1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 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 23.
11 See files NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17
12 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
19 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
20 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
21 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
22 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
25 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.2
27 ** New configure options for Emacs developers
28 These are not new features; only the configure flags are new.
30 *** --enable-profiling builds Emacs with profiling enabled.
31 This might not work on all platforms.
33 *** --enable-checking[=OPTIONS] builds emacs with extra runtime checks.
36 ** `make install' now consistently ignores umask, creating a
37 world-readable install.
39 ** Emacs compiles with Gconf support, if it is detected.
40 Use the configure option --without-gconf to disable this.
42 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.2
44 ** The command-line option -Q (--quick) also inhibits loading X resources.
45 However, if Emacs is compiled with the Lucid or Motif toolkit, X
46 resource settings for the graphical widgets are still applied.
47 On Windows, the -Q option causes Emacs to ignore Registry settings,
48 but environment variables set on the Registry are still honored.
50 *** The new variable `inhibit-x-resources' shows whether X resources
54 ** New command-line option -mm (--maximized) maximizes the initial frame.
56 * Changes in Emacs 23.2
59 ** The maximum size of buffers (and the largest fixnum) is doubled.
60 On typical 32bit systems, buffers can now be up to 512MB.
63 ** The default value of `trash-directory' is now nil.
64 This means that `move-file-to-trash' trashes files according to
65 freedesktop.org specifications, the same method used by the Gnome,
66 KDE, and XFCE desktops. (This change has no effect on Windows, which
67 uses `system-move-file-to-trash' for trashing.)
69 ** The pointer now becomes invisible when typing.
70 Customize `make-pointer-invisible' to disable this feature.
74 *** Emacs can use the system default monospaced font in Gnome.
75 To enable this feature, set `font-use-system-font' to non-nil (it is
76 nil by default). If the system default changes, Emacs changes also.
77 This feature requires Gconf support, which is automatically included
78 at compile-time if configure detects the gconf libraries (you can
79 disable this with the configure option --without-gconf).
81 *** On X11, Emacs reacts to Xft changes made by configuration tools,
82 via the XSETTINGS mechanism. This includes antialias, hinting,
83 hintstyle, RGBA, DPI and lcdfilter changes.
86 ** Killing a buffer with a running process now asks for confirmation.
87 To remove this query, remove `process-kill-buffer-query-function' from
88 `kill-buffer-query-functions', or set the appropriate process flag
89 with `set-process-query-on-exit-flag'.
91 ** File-local variable changes
93 *** Specifying a minor mode as a local variables enables that mode,
94 unconditionally. The previous behavior, toggling the mode, was
95 neither reliable nor generally desirable.
97 *** New commands for adding and removing file-local variables:
98 `add-file-local-variable', `delete-file-local-variable',
99 `add-file-local-variable-prop-line', and
100 `delete-file-local-variable-prop-line'.
102 *** New commands for adding and removing directory-local variables,
103 and copying them to and from file-local variable lists:
104 `add-dir-local-variable', `delete-dir-local-variable',
105 `copy-dir-locals-to-file-locals',
106 `copy-dir-locals-to-file-locals-prop-line' and
107 `copy-file-locals-to-dir-locals'.
109 ** Internationalization changes
111 *** Unibyte sessions are now considered obsolete.
112 This refers to the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable as well as the
113 --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte command line
114 arguments. Customizing enable-multibyte-characters and setting
115 default-enable-multibyte-characters are also deprecated.
117 *** New coding system `utf-8-hfs'.
118 This is suitable for default-file-name-coding-system on Mac OS X; see
119 international/ucs-normalize.el.
122 ** Function arguments in *Help* buffers are now shown in upper-case.
123 Customize `help-downcase-arguments' to t to show them in lower-case.
125 ** Delete Auto Composition Mode. Now the variable
126 `auto-composition-mode' is simply a buffer local variable. The
127 commands `auto-composition-mode' and `global-auto-composition-mode'
128 still works as before.
131 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.2
133 ** Kill-ring and selection changes
135 *** If `select-active-regions' is t, any active region automatically
136 becomes the primary selection (for interaction with other window
137 applications). If you enable this, you might want to bind
138 `mouse-yank-primary' to Mouse-2.
140 *** When `save-interprogram-paste-before-kill' is non-nil, the kill
141 commands save the interprogram-paste selection into the kill ring
142 before doing anything else. This avoids losing the selection.
144 *** When `kill-do-not-save-duplicates' is non-nil, identical
145 subsequent kills are not duplicated in the `kill-ring'.
147 ** Completion changes
149 *** The new command `completion-at-point' provides mode-sensitive completion.
151 *** tab-always-indent set to `complete' lets TAB do completion as well.
153 *** The new completion-style `initials' is available.
154 For instance, this can complete M-x lch to list-command-history.
156 *** The new variable `completions-format' determines how completions
157 are displayed in the *Completions* buffer. If you set it to
158 `vertical', completions are sorted vertically in columns.
161 ** The default value of `blink-matching-paren-distance' is increased.
164 ** M-n provides more default values in the minibuffer for commands
165 that read file names. These include the file name at point (when ffap
166 is loaded without ffap-bindings), the file name on the current line
167 (in Dired buffers), and the directory names of adjacent Dired windows
168 (for Dired commands that operate on several directories, such as copy,
172 ** M-r is bound to the new `move-to-window-line-top-bottom'.
173 This moves point to the window center, top and bottom on successive
174 invocations, in the same spirit as the C-l (recenter-top-bottom)
178 ** The new variable `recenter-positions' determines the default
179 cycling order of C-l (`recenter-top-bottom').
182 ** The abbrevs file is now a file named abbrev_defs in
183 user-emacs-directory; but the old location, ~/.abbrev_defs, is used if
186 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
188 ** The bookmark menu has a narrowing search via bookmark-bmenu-search.
190 ** LaTeX mode now provides completion (via completion-at-point).
192 ** sym-comp.el is now declared obsolete, superceded by completion-at-point.
194 ** lucid.el and levents.el are now declared obsolete.
196 ** pcomplete provides a new command `pcomplete-std-completion' which
197 is similar to `pcomplete' but using the standard completion UI code.
201 *** The Calc settings file is now a file named calc.el in
202 user-emacs-directory; but the old location, ~/.calc.el, is used if
206 *** Graphing commands (`g f' etc.) now work on MS-Windows, if you have
207 the native Windows port of Gnuplot version 3.8 or later installed.
209 ** Calendar and diary
212 *** Fancy diary display is now the default.
213 If you prefer the simple display, customize `diary-display-function'.
216 *** The diary's fancy display now enables view-mode.
219 *** The command `calendar-current-date' accepts an optional argument
220 giving an offset from today.
224 *** The default value for `desktop-buffers-not-to-save' is nil.
225 This means Desktop will try restoring all buffers, when you restart
226 your Emacs session. Also, `desktop-buffers-not-to-save' is only
227 effective for buffers that have no associated file. If you want to
228 exempt buffers that do correspond to files, customize the value of
229 `desktop-files-not-to-save' instead.
233 *** The new variable `dired-auto-revert-buffer' allows to revert
234 dired buffers automatically on revisiting.
238 *** When `doc-view-continuous' is non-nil, scrolling a line
239 on the page edge advances to the next/previous page.
243 *** Toolbar functionality for reverse debugging. Display of STL
244 collections as watch expressions. These features require GDB 7.0
249 *** A new command `zrgrep' searches recursively in gzipped files.
253 *** The new command `Info-virtual-index' bound to "I" displays a menu of
254 matched topics found in the index.
256 *** The new command `info-finder' replaces finder.el with a virtual Info
257 manual that generates an Info file which gives the same information
258 through a menu structure.
260 ** Message mode is now the default mode for composing mail.
262 The default for `mail-user-agent' is now message-user-agent, so the
263 C-x m (`compose-mail') command uses Message mode instead of Mail mode.
265 Message mode has been included in Emacs, as part of the Gnus package,
266 for several years. It provides several features that are absent in
267 Mail mode, such as MIME handling.
269 *** If the user has not customized mail-user-agent, `compose-mail'
270 checks for Mail mode customizations, and issues a warning if these
271 customizations are found. This alerts users who may otherwise be
272 unaware that their mail configuration has changed.
274 To disable this check, set compose-mail-user-agent-warnings to nil.
276 ** nXML mode is now the default for editing XML files.
280 *** ansi-color is now enabled by default.
281 To disable it, set ansi-color-for-comint-mode to nil.
286 *** New connection methods "rsyncc", "imap" and "imaps".
287 On systems which support GVFS-Fuse, Tramp offers also the new
288 connection methods "dav", "davs", "obex" and "synce".
290 ** VC and related modes
292 *** When using C-x v v or C-x v i on a unregistered file that is in a
293 directory not controlled by any VCS, ask the user what VC backend to
294 use to create a repository, create a new repository and register the
297 *** FIXME: add info about the new VC functions: vc-root-diff and
298 vc-root-print-log once they stabilize.
300 *** The log functions (C-x v l and C-x v L) do not show the full log
301 by default anymore. The number of entries shown can be chosen
302 interactively with a prefix argument, by customizing
303 vc-log-show-limit. The log buffer display buttons that can be used
304 to change the number of entries shown.
305 RCS, SCCS, CVS do not support this feature.
307 *** vc-annotate supports annotations through file copies and renames,
308 it displays the old names for the files and it can show logs/diffs for
309 the corresponding lines. Currently only Git and Mercurial take
310 advantage of this feature.
312 *** The log command in vc-annotate can display a single log entry
313 instead of redisplaying the full log. The RCS, CVS and SCCS VC
314 backends do not support this.
316 *** When a file is not found, VC will not try to check it out of RCS anymore.
318 *** Diff and log operations can be used from dired buffers.
322 **** The short log format for git makes use of the graph display, so
323 it's not supported on git versions earlier than 1.5.
325 **** The new variable vc-git-add-signoff can be used to add a
326 Signed-off-by line when committing.
328 **** Support for operating with stashes has been added to vc-dir: the stash list is
329 displayed in the *vc-dir* header, stashes can be created, removed, applied and
330 their content displayed.
332 **** vc-dir displays the stash status
334 *** vc-bzr supports operating with shelves: the shelve list is
335 displayed in the *vc-dir* header, shelves can be created, removed and applied.
337 *** log-edit-strip-single-file-name controls whether or not single filenames
338 are stripped when copying text from the ChangeLog to the *VC-Log* buffer.
343 *** Elint now uses compilation-mode.
346 *** Elint can now scan individual files and whole directories,
347 and can be run in batch mode.
350 *** Elint does a more thorough initialization, and recognizes more built-in
351 functions and variables. Customize `elint-scan-preloaded' if you want
352 to sacrifice some accuracy for a faster startup.
355 *** Elint attempts some basic understanding of featurep and (f)boundp tests.
358 *** Customize `elint-ignored-warnings' to suppress some warnings.
362 *** The new command `async-shell-command' bound globally to `M-&' executes
363 the command asynchronously without the need to manually add ampersand to
364 the end of the command. Its output appears in the buffer `*Async Shell
367 *** Isearch searches in the comint/shell input history when the new variable
368 `comint-history-isearch' is non-nil. New commands `comint-history-isearch-backward'
369 and `comint-history-isearch-backward-regexp' (bound to M-r) start Isearch
370 in the input history regardless of the value of `comint-history-isearch'.
372 *** Interactively `multi-isearch-buffers' and `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp'
373 read buffer names to search, one by one, ended with RET. With a prefix
374 argument, they ask for a regexp, and search in buffers whose names match
375 the specified regexp. Interactively `multi-isearch-files' and
376 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' read file names to search, one by one,
377 ended with RET. With a prefix argument, they ask for a wildcard, and
378 search in file buffers whose file names match the specified wildcard.
381 *** Autorevert Tail mode now works also for remote files.
384 *** The new built-in commands `su' and `sudo' support Tramp.
385 That means, they change `default-directory' to the new users value,
386 and let commands run under that user permissions. It works even when
387 `default-directory' is already remote. Calling the external commands
388 is possible by `*su' or `*sudo', repectively.
391 *** When running in a new enough xterm (newer than version 242), emacs
392 asks xterm what the background color is and it sets up faces
393 accordingly for a dark background if needed (the current default is to
394 consider the background light).
397 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
399 ** CEDET (the Collection of Emacs Development Tools) is now in Emacs.
400 This is a collection of packages to aid with using Emacs as an IDE
401 (integrated development environment):
403 *** The Semantic package allows the use of parsers to intelligently
404 edit and navigate source code. Parsers for C/C++, Java, Javascript,
405 and several other languages are included by default, and Semantic can
406 also interface with external tools such as GNU Global and GNU Idutils.
408 To enable Semantic, use the global minor mode `semantic-mode'.
409 See the Semantic manual for details.
411 *** EDE (Emacs Development Environment) is a package for managing code
412 projects, including features such as automatic Makefile generation.
414 To enable EDE, use the minor mode `global-ede-mode'.
415 See the EDE manual for details.
417 *** SRecode is a library for recoding Semantic tags back into source
418 code. It is currently used by some parts of Semantic and EDE; in the
419 future, it may be used for code generation features.
421 *** The EIEIO library implements a subset of the Common Lisp Object
422 System (CLOS). It is used by the other CEDET packages.
424 ** mpc.el is a front end for the Music Player Daemon. Run it with M-x mpc.
426 ** htmlfontify.el turns a fontified Emacs buffer into an HTML page.
428 ** js.el is a new major mode for JavaScript files.
430 ** imap-hash.el is a new library to address IMAP mailboxes as hashtables.
433 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.2
435 ** Several obsolete functions removed.
436 The functions have been obsolete since Emacs 19, and are unlikely to
439 time-stamp-month-dd-yyyy, time-stamp-dd/mm/yyyy, time-stamp-mon-dd-yyyy
440 time-stamp-dd-mon-yy, time-stamp-yy/mm/dd, time-stamp-yyyy/mm/dd,
441 time-stamp-yyyy-mm-dd, time-stamp-yymmdd, time-stamp-hh:mm:ss,
442 time-stamp-hhmm, baud-rate
445 ** Support for generating Emacs 18 compatible bytecode (by setting
446 the variable `byte-compile-compatibility') has been removed.
448 ** In image-mode.el `image-mode-maybe' is obsolete. Instead, you can
449 either use `image-mode' that displays an image file as the actual image
450 inititally, or `image-mode-as-text' when you want to display an image file
451 as text inititally. `image-mode-as-text' is a combination of a non-image
452 mode from `auto-mode-alist' (or Fundamental mode) and `image-minor-mode'.
453 `image-minor-mode' provides `C-c C-c' key binding to toggle image display.
454 `image-toggle-display-text' removes image properties.
455 `image-toggle-display-image' adds image properties.
456 `image-toggle-display' toggles between `image-mode-as-text' and
460 * Lisp changes in Emacs 23.2
462 ** make-network-socket can now also create `seqpacket' Unix sockets.
464 ** New function `completion-in-region' to use the standard completion
465 facilities on a particular region of text.
468 ** The 4th arg to all-completions (aka hide-spaces) is declared obsolete.
471 ** read-file-name-predicate is obsolete. It was used to pass the predicate
472 to read-file-name-internal because read-file-name-internal abused its `pred'
473 argument to pass the current directory, but this hack is not needed
476 ** Frame parameter changes
479 *** You can give the `fullscreen' frame parameter the value `maximized'.
480 This maximizes the frame.
483 *** The new frame parameter `sticky' makes Emacs frames sticky in
487 ** completion-base-size is obsoleted by completion-base-position.
488 This change causes a few backward incompatibilities, mostly with
489 choose-completion-string-functions where the `mini-p' argument has
490 been replaced by a `base-position' argument, and where the `base-size'
491 argument is now always nil.
493 ** called-interactively-p now takes one argument and replaces interactive-p
494 which is now marked obsolete.
495 ** New function set-advertised-calling-convention makes it possible
496 to obsolete arguments as well as make some arguments mandatory.
497 ** eval-next-after-load is obsolete.
498 ** New hook `after-load-functions' run after loading an Elisp file.
500 ** You can control which binding is preferentially shown in menus and
501 docstrings by adding a `:advertised-binding' property to the corresponding
502 command's symbol. That property can hold a single binding or a list
505 ** New macro with-silent-modifications to tweak text properties without
506 affecting the buffer's modification state.
507 ** All the default-FOO variables that hold the default value of the FOO
508 variable, are now declared obsolete.
510 ** read-key is a function halfway between read-event and read-key-sequence.
511 It reads a single key, but obeys input and escape sequence decoding.
513 ** start-process-shell-command and start-file-process-shell-command
514 now only take a single `command' argument.
516 ** The variable `process-file-side-effects' shall be bound to nil, if
517 a `process-file' call does not change a remote file. By this, file
518 name handlers like Tramp can apply optimizations.
521 ** Hash tables have a new printed representation that is readable.
522 The feature `hashtable-print-readable' identifies this new
525 ** New functions performing Unicode normalization are added:
526 ucs-normalize-NFD-region, ucs-normalize-NFD-string,
527 ucs-normalize-NFC-region, ucs-normalize-NFC-string,
528 ucs-normalize-NFKD-region, ucs-normalize-NFKD-string,
529 ucs-normalize-NFKC-region, ucs-normalize-NFKC-string,
530 ucs-normalize-HFS-NFD-region, ucs-normalize-HFS-NFD-string,
531 ucs-normalize-HFS-NFC-region, ucs-normalize-HFS-NFC-string.
533 ** completion-annotate-function specifies how to compute annotations
534 for completions displayed in *Completions*.
537 ** Face aliases can now be marked as obsolete, using the macro
538 `define-obsolete-face-alias'.
541 ** Changing the file-names generated by byte-compilation by redefining
542 the function `byte-compile-dest-file' before loading bytecomp.el is obsolete.
543 Instead, customize byte-compile-dest-file-function.
546 ** `byte-compile-warnings' has new members, `constants' and `suspicious'.
548 ** `delete-directory' has an optional parameter RECURSIVE.
550 ** New function `copy-directory', which copies a directory recursively.
553 ** New function `window-full-height-p', analogous to the full-width version.
556 * Changes in Emacs 23.2 on non-free operating systems
559 ** On MS-Windows, `display-time' now displays the system load average
560 as well as the time, as it does on GNU and Unix.
563 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
565 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
566 The configure option `--with-gtk' has been removed. Gtk is now the
567 default toolkit, but you can use --with-x-toolkit=gtk if necessary.
570 Fonts are handled by new code capable of dealing with multiple font
571 backends. This uses the freetype and fontconfig libraries.
573 *** Emacs now accepts font names supplied in the fontconfig format
574 (e.g. "monospace-12:bold") and GTK format (e.g. "Monospace Bold 12").
576 *** Added support for local fonts (fonts installed on the machine
577 where Emacs is running).
579 *** Added support for the Xft library for antialiasing.
581 *** Added support for the otf library for complex text layout by
584 *** Added support for the m17n library for text shaping.
586 ** Changes to image support
588 *** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
591 *** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
593 *** Emacs now supports multi-page TIFF images.
595 ** New NeXTSTEP-based port.
596 This provides support for GNUstep (via the GNUstep libraries) and Mac
597 OS X (via the Cocoa libraries).
599 Specify --with-ns to configure for this. By default, a self-contained
600 app will be built (containing all lisp). To install/share lisp with
601 other emacsen (e.g. X11 build) use --disable-ns-self-contained. See
602 nextstep/README and nextstep/INSTALL in the Emacs source directory.
604 ** Mac OS X is no longer supported via Carbon.
605 Use the NeXTSTEP port, described above.
607 ** The new configuration option "--with-dbus" enables D-Bus language
610 ** Support for many obsolete platforms has been removed.
611 See the list at the end of etc/MACHINES for details.
613 *** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
615 *** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
617 *** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
619 ** The following platforms will be removed in a future Emacs version:
620 If you are still using Emacs on one of these platforms, please email
621 emacs-devel@gnu.org to inform the Emacs developers.
623 *** Old GNU/Linux systems based on libc version 5.
625 *** Old FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD systems based on the COFF
628 *** Solaris versions 2.6 and below.
630 *** Solaris on IBM RS6000 machines.
632 *** UNIX System V (the original SysV, not later platforms based on it).
634 *** Unixware on non-x86 machines.
636 *** Platforms not supporting shared libraries (i.e., requiring the
637 NO_SHARED_LIBS compilation flag).
639 ** The configure options `--with-gcc', `--without-gcc' have been removed.
640 Configure will use gcc by default. Set the CC environment variable if
641 you need control over which C compiler is used.
643 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
645 ** The manuals are now licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License v1.3,
646 or any later version.
648 ** Emacs 23 comes with a new set of default icons.
649 Various resolutions are available as etc/images/icons/hicolor/*/apps/emacs.png.
650 The Emacs 22 icon is available as `emacs22.png' in the same location.
652 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
654 ** Improved X Window System support
656 *** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
657 With an Emacs server active (M-x server-start), `emacsclient -t'
658 creates a tty frame connected to the running emacs server. You can
659 use any number of different ttys. `emacsclient -c' creates a new X11
660 frame on the current $DISPLAY (or a tty frame if $DISPLAY is not set).
661 There may be problems if a display exits unexpectedly and Emacs is compiled
662 with Gtk+, see etc/PROBLEMS.
664 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
665 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
667 *** Emacs starts in the background, as a daemon, when given the
668 --daemon command line argument. It disconnects from the terminal and
669 starts the server. Clients can connect and create graphical or
670 terminal frames using emacsclient.
672 **** emacsclient starts emacs in daemon mode and connects to it when
673 --alternate-editor="" is used (or when the evironment variable
674 ALTERNATE_EDITOR is set to "") and emacsclient cannot connect to an
677 *** The new command close-display-connection closes a connection to a
678 remote display. There are some bugs for Gtk+. See etc/PROBLEMS.
680 *** Emacs now supports the XEmbed specification.
681 You can embed Emacs in another application on X11. The new command line
682 option --parent-id is used to pass the parent window id to Emacs. See
683 http://standards.freedesktop.org/xembed-spec/xembed-spec-latest.html
684 for details about XEmbed.
686 *** Emacs can now set the frame opacity.
687 The opacity of a frame can be controlled by setting the `alpha' frame
688 parameter. This only takes effect on a compositing window manager for
689 the X Window System, such as Compiz, Beryl and Compiz Fusion, on Mac
690 OS X, or on Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows.
692 The alpha parameter should be an integer between 0 (transparent) and
693 100 (opaque), or a float number between 0.0 and 1.0. It can also be a
694 cons cell (ACTIVE . INACTIVE), where ACTIVE is the opacity of an
695 active frame and INACTIVE is the opacity of non-active frames.
697 The variable `frame-alpha-lower-limit' defines a lower bound for the
698 opacity; the default is 20.
700 ** Internationalization changes
702 *** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
703 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
705 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
706 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs' (`emacs-internal' is an alias
707 for this). This encoding is backward-compatible with Unicode's UTF-8
708 encoding. The internal encoding previously used by Emacs,
709 `emacs-mule', is still available for reading and writing files.
711 During byte-compilation, Emacs 23 uses `utf-8-emacs' to write files.
712 As a result, byte-compiled files containing non-ASCII characters can't
713 be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files compiled by Emacs 20, 21,
714 or 22 are loaded correctly as `emacs-mule' (whether or not they
715 contain multibyte characters). This takes somewhat more time, so it
716 may be worth recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be
717 shared with older Emacsen.
719 *** There are new coding systems/aliases; see M-x list-coding-systems.
721 *** There is a new charset implementation with many new charsets.
722 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
723 as tables of unicodes.
725 *** There are new language environments for Chinese-GBK,
726 Chinese-GB18030, Khmer, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu,
727 Sinhala, and TaiViet.
729 *** The minor modes unify-8859-on-encoding-mode and
730 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode are obsolete.
732 *** `ucs-insert' is bound to `C-x 8 RET' and in addition to hex numbers
733 accepts numbers in hash notation (e.g. #o21430 for octal, or #10r8984 for
734 decimal). It also accepts Unicode character names with completion.
736 *** The `cyrillic-translit' input method supports many new characters.
737 Common typographical characters available from Unicode were added to
738 `cyrillic-translit': punctuation marks, accented characters, fractions,
741 ** Emacs now supports serial port access on GNU/Linux, Unix, and
742 Windows. The new command `serial-term' starts an interactive terminal
743 on a serial port. The serial port can be configured at runtime with
744 the mode-line mouse menu.
748 *** In the Options menu, the "Set Default Font" item applies the
749 selected font to the `default' face on all frames, not just the
750 current frame. Furthermore, if Emacs is compiled with both GTK and
751 Fontconfig support, the "Set Default Font" item uses the GTK font
752 selection dialog instead of an Emacs pop-up menu.
754 *** The font setting chosen by "Set Default Font" is saved if the
755 "Save Options" item is used.
757 *** The Tools menu contains a new Encryption/Decryption submenu.
758 This contains commands provided by EasyPG, the newly-included
759 interface to GnuPG (see New Modes and Packages).
761 *** In the Options menu, the "Truncate Long Lines in the Buffer" entry
762 has been replaced with a submenu offering three different ways to
763 handle long lines: truncation, continuation at the window edge, and
764 the new word wrapping behavior (see Editing Changes, below).
766 *** Improvements to menus for major and minor modes
767 More major and minor modes now have a mode specific menu, and existing
768 mode menus have been improved to include more functionality.
772 *** The mode-line displays a `@', instead of `-', if the
773 default-directory for the current buffer is on a remote machine.
775 *** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a
776 minor mode, in the same way as it already did for major modes.
778 *** The `mode-line-emphasis' face is used to highlight certain
779 mode-line information (e.g. waiting for a VC command to finish).
781 *** The mode-line tooltips have been improved to provide more details.
783 *** The VC, line/colum number and minor mode indicators on the mode
784 line are now interactive: mouse-1 can be used on them to pop up a menu.
786 ** File deletion can make use of the Recycle Bin or system Trash folder.
787 Set `delete-by-moving-to-trash' non-nil to use this. Deleted files
788 and directories will then be sent to the Recycle Bin on Windows, and
789 to `trash-directory' on other systems.
791 ** Directory-local variables can now be defined.
792 By default, Emacs looks in .dir-locals.el for directory-local
793 variables. For more information, see `dir-locals-set-directory-class'
794 and `dir-locals-set-class-variables'.
796 ** Emacs can now use `auth-source' for authentication.
797 `smtpmail' and `url' (Tramp and Gnus also) use `auth-source' to obtain
798 login names and passwords. The match, if found, is reported
799 in *Messages* with the password blanked out.
801 ** `where-is-preferred-modifier' can specify your favorite modifier.
804 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
806 ** The option `inhibit-startup-screen' (with aliases to old names
807 `inhibit-splash-screen' and `inhibit-startup-message') doesn't inhibit
808 display of the initial message in the *scratch* buffer. If you don't
809 want to display the initial message in the *scratch* buffer at startup,
810 you can set the option `initial-scratch-message' to nil.
812 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
813 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
816 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
817 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
818 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
821 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
823 ** Emacs now supports invocation by an X session manager.
824 It can save a session and restore it later. See the documentation of
825 the functions `emacs-session-save' and `emacs-session-restore'.
826 (Actually, this feature was introduced with Emacs 22, but it was not
829 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
831 ** In Dired, `dired-flag-garbage-files' is rebound from `&' to `%&'
832 on the regexp command prefix map.
834 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
835 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
838 ** In Isearch mode, a special case of typing `C-w' at the beginning of
839 the minibuffer that toggles word search (i.e. using key sequences
840 `C-s RET C-w' or `C-s M-e C-w') is obsolete. You can use the global key
841 `M-s w' to start word search, or type `M-s w' in Isearch mode to
842 toggle word search. To start nonincremental word search you can now use
843 `M-s w RET' and `M-s w C-r RET' instead of `C-s RET C-w' and `C-r RET C-w'.
845 ** In Info, `Info-search' is unbound from `M-s' to allow using `M-s w'
846 for word search as well as other search commands from the global prefix
847 key `M-s'. `Info-search' is still bound to `s', and also incremental
848 search commands `C-s', `C-M-s', `C-r', `C-M-r' are available for searching
849 through multiple Info nodes, together with their nonincremental versions
850 `C-s RET', `C-r RET', `C-M-s RET', `C-M-r RET', `M-s w RET'.
852 ** In Text mode, `center-line' and `center-paragraph' are rebound from
853 `M-s' and `M-S' to global keys `M-o M-s' and `M-o M-S' on the global
854 prefix map `M-o', which is intended for such formatting commands.
856 ** The following input methods were removed in Emacs 22.2, but this was
857 not advertised: danish-alt-postfix, esperanto-alt-postfix,
858 finnish-alt-postfix, german-alt-postfix, icelandic-alt-postfix,
859 norwegian-alt-postfix, scandinavian-alt-postfix, spanish-alt-postfix,
860 and swedish-alt-postfix. Use the versions without "alt-", which are
864 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
866 ** The C-n and C-p line-motion commands now move by screen lines,
867 taking continued lines and variable-width characters into account.
868 Setting `line-move-visual' to nil reverts this to the previous
869 behavior (i.e., motion by logical lines based on buffer contents
872 ** C-x C-c now invokes `save-buffers-kill-terminal', and C-z now
873 invokes `suspend-frame'. These changes are for compatibility with the
874 new multi-tty support (see `Improved X Window System support' above).
878 *** Transient Mark mode is now on by default.
880 *** mark-even-if-inactive now defaults to t
882 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, C-SPC C-SPC pushes a mark without
885 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-q now fills the region if the
886 region is active. Otherwise, it fills the current paragraph.
888 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-$ now checks spelling of the
889 region if the region is active. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
892 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, TAB now indents the region if the
895 *** The variable `use-empty-active-region' controls whether an empty
896 active region in Transient Mark mode should make commands operate on
899 ** Temporarily active regions
901 *** The new variable shift-select-mode, non-nil by default, controls
902 shift-selection. When Shift Select mode is on, shift-translated
903 motion keys (e.g. S-left and S-down) activate and extend a temporary
904 region, similar to mouse-selection.
906 *** Temporarily active regions, created using shift-selection or
907 mouse-selection, are not necessarily deactivated in the next command.
908 They are only deactivated after point motion commands that are not
909 shift-translated, or after commands that would ordinarily deactivate
910 the mark in Transient Mark mode (e.g., any command that modifies the
913 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
915 *** Emacs may ask for confirmation before opening a non-existent file
916 or buffer. By default, Emacs requests confirmation if you type RET
917 immediately after TAB, and the resulting input is not an existing file
918 or buffer; this usually happens when the minibuffer input did not
919 complete far enough and you entered RET by mistake. In that case,
920 Emacs puts the message "[Confirm]" in the minibuffer; type RET again
921 to create the file or buffer.
923 The new variable confirm-nonexistent-file-or-buffer determines whether
924 Emacs asks for confirmation. The default value is `after-completion'.
925 If you change it to t, Emacs always asks for confirmation; if you
926 change it to nil, Emacs never asks for confirmation.
928 *** The rules for performing completion have been changed.
929 When generating completion alternatives, Emacs now takes the
930 minibuffer text after point, if any, into account: this text is
931 treated as a substring of the remaining part of the completion
932 alternative (i.e., the part not matched by the minibuffer text before
933 point). If no completion alternatives are found this way, Emacs
934 attempts to perform partial-completion. If still no completion
935 alternatives are found, we fall back on the Emacs 22 rules for
936 performing completion.
938 The new variable `completion-styles' can be customized to choose your
939 favorite completion style.
941 *** When M-n in the minibuffer reaches the end of the list of defaults,
942 it adds the completion list to the end, so next M-n continues putting
943 completion items to the minibuffer. The same principle applies to
944 incremental search commands as well: C-s or C-M-s starts searching
945 the default values and after the end of defaults they continue
946 searching minibuffer completion items.
948 *** Minibuffer input of shell commands now comes with completion.
950 *** In the `C-x d' (Dired) prompt, typing M-n gives the visited file
951 name of the current buffer.
953 *** In the M-! (shell-command) prompt, M-n provides some default commands.
954 These are guessed using the file extension of the current file, based
955 on the file-handlers specified in the operating system's `mailcap'
956 file. The ! command in Dired (dired-do-shell-command) works
957 similarly, using the file displayed on the current line.
959 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
960 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
961 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last Isearch
962 regexp, the last Isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
964 *** When enable-recursive-minibuffers is non-nil, operations which use
965 switch-to-buffer (such as C-x b and C-x C-f) do not fail any more when
966 used in a minibuffer or a dedicated window. Instead, they fallback on
967 using pop-to-buffer, which will use some other window. This change
968 has no effect when enable-recursive-minibuffers is nil (the default).
970 *** Isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
971 Reverse Isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
972 history elements, and forward Isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
973 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
974 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
975 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
976 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
978 *** The variable read-file-name-completion-ignore-case overrides
979 completion-ignore-case for file name completion.
981 *** The variable read-buffer-completion-ignore-case overrides
982 completion-ignore-case for buffer name completion.
984 *** The new command `minibuffer-force-complete' chooses one of the
985 possible completions, rather than stopping at the common prefix.
987 *** If `completion-auto-help' is `lazy', Emacs shows the completions
988 buffer only on the second attempt to complete. This was already
989 supported in `partial-completion-mode'.
993 *** S-down-mouse-1 now pops up a menu for changing the font and text
994 size of the default face in the current buffer. The face is changed
995 via face remapping (see Lisp changes, below).
997 *** New commands to change the default face size in the current buffer.
998 To increase it, type `C-x C-+' or `C-x C-='. To decrease it, type
999 `C-x C--'. To restore the default (global) face size, type `C-x C-0'.
1000 These work via Text Scale mode, a new minor mode.
1002 The final key in the above commands may be repeated without the
1003 leading `C-x', e.g. `C-x C-= C-= C-=' increases the face height by
1004 three steps. Each step scales the height of the default face by the
1005 value of the variable `text-scale-mode-step'.
1007 *** The commands buffer-face-mode and buffer-face-set can be used to
1008 remap the default face in the current buffer. See "Buffer Face mode",
1009 under New Modes and Packages.
1011 ** Primary selection changes
1013 *** You can disable kill ring commands from accessing the primary
1014 selection by setting `x-select-enable-primary' to nil.
1016 ** Continuation lines can now be wrapped at word boundaries
1017 (word-wrapping). This is controlled by the new per-buffer variable
1018 `word-wrap'. Word wrapping does not take place if continuation lines
1019 are not shown, e.g. if truncate-lines is non-nil. The most convenient
1020 way to enable word-wrapping is using the new minor mode Visual Line
1021 mode; in addition to setting `word-wrap' to t, this rebinds some
1022 editing commands to work on screen lines rather than text lines. See
1023 New Modes and Packages, below.
1025 ** Window management changes
1027 *** truncate-partial-width-windows now accepts integer values, which
1028 specify a minimum window width for partial-width windows, below which
1029 lines are truncated. The default has been changed to 50.
1031 *** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both
1032 vertically and horizontally.
1034 *** pop-to-buffer now always sets input focus when the popped-to window
1035 is on a different frame.
1037 ** Miscellaneous changes:
1039 *** C-l is bound to the new command recenter-top-bottom, rather than recenter.
1040 This moves the current line to window center, top and bottom on
1041 successive invocations.
1043 *** scroll-preserve-screen-position also preserves the column position.
1045 *** If `yank-pop-change-selection' is t, rotating the kill ring also
1046 updates the selection or clipboard to the current yank, just as M-w
1047 would do so with the text it copies to the kill ring.
1049 *** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
1050 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
1051 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
1053 *** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
1054 called with a prefix and the default directory is a remote file name.
1055 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
1056 run processes remotely.
1058 *** The new command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name
1061 *** The value of comment-style now defaults to `indent'.
1062 Thefore, comment-start markers are inserted at the current indentation
1063 of the region to comment, rather than the leftmost column.
1065 *** The new commands `pp-macroexpand-expression' and
1066 `pp-macroexpand-last-sexp' pretty-print macro expansions.
1068 *** The new command `set-file-modes' allows to set file's mode bits.
1069 The mode bits can be specified in symbolic notation, like with GNU
1070 Coreutils, in addition to an octal number. `chmod' is a new
1071 convenience alias for this function.
1073 *** `next-error-recenter' specifies how next-error should recenter the
1074 visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example, 0 for
1075 top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
1077 *** When typing in a password in the echo area, C-y yanks the current
1078 kill into the password.
1080 *** Tooltip frame parameters `font' and `color' in `tooltip-frame-parameters'
1081 are ignored. Customize the `tooltip' face instead.
1083 *** `mkdir' is a new convenience alias for `make-directory'.
1085 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
1087 ** Auto Composition Mode is a minor mode that composes characters
1088 automatically when they are displayed. It is globally on by default.
1089 It uses `auto-composition-function' (default `auto-compose-chars').
1091 ** Bubbles, a new game, is similar to SameGame.
1093 ** Buffer Face mode is a minor mode for remapping the default face in
1094 the current buffer. The variable `buffer-face-mode-face' specifies
1095 the face to remap to. The command `buffer-face-set' prompts for a
1096 face name, sets `buffer-face-mode-face' to it, and enables
1097 buffer-face-mode. See "Face changes", under Editing Changes, for a
1098 description of face remapping.
1100 ** butterfly flips the desired bit on the drive platter.
1101 See http://xkcd.com/378/
1103 ** bug-reference.el provides clickable links to bug reports.
1105 ** dbus.el provides D-Bus language bindings.
1106 D-Bus is an inter-process communication mechanism for applications
1107 residing on the same host. See the manual for details.
1109 ** DocView mode allows viewing of PDF, PostScript and DVI documents.
1110 One can also search for a regular expression in the document. For
1111 details, see the commentary in doc-view.el.
1113 PDF and DVI files are now opened in Doc View mode by default.
1115 In Postcript mode, C-c C-c launches Doc View minor mode for viewing
1116 the postscript file.
1118 ** EasyPG provides an interface to the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG).
1119 It includes a GnuPG keyring browser, cryptographic operations on
1120 regions and files, and automatic encryption of *.gpg files. For
1121 details, see the EasyPG Assistant User's Manual.
1123 ** json.el is a library for parsing and generating JSON
1124 (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format.
1126 ** linum.el is a new minor mode to display line numbers for the
1129 ** mairix.el is an interface to mairix, a free tool for indexing and
1130 searching locally stored mail. It allows you to query mairix and
1131 display the search results with Rmail, Gnus and VM. Note that there
1132 is an existing Gnus back end, nnmairix.el, which should be used with
1135 ** minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
1138 This is a new mode for editing XML documents. It allows a schema to
1139 be associated with the XML document being edited, using Relax NG as
1140 the schema language. The schema is used to provide two key features:
1142 *** Continuous validation. nXML validates as you type, highlighting
1143 any invalid parts of your document.
1145 *** Completion. nXML can assist you in entering an element name,
1146 attribute name or data value by using information about what is
1147 allowed by the schema in that context.
1149 ** proced.el provides a Dired-like interface for operating on
1150 processes. Proced makes an Emacs buffer containing a listing of the
1151 current processes. You can use the normal Emacs commands to move
1152 around in this buffer, and special Proced commands to operate on the
1153 processes listed. It is currently only functional on GNU/Linux,
1154 MS-Windows and Solaris.
1156 ** Remember Mode is a mode for jotting down things to remember.
1157 Notes can be saved to a Diary file. For details, see the Remember
1160 ** RST mode is a major mode for editing reStructuredText files.
1162 ** Ruby mode is a major mode for Ruby files.
1164 ** Visual Line mode provides support for editing by visual lines.
1165 It turns on word-wrapping in the current buffer, and rebinds C-a, C-e,
1166 and C-k to commands that operate by visual lines instead of logical
1167 lines. This is a more reliable replacement for longlines-mode.
1168 This can also be turned on using the menu bar, via
1169 Options -> Line Wrapping in this Buffer -> Word Wrap
1171 ** xesam.el is an implementation of Xesam, an interface to (desktop)
1172 search engines like Beagle, Strigi, and Tracker. The Xesam API
1173 requires D-Bus for communication.
1175 ** zeroconf.el offers service discovery and service publishing
1176 interfaces according to the zeroconf specification. It communicates
1177 with Avahi, a zeroconf implementation, via D-Bus messages on systems
1178 which have installed this software.
1180 ** There is a new `whitespace' package.
1181 (The pre-existing one has been renamed to `old-whitespace'.)
1182 Now, besides reporting bogus blanks, the whitespace package has a
1183 minor mode and a global minor mode to visualize blanks (TAB, (HARD)
1184 SPACE and NEWLINE). The visualization is made via faces and/or display
1185 table. It can also indicate lines that extend beyond a given column,
1186 trailing blanks, and empty lines at the start or end of a buffer.
1187 See `whitespace-style' for more details. The `whitespace-action' option
1188 specifies what to do when a buffer is visited, killed, or written.
1191 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
1193 ** Abbrev has been rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
1195 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
1196 abbrev-table-p, abbrev-insert, abbrev-table-menu.
1198 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
1200 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
1201 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
1203 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
1205 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
1207 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
1208 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
1210 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
1211 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
1212 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
1216 *** `apropos-library' describes the elements defined in a given library.
1218 *** Set `apropos-compact-layout' is you want a more compact (but wider) layout.
1220 ** Archive Mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
1221 Note, however, that the free version of the unrar command only handles
1222 versions 1 and 2 of the Rar format.
1226 *** New command `bibtex-initialize' (re)initializes BibTeX buffers.
1228 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
1229 `string', disabled by default.
1231 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
1232 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
1234 *** Command `bibtex-url' allows multiple URLs per entry.
1238 *** bookmark.el saves bookmarks in a pre-Emacs-23-incompatible file format
1239 bookmark.el can read a .emacs.bmk file saved by an older Emacs, but an
1240 older Emacs cannot read one saved by Emacs 23.
1242 ** Calendar and diary
1244 *** There is a new date style, `iso', essentially year/month/day.
1245 The variable `european-calendar-style' is obsolete - use `calendar-date-style'.
1246 Similarly, the commands `american-calendar' and `european-calendar'
1247 should be replaced by `calendar-set-date-style'.
1249 *** The calendar namespace has been rationalized.
1250 All functions and variables now begin with a `calendar-', `diary-', or
1251 `holiday-' prefix. The various calendar systems have secondary
1252 prefixes, eg `calendar-french-'. The old names you are likely to use
1253 directly still exist, for the time being, as aliases, but please start
1254 using the new names.
1256 *** The whitespace in the calendar layout can be customized.
1258 calendar-left-margin, calendar-intermonth-spacing, calendar-column-width,
1259 calendar-day-header-width, and calendar-day-digit-width.
1261 *** Text (e.g. ISO weeks) can be displayed between the calendar months.
1262 See the variables calendar-intermonth-header and calendar-intermonth-text.
1264 *** The function `holiday-chinese' computes holidays on the Chinese calendar.
1265 It has been used to add items to the list `holiday-oriental-holidays'.
1267 *** `diary-remind' accepts a negative number -DAYS as a shorthand for
1268 the list (1 2 ... DAYS).
1272 *** The new command C-c C-f (change-log-find-file) finds the file
1273 associated with the current log entry.
1275 *** The new command C-c C-c (change-log-goto-source) goes to the
1276 source code associated with a log entry.
1278 ** Compile and grep modes
1280 *** The mode-line entry for the *compilation* and *grep* buffer is color coded.
1281 It has different colors for to show that: (a) the command is still
1282 running, (b) successful completion, (c) error.
1284 *** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
1285 the first error encountered during compilations.
1287 *** compilation-scroll-output accepts a new value, `first-error', which
1288 says to stop auto scrolling at the first error that occurs.
1290 *** The `cc' alias for C++ files in `grep-file-aliases' has been
1291 improved. `hh' can be used to match C++ header files and `cchh' both
1292 C++ sources and headers.
1296 *** You can specify your copyright holders' names.
1297 Only copyright lines with holders matching `copyright-names-regexp' are
1298 considered for update.
1300 *** Copyrights can be at the end of the buffer.
1301 This is controlled by `copyright-at-end-flag' (used by, e.g., change-log-mode).
1305 *** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
1306 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
1310 *** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
1311 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see
1312 diff-auto-refine-mode. It is bound to `C-c C-b'.
1314 *** diff-add-change-log-entries-other-window iterates through the diff
1315 buffer and tries to create ChangeLog entries for each change.
1316 It is bound to `C-x 4 A'.
1318 *** Turning on `whitespace-mode' in a diff buffer will show trailing
1319 whitespace problems in the modified lines.
1323 *** In Dired, C-x C-q now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
1324 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
1327 *** `&' runs the command `dired-do-async-shell-command' that executes
1328 the command asynchronously without the need to manually add ampersand
1329 to the end of the command. Its output appears in the buffer `*Async Shell
1332 *** `M-s f C-s' and `M-s f M-C-s' run Isearch that matches only at file names.
1333 When a new user option `dired-isearch-filenames' is t, then even ordinary
1334 Isearch started with `C-s' and `C-M-s' matches only at file names in the
1335 Dired buffer. When `dired-isearch-filenames' is `dwim' then activation of
1336 file name Isearch depends on the position of point - if point is on a file
1337 name initially, then Isearch matches only file names, otherwise it matches
1338 everywhere in the Dired buffer. You can toggle file names matching on or
1339 off by typing `M-s f' in Isearch mode.
1341 *** `M-s a C-s' and `M-s a M-C-s' run multi-file Isearch on the marked files.
1342 They visit the first marked file in the sequence and display the usual Isearch
1343 prompt for a string or a regexp where all Isearch commands are available.
1345 *** `Q' in Dired provides two new keys for multi-file replacement.
1346 The upper case key `Y' replaces all remaining matches in all remaining files
1347 with no more questions. The upper case key `N' stops doing replacements
1348 in the current file and skips to the next file. These multi-file keys
1349 are available for all commands that use `tags-query-replace'
1350 including `dired-do-query-replace-regexp', `vc-dir-query-replace-regexp',
1351 `reftex-query-replace-document'.
1355 *** The line length of fixed-form Fortran is not fixed at 72 any more.
1356 Customize the variable `fortran-line-length' to change it.
1358 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
1359 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
1361 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
1365 *** The Gnus package has been updated
1366 There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements; see the file
1367 GNUS-NEWS or the node "No Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
1369 *** In Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs' new internal coding system `utf-8-emacs' for
1370 saving articles drafts and ~/.newsrc.eld. These file may not be read
1371 correctly in Emacs 22 and below. If you want to Gnus across different Emacs
1372 versions, you may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.
1374 *** Passwords are consistently loaded through `auth-source'
1375 Gnus can use `auth-source' for POP and IMAP passwords. Also see that
1376 `smtpmail' and `url' support `auth-source' for SMTP and HTTP/HTTPS/RSS
1377 authentication respectively.
1381 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
1382 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
1384 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
1385 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
1387 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits one to specify a new
1388 position for point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
1392 *** New command `isearch-forward-word' bound globally to `M-s w' starts
1393 incremental word search. New command `isearch-toggle-word' bound to the
1394 same key `M-s w' in Isearch mode toggles word searching on or off
1395 while Isearch is active.
1397 *** New command `isearch-highlight-regexp' bound to `M-s h r' in Isearch
1398 mode runs `highlight-regexp' (`hi-lock-face-buffer') with the current
1399 search string as its regexp argument. The same key `M-s h r' and
1400 other keys on the `M-s h' prefix are bound globally to the command
1401 `highlight-regexp' and other hi-lock commands.
1403 *** New command `isearch-occur' bound to `M-s o' in Isearch mode
1404 runs `occur' with the current search string. The same key `M-s o'
1405 is bound globally to the command `occur'.
1407 *** Isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
1408 When running Isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
1409 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
1410 if there is one (e.g. going from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
1411 This is enabled if multi-isearch-search is non-nil.
1413 *** Two new commands to start Isearch on a list of marked buffers
1414 for buff-menu.el and ibuffer.el are bound to the keys `M-s a C-s' and
1417 *** The part of an Isearch that failed to match is highlighted in
1418 `isearch-fail' face.
1420 *** `C-h C-h' in Isearch mode displays isearch-specific Help screen,
1421 `C-h b' displays all Isearch key bindings, `C-h k' displays the full
1422 documentation of the given Isearch key sequence, `C-h m' displays
1423 documentation of Isearch mode. All the rest Help commands exit Isearch mode
1424 and execute their global definitions.
1426 *** When started in the minibuffer, Isearch searches in the minibuffer
1427 history. See `Minibuffer changes', above.
1431 *** Upgraded to MH-E version 8.2. See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1434 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
1435 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
1437 *** Python mode now has `pdbtrack' functionality. When using pdb to
1438 debug a Python program, pdbtrack notices the pdb prompt and displays
1439 the source file and line that the program is stopped at, much the same
1440 way as gud-mode does for debugging C programs with gdb.
1444 *** The default value of `recentf-keep' prevents from checking of
1445 remote files, if there is no established connection to the
1446 corresponding remote host.
1450 *** Rmail no longer converts the messages to Babyl format.
1451 Instead, it uses UNIX mbox format, both on disk and in Rmail buffers,
1452 and does conversion and decoding when a message is displayed.
1454 The first time you visit an Rmail file in Babyl format, Rmail
1455 automatically converts it to mbox format. This is a one-time
1456 conversion, but it can take a few minutes, depending on how fast is
1457 your machine and on the size of the file. You should find the rest of
1458 Rmail usage unaltered.
1460 However, M-x set-rmail-inbox-list now lasts only for one session
1461 because there is no way to save the list of inbox files in an
1464 Also, whereas with Babyl format M-x find-file would switch to Rmail
1465 mode, with mbox format this is no longer the case (there being no way
1466 to add an "-*- rmail-*-" cookie to an mbox file). Use C-u M-x rmail
1469 If you have written any extensions to Rmail, they are likely to need
1470 updating. Conceptually, the Rmail buffer that you see is no longer
1471 just a narrowed portion of the whole. So you cannot access the whole
1472 of a message (or message collection) by a simple save-restriction and
1473 widen. Instead, there are two buffers: the rmail-buffer, and the
1474 rmail-view-buffer. The former is the buffer that you see, the latter
1475 is invisible. Most of the time, the invisible `view' buffer contains
1476 the full contents of the Rmail file, and the Rmail buffer contains a
1477 decoded copy of the current message (with only a subset of the
1478 headers). In this state, Rmail is said to be `swapped'.
1480 You may find the following functions useful:
1482 `rmail-get-header' and `rmail-set-header' get or set the value of a
1483 message header, whether or not it is currently visible.
1485 `rmail-apply-in-message' is a general purpose function that calls a
1486 function (with arguments) which you specify on the full text of a given
1487 message. To further narrow to just the headers, search forward for "\n\n".
1489 *** The new command `rmail-mime' displays MIME messages.
1490 It is bound to `v' in Rmail buffers and summaries. It displays plain
1491 text and multipart messages in a temporary buffer, and offers buttons
1492 to save attachments.
1494 *** The command `rmail-redecode-body' no longer accepts the optional arg RAW.
1495 Since Rmail now holds messages in their original undecoded form in a
1496 separate buffer, `rmail-redecode-body' no longer encodes the original
1497 message, and therefore there should be no need to avoid encoding it.
1499 *** The o command is now `rmail-output'. It is an all-purpose command
1500 for copying messages from Rmail and appending them to files. It
1501 handles Babyl-format files as well as mbox-format files, and it
1502 handles both kinds properly when they are visited in Emacs. It always
1503 copies the full headers of the message.
1505 *** The C-o command is now `rmail-output-as-seen'. It uses
1506 the message as displayed, appending it to an mbox file.
1508 *** The modified status of the Rmail buffer is reported in the mode-line.
1509 Previously, this information was hidden.
1513 *** New option latex-indent-within-escaped-parens
1514 permits to customize indentation of LaTeX environments delimited
1519 *** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode is enabled,
1520 Emacs uses a Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server,
1521 rather than faking events using the client program mev. This C level
1522 approach provides mouse highlighting and help echoing in the
1527 *** New connection methods.
1528 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
1529 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
1530 "tunnel" and "socks".
1533 IPv6 addresses are supported now as host names. They must be embedded
1534 in square brackets, like in "/ssh:[::1]:".
1536 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
1537 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead, multi hops
1538 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
1540 *** More default settings.
1541 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
1542 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
1544 *** Connection information is cached.
1545 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
1546 connections is kept persistently in a file. The name of this file is
1547 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
1549 *** Control of remote processes.
1550 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
1551 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
1553 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
1554 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
1555 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
1557 *** Passwords can be read from an authentification file.
1558 Tramp uses the package `auth-source' to read passwords from a file, if
1561 ** VC and related modes
1563 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
1564 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
1565 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, Git
1566 and Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems as
1569 *** vc-dir is a new command that displays file names and their VC
1570 status. It allows to apply various VC operations to a file, a
1571 directory or a set of files/directories.
1573 *** VC switches are no longer appended, rather the first non-nil value is used.
1574 (This was for the most part true in Emacs 22, but was not advertised).
1575 This is because there is an increasing variety of VC systems, and they
1576 do not all accept the same "common" options. For example, a CVS diff
1577 command used to append the values of `vc-cvs-diff-switches',
1578 `vc-diff-switches', and `diff-switches'. Now the first non-nil value
1579 from that sequence is used. The special value `t' means "no switches".
1581 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
1583 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
1585 *** In VC Annotate mode, the key bindings have changed to use lower
1586 case keys instead of the upper case keys used in the past.
1588 *** In VC Annotate mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1589 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1590 by typing the D key. Using the "Show changeset diff of revision at
1591 line" menu entry does the same thing.
1593 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type v to toggle the annotation visibility.
1595 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type f to show the file revision on
1598 *** Asynchronous VC commands display [Waiting...] in the mode-line
1599 of the corresponding buffer as long as the asynchronous process is
1602 *** Log entries can be modified using the key "e" in log-view.
1603 For now only CVS, RCS, SCCS and SVN support this functionality.
1604 This is done by the `modify-change-comment' backend function.
1606 *** In log-view-mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1607 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1608 by typing the D key or using the "Changeset Diff" menu entry.
1610 *** In Log Edit mode, C-c C-d now shows the diff for the files involved.
1612 *** vc-git supports the "git grep" command.
1614 *** VC Support for Meta-CVS has been removed for lack of a maintainer able
1615 to update it to the new VC.
1619 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
1620 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
1621 on the corresponding remote system.
1623 *** Eldoc highlights the function argument under point
1624 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
1626 *** In Etags, the --members option is now the default.
1627 Use --no-members if you want the old default behavior of not tagging
1628 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
1630 *** The `gdb' command only works with the graphical interface now.
1631 Use `gud-gdb' if you want the (old) text command mode.
1633 *** goto-address.el provides two new minor modes, goto-address-mode and
1634 goto-address-prog-mode, which buttonize URLS and email addresses.
1636 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
1638 *** The new variable `ffap-rfc-directories' specifies a list of local
1639 directories in which `ffap-rfc' will first search for RFCs.
1641 *** hide-ifdef-mode allows shadowing ifdef-blocks instead of hiding them.
1642 See option `hide-ifdef-shadow' and function `hide-ifdef-toggle-shadowing'.
1644 *** `icomplete-prospects-height' now supercedes `icomplete-prospects-length'.
1646 *** Info displays breadcrumbs in the header of the page.
1647 See Info-breadcrumbs-depth to control it.
1649 *** net-utils has an `iwconfig' command, similar to the existing `ifconfig'.
1650 It is used to configure wireless interfaces.
1652 *** The pcmpl-unix package supports hostname completion for ssh and scp.
1654 *** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
1656 *** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
1657 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see
1658 smerge-auto-refine-mode.
1660 *** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
1662 *** A new command `display-time-world' has been added to the Time
1663 package. It creates a buffer with an updating time display using
1666 *** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
1667 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
1668 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
1669 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
1671 *** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
1672 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
1674 *** WoMan tries to add locale-specific manual page directories to the
1675 search path. This can be disabled by setting `woman-locale' to nil.
1678 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
1680 ** Case is now considered significant in completion on MS-Windows.
1681 The default value of `completion-ignore-case' is now nil on
1682 MS-Windows, the same as it is for other operating systems. The
1683 variable doesn't apply to reading a file name -- in that case Emacs
1684 heeds `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' instead.
1686 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
1687 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
1688 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. In Emacs 22, IPv6 was
1689 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
1690 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
1692 ** Busy cursor (hourglass) now displays on MS-Windows.
1693 When Emacs is busy, an hourglass mouse cursor is displayed on Windows.
1694 In Emacs 22 only X supported the busy cursor.
1696 ** Battery status is available on MS-Windows
1697 Emacs can now display the battery status in the mode-line when enabled with
1698 display-battery-mode or from the Options menu. More verbose battery
1699 information is also available with the command `battery'. In Emacs 22
1700 battery status was supported only on GNU/Linux and Mac.
1702 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
1703 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
1704 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
1705 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
1706 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
1708 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
1709 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
1710 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
1711 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
1712 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
1713 for the list of extra keys that are available.
1715 ** BDF fonts no longer supported on MS-Windows.
1716 The font backend was completely rewritten for this release. The focus
1717 on Windows has been getting acceptable performance and full unicode
1718 support, including complex script shaping for native Windows fonts. A
1719 rewrite of the BDF font support has not happened due to lack of time
1720 and developers. If demand still exists for such a backend even with
1721 the improved language support for native Windows fonts, future
1722 development in this direction will most likely be based on the
1723 freetype library, giving access to a wider range of font formats.
1726 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1728 ** Variables cannot be both buffer-local and frame-local any more.
1730 ** `functionp' returns nil for special forms.
1731 I.e., it only returns t for objects that can be passed to `funcall'.
1733 ** The behavior of map-char-table has changed. It may call the
1734 specified function with a cons (FROM . TO) as a key if characters in
1735 that range have the same value.
1739 *** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
1741 *** The multibyteness of process filters is now determined by the
1742 coding-system used for decoding. The functions
1743 `process-filter-multibyte-p' and `set-process-filter-multibyte' are
1746 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
1747 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
1748 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
1749 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
1750 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
1751 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
1752 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
1754 ** `mode-name' is no longer guaranteed to be a string.
1755 Use `(format-mode-line mode-name)' to ensure a string value.
1757 ** The function x-font-family-list has been removed.
1758 Use the new function font-family-list (see Lisp Changes, below).
1760 ** Internationalization changes
1762 *** The value of the function `charset-id' is now always 0.
1764 *** The functions `register-char-codings' and `coding-system-spec'
1767 *** The cpXXX coding systems are now supported automatically.
1768 The functions cp-...-codepage, which you had to use in Emacs 22 to
1769 enable support for these coding systems, have been deleted.
1771 *** The following features have been removed. They were used for
1772 displaying various scripts with specific fonts, and are no longer
1773 needed now that OpenType font support is available:
1775 **** `devanagari' and `devan-util', and all associated devanagari-* and
1776 dev-* functions and variables (formerly used for Devanagari script).
1778 **** `kannada' and `knd-util', and all associated kannada-* and knd-*
1779 functions and variables (formerly used for Kannada script).
1781 **** `malayalam' and `mlm-util', and all associated malayalam-* and
1782 mlm-* functions and variables (formerly used for Malayalam script).
1784 **** `tamil' and `tml-util, and all associated tamil-* and tml-*
1785 functions and variables (formerly used for Tamil script).
1787 *** The meaning of NAME argument of `set-fontset-font' is changed.
1788 Previously nil is accepted as the default fontset. Now, nil is for
1789 the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the default fontset.
1791 *** The meaning of FONTSET argument of `print-fontset' is changed.
1792 Now, nil is for the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the
1795 ** If a function in write-region-annotate-functions returns with a
1796 different buffer current, Emacs no longer kills that buffer
1797 automatically. This behavior existed in previous versions of Emacs,
1798 but was undocumented. To kill a buffer after write-region, give the
1799 variable `write-region-post-annotation-function' a buffer-local value
1802 ** The variable temp-file-name-pattern has been removed.
1803 This variable was only used by call-process-region, which now uses
1804 temporary-file-directory instead.
1806 ** The COUNT and SYSTEM-FLAG arguments to define-abbrev have been
1807 removed. The function now takes extra arguments for specifying
1808 arbitrary abbrev properties.
1810 ** end-of-defun-function is now guaranteed to work only when called
1811 from the start of a defun. It must now leave point exactly at the end
1812 of defun, since `end-of-defun' now itself moves forward over
1813 whitespace after calling it.
1816 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1818 ** The new variable `generate-autoload-cookie' controls the magic comment
1819 string used by `update-file-autoloads' to find autoloaded forms. The
1820 variable `generated-autoload-file' similarly controls the name of the
1821 file where `update-file-autoloads' writes the calls to `autoload'.
1822 The default values are ";;;###autoload" and `loaddefs.el',
1825 ** New primitives `list-system-processes' and `process-attributes'
1826 let Lisp programs access the processes that are running on the local
1827 machine. See the doc strings of these functions for more details.
1828 Not all platforms support accessing this information; on those that
1829 don't, these primitives will return nil.
1831 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
1832 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
1834 ** If a local hook function has a non-nil `permanent-local-hook'
1835 property, `kill-all-local-variables' does not remove it from the local
1836 value of the hook variable; it remains even if you change major modes.
1838 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
1841 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
1842 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
1843 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
1844 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
1846 ** `ignore-errors' is now a standard macro (does not require the CL package).
1848 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
1849 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
1850 strings on the kill ring.
1852 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
1853 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
1858 ((debug error) nil))
1860 ** clone-indirect-buffer now runs the clone-indirect-buffer-hook.
1862 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count given to
1863 `beginning-of-defun'. (N.B. `end-of-defun-function' doesn't take any
1866 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
1867 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
1868 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
1869 remote connection has been established already.
1871 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
1872 undefined functions.
1874 ** Changes to interactive function handling
1876 *** The new interactive spec code ^ says to first call
1877 handle-shift-selection if shift-select-mode is non-nil, before reading
1878 the command arguments. This is used for shift-selection (see above).
1880 *** Built-in functions can now have an interactive specification that
1881 is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
1882 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
1884 *** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
1885 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex
1886 interactive forms to subroutines.
1890 *** Commands should use `use-region-p' to test whether there is
1891 an active region that they should operate on.
1893 *** `region-active-p' returns non-nil when Transient Mark mode is
1894 enabled and the mark is active. Most commands that act specially on
1895 the active region in Transient Mark mode should use `use-region-p'
1896 instead of `region-active-p', because `use-region-p' obeys the new
1897 user option `use-empty-active-region' (see Editing Changes, above).
1899 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to (only . OLDVAL), that
1900 means to activate transient-mark-mode temporarily, until the next
1901 unshifted point motion command or mark deactivation. Afterwards,
1902 reset transient-mark-mode to the value OLDVAL. The values `only' and
1903 `identity', introduced in Emacs 22, are now deprecated.
1905 ** Emacs session information
1907 *** The new variables `before-init-time' and `after-init-time' record the
1908 value of `current-time' before and after Emacs loads the init files.
1910 *** The new function `emacs-uptime' returns the uptime of an Emacs instance.
1912 *** The new function `emacs-init-time' returns the duration of the
1913 Emacs initialization.
1915 ** Changes affecting display-buffer
1917 *** display-buffer tries to be smarter when splitting windows.
1918 The new option split-window-preferred-function lets you specify your own
1919 function to pop up new windows. Its default value split-window-sensibly
1920 can split a window either vertically or horizontally, whichever seems
1921 more suitable in the current configuration. You can tune the behavior
1922 of split-window-sensibly by customizing split-height-threshold and the
1923 new option split-width-threshold. Both options now take the value nil
1924 to inhibit splitting in one direction. Setting split-width-threshold to
1925 nil inhibits horizontal splitting and gets you the behavior of Emacs 22
1926 in this respect. In any case, display-buffer may now split the largest
1927 window vertically even when it is not as wide as the containing frame.
1929 *** If pop-up-frames has the value `graphic-only', display-buffer only
1930 makes a separate frame on graphic displays.
1932 *** select-frame and set-frame-selected-window have a new optional
1933 argument NORECORD. If non-nil, this will avoid messing with the order
1934 of recently selected windows and the buffer list.
1936 ** Window parameters can now be defined.
1937 These are analogous to frame parameters, but are associated with
1940 *** The new functions window-parameters, window-parameter, and
1941 set-window-parameter are used to query and set window parameters.
1943 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
1945 *** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
1946 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
1947 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
1948 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
1949 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
1951 *** New function `read-regexp' uses the regexp history and some useful
1952 regexp defaults (string at point, last Isearch/replacement regexp/string)
1953 via M-n when reading a regexp in the minibuffer.
1955 *** minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map is now named
1956 minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map.
1958 *** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts the new
1959 values `confirm-only' and `confirm-after-completion'.
1961 ** Search and replacement changes
1963 *** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
1965 *** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
1966 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
1968 *** The new variable `replace-search-function' determines the function
1969 to use for searching in query-replace and replace-string. The
1970 function it specifies is called by `perform-replace' when its 4th
1973 *** The new variable `replace-re-search-function' determines the
1974 function to use for searching in `query-replace-regexp',
1975 `replace-regexp', `query-replace-regexp-eval', and
1976 `map-query-replace-regexp'. The function it specifies is called by
1977 `perform-replace' when its 4th argument is non-nil.
1979 *** New keymap `search-map' bound to `M-s' provides global bindings
1980 for search related commands.
1982 *** New keymap `multi-query-replace-map' contains additonal keys bound
1983 to `automatic-all' and `exit-current' for multi-buffer interactive replacement.
1985 *** The variable `inhibit-changing-match-data', if non-nil, prevents
1986 the search and match primitives from changing the match data.
1988 *** New functions `word-search-forward-lax' and `word-search-backward-lax'.
1989 These are like `word-search-forward and `word-search-backward', except
1990 that the end of the search string need not match a word boundary,
1991 unless it ends in whitespace.
1993 ** File handling changes
1995 *** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
1996 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
1998 *** file-local-variables-alist stores an alist of file-local
1999 variables defined in the current buffer.
2003 *** Each face can be remapped to a different face definition using the
2004 variable `face-remapping-alist'. This is an alist that maps faces to
2005 replacement definitions (which can be face names, lists of face names,
2006 or attribute/value plists. If this variable is buffer-local, the
2007 remapping occurs only in that buffer.
2009 *** text-scale-mode remaps the default face to a larger or smaller
2010 size in the current buffer. This feature is used by the Buffer Face
2011 menu and the new `C-x C-+', `C-x C--', and `C-x C-0' commands (see
2012 Editing Changes, above).
2016 **** `face-remap-add-relative' adds a face remapping entry to the
2019 **** ``face-remap-remove-relative' removes a face remapping entry from
2022 **** `face-remap-reset-base' restores a face to its global definition.
2024 **** `face-remap-set-base' sets the base remapping of a face.
2028 *** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
2029 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
2030 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
2031 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
2032 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
2034 *** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
2035 returns its output as a list of lines.
2037 ** Character code, representation, and charset changes.
2039 *** In multibyte buffers and strings, characters are represented by
2040 UTF-8 byte sequences. The character code space is now 0x0..0x3FFFFF
2041 with no gap; code points 0x0..0x10FFFF are Unicode characters of the
2042 same code points, while code points 0x3FFF80..0x3FFFFF are raw 8-bit
2045 *** Generic characters no longer exist.
2047 *** The concept of a charset has changed. A single character may
2048 belong to multiple charsets (e.g. a-grave, U+00E0, belongs to charsets
2049 unicode, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-3, etc).
2051 **** The dimension of a charset is now 1, 2, 3, or 4, and the size of
2052 each dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
2054 **** A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
2055 characters for display.
2057 *** The functions `split-char' and `make-char' now accept up to 4
2058 positional codes instead of just 2.
2060 *** The functions `encode-char' and `decode-char' now accept any character sets.
2062 *** The function `define-charset' now accepts a completely different
2063 form of arguments (old-style arguments still work).
2065 *** The value of the function `char-charset' depends on the current
2066 priorities of charsets.
2068 *** The function get-char-code-property now accepts many Unicode base
2069 character properties. They are `name', `general-category',
2070 `canonical-combining-class', `bidi-class', `decomposition',
2071 `decimal-digit-value', `digit-value', `numeric-value', `mirrored',
2072 `old-name', `iso-10646-comment', `uppercase', `lowercase', and
2075 *** The functions `modify-syntax-entry' and `modify-category-entry' now
2076 accept a cons of characters as the first argument, and modify all
2077 entries in that range of characters.
2079 *** Use of `translation-table-for-input' for character code unification
2080 is now obsolete, since Emacs 23.1 and later uses Unicode as basis for
2081 internal representation of characters.
2085 **** `characterp' returns t if and only if the argument is a character.
2086 This replaces `char-valid-p', which is now obsolete.
2088 **** `max-char' returns the maximum character code (currently #x3FFFFF).
2090 **** `define-charset-alias' defines an alias of a charset.
2092 **** `set-charset-priority' sets priorities of charsets.
2094 **** `charset-priority-list' returns a prioritized list of charsets.
2096 **** `unibyte-string' makes a unibyte string from bytes.
2098 **** `define-char-code-property' defines a character code property.
2100 **** `char-code-property-description' returns the description string of
2101 a character code property.
2105 **** `find-word-boundary-function-table' is a char-table of functions to
2106 search for a word boundary.
2108 **** `char-script-table' is a char-table of script names.
2110 **** `char-width-table' is a char-table of character widths.
2112 **** `print-charset-text-property' controls how to handle `charset' text
2113 property on printing a string.
2115 **** `printable-chars' is a char-table of printable characters.
2117 ** Code conversion changes
2119 *** The new function `define-coding-system' should be used to define a
2120 coding system instead of `make-coding-system' (which is now obsolete).
2122 *** The functions `encode-coding-region' and `decode-coding-region'
2123 have an optional 4th argument to specify where the result of
2124 conversion should go.
2126 *** The functions `encode-coding-string' and `decode-coding-string'
2127 have an optional 4th argument specifying a buffer to store the result
2130 *** The new variable `inhibit-null-byte-detection' controls whether to
2131 consider text with null bytes as binary data. By default, it is
2132 `nil', and Emacs uses `no-conversion' for any text containing null
2135 *** The functions `set-coding-priority' and `make-coding-system' are obsolete.
2139 **** `with-coding-priority' executes Lisp code using the specified
2140 coding system priority order.
2142 **** `check-coding-systems-region' checks if the text in the region is
2143 encodable by the specified coding systems.
2145 **** `coding-system-aliases' returns a list of aliases of a coding system.
2147 **** `coding-system-charset-list' returns a list of charsets supported
2150 **** `coding-system-priority-list' returns a list of coding systems
2151 ordered by their priorities.
2153 **** `set-coding-system-priority' sets priorities of coding systems.
2155 **** `coding-system-from-name' returns a coding system matching with
2158 ** There is a new input method, Robin, different from Quail.
2159 It has three functionalities:
2160 i) a simple input method (converts an ASCII sequence into a string).
2161 ii) converts an existing buffer substring into another string
2162 iii) reverse conversion (each character produced by a
2163 robin rule can hold the original ASCII sequence as a char-code-property)
2165 *** The new function `robin-define-package' defines a Robin package.
2167 *** The new function `robin-modify-package' modifies an existing Robin package.
2169 *** The new function `robin-use-package' starts using a Robin package
2172 *** The new function `string-to-unibyte' is like `string-as-unibyte'
2173 but signals an error if STRING contains a non-ASCII, non-eight-bit
2176 ** Changes related to the new font backend
2178 *** Which font backends to use can be specified by the X resource
2179 "FontBackend". For instance, to use both X core fonts and Xft fonts:
2181 Emacs.FontBackend: x,xft
2183 If this resource is not set, Emacs tries to use all font backends
2184 available on your graphic device.
2186 *** New frame parameter `font-backend' specifies a list of
2187 font-backends supported by the frame's graphic device. On X, they are
2188 currently `x' and `xft'.
2190 *** The function `set-fontset-font' now accepts a script name as the
2191 second argument, and has an optional 5th argument to control how to
2196 **** `fontp' checks if the argument is a font-spec or font-entity.
2198 **** `font-spec' creates a new font-spec object.
2200 **** `font-get' returns a font property value.
2202 **** `font-put' sets a font property value.
2204 **** `font-face-attributes' returns a plist of face attributes set by a font.
2206 **** `list-fonts' returns a list of font-entities matching a font spec.
2208 **** `find-font' returns the font-entity best matching the given font spec.
2210 **** `font-family-list' returns a list of family names of available fonts.
2212 **** `font-xlfd-name' returns an XLFD name of a given font spec, font
2213 entity, or font object.
2215 **** `clear-font-cache' clears all font caches.
2217 ** Changes related to multiple-terminal (multi-tty) support
2219 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
2220 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
2222 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
2224 *** The `window-system' variable is now frame-local. The new
2225 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
2226 for the first frame. `window-system' is also now a function that
2227 takes a frame argument.
2229 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
2230 keyboard coding systems are now terminal-local.
2232 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
2233 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
2235 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
2238 *** A new `terminal' data type.
2239 The functions `get-device-terminal', `terminal-parameters',
2240 `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter' use this data type.
2242 *** Function key sequences are now mapped using `local-function-key-map',
2243 a new variable. This inherits from the global variable function-key-map,
2244 which is not used directly any more.
2248 **** before-hack-local-variables-hook is called after setting new
2249 variable file-local-variables-alist, and before actually applying the
2250 file-local variables.
2252 **** `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions' are called
2253 after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed, respectively. The
2254 functions are called with the terminal id of the frame being
2255 suspended/resumed as a parameter.
2257 **** The special hook `delete-terminal-functions' is called before
2258 deleting a terminal.
2262 **** `delete-terminal'
2268 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
2270 ** Redisplay changes
2272 *** For underlined characters, the distance between the underline and
2273 the baseline is controlled by a new variable, `underline-minimum-offset'.
2275 *** You can now pass the value of the `invisible' property to
2276 invisible-p to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible.
2277 This is convenient when checking invisibility of text with no buffer
2278 position (e.g. in before/after-strings).
2280 *** `clear-image-cache' can be told to flush only images of a specific file.
2282 *** `vertical-motion' can now be given a goal column.
2283 It now accepts a cons cell (COLS . LINES) in its first argument, which
2284 says to stop, where possible, at a pixel x-position equal to COLS
2285 times the default column width.
2287 *** redisplay-end-trigger-functions, set-window-redisplay-end-trigger,
2288 and window-redisplay-end-trigger are obsolete. Use `jit-lock-register'
2291 *** The new variables `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' specify display
2292 specs which are appended at display-time to every continuation line
2293 and non-continuation line, respectively. In addition, Emacs
2294 recognizes the `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' text or overlay
2295 properties; these have the same effects as the variables of the same
2296 name, but take precedence.
2298 ** The Lisp interpreter now treats non-breaking space as whitespace.
2300 ** Miscellaneous new functions
2302 *** `apply-partially' performs a "curried" application of a function.
2304 *** `buffer-swap-text' swaps text between two buffers. This can be
2305 useful for modes such as tar-mode, archive-mode, RMAIL.
2307 *** `combine-and-quote-strings' produces a single string from a list of strings
2308 sticking a separator string in between each pair, and quoting those
2309 strings that include the separator as their substring. Useful for
2310 consing shell command lines from the individual arguments.
2312 *** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a
2313 certain variable as having been made within Custom.
2315 *** `face-all-attributes' returns an alist describing all the basic
2316 attributes of a given face.
2318 *** `format-seconds' converts a number of seconds into a readable
2319 string of days, hours, etc.
2321 *** `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated with a given image
2324 *** `locate-user-emacs-file' helps packages to select the appropriate
2325 place to save user-specific files. It defaults to `user-emacs-directory'
2326 unless the file already exists at $HOME.
2328 *** `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
2330 *** `read-shell-command' does what its name says, with completion. It
2331 uses the minibuffer-local-shell-command-map for that.
2333 *** `split-string-and-unquote' splits a string into a list of substrings
2334 on the boundaries of a given delimiter, and unquotes the substrings that
2335 are quoted. Useful for taking apart shell commands.
2337 *** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
2338 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
2341 *** The two new functions `make-serial-process' and
2342 `serial-process-configure' provide a Lisp interface to the new serial
2343 port support (see Emacs changes, above).
2345 ** Miscellaneous new variables
2347 *** `auto-save-include-big-deletions', if non-nil, means auto-save is
2348 not turned off automatically after a big deletion.
2350 *** `read-circle', if nil, disables the reading of recursive Lisp
2351 structures using the #N= and #N# syntax.
2353 *** `this-command-keys-shift-translated' is non-nil if the key
2354 sequence invoking the current command was found by shift-translation.
2356 *** `window-point-insertion-type' determines the insertion-type of the
2357 marker used for window-point.
2359 *** bookmark provides `bookmark-make-record-function' so special major
2360 modes like Info can teach bookmark.el how to save and restore the
2363 *** `fill-forward-paragraph-function' specifies which function the
2364 filling code should use to find paragraph boundaries.
2367 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
2369 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
2371 ** The new package check-declare.el verifies the accuracy of
2372 declare-function macros (see Lisp Changes, above).
2374 ** find-cmd.el can build `find' commands using lisp syntax.
2376 ** The package misearch.el has been added. It allows Isearch to search
2377 through multiple buffers. A variable `multi-isearch-next-buffer-function'
2378 defines the function to call to get the next buffer to search in the series
2379 of multiple buffers. Top-level functions `multi-isearch-buffers',
2380 `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp', `multi-isearch-files' and
2381 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' accept a single argument that specifies
2382 a list of buffers/files to search for a string/regexp.
2384 ** The new major mode `special-mode' is intended as a parent for
2385 major modes such as those that set the "'mode-class 'special" property.
2388 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2389 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2391 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2392 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2393 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2394 (at your option) any later version.
2396 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2397 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2398 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2399 GNU General Public License for more details.
2401 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2402 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2407 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
2410 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2