 ** Scrolling changes
1702 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1703 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1704 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1705 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1707 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1709 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1710 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1712 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1713 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1715 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1716 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1717 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1718 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1719 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1721 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1722 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1723 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1724 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1727 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1728 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1730 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1731 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1732 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1733 now includes the SELinux context.
1735 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1736 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1740 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1741 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1743 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1744 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1746 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1748 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1749 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1750 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1753 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1754 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1755 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1756 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1757 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1759 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1760 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1762 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1763 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1764 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1765 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1770 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1771 in the quitted window.
1773 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1774 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1776 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1778 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1779 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1780 for choosing the displaying window).
1782 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1783 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1785 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1786 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1788 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1789 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1790 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1791 from which such space was obtained.
1793 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1794 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1795 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1796 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1797 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1799 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1800 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1801 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1803 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1804 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1806 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1807 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1808 been shown in a specific window.
1810 ** Minibuffer changes
1812 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1813 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1814 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1816 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1817 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1818 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1820 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1822 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1824 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1825 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1826 successful operation.
1828 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1829 for `list-colors-display'.
1831 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1834 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1838 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1839 `isearch-yank-line'.
1841 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1842 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1844 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1846 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1848 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1849 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1850 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1851 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1854 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1855 also deletes newlines around point.
1859 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1860 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1861 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1864 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1865 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1866 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1868 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1869 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1870 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1871 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1873 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1875 ** Selection changes.
1877 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1878 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1879 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1880 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1882 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1883 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1885 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1886 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1887 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1888 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1890 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1891 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1892 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1893 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1894 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1896 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1898 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1899 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1900 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1902 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1904 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1905 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1906 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1908 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1909 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1911 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1912 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1913 between applications.
1915 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1917 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1918 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1919 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1920 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1921 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1923 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1925 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1926 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1928 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1929 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1930 number to count from and for a format string.
1932 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1933 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1934 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1935 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1936 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1938 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1939 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1940 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1941 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1942 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1944 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1945 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1946 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1947 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1948 follows `replace-match'.
1951 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1953 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1957 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1958 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1959 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1960 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1962 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1964 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1966 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1970 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1972 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1973 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1977 *** Support for musical notes.
1979 *** Support for logarithmic units.
1981 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
1982 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
1984 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
1986 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
1988 *** New "O" option prefix.
1990 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
1992 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1994 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1995 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1997 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1998 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
2000 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
2001 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
2002 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
2004 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
2006 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
2007 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
2009 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
2010 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
2011 Use `appt-activate' instead.
2013 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
2014 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
2015 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
2017 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
2018 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
2022 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
2023 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
2025 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
2027 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
2028 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
2031 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
2032 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
2033 parsed as a statement continuation.
2035 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
2039 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
2040 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
2042 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
2043 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
2044 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
2046 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
2047 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
2048 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
2053 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
2054 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
2055 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
2057 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
2058 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
2060 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
2062 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
2063 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
2067 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
2070 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
2071 optionally do not register names.
2073 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
2074 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
2078 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
2079 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
2080 instead of using the current buffer.
2082 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
2083 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
2087 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
2088 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
2090 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
2091 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
2092 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
2093 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
2097 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
2098 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
2099 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
2103 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
2104 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
2105 debugging of several threads.
2109 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
2110 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
2114 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
2115 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
2116 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
2117 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
2118 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
2120 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
2121 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
2122 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
2125 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
2127 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
2129 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
2130 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
2131 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
2133 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
2134 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
2136 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
2138 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
2140 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
2141 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
2142 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
2143 default), this performs tag completion.
2145 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
2146 See ORG-NEWS for details.
2148 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
2149 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
2150 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
2154 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
2155 in the Rmail incoming message.
2157 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
2158 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
2159 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
2163 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
2164 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
2165 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
2167 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
2168 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
2172 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
2173 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
2174 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
2177 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
2178 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
2179 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
2180 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
2181 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
2182 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
2183 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
2184 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
2186 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
2187 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
2189 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
2191 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
2193 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
2194 the credentials file.
2196 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
2197 If you had that set, you need to put
2199 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
2201 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
2203 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
2204 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
2205 to the address you wish to use instead.
2209 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
2210 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
2212 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
2213 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
2214 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
2215 connection is established.
2217 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
2218 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
2220 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
2221 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
2222 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
2223 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
2225 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
2226 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
2227 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
2228 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
2229 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
2230 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
2232 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
2233 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
2235 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
2236 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
2237 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
2239 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
2240 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
2242 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
2246 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
2250 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
2252 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
2253 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
2255 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
2256 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
2258 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
2259 default value to "".
2261 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2262 for remote machines which support SELinux.
2264 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
2265 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
2266 the degree of parallelism.
2268 ** VC and related modes
2270 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
2271 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
2272 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
2273 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
2274 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
2276 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
2278 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
2279 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
2280 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
2281 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
2282 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
2284 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
2285 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
2287 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
2288 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
2289 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
2290 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
2291 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
2292 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
2294 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
2295 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
2297 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
2298 this was not advertised at the time.
2300 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
2301 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
2302 this was not advertised at the time.
2308 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
2310 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
2311 You can get a comparable behavior with:
2312 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
2313 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
2315 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2317 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2319 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2321 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2322 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2324 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2328 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2329 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2331 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2332 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2334 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2336 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2338 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2341 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2343 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2344 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2346 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2347 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2348 matching closing one.
2350 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2351 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2352 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2353 electric-indent-functions.
2355 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2356 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2357 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2359 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2360 from which other modes can be derived.
2362 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2364 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2365 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2366 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2367 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2370 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2371 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2373 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2374 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2376 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2378 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2379 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2380 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2381 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2382 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2383 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2386 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2388 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2389 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2391 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2393 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2394 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2395 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2396 command still toggles the minor mode.
2398 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2399 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2400 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2401 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2402 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2404 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2405 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2406 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2407 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2408 argument `bidi-class'.
2410 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2411 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2412 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2413 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2415 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2416 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2417 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2420 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2421 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2422 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2423 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2424 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2425 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2426 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2428 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2429 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2430 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2431 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2434 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2435 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2436 replaced all known uses.
2438 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2439 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2440 major mode is special).
2442 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2444 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2445 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2446 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2447 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2448 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2449 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2451 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2452 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2454 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2455 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2456 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2457 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2459 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2460 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2461 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2463 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2465 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2466 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2467 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2469 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2470 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2471 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2472 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2473 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2474 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2475 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
2476 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
2477 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
2478 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
2479 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
2480 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
2481 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
2482 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
2483 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
2484 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
2485 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
2486 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
2487 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
2488 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
2489 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
2491 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
2492 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
2494 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
2495 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
2496 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
2497 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
2498 *** `e' (`float-e').
2500 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
2501 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
2503 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
2504 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
2505 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
2506 `finder-keywords-hash'.
2508 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2509 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2510 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2513 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2515 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2516 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2517 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2518 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2521 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2522 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2524 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2525 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2527 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2529 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2530 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2532 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2533 declared as dynamically bound.
2535 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2537 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2538 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2539 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2541 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2543 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2544 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2546 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2547 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2548 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2549 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2550 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2551 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2553 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2554 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2555 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2559 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2560 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2561 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2562 buffer) in the window tree.
2564 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2567 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2568 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2569 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2570 act on any window including internal ones.
2572 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2573 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2574 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2575 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2576 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2578 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2579 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2580 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2581 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2582 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2584 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2585 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2586 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2587 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2588 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2589 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2591 *** Window resizing functions.
2592 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2593 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2594 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2596 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2597 live window on that frame instead.
2599 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2600 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2601 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2602 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2603 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2604 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2606 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2607 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2608 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2609 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2610 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2611 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2613 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2614 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2615 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2616 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2618 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2619 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2620 The old names are kept as aliases.
2624 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2625 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2626 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2627 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2629 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2631 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2632 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2633 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2634 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2635 are user-customizable variables.
2637 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2639 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2640 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2641 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2645 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2646 properties of the current completion:
2647 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2648 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2650 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2651 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2653 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2655 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2656 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2657 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2658 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2659 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2660 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2661 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2663 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2664 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2665 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2667 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2668 behavior of `completing-read'.
2670 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2671 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2673 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2674 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2678 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2679 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2680 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2681 non-nil return value.
2683 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2684 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2685 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2686 advertised at the time.)
2690 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2691 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2693 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2695 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2697 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2698 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2699 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2701 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2702 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2704 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2705 named Emacs server instances.
2707 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2708 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2710 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2711 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2713 ** New input reading functions
2715 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2716 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2718 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2719 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2722 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2724 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2725 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2726 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2729 ** Syntax parsing changes
2731 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2732 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2733 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2734 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2735 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2736 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2737 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2738 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2741 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2743 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2745 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2747 ** Major and minor mode changes
2749 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2750 as well as those in the -*- line.
2752 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2755 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2756 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2757 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2759 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2760 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2762 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2763 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2764 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2766 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2768 ** File-handling changes
2770 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2771 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2772 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2773 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2775 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2777 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2778 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2779 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2783 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2785 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2787 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2789 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2792 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2793 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2795 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2796 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2798 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2799 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2800 ImageMagick installation supports.
2802 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2803 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2806 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2807 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2809 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2810 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2811 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2812 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2814 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2815 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2816 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2817 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2819 ** XML and HTML parsing
2820 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2821 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2822 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2823 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2825 ** Networking and encryption changes
2827 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2828 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2829 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2830 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2831 must also be supplied.
2833 *** New library gnutls.el.
2834 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2835 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2836 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2837 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2838 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2839 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2842 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2843 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2844 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2848 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2850 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2851 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2852 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2853 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2854 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2855 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2857 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2858 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2860 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2861 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2862 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2863 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2864 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2865 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2867 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2869 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2870 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2871 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2872 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2874 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2875 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2877 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2878 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2879 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2880 an empty uninterned symbol.
2882 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2884 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2886 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2887 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2889 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2890 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2892 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2894 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2895 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2897 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2900 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
2902 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2903 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2905 ** New configure.bat options
2907 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2909 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2911 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2913 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2915 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2917 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2918 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2920 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2921 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2923 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2924 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2927 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2928 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2930 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2931 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2932 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2933 (at your option) any later version.
2935 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2936 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2937 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2938 GNU General Public License for more details.
2940 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2941 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2946 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"