1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2007-2011 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.
18 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.3
20 ** New configure option --with-crt-dir specifies the location of your
21 crt*.o files, if they are in a non-standard location. This is only
22 used on x86-64 and s390x GNU/Linux architectures.
24 * Changes in Emacs 23.3
26 ** The last-resort backup file `%backup%~' is now written to
27 `user-emacs-directory', instead of the user's home directory.
29 ** If Emacs creates `user-emacs-directory', that directory's
30 permissions are now set to rwx------, ignoring the umask.
33 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.3
37 *** The appt-add command takes an optional argument, the warning time.
38 This can be used in place of the default appt-message-warning-time.
42 *** You can allow inferior Python processes to load modules from the
43 current directory by setting `python-remove-cwd-from-path' to nil.
47 *** The default value of `rmail-enable-mime' is now t. Rmail decodes
48 MIME contents automatically. You can customize the variable
49 `rmail-enable-mime' back to `nil' to disable this automatic MIME
52 *** The command `rmail-mime' change the displaying of a MIME message
53 between decoded presentation form and raw data if `rmail-enable-mime'
54 is non-nil. And, with prefix argument, it change only the displaying
55 of the MIME entity at point.
57 *** The new command `rmail-mime-next-item' (bound to TAB) moves point
58 to the next item of MIME message.
60 *** The new command `rmail-mime-previous-item' (bound to backtab) moves
61 point to the previous item of MIME message.
63 *** The new command `rmail-mime-toggle-hidden' (RET) hide or show the
64 body of the MIME entity at point.
66 ** VC and related modes
68 *** New VC command `vc-log-incoming', bound to `C-x v I'.
69 This shows a log of changes to be received with a pull operation.
70 For Git, this runs "git fetch" to make the necessary data available
71 locally; this requires version 1.7 or newer.
73 *** New VC command `vc-log-outgoing', bound to `C-x v O'.
74 This shows a log of changes to be sent in the next commit.
76 *** New VC command vc-find-conflicted-file.
78 *** The 'g' key in VC diff, log, log-incoming and log-outgoing buffers
79 reruns the corresponding VC command to compute an up to date version
82 *** vc-dir for Bzr supports viewing shelve contents and shelving snapshots.
84 *** Special markup can be added to log-edit buffers.
85 You can add headers specifying additional information to be supplied
86 to the version control system. For example:
88 Author: J. R. Hacker <jrh@example.com>
90 Actual text of log entry...
92 Bazaar recognizes the headers "Author", "Date" and "Fixes".
93 Git, Mercurial, and Monotone recognize "Author" and "Date".
94 Any unknown header is left as is in the message, so it is not lost.
98 *** lmenu.el and cl-compat.el are now obsolete.
101 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.3
103 ** smie.el is a generic navigation and indentation engine.
104 It takes a simple BNF description of the grammar, and provides both
105 sexp-style navigation (jumping over begin..end pairs) as well as
106 indentation, which can be adjusted via ad-hoc indentation rules.
109 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.3
111 ** posn-col-row now excludes the header line from the row count
112 If the frame has a header line, posn-col-row will count row numbers
113 starting from the first line of text below the header line.
116 * Lisp changes in Emacs 23.3
118 ** `e' and `pi' are now called `float-e' and `float-pi'.
119 The old names are obsolete.
121 ** The use of unintern without an obarray arg is now obsolete.
123 ** The function `princ-list' is now obsolete.
125 ** The yank-handler argument to kill-region and friends is now obsolete.
127 ** New function byte-to-string, like char-to-string but for bytes.
130 * Changes in Emacs 23.3 on non-free operating systems
132 ** The NeXTstep port can have different modifiers for the left and right
133 alt/option key by customizing the value for ns-right-alternate-modifier.
136 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.2
138 ** New configure options for Emacs developers.
139 These are not new features; only the configure flags are new.
141 *** --enable-profiling builds Emacs with profiling enabled.
142 This might not work on all platforms.
144 *** --enable-checking[=OPTIONS] builds emacs with extra runtime checks.
146 ** `make install' now consistently ignores umask, creating a
147 world-readable install.
149 ** Emacs compiles with Gconf support, if it is detected.
150 Use the configure option --without-gconf to disable this.
151 This is used by the `font-use-system-font' feature (see below).
153 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.2
155 ** The command-line option -Q (--quick) also inhibits loading X resources.
156 However, if Emacs is compiled with the Lucid or Motif toolkit, X
157 resource settings for the graphical widgets are still applied.
158 On Windows, the -Q option causes Emacs to ignore Registry settings,
159 but environment variables set on the Registry are still honored.
161 *** The new variable `inhibit-x-resources' shows whether X resources
164 ** New command-line option -mm (--maximized) maximizes the initial frame.
166 * Changes in Emacs 23.2
168 ** The maximum size of buffers (and the largest fixnum) is doubled.
169 On typical 32bit systems, buffers can now be up to 512MB.
171 ** The default value of `trash-directory' is now nil.
172 This means that `move-file-to-trash' trashes files according to
173 freedesktop.org specifications, the same method used by the Gnome,
174 KDE, and XFCE desktops. (This change has no effect on Windows, which
175 uses `system-move-file-to-trash' for trashing.)
177 ** The pointer now becomes invisible when typing.
178 Customize `make-pointer-invisible' to disable this feature.
182 *** Emacs can use the system default monospaced font in Gnome.
183 To enable this feature, set `font-use-system-font' to non-nil (it is
184 nil by default). If the system default changes, Emacs changes also.
185 This feature requires Gconf support, which is automatically included
186 at compile-time if configure detects the gconf libraries (you can
187 disable this with the configure option --without-gconf).
189 *** On X11, Emacs reacts to Xft changes made by configuration tools,
190 via the XSETTINGS mechanism. This includes antialias, hinting,
191 hintstyle, RGBA, DPI and lcdfilter changes.
193 ** Killing a buffer with a running process now asks for confirmation.
194 To remove this query, remove `process-kill-buffer-query-function' from
195 `kill-buffer-query-functions', or set the appropriate process flag
196 with `set-process-query-on-exit-flag'.
198 ** File-local variable changes
200 *** Specifying a minor mode as a local variables enables that mode,
201 unconditionally. The previous behavior, toggling the mode, was
202 neither reliable nor generally desirable.
204 *** There are new commands for adding and removing file-local variables:
205 `add-file-local-variable', `delete-file-local-variable',
206 `add-file-local-variable-prop-line', and
207 `delete-file-local-variable-prop-line'.
209 *** There are new commands for adding and removing directory-local variables,
210 and copying them to and from file-local variable lists:
211 `add-dir-local-variable', `delete-dir-local-variable',
212 `copy-dir-locals-to-file-locals',
213 `copy-dir-locals-to-file-locals-prop-line' and
214 `copy-file-locals-to-dir-locals'.
216 ** Internationalization changes
218 *** Unibyte sessions are now considered obsolete.
219 This refers to the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable as well as the
220 --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte command line
221 arguments. Customizing enable-multibyte-characters and setting
222 default-enable-multibyte-characters are also deprecated.
224 *** New coding system `utf-8-hfs'.
225 This is suitable for default-file-name-coding-system on Mac OS X; see
226 international/ucs-normalize.el.
228 ** Function arguments in *Help* buffers are now shown in upper-case.
229 Customize `help-downcase-arguments' to t to show them in lower-case.
231 ** New command `async-shell-command', bound globally to `M-&'.
232 This executes the command asynchronously, similar to calling `M-!' and
233 manually adding an ampersand to the end of the command. With `M-&',
234 you don't need the ampersand. The output appears in the buffer
235 `*Async Shell Command*'.
237 ** When running in a new enough xterm (newer than version 242), Emacs
238 asks xterm what the background color is and it sets up faces
239 accordingly for a dark background if needed (the current default is to
240 consider the background light).
243 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.2
245 ** Kill-ring and selection changes
247 *** If `select-active-regions' is t, any active region automatically
248 becomes the primary selection (for interaction with other window
249 applications). If you enable this, you might want to bind
250 `mouse-yank-primary' to Mouse-2.
252 *** When `save-interprogram-paste-before-kill' is non-nil, the kill
253 commands save the interprogram-paste selection into the kill ring
254 before doing anything else. This avoids losing the selection.
256 *** When `kill-do-not-save-duplicates' is non-nil, identical
257 subsequent kills are not duplicated in the `kill-ring'.
259 ** Completion changes
261 *** The new command `completion-at-point' provides mode-sensitive completion.
263 *** tab-always-indent set to `complete' lets TAB do completion as well.
265 *** The new completion-style `initials' is available.
266 For instance, this can complete M-x lch to list-command-history.
268 *** The new variable `completions-format' determines how completions
269 are displayed in the *Completions* buffer. If you set it to
270 `vertical', completions are sorted vertically in columns.
272 ** The default value of `blink-matching-paren-distance' is increased.
274 ** M-n provides more default values in the minibuffer for commands
275 that read file names. These include the file name at point (when ffap
276 is loaded without ffap-bindings), the file name on the current line
277 (in Dired buffers), and the directory names of adjacent Dired windows
278 (for Dired commands that operate on several directories, such as copy,
281 ** M-r is bound to the new `move-to-window-line-top-bottom'.
282 This moves point to the window center, top and bottom on successive
283 invocations, in the same spirit as the C-l (recenter-top-bottom)
286 ** The new variable `recenter-positions' determines the default
287 cycling order of C-l (`recenter-top-bottom').
289 ** The abbrevs file is now a file named abbrev_defs in
290 user-emacs-directory; but the old location, ~/.abbrev_defs, is used if
294 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
296 ** The bookmark menu has a narrowing search via bookmark-bmenu-search.
300 *** The Calc settings file is now a file named calc.el in
301 user-emacs-directory; but the old location, ~/.calc.el, is used if
304 *** Graphing commands (`g f' etc.) now work on MS-Windows, if you have
305 the native Windows port of Gnuplot version 3.8 or later installed.
307 ** Calendar and diary
309 *** Fancy diary display is now the default.
310 If you prefer the simple display, customize `diary-display-function'.
312 *** The diary's fancy display now enables view-mode.
314 *** The command `calendar-current-date' accepts an optional argument
315 giving an offset from today.
319 *** The default value for `desktop-buffers-not-to-save' is nil.
320 This means Desktop will try restoring all buffers, when you restart
321 your Emacs session. Also, `desktop-buffers-not-to-save' is only
322 effective for buffers that have no associated file. If you want to
323 exempt buffers that do correspond to files, customize the value of
324 `desktop-files-not-to-save' instead.
328 *** The new variable `dired-auto-revert-buffer', if non-nil, causes
329 Dired buffers to be reverted automatically on revisiting them.
333 *** When `doc-view-continuous' is non-nil, scrolling a line
334 on the page edge advances to the next/previous page.
338 *** Elint now uses compilation-mode.
340 *** Elint can now scan individual files and whole directories,
341 and can be run in batch mode.
343 *** Elint does a more thorough initialization, and recognizes more built-in
344 functions and variables. Customize `elint-scan-preloaded' if you want
345 to sacrifice some accuracy for a faster startup.
347 *** Elint attempts some basic understanding of featurep and (f)boundp tests.
349 *** Customize `elint-ignored-warnings' to suppress some warnings.
353 *** Toolbar functionality for reverse debugging. Display of STL
354 collections as watch expressions. These features require GDB 7.0 or later.
358 *** A new command `zrgrep' searches recursively in gzipped files.
362 *** The new command `Info-virtual-index' bound to "I" displays a menu of
363 matched topics found in the index.
365 *** The new command `info-finder' replaces finder.el with a virtual Info
366 manual that generates an Info file which gives the same information
367 through a menu structure.
369 ** LaTeX mode now provides completion (via completion-at-point).
371 ** Message mode is now the default mode for composing mail.
373 The default for `mail-user-agent' is now message-user-agent, so the
374 C-x m (`compose-mail') command uses Message mode instead of Mail mode.
376 Message mode has been included in Emacs, as part of the Gnus package,
377 for several years. It provides several features that are absent in
378 Mail mode, such as MIME handling.
380 *** If the user has not customized mail-user-agent, `compose-mail'
381 checks for Mail mode customizations, and issues a warning if these
382 customizations are found. This alerts users who may otherwise be
383 unaware that their mail configuration has changed.
385 To disable this check, set compose-mail-user-agent-warnings to nil.
387 ** The default value of mail-interactive is t, since Emacs 23.1.
388 (This was not announced at the time.) It means that when sending mail,
389 Emacs will wait for the process sending mail to return. If you
390 experience delays when sending mail, you may wish to set this to nil.
392 ** nXML mode is now the default for editing XML files.
394 ** pcomplete provides a new command `pcomplete-std-completion' which
395 is similar to `pcomplete' but using the standard completion UI code.
397 ** Shell (and other comint modes)
399 *** M-s is no longer bound to `comint-next-matching-input'.
401 *** M-r is now bound to `comint-history-isearch-backward-regexp'.
402 This starts an incremental search of the comint/shell input history.
404 *** ansi-color is now enabled by default in Shell mode.
405 To disable it, set ansi-color-for-comint-mode to nil.
409 *** New connection methods "rsyncc", "imap" and "imaps".
410 On systems which support GVFS-Fuse, Tramp offers also the new
411 connection methods "dav", "davs", "obex" and "synce".
413 ** VC and related modes
415 *** When using C-x v v or C-x v i on a unregistered file that is in a
416 directory not controlled by any VCS, ask the user what VC backend to
417 use to create a repository, create a new repository and register the
420 *** New command `vc-root-print-log', bound to `C-x v L'.
421 This displays a `*vc-change-log*' buffer showing the history of the
422 version-controlled directory tree as a whole.
424 *** New command `vc-root-diff', bound to `C-x v D'.
425 This is similar to `vc-diff', but compares the entire directory tree
426 of the current VC directory with its working revision.
428 *** `C-x v l' and `C-x v L' do not show the full log by default.
429 The number of entries shown can be chosen interactively with a prefix
430 argument, or by customizing vc-log-show-limit. The `*vc-change-log*'
431 buffer now contains buttons at the end of the buffer, which can be
432 used to increase the number of entries shown. RCS, SCCS, and CVS do
433 not support this feature.
435 *** vc-annotate supports annotations through file copies and renames,
436 it displays the old names for the files and it can show logs/diffs for
437 the corresponding lines. Currently only Git and Mercurial take
438 advantage of this feature.
440 *** The log command in vc-annotate can display a single log entry
441 instead of redisplaying the full log. The RCS, CVS and SCCS VC
442 backends do not support this.
444 *** When a file is not found, VC will not try to check it out of RCS anymore.
446 *** Diff and log operations can be used from Dired buffers.
450 **** The short log format for git makes use of the graph display,
451 so it's not supported on git versions earlier than 1.5.6.
453 **** vc-dir uses the --relative option of git, and so requires at least
456 **** Support for operating with stashes has been added to vc-dir:
457 the stash list is displayed in the *vc-dir* header, stashes can be
458 created, removed, applied and their content displayed.
460 *** vc-bzr supports operating with shelves: the shelve list is
461 displayed in the *vc-dir* header, shelves can be created, removed and applied.
463 *** log-edit-strip-single-file-name controls whether or not single filenames
464 are stripped when copying text from the ChangeLog to the *VC-Log* buffer.
468 *** Interactively `multi-isearch-buffers' and `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp'
469 read buffer names to search, one by one, ended with RET. With a prefix
470 argument, they ask for a regexp, and search in buffers whose names match
471 the specified regexp. Interactively `multi-isearch-files' and
472 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' read file names to search, one by one,
473 ended with RET. With a prefix argument, they ask for a wildcard, and
474 search in file buffers whose file names match the specified wildcard.
476 *** Autorevert Tail mode now works also for remote files.
478 *** The new eshell built-in commands `su' and `sudo' support Tramp.
479 Thus, they change `default-directory' to reflect the new user id, and
480 let commands run under that user's permissions. This works even when
481 `default-directory' is already remote. Calling the external commands
482 is possible via `*su' or `*sudo', respectively.
486 *** sym-comp.el is now obsolete, superseded by completion-at-point.
488 *** lucid.el and levents.el are now obsolete.
491 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
493 ** CEDET (the Collection of Emacs Development Tools) is now in Emacs.
494 This is a collection of packages to aid with using Emacs as an IDE
495 (integrated development environment):
497 *** The Semantic package allows the use of parsers to intelligently
498 edit and navigate source code. Parsers for C/C++, Java, Javascript,
499 and several other languages are included by default, and Semantic can
500 also interface with external tools such as GNU Global and GNU Idutils.
502 To enable Semantic, use the global minor mode `semantic-mode'.
503 See the Semantic manual for details.
505 *** EDE (Emacs Development Environment) is a package for managing code
506 projects, including features such as automatic Makefile generation.
508 To enable EDE, use the minor mode `global-ede-mode'.
509 See the EDE manual for details.
511 *** SRecode is a library for recoding Semantic tags back into source
512 code. It is currently used by some parts of Semantic and EDE; in the
513 future, it may be used for code generation features.
515 *** The EIEIO library implements a subset of the Common Lisp Object
516 System (CLOS). It is used by the other CEDET packages.
518 ** mpc.el is a front end for the Music Player Daemon. Run it with M-x mpc.
520 ** htmlfontify.el turns a fontified Emacs buffer into an HTML page.
522 ** js.el is a new major mode for JavaScript files.
524 ** imap-hash.el is a new library to address IMAP mailboxes as hashtables.
527 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.2
529 ** The Lisp reader turns integers that are too large/small into floats.
530 For instance, on machines where `536870911' is the largest integer,
531 reading `536870912' gives the floating-point object `536870912.0'.
533 This change only concerns the Lisp reader; it does not affect how
534 actual integer objects overflow.
536 ** Several obsolete functions removed.
537 The functions have been obsolete since Emacs 19, and are unlikely to
540 time-stamp-month-dd-yyyy, time-stamp-dd/mm/yyyy, time-stamp-mon-dd-yyyy
541 time-stamp-dd-mon-yy, time-stamp-yy/mm/dd, time-stamp-yyyy/mm/dd,
542 time-stamp-yyyy-mm-dd, time-stamp-yymmdd, time-stamp-hh:mm:ss,
543 time-stamp-hhmm, baud-rate
545 ** Support for generating Emacs 18 compatible bytecode (by setting
546 the variable `byte-compile-compatibility') has been removed.
548 ** In image-mode.el `image-mode-maybe' is obsolete.
549 Instead, you can either use `image-mode' (which displays an image file
550 as the actual image initially), or `image-mode-as-text' (when you want
551 to display an image file as text initially). `image-mode-as-text' is a
552 combination of a non-image mode from `auto-mode-alist' (or Fundamental
553 mode) and `image-minor-mode'. `image-minor-mode' provides a `C-c C-c'
554 key binding to toggle image display.
555 `image-toggle-display-text' removes image properties.
556 `image-toggle-display-image' adds image properties.
557 `image-toggle-display' toggles between `image-mode-as-text' and `image-mode'.
560 * Lisp changes in Emacs 23.2
562 ** All the default-FOO variables that hold the default value of the FOO
563 variable, are now declared obsolete.
565 ** read-key is a function halfway between read-event and read-key-sequence.
566 It reads a single key, but obeys input and escape sequence decoding.
568 ** Frame parameter changes
570 *** You can give the `fullscreen' frame parameter the value `maximized'.
571 This maximizes the frame.
573 *** The new frame parameter `sticky' makes Emacs frames sticky in
576 ** Completion changes
578 *** completion-base-size is obsoleted by completion-base-position.
579 This change causes a few backward incompatibilities, mostly with
580 choose-completion-string-functions where the `mini-p' argument has
581 been replaced by a `base-position' argument, and where the `base-size'
582 argument is now always nil.
584 *** New function `completion-in-region' to use the standard completion
585 facilities on a particular region of text.
587 *** The 4th arg to all-completions (aka hide-spaces) is declared obsolete.
589 *** completion-annotate-function specifies how to compute annotations
590 for completions displayed in *Completions*.
592 ** Minibuffer changes
594 *** read-file-name-predicate is obsolete. It was used to pass the predicate
595 to read-file-name-internal because read-file-name-internal abused its `pred'
596 argument to pass the current directory, but this hack is not needed
599 ** Changes to file-manipulation functions
601 *** `delete-directory' has an optional parameter RECURSIVE.
603 *** New function `copy-directory', which copies a directory recursively.
605 ** called-interactively-p now takes one argument and replaces interactive-p
606 which is now marked obsolete.
608 ** New function set-advertised-calling-convention makes it possible
609 to obsolete arguments as well as make some arguments mandatory.
611 ** You can control which binding is preferentially shown in menus and
612 docstrings by adding a `:advertised-binding' property to the corresponding
613 command's symbol. That property can hold a single binding or a list
616 ** Network and process changes
618 *** start-process-shell-command and start-file-process-shell-command
619 now only take a single `command' argument.
621 *** The new variable `process-file-side-effects' should be set to nil
622 if a `process-file' call does not change a remote file. This allows
623 file name handlers such as Tramp to optimizations.
625 *** make-network-process can now also create `seqpacket' Unix sockets.
629 *** eval-next-after-load is obsolete.
631 *** New hook `after-load-functions' run after loading an Elisp file.
633 ** Byte compilation changes
635 *** Changing the file-names generated by byte-compilation by redefining
636 the function `byte-compile-dest-file' before loading bytecomp.el is obsolete.
637 Instead, customize byte-compile-dest-file-function.
639 *** `byte-compile-warnings' has new members, `constants' and `suspicious'.
641 ** New macro with-silent-modifications to tweak text properties without
642 affecting the buffer's modification state.
644 ** Hash tables have a new printed representation that is readable.
645 The feature `hashtable-print-readable' identifies this new
648 ** New functions for performing Unicode normalization:
649 ucs-normalize-NFD-region, ucs-normalize-NFD-string,
650 ucs-normalize-NFC-region, ucs-normalize-NFC-string,
651 ucs-normalize-NFKD-region, ucs-normalize-NFKD-string,
652 ucs-normalize-NFKC-region, ucs-normalize-NFKC-string,
653 ucs-normalize-HFS-NFD-region, ucs-normalize-HFS-NFD-string,
654 ucs-normalize-HFS-NFC-region, ucs-normalize-HFS-NFC-string.
656 ** Face aliases can now be marked as obsolete, using the macro
657 `define-obsolete-face-alias'.
659 ** New function `window-full-height-p', analogous to the full-width version.
662 * Changes in Emacs 23.2 on non-free operating systems
664 ** On MS-Windows, `display-time' now displays the system load average
665 as well as the time, as it does on GNU and Unix.
668 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
670 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
671 The configure option `--with-gtk' has been removed. Gtk is now the
672 default toolkit, but you can use --with-x-toolkit=gtk if necessary.
675 Fonts are handled by new code capable of dealing with multiple font
676 backends. This uses the freetype and fontconfig libraries.
678 *** Emacs now accepts font names supplied in the fontconfig format
679 (e.g. "monospace-12:bold") and GTK format (e.g. "Monospace Bold 12").
681 *** Added support for local fonts (fonts installed on the machine
682 where Emacs is running).
684 *** Added support for the Xft library for antialiasing.
686 *** Added support for the otf library for complex text layout by
689 *** Added support for the m17n library for text shaping.
691 ** Changes to image support
693 *** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
696 *** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
698 *** Emacs now supports multi-page TIFF images.
700 ** New NeXTstep-based port.
701 This provides support for GNUstep (via the GNUstep libraries) and Mac
702 OS X (via the Cocoa libraries).
704 Specify --with-ns to configure for this. By default, a self-contained
705 app will be built (containing all lisp). To install/share lisp with
706 other emacsen (e.g. X11 build) use --disable-ns-self-contained. See
707 nextstep/README and nextstep/INSTALL in the Emacs source directory.
709 ** Mac OS X is no longer supported via Carbon.
710 Use the NeXTstep port, described above.
712 ** The new configuration option "--with-dbus" enables D-Bus language
715 ** Support for many obsolete platforms has been removed.
716 See the list at the end of etc/MACHINES for details.
718 *** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
720 *** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
722 *** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
724 ** The following platforms will be removed in a future Emacs version:
725 If you are still using Emacs on one of these platforms, please email
726 emacs-devel@gnu.org to inform the Emacs developers.
728 *** Old GNU/Linux systems based on libc version 5.
730 *** Old FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD systems based on the COFF
733 *** Solaris versions 2.6 and below.
735 *** Solaris on IBM RS6000 machines.
737 *** UNIX System V (the original SysV, not later platforms based on it).
739 *** Unixware on non-x86 machines.
741 *** Platforms not supporting shared libraries (i.e., requiring the
742 NO_SHARED_LIBS compilation flag).
744 ** The configure options `--with-gcc', `--without-gcc' have been removed.
745 Configure will use gcc by default. Set the CC environment variable if
746 you need control over which C compiler is used.
748 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
750 ** The manuals are now licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License v1.3,
751 or any later version.
753 ** Emacs 23 comes with a new set of default icons.
754 Various resolutions are available as etc/images/icons/hicolor/*/apps/emacs.png.
755 The Emacs 22 icon is available as `emacs22.png' in the same location.
757 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
759 ** Improved X Window System support
761 *** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
762 With an Emacs server active (M-x server-start), `emacsclient -t'
763 creates a tty frame connected to the running emacs server. You can
764 use any number of different ttys. `emacsclient -c' creates a new X11
765 frame on the current $DISPLAY (or a tty frame if $DISPLAY is not set).
766 There may be problems if a display exits unexpectedly and Emacs is compiled
767 with Gtk+, see etc/PROBLEMS.
769 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
770 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
772 *** Emacs starts in the background, as a daemon, when given the
773 --daemon command line argument. It disconnects from the terminal and
774 starts the server. Clients can connect and create graphical or
775 terminal frames using emacsclient.
777 **** emacsclient starts emacs in daemon mode and connects to it when
778 --alternate-editor="" is used (or when the evironment variable
779 ALTERNATE_EDITOR is set to "") and emacsclient cannot connect to an
782 *** The new command close-display-connection closes a connection to a
783 remote display. There are some bugs for Gtk+. See etc/PROBLEMS.
785 *** Emacs now supports the XEmbed specification.
786 You can embed Emacs in another application on X11. The new command line
787 option --parent-id is used to pass the parent window id to Emacs. See
788 http://standards.freedesktop.org/xembed-spec/xembed-spec-latest.html
789 for details about XEmbed.
791 *** Emacs can now set the frame opacity.
792 The opacity of a frame can be controlled by setting the `alpha' frame
793 parameter. This only takes effect on a compositing window manager for
794 the X Window System, such as Compiz, Beryl and Compiz Fusion, on Mac
795 OS X, or on Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows.
797 The alpha parameter should be an integer between 0 (transparent) and
798 100 (opaque), or a float number between 0.0 and 1.0. It can also be a
799 cons cell (ACTIVE . INACTIVE), where ACTIVE is the opacity of an
800 active frame and INACTIVE is the opacity of non-active frames.
802 The variable `frame-alpha-lower-limit' defines a lower bound for the
803 opacity; the default is 20.
805 ** Internationalization changes
807 *** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
808 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
810 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
811 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs' (`emacs-internal' is an alias
812 for this). This encoding is backward-compatible with Unicode's UTF-8
813 encoding. The internal encoding previously used by Emacs,
814 `emacs-mule', is still available for reading and writing files.
816 During byte-compilation, Emacs 23 uses `utf-8-emacs' to write files.
817 As a result, byte-compiled files containing non-ASCII characters can't
818 be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files compiled by Emacs 20, 21,
819 or 22 are loaded correctly as `emacs-mule' (whether or not they
820 contain multibyte characters). This takes somewhat more time, so it
821 may be worth recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be
822 shared with older Emacsen.
824 *** There are new coding systems/aliases; see M-x list-coding-systems.
826 *** There is a new charset implementation with many new charsets.
827 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
828 as tables of unicodes.
830 *** There are new language environments for Chinese-GBK,
831 Chinese-GB18030, Khmer, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu,
832 Sinhala, and TaiViet.
834 *** The minor modes unify-8859-on-encoding-mode and
835 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode are obsolete.
837 *** `ucs-insert' is bound to `C-x 8 RET' and in addition to hex numbers
838 accepts numbers in hash notation (e.g. #o21430 for octal, or #10r8984 for
839 decimal). It also accepts Unicode character names with completion.
841 *** The `cyrillic-translit' input method supports many new characters.
842 Common typographical characters available from Unicode were added to
843 `cyrillic-translit': punctuation marks, accented characters, fractions,
846 ** Emacs now supports serial port access on GNU/Linux, Unix, and
847 Windows. The new command `serial-term' starts an interactive terminal
848 on a serial port. The serial port can be configured at runtime with
849 the mode-line mouse menu.
853 *** In the Options menu, the "Set Default Font" item applies the
854 selected font to the `default' face on all frames, not just the
855 current frame. Furthermore, if Emacs is compiled with both GTK and
856 Fontconfig support, the "Set Default Font" item uses the GTK font
857 selection dialog instead of an Emacs pop-up menu.
859 *** The font setting chosen by "Set Default Font" is saved if the
860 "Save Options" item is used.
862 *** The Tools menu contains a new Encryption/Decryption submenu.
863 This contains commands provided by EasyPG, the newly-included
864 interface to GnuPG (see New Modes and Packages).
866 *** In the Options menu, the "Truncate Long Lines in the Buffer" entry
867 has been replaced with a submenu offering three different ways to
868 handle long lines: truncation, continuation at the window edge, and
869 the new word wrapping behavior (see Editing Changes, below).
871 *** Improvements to menus for major and minor modes
872 More major and minor modes now have a mode specific menu, and existing
873 mode menus have been improved to include more functionality.
877 *** The mode-line displays a `@', instead of `-', if the
878 default-directory for the current buffer is on a remote machine.
880 *** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a
881 minor mode, in the same way as it already did for major modes.
883 *** The `mode-line-emphasis' face is used to highlight certain
884 mode-line information (e.g. waiting for a VC command to finish).
886 *** The mode-line tooltips have been improved to provide more details.
888 *** The VC, line/colum number and minor mode indicators on the mode
889 line are now interactive: mouse-1 can be used on them to pop up a menu.
891 ** File deletion can make use of the Recycle Bin or system Trash folder.
892 Set `delete-by-moving-to-trash' non-nil to use this. Deleted files
893 and directories will then be sent to the Recycle Bin on Windows, and
894 to `trash-directory' on other systems.
896 ** Directory-local variables can now be defined.
897 By default, Emacs looks in .dir-locals.el for directory-local
898 variables. For more information, see `dir-locals-set-directory-class'
899 and `dir-locals-set-class-variables'.
901 ** Emacs can now use `auth-source' for authentication.
902 `smtpmail' and `url' (Tramp and Gnus also) use `auth-source' to obtain
903 login names and passwords. The match, if found, is reported
904 in *Messages* with the password blanked out.
906 ** `where-is-preferred-modifier' can specify your favorite modifier.
909 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
911 ** The option `inhibit-startup-screen' (with aliases to old names
912 `inhibit-splash-screen' and `inhibit-startup-message') doesn't inhibit
913 display of the initial message in the *scratch* buffer. If you don't
914 want to display the initial message in the *scratch* buffer at startup,
915 you can set the option `initial-scratch-message' to nil.
917 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
918 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
921 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
922 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
923 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
926 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
928 ** Emacs now supports invocation by an X session manager.
929 It can save a session and restore it later. See the documentation of
930 the functions `emacs-session-save' and `emacs-session-restore'.
931 (Actually, this feature was introduced with Emacs 22, but it was not
934 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
936 ** In Dired, `dired-flag-garbage-files' is rebound from `&' to `%&'
937 on the regexp command prefix map.
939 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
940 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
943 ** In Isearch mode, a special case of typing `C-w' at the beginning of
944 the minibuffer that toggles word search (i.e. using key sequences
945 `C-s RET C-w' or `C-s M-e C-w') is obsolete. You can use the global key
946 `M-s w' to start word search, or type `M-s w' in Isearch mode to
947 toggle word search. To start nonincremental word search you can now use
948 `M-s w RET' and `M-s w C-r RET' instead of `C-s RET C-w' and `C-r RET C-w'.
950 ** In Info, `Info-search' is unbound from `M-s' to allow using `M-s w'
951 for word search as well as other search commands from the global prefix
952 key `M-s'. `Info-search' is still bound to `s', and also incremental
953 search commands `C-s', `C-M-s', `C-r', `C-M-r' are available for searching
954 through multiple Info nodes, together with their nonincremental versions
955 `C-s RET', `C-r RET', `C-M-s RET', `C-M-r RET', `M-s w RET'.
957 ** In Text mode, `center-line' and `center-paragraph' are rebound from
958 `M-s' and `M-S' to global keys `M-o M-s' and `M-o M-S' on the global
959 prefix map `M-o', which is intended for such formatting commands.
961 ** The following input methods were removed in Emacs 22.2, but this was
962 not advertised: danish-alt-postfix, esperanto-alt-postfix,
963 finnish-alt-postfix, german-alt-postfix, icelandic-alt-postfix,
964 norwegian-alt-postfix, scandinavian-alt-postfix, spanish-alt-postfix,
965 and swedish-alt-postfix. Use the versions without "alt-", which are
969 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
971 ** The C-n and C-p line-motion commands now move by screen lines,
972 taking continued lines and variable-width characters into account.
973 Setting `line-move-visual' to nil reverts this to the previous
974 behavior (i.e., motion by logical lines based on buffer contents
977 ** C-x C-c now invokes `save-buffers-kill-terminal', and C-z now
978 invokes `suspend-frame'. These changes are for compatibility with the
979 new multi-tty support (see `Improved X Window System support' above).
983 *** Transient Mark mode is now on by default.
985 *** mark-even-if-inactive now defaults to t
987 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, C-SPC C-SPC pushes a mark without
990 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-q now fills the region if the
991 region is active. Otherwise, it fills the current paragraph.
993 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-$ now checks spelling of the
994 region if the region is active. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
997 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, TAB now indents the region if the
1000 *** The variable `use-empty-active-region' controls whether an empty
1001 active region in Transient Mark mode should make commands operate on
1004 ** Temporarily active regions
1006 *** The new variable shift-select-mode, non-nil by default, controls
1007 shift-selection. When Shift Select mode is on, shift-translated
1008 motion keys (e.g. S-left and S-down) activate and extend a temporary
1009 region, similar to mouse-selection.
1011 *** Temporarily active regions, created using shift-selection or
1012 mouse-selection, are not necessarily deactivated in the next command.
1013 They are only deactivated after point motion commands that are not
1014 shift-translated, or after commands that would ordinarily deactivate
1015 the mark in Transient Mark mode (e.g., any command that modifies the
1018 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
1020 *** Emacs may ask for confirmation before opening a non-existent file
1021 or buffer. By default, Emacs requests confirmation if you type RET
1022 immediately after TAB, and the resulting input is not an existing file
1023 or buffer; this usually happens when the minibuffer input did not
1024 complete far enough and you entered RET by mistake. In that case,
1025 Emacs puts the message "[Confirm]" in the minibuffer; type RET again
1026 to create the file or buffer.
1028 The new variable confirm-nonexistent-file-or-buffer determines whether
1029 Emacs asks for confirmation. The default value is `after-completion'.
1030 If you change it to t, Emacs always asks for confirmation; if you
1031 change it to nil, Emacs never asks for confirmation.
1033 *** The rules for performing completion have been changed.
1034 When generating completion alternatives, Emacs now takes the
1035 minibuffer text after point, if any, into account: this text is
1036 treated as a substring of the remaining part of the completion
1037 alternative (i.e., the part not matched by the minibuffer text before
1038 point). If no completion alternatives are found this way, Emacs
1039 attempts to perform partial-completion. If still no completion
1040 alternatives are found, we fall back on the Emacs 22 rules for
1041 performing completion.
1043 The new variable `completion-styles' can be customized to choose your
1044 favorite completion style.
1046 *** When M-n in the minibuffer reaches the end of the list of defaults,
1047 it adds the completion list to the end, so next M-n continues putting
1048 completion items to the minibuffer. The same principle applies to
1049 incremental search commands as well: C-s or C-M-s starts searching
1050 the default values and after the end of defaults they continue
1051 searching minibuffer completion items.
1053 *** Minibuffer input of shell commands now comes with completion.
1055 *** In the `C-x d' (Dired) prompt, typing M-n gives the visited file
1056 name of the current buffer.
1058 *** In the M-! (shell-command) prompt, M-n provides some default commands.
1059 These are guessed using the file extension of the current file, based
1060 on the file-handlers specified in the operating system's `mailcap'
1061 file. The ! command in Dired (dired-do-shell-command) works
1062 similarly, using the file displayed on the current line.
1064 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
1065 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
1066 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last Isearch
1067 regexp, the last Isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
1069 *** When enable-recursive-minibuffers is non-nil, operations which use
1070 switch-to-buffer (such as C-x b and C-x C-f) do not fail any more when
1071 used in a minibuffer or a dedicated window. Instead, they fallback on
1072 using pop-to-buffer, which will use some other window. This change
1073 has no effect when enable-recursive-minibuffers is nil (the default).
1075 *** Isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
1076 Reverse Isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
1077 history elements, and forward Isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
1078 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
1079 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
1080 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
1081 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
1083 *** The variable read-file-name-completion-ignore-case overrides
1084 completion-ignore-case for file name completion.
1086 *** The variable read-buffer-completion-ignore-case overrides
1087 completion-ignore-case for buffer name completion.
1089 *** The new command `minibuffer-force-complete' chooses one of the
1090 possible completions, rather than stopping at the common prefix.
1092 *** If `completion-auto-help' is `lazy', Emacs shows the completions
1093 buffer only on the second attempt to complete. This was already
1094 supported in `partial-completion-mode'.
1098 *** S-down-mouse-1 now pops up a menu for changing the font and text
1099 size of the default face in the current buffer. The face is changed
1100 via face remapping (see Lisp changes, below).
1102 *** New commands to change the default face size in the current buffer.
1103 To increase it, type `C-x C-+' or `C-x C-='. To decrease it, type
1104 `C-x C--'. To restore the default (global) face size, type `C-x C-0'.
1105 These work via Text Scale mode, a new minor mode.
1107 The final key in the above commands may be repeated without the
1108 leading `C-x', e.g. `C-x C-= C-= C-=' increases the face height by
1109 three steps. Each step scales the height of the default face by the
1110 value of the variable `text-scale-mode-step'.
1112 *** The commands buffer-face-mode and buffer-face-set can be used to
1113 remap the default face in the current buffer. See "Buffer Face mode",
1114 under New Modes and Packages.
1116 ** Primary selection changes
1118 *** You can disable kill ring commands from accessing the primary
1119 selection by setting `x-select-enable-primary' to nil.
1121 ** Continuation lines can now be wrapped at word boundaries
1122 (word-wrapping). This is controlled by the new per-buffer variable
1123 `word-wrap'. Word wrapping does not take place if continuation lines
1124 are not shown, e.g. if truncate-lines is non-nil. The most convenient
1125 way to enable word-wrapping is using the new minor mode Visual Line
1126 mode; in addition to setting `word-wrap' to t, this rebinds some
1127 editing commands to work on screen lines rather than text lines. See
1128 New Modes and Packages, below.
1130 ** Window management changes
1132 *** truncate-partial-width-windows now accepts integer values, which
1133 specify a minimum window width for partial-width windows, below which
1134 lines are truncated. The default has been changed to 50.
1136 *** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both
1137 vertically and horizontally.
1139 *** pop-to-buffer now always sets input focus when the popped-to window
1140 is on a different frame.
1142 ** Miscellaneous changes:
1144 *** C-l is bound to the new command recenter-top-bottom, rather than recenter.
1145 This moves the current line to window center, top and bottom on
1146 successive invocations.
1148 *** scroll-preserve-screen-position also preserves the column position.
1150 *** If `yank-pop-change-selection' is t, rotating the kill ring also
1151 updates the selection or clipboard to the current yank, just as M-w
1152 would do so with the text it copies to the kill ring.
1154 *** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
1155 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
1156 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
1158 *** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
1159 called with a prefix and the default directory is a remote file name.
1160 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
1161 run processes remotely.
1163 *** The new command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name
1166 *** The value of comment-style now defaults to `indent'.
1167 Thefore, comment-start markers are inserted at the current indentation
1168 of the region to comment, rather than the leftmost column.
1170 *** The new commands `pp-macroexpand-expression' and
1171 `pp-macroexpand-last-sexp' pretty-print macro expansions.
1173 *** The new command `set-file-modes' allows to set file's mode bits.
1174 The mode bits can be specified in symbolic notation, like with GNU
1175 Coreutils, in addition to an octal number. `chmod' is a new
1176 convenience alias for this function.
1178 *** `next-error-recenter' specifies how next-error should recenter the
1179 visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example, 0 for
1180 top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
1182 *** When typing in a password in the echo area, C-y yanks the current
1183 kill into the password.
1185 *** Tooltip frame parameters `font' and `color' in `tooltip-frame-parameters'
1186 are ignored. Customize the `tooltip' face instead.
1188 *** `mkdir' is a new convenience alias for `make-directory'.
1190 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
1192 ** Auto Composition Mode is a minor mode that composes characters
1193 automatically when they are displayed. It is globally on by default.
1194 It uses `auto-composition-function' (default `auto-compose-chars').
1196 ** Bubbles, a new game, is similar to SameGame.
1198 ** Buffer Face mode is a minor mode for remapping the default face in
1199 the current buffer. The variable `buffer-face-mode-face' specifies
1200 the face to remap to. The command `buffer-face-set' prompts for a
1201 face name, sets `buffer-face-mode-face' to it, and enables
1202 buffer-face-mode. See "Face changes", under Editing Changes, for a
1203 description of face remapping.
1205 ** butterfly flips the desired bit on the drive platter.
1206 See http://xkcd.com/378/
1208 ** bug-reference.el provides clickable links to bug reports.
1210 ** dbus.el provides D-Bus language bindings.
1211 D-Bus is an inter-process communication mechanism for applications
1212 residing on the same host. See the manual for details.
1214 ** DocView mode allows viewing of PDF, PostScript and DVI documents.
1215 One can also search for a regular expression in the document. For
1216 details, see the commentary in doc-view.el.
1218 PDF and DVI files are now opened in Doc View mode by default.
1220 In Postcript mode, C-c C-c launches Doc View minor mode for viewing
1221 the postscript file.
1223 ** EasyPG provides an interface to the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG).
1224 It includes a GnuPG keyring browser, cryptographic operations on
1225 regions and files, and automatic encryption of *.gpg files. For
1226 details, see the EasyPG Assistant User's Manual.
1228 ** json.el is a library for parsing and generating JSON
1229 (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format.
1231 ** linum.el is a new minor mode to display line numbers for the
1234 ** mairix.el is an interface to mairix, a free tool for indexing and
1235 searching locally stored mail. It allows you to query mairix and
1236 display the search results with Rmail, Gnus and VM. Note that there
1237 is an existing Gnus back end, nnmairix.el, which should be used with
1240 ** minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
1243 This is a new mode for editing XML documents. It allows a schema to
1244 be associated with the XML document being edited, using Relax NG as
1245 the schema language. The schema is used to provide two key features:
1247 *** Continuous validation. nXML validates as you type, highlighting
1248 any invalid parts of your document.
1250 *** Completion. nXML can assist you in entering an element name,
1251 attribute name or data value by using information about what is
1252 allowed by the schema in that context.
1254 ** proced.el provides a Dired-like interface for operating on
1255 processes. Proced makes an Emacs buffer containing a listing of the
1256 current processes. You can use the normal Emacs commands to move
1257 around in this buffer, and special Proced commands to operate on the
1258 processes listed. It is currently only functional on GNU/Linux,
1259 MS-Windows and Solaris.
1261 ** Remember Mode is a mode for jotting down things to remember.
1262 Notes can be saved to a Diary file. For details, see the Remember
1265 ** RST mode is a major mode for editing reStructuredText files.
1267 ** Ruby mode is a major mode for Ruby files.
1269 ** Visual Line mode provides support for editing by visual lines.
1270 It turns on word-wrapping in the current buffer, and rebinds C-a, C-e,
1271 and C-k to commands that operate by visual lines instead of logical
1272 lines. This is a more reliable replacement for longlines-mode.
1273 This can also be turned on using the menu bar, via
1274 Options -> Line Wrapping in this Buffer -> Word Wrap
1276 ** xesam.el is an implementation of Xesam, an interface to (desktop)
1277 search engines like Beagle, Strigi, and Tracker. The Xesam API
1278 requires D-Bus for communication.
1280 ** zeroconf.el offers service discovery and service publishing
1281 interfaces according to the zeroconf specification. It communicates
1282 with Avahi, a zeroconf implementation, via D-Bus messages on systems
1283 which have installed this software.
1285 ** There is a new `whitespace' package.
1286 (The pre-existing one has been renamed to `old-whitespace'.)
1287 Now, besides reporting bogus blanks, the whitespace package has a
1288 minor mode and a global minor mode to visualize blanks (TAB, (HARD)
1289 SPACE and NEWLINE). The visualization is made via faces and/or display
1290 table. It can also indicate lines that extend beyond a given column,
1291 trailing blanks, and empty lines at the start or end of a buffer.
1292 See `whitespace-style' for more details. The `whitespace-action' option
1293 specifies what to do when a buffer is visited, killed, or written.
1296 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
1298 ** Abbrev has been rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
1300 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
1301 abbrev-table-p, abbrev-insert, abbrev-table-menu.
1303 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
1305 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
1306 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
1308 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
1310 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
1312 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
1313 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
1315 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
1316 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
1317 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
1321 *** `apropos-library' describes the elements defined in a given library.
1323 *** Set `apropos-compact-layout' is you want a more compact (but wider) layout.
1325 ** Archive Mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
1326 Note, however, that the free version of the unrar command only handles
1327 versions 1 and 2 of the Rar format.
1331 *** New command `bibtex-initialize' (re)initializes BibTeX buffers.
1333 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
1334 `string', disabled by default.
1336 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
1337 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
1339 *** Command `bibtex-url' allows multiple URLs per entry.
1343 *** bookmark.el saves bookmarks in a pre-Emacs-23-incompatible file format
1344 bookmark.el can read a .emacs.bmk file saved by an older Emacs, but an
1345 older Emacs cannot read one saved by Emacs 23.
1347 ** Calendar and diary
1349 *** There is a new date style, `iso', essentially year/month/day.
1350 The variable `european-calendar-style' is obsolete - use `calendar-date-style'.
1351 Similarly, the commands `american-calendar' and `european-calendar'
1352 should be replaced by `calendar-set-date-style'.
1354 *** The calendar namespace has been rationalized.
1355 All functions and variables now begin with a `calendar-', `diary-', or
1356 `holiday-' prefix. The various calendar systems have secondary
1357 prefixes, eg `calendar-french-'. The old names you are likely to use
1358 directly still exist, for the time being, as aliases, but please start
1359 using the new names.
1361 *** The whitespace in the calendar layout can be customized.
1363 calendar-left-margin, calendar-intermonth-spacing, calendar-column-width,
1364 calendar-day-header-width, and calendar-day-digit-width.
1366 *** Text (e.g. ISO weeks) can be displayed between the calendar months.
1367 See the variables calendar-intermonth-header and calendar-intermonth-text.
1369 *** The function `holiday-chinese' computes holidays on the Chinese calendar.
1370 It has been used to add items to the list `holiday-oriental-holidays'.
1372 *** `diary-remind' accepts a negative number -DAYS as a shorthand for
1373 the list (1 2 ... DAYS).
1377 *** The new command C-c C-f (change-log-find-file) finds the file
1378 associated with the current log entry.
1380 *** The new command C-c C-c (change-log-goto-source) goes to the
1381 source code associated with a log entry.
1383 ** Compile and grep modes
1385 *** The mode-line entry for the *compilation* and *grep* buffer is color coded.
1386 It has different colors for to show that: (a) the command is still
1387 running, (b) successful completion, (c) error.
1389 *** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
1390 the first error encountered during compilations.
1392 *** compilation-scroll-output accepts a new value, `first-error', which
1393 says to stop auto scrolling at the first error that occurs.
1395 *** The `cc' alias for C++ files in `grep-file-aliases' has been
1396 improved. `hh' can be used to match C++ header files and `cchh' both
1397 C++ sources and headers.
1401 *** You can specify your copyright holders' names.
1402 Only copyright lines with holders matching `copyright-names-regexp' are
1403 considered for update.
1405 *** Copyrights can be at the end of the buffer.
1406 This is controlled by `copyright-at-end-flag' (used by, e.g., change-log-mode).
1410 *** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
1411 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
1415 *** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
1416 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see
1417 diff-auto-refine-mode. It is bound to `C-c C-b'.
1419 *** diff-add-change-log-entries-other-window iterates through the diff
1420 buffer and tries to create ChangeLog entries for each change.
1421 It is bound to `C-x 4 A'.
1423 *** Turning on `whitespace-mode' in a diff buffer will show trailing
1424 whitespace problems in the modified lines.
1428 *** In Dired, C-x C-q now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
1429 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
1432 *** `&' runs the command `dired-do-async-shell-command' that executes
1433 the command asynchronously without the need to manually add ampersand
1434 to the end of the command. Its output appears in the buffer `*Async Shell
1437 *** `M-s f C-s' and `M-s f M-C-s' run Isearch that matches only at file names.
1438 When a new user option `dired-isearch-filenames' is t, then even ordinary
1439 Isearch started with `C-s' and `C-M-s' matches only at file names in the
1440 Dired buffer. When `dired-isearch-filenames' is `dwim' then activation of
1441 file name Isearch depends on the position of point - if point is on a file
1442 name initially, then Isearch matches only file names, otherwise it matches
1443 everywhere in the Dired buffer. You can toggle file names matching on or
1444 off by typing `M-s f' in Isearch mode.
1446 *** `M-s a C-s' and `M-s a M-C-s' run multi-file Isearch on the marked files.
1447 They visit the first marked file in the sequence and display the usual Isearch
1448 prompt for a string or a regexp where all Isearch commands are available.
1450 *** `Q' in Dired provides two new keys for multi-file replacement.
1451 The upper case key `Y' replaces all remaining matches in all remaining files
1452 with no more questions. The upper case key `N' stops doing replacements
1453 in the current file and skips to the next file. These multi-file keys
1454 are available for all commands that use `tags-query-replace'
1455 including `dired-do-query-replace-regexp', `vc-dir-query-replace-regexp',
1456 `reftex-query-replace-document'.
1460 *** The line length of fixed-form Fortran is not fixed at 72 any more.
1461 Customize the variable `fortran-line-length' to change it.
1463 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
1464 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
1466 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
1470 *** The Gnus package has been updated
1471 There are many new features, bug fixes and improvements; see the file
1472 GNUS-NEWS or the node "No Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
1474 *** In Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs' new internal coding system `utf-8-emacs' for
1475 saving articles, drafts, and ~/.newsrc.eld. These file may not be read
1476 correctly in Emacs 22 and below. If you want to Gnus across different Emacs
1477 versions, you may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.
1479 *** Passwords are consistently loaded through `auth-source'
1480 Gnus can use `auth-source' for POP and IMAP passwords. Also see that
1481 `smtpmail' and `url' support `auth-source' for SMTP and HTTP/HTTPS/RSS
1482 authentication respectively.
1486 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
1487 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
1489 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
1490 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
1492 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits one to specify a new
1493 position for point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
1497 *** New command `isearch-forward-word' bound globally to `M-s w' starts
1498 incremental word search. New command `isearch-toggle-word' bound to the
1499 same key `M-s w' in Isearch mode toggles word searching on or off
1500 while Isearch is active.
1502 *** New command `isearch-highlight-regexp' bound to `M-s h r' in Isearch
1503 mode runs `highlight-regexp' (`hi-lock-face-buffer') with the current
1504 search string as its regexp argument. The same key `M-s h r' and
1505 other keys on the `M-s h' prefix are bound globally to the command
1506 `highlight-regexp' and other hi-lock commands.
1508 *** New command `isearch-occur' bound to `M-s o' in Isearch mode
1509 runs `occur' with the current search string. The same key `M-s o'
1510 is bound globally to the command `occur'.
1512 *** Isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
1513 When running Isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
1514 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
1515 if there is one (e.g. going from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
1516 This is enabled if multi-isearch-search is non-nil.
1518 *** Two new commands to start Isearch on a list of marked buffers
1519 for buff-menu.el and ibuffer.el are bound to the keys `M-s a C-s' and
1522 *** The part of an Isearch that failed to match is highlighted in
1523 `isearch-fail' face.
1525 *** `C-h C-h' in Isearch mode displays isearch-specific Help screen,
1526 `C-h b' displays all Isearch key bindings, `C-h k' displays the full
1527 documentation of the given Isearch key sequence, `C-h m' displays
1528 documentation for Isearch mode. All the other Help commands exit
1529 Isearch mode and execute their global definitions.
1531 *** When started in the minibuffer, Isearch searches in the minibuffer
1532 history. See `Minibuffer changes', above.
1536 *** Upgraded to MH-E version 8.2. See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1539 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
1540 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
1542 *** Python mode now has `pdbtrack' functionality. When using pdb to
1543 debug a Python program, pdbtrack notices the pdb prompt and displays
1544 the source file and line that the program is stopped at, much the same
1545 way as gud-mode does for debugging C programs with gdb.
1549 *** The default value of `recentf-keep' prevents from checking of
1550 remote files, if there is no established connection to the
1551 corresponding remote host.
1555 *** Rmail no longer converts the messages to Babyl format.
1556 Instead, it uses UNIX mbox format, both on disk and in Rmail buffers,
1557 and does conversion and decoding when a message is displayed.
1559 The first time you visit an Rmail file in Babyl format, Rmail
1560 automatically converts it to mbox format. This is a one-time
1561 conversion, but it can take a few minutes, depending on how fast is
1562 your machine and on the size of the file. You should find the rest of
1563 Rmail usage unaltered.
1565 However, M-x set-rmail-inbox-list now lasts only for one session
1566 because there is no way to save the list of inbox files in an
1569 Also, whereas with Babyl format M-x find-file would switch to Rmail
1570 mode, with mbox format this is no longer the case (there being no way
1571 to add an "-*- rmail-*-" cookie to an mbox file). Use C-u M-x rmail
1574 If you have written any extensions to Rmail, they are likely to need
1575 updating. Conceptually, the Rmail buffer that you see is no longer
1576 just a narrowed portion of the whole. So you cannot access the whole
1577 of a message (or message collection) by a simple save-restriction and
1578 widen. Instead, there are two buffers: the rmail-buffer, and the
1579 rmail-view-buffer. The former is the buffer that you see, the latter
1580 is invisible. Most of the time, the invisible `view' buffer contains
1581 the full contents of the Rmail file, and the Rmail buffer contains a
1582 decoded copy of the current message (with only a subset of the
1583 headers). In this state, Rmail is said to be `swapped'.
1585 You may find the following functions useful:
1587 `rmail-get-header' and `rmail-set-header' get or set the value of a
1588 message header, whether or not it is currently visible.
1590 `rmail-apply-in-message' is a general purpose function that calls a
1591 function (with arguments) which you specify on the full text of a given
1592 message. To further narrow to just the headers, search forward for "\n\n".
1594 *** The new command `rmail-mime' displays MIME messages.
1595 It is bound to `v' in Rmail buffers and summaries. It displays plain
1596 text and multipart messages in a temporary buffer, and offers buttons
1597 to save attachments.
1599 *** The command `rmail-redecode-body' no longer accepts the optional arg RAW.
1600 Since Rmail now holds messages in their original undecoded form in a
1601 separate buffer, `rmail-redecode-body' no longer encodes the original
1602 message, and therefore there should be no need to avoid encoding it.
1604 *** The o command is now `rmail-output'. It is an all-purpose command
1605 for copying messages from Rmail and appending them to files. It
1606 handles Babyl-format files as well as mbox-format files, and it
1607 handles both kinds properly when they are visited in Emacs. It always
1608 copies the full headers of the message.
1610 *** The C-o command is now `rmail-output-as-seen'. It uses
1611 the message as displayed, appending it to an mbox file.
1613 *** The modified status of the Rmail buffer is reported in the mode-line.
1614 Previously, this information was hidden.
1618 *** New option latex-indent-within-escaped-parens
1619 permits to customize indentation of LaTeX environments delimited
1624 *** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode is enabled,
1625 Emacs uses a Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server,
1626 rather than faking events using the client program mev. This C level
1627 approach provides mouse highlighting and help echoing in the
1632 *** New connection methods.
1633 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
1634 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
1635 "tunnel" and "socks".
1638 IPv6 addresses are supported now as host names. They must be embedded
1639 in square brackets, like in "/ssh:[::1]:".
1641 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
1642 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead, multi hops
1643 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
1645 *** More default settings.
1646 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
1647 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
1649 *** Connection information is cached.
1650 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
1651 connections is kept persistently in a file. The name of this file is
1652 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
1654 *** Control of remote processes.
1655 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
1656 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
1658 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
1659 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
1660 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
1662 *** Passwords can be read from an authentification file.
1663 Tramp uses the package `auth-source' to read passwords from a file, if
1666 ** VC and related modes
1668 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
1669 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
1670 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, Git
1671 and Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems as
1674 *** vc-dir is a new command that displays file names and their VC
1675 status. It allows to apply various VC operations to a file, a
1676 directory or a set of files/directories.
1678 *** VC switches are no longer appended, rather the first non-nil value is used.
1679 (This was for the most part true in Emacs 22, but was not advertised).
1680 This is because there is an increasing variety of VC systems, and they
1681 do not all accept the same "common" options. For example, a CVS diff
1682 command used to append the values of `vc-cvs-diff-switches',
1683 `vc-diff-switches', and `diff-switches'. Now the first non-nil value
1684 from that sequence is used. The special value `t' means "no switches".
1686 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
1688 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
1690 *** In VC Annotate mode, the key bindings have changed to use lower
1691 case keys instead of the upper case keys used in the past.
1693 *** In VC Annotate mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1694 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1695 by typing the D key. Using the "Show changeset diff of revision at
1696 line" menu entry does the same thing.
1698 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type v to toggle the annotation visibility.
1700 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type f to show the file revision on
1703 *** Asynchronous VC commands display [Waiting...] in the mode-line
1704 of the corresponding buffer as long as the asynchronous process is
1707 *** Log entries can be modified using the key "e" in log-view.
1708 For now only CVS, RCS, SCCS and SVN support this functionality.
1709 This is done by the `modify-change-comment' backend function.
1711 *** In log-view-mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1712 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1713 by typing the D key or using the "Changeset Diff" menu entry.
1715 *** In Log Edit mode, C-c C-d now shows the diff for the files involved.
1717 *** vc-git supports the "git grep" command.
1719 *** VC Support for Meta-CVS has been removed for lack of a maintainer able
1720 to update it to the new VC.
1724 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
1725 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
1726 on the corresponding remote system.
1728 *** Eldoc highlights the function argument under point
1729 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
1731 *** In Etags, the --members option is now the default.
1732 Use --no-members if you want the old default behavior of not tagging
1733 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
1735 *** The `gdb' command only works with the graphical interface now.
1736 Use `gud-gdb' if you want the (old) text command mode.
1738 *** goto-address.el provides two new minor modes, goto-address-mode and
1739 goto-address-prog-mode, which buttonize URLS and email addresses.
1741 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
1743 *** The new variable `ffap-rfc-directories' specifies a list of local
1744 directories in which `ffap-rfc' will first search for RFCs.
1746 *** hide-ifdef-mode allows shadowing ifdef-blocks instead of hiding them.
1747 See option `hide-ifdef-shadow' and function `hide-ifdef-toggle-shadowing'.
1749 *** `icomplete-prospects-height' now supersedes `icomplete-prospects-length'.
1751 *** Info displays breadcrumbs in the header of the page.
1752 See Info-breadcrumbs-depth to control it.
1754 *** net-utils has an `iwconfig' command, similar to the existing `ifconfig'.
1755 It is used to configure wireless interfaces.
1757 *** The pcmpl-unix package supports hostname completion for ssh and scp.
1759 *** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
1761 *** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
1762 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see
1763 smerge-auto-refine-mode.
1765 *** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
1767 *** A new command `display-time-world' has been added to the Time
1768 package. It creates a buffer with an updating time display using
1771 *** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
1772 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
1773 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
1774 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
1776 *** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
1777 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
1779 *** WoMan tries to add locale-specific manual page directories to the
1780 search path. This can be disabled by setting `woman-locale' to nil.
1783 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
1785 ** Case is now considered significant in completion on MS-Windows.
1786 The default value of `completion-ignore-case' is now nil on
1787 MS-Windows, the same as it is for other operating systems. The
1788 variable doesn't apply to reading a file name -- in that case Emacs
1789 heeds `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' instead.
1791 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
1792 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
1793 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. In Emacs 22, IPv6 was
1794 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
1795 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
1797 ** Busy cursor (hourglass) now displays on MS-Windows.
1798 When Emacs is busy, an hourglass mouse cursor is displayed on Windows.
1799 In Emacs 22 only X supported the busy cursor.
1801 ** Battery status is available on MS-Windows
1802 Emacs can now display the battery status in the mode-line when enabled with
1803 display-battery-mode or from the Options menu. More verbose battery
1804 information is also available with the command `battery'. In Emacs 22
1805 battery status was supported only on GNU/Linux and Mac.
1807 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
1808 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
1809 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
1810 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
1811 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
1813 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
1814 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
1815 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
1816 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
1817 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
1818 for the list of extra keys that are available.
1820 ** BDF fonts no longer supported on MS-Windows.
1821 The font backend was completely rewritten for this release. The focus
1822 on Windows has been getting acceptable performance and full unicode
1823 support, including complex script shaping for native Windows fonts. A
1824 rewrite of the BDF font support has not happened due to lack of time
1825 and developers. If demand still exists for such a backend even with
1826 the improved language support for native Windows fonts, future
1827 development in this direction will most likely be based on the
1828 freetype library, giving access to a wider range of font formats.
1831 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1833 ** Variables cannot be both buffer-local and frame-local any more.
1835 ** `functionp' returns nil for special forms.
1836 I.e., it only returns t for objects that can be passed to `funcall'.
1838 ** The behavior of map-char-table has changed. It may call the
1839 specified function with a cons (FROM . TO) as a key if characters in
1840 that range have the same value.
1844 *** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
1846 *** The multibyteness of process filters is now determined by the
1847 coding-system used for decoding. The functions
1848 `process-filter-multibyte-p' and `set-process-filter-multibyte' are
1851 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
1852 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
1853 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
1854 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
1855 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
1856 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
1857 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
1859 ** `mode-name' is no longer guaranteed to be a string.
1860 Use `(format-mode-line mode-name)' to ensure a string value.
1862 ** The function x-font-family-list has been removed.
1863 Use the new function font-family-list (see Lisp Changes, below).
1865 ** Internationalization changes
1867 *** The value of the function `charset-id' is now always 0.
1869 *** The functions `register-char-codings' and `coding-system-spec'
1872 *** The cpXXX coding systems are now supported automatically.
1873 The functions cp-...-codepage, which you had to use in Emacs 22 to
1874 enable support for these coding systems, have been deleted.
1876 *** The following features have been removed. They were used for
1877 displaying various scripts with specific fonts, and are no longer
1878 needed now that OpenType font support is available:
1880 **** `devanagari' and `devan-util', and all associated devanagari-* and
1881 dev-* functions and variables (formerly used for Devanagari script).
1883 **** `kannada' and `knd-util', and all associated kannada-* and knd-*
1884 functions and variables (formerly used for Kannada script).
1886 **** `malayalam' and `mlm-util', and all associated malayalam-* and
1887 mlm-* functions and variables (formerly used for Malayalam script).
1889 **** `tamil' and `tml-util, and all associated tamil-* and tml-*
1890 functions and variables (formerly used for Tamil script).
1892 *** The meaning of NAME argument of `set-fontset-font' is changed.
1893 Previously nil is accepted as the default fontset. Now, nil is for
1894 the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the default fontset.
1896 *** The meaning of FONTSET argument of `print-fontset' is changed.
1897 Now, nil is for the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the
1900 ** If a function in write-region-annotate-functions returns with a
1901 different buffer current, Emacs no longer kills that buffer
1902 automatically. This behavior existed in previous versions of Emacs,
1903 but was undocumented. To kill a buffer after write-region, give the
1904 variable `write-region-post-annotation-function' a buffer-local value
1907 ** The variable temp-file-name-pattern has been removed.
1908 This variable was only used by call-process-region, which now uses
1909 temporary-file-directory instead.
1911 ** The COUNT and SYSTEM-FLAG arguments to define-abbrev have been
1912 removed. The function now takes extra arguments for specifying
1913 arbitrary abbrev properties.
1915 ** end-of-defun-function is now guaranteed to work only when called
1916 from the start of a defun. It must now leave point exactly at the end
1917 of defun, since `end-of-defun' now itself moves forward over
1918 whitespace after calling it.
1921 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1923 ** The new variable `generate-autoload-cookie' controls the magic comment
1924 string used by `update-file-autoloads' to find autoloaded forms. The
1925 variable `generated-autoload-file' similarly controls the name of the
1926 file where `update-file-autoloads' writes the calls to `autoload'.
1927 The default values are ";;;###autoload" and `loaddefs.el',
1930 ** New primitives `list-system-processes' and `process-attributes'
1931 let Lisp programs access the processes that are running on the local
1932 machine. See the doc strings of these functions for more details.
1933 Not all platforms support accessing this information; on those that
1934 don't, these primitives will return nil.
1936 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
1937 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
1939 ** If a local hook function has a non-nil `permanent-local-hook'
1940 property, `kill-all-local-variables' does not remove it from the local
1941 value of the hook variable; it remains even if you change major modes.
1943 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
1946 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
1947 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
1948 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
1949 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
1951 ** `ignore-errors' is now a standard macro (does not require the CL package).
1953 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
1954 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
1955 strings on the kill ring.
1957 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
1958 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
1963 ((debug error) nil))
1965 ** clone-indirect-buffer now runs the clone-indirect-buffer-hook.
1967 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count given to
1968 `beginning-of-defun'. (N.B. `end-of-defun-function' doesn't take any
1971 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
1972 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
1973 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
1974 remote connection has been established already.
1976 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
1977 undefined functions.
1979 ** Changes to interactive function handling
1981 *** The new interactive spec code ^ says to first call
1982 handle-shift-selection if shift-select-mode is non-nil, before reading
1983 the command arguments. This is used for shift-selection (see above).
1985 *** Built-in functions can now have an interactive specification that
1986 is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
1987 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
1989 *** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
1990 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex
1991 interactive forms to subroutines.
1995 *** Commands should use `use-region-p' to test whether there is
1996 an active region that they should operate on.
1998 *** `region-active-p' returns non-nil when Transient Mark mode is
1999 enabled and the mark is active. Most commands that act specially on
2000 the active region in Transient Mark mode should use `use-region-p'
2001 instead of `region-active-p', because `use-region-p' obeys the new
2002 user option `use-empty-active-region' (see Editing Changes, above).
2004 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to (only . OLDVAL), that
2005 means to activate transient-mark-mode temporarily, until the next
2006 unshifted point motion command or mark deactivation. Afterwards,
2007 reset transient-mark-mode to the value OLDVAL. The values `only' and
2008 `identity', introduced in Emacs 22, are now deprecated.
2010 ** Emacs session information
2012 *** The new variables `before-init-time' and `after-init-time' record the
2013 value of `current-time' before and after Emacs loads the init files.
2015 *** The new function `emacs-uptime' returns the uptime of an Emacs instance.
2017 *** The new function `emacs-init-time' returns the duration of the
2018 Emacs initialization.
2020 ** Changes affecting display-buffer
2022 *** display-buffer tries to be smarter when splitting windows.
2023 The new option split-window-preferred-function lets you specify your own
2024 function to pop up new windows. Its default value split-window-sensibly
2025 can split a window either vertically or horizontally, whichever seems
2026 more suitable in the current configuration. You can tune the behavior
2027 of split-window-sensibly by customizing split-height-threshold and the
2028 new option split-width-threshold. Both options now take the value nil
2029 to inhibit splitting in one direction. Setting split-width-threshold to
2030 nil inhibits horizontal splitting and gets you the behavior of Emacs 22
2031 in this respect. In any case, display-buffer may now split the largest
2032 window vertically even when it is not as wide as the containing frame.
2034 *** If pop-up-frames has the value `graphic-only', display-buffer only
2035 makes a separate frame on graphic displays.
2037 *** select-frame and set-frame-selected-window have a new optional
2038 argument NORECORD. If non-nil, this will avoid messing with the order
2039 of recently selected windows and the buffer list.
2041 ** Window parameters can now be defined.
2042 These are analogous to frame parameters, but are associated with
2045 *** The new functions window-parameters, window-parameter, and
2046 set-window-parameter are used to query and set window parameters.
2048 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
2050 *** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
2051 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
2052 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
2053 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
2054 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
2056 *** New function `read-regexp' uses the regexp history and some useful
2057 regexp defaults (string at point, last Isearch/replacement regexp/string)
2058 via M-n when reading a regexp in the minibuffer.
2060 *** minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map is now named
2061 minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map.
2063 *** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts the new
2064 values `confirm-only' and `confirm-after-completion'.
2066 ** Search and replacement changes
2068 *** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
2070 *** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
2071 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
2073 *** The new variable `replace-search-function' determines the function
2074 to use for searching in query-replace and replace-string. The
2075 function it specifies is called by `perform-replace' when its 4th
2078 *** The new variable `replace-re-search-function' determines the
2079 function to use for searching in `query-replace-regexp',
2080 `replace-regexp', `query-replace-regexp-eval', and
2081 `map-query-replace-regexp'. The function it specifies is called by
2082 `perform-replace' when its 4th argument is non-nil.
2084 *** New keymap `search-map' bound to `M-s' provides global bindings
2085 for search related commands.
2087 *** New keymap `multi-query-replace-map' contains additonal keys bound
2088 to `automatic-all' and `exit-current' for multi-buffer interactive replacement.
2090 *** The variable `inhibit-changing-match-data', if non-nil, prevents
2091 the search and match primitives from changing the match data.
2093 *** New functions `word-search-forward-lax' and `word-search-backward-lax'.
2094 These are like `word-search-forward and `word-search-backward', except
2095 that the end of the search string need not match a word boundary,
2096 unless it ends in whitespace.
2098 ** File handling changes
2100 *** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
2101 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
2103 *** file-local-variables-alist stores an alist of file-local
2104 variables defined in the current buffer.
2108 *** Each face can be remapped to a different face definition using the
2109 variable `face-remapping-alist'. This is an alist that maps faces to
2110 replacement definitions (which can be face names, lists of face names,
2111 or attribute/value plists. If this variable is buffer-local, the
2112 remapping occurs only in that buffer.
2114 *** text-scale-mode remaps the default face to a larger or smaller
2115 size in the current buffer. This feature is used by the Buffer Face
2116 menu and the new `C-x C-+', `C-x C--', and `C-x C-0' commands (see
2117 Editing Changes, above).
2121 **** `face-remap-add-relative' adds a face remapping entry to the
2124 **** ``face-remap-remove-relative' removes a face remapping entry from
2127 **** `face-remap-reset-base' restores a face to its global definition.
2129 **** `face-remap-set-base' sets the base remapping of a face.
2133 *** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
2134 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
2135 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
2136 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
2137 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
2139 *** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
2140 returns its output as a list of lines.
2142 ** Character code, representation, and charset changes.
2144 *** In multibyte buffers and strings, characters are represented by
2145 UTF-8 byte sequences. The character code space is now 0x0..0x3FFFFF
2146 with no gap; code points 0x0..0x10FFFF are Unicode characters of the
2147 same code points, while code points 0x3FFF80..0x3FFFFF are raw 8-bit
2150 *** Generic characters no longer exist.
2152 *** The concept of a charset has changed. A single character may
2153 belong to multiple charsets (e.g. a-grave, U+00E0, belongs to charsets
2154 unicode, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-3, etc).
2156 **** The dimension of a charset is now 1, 2, 3, or 4, and the size of
2157 each dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
2159 **** A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
2160 characters for display.
2162 *** The functions `split-char' and `make-char' now accept up to 4
2163 positional codes instead of just 2.
2165 *** The functions `encode-char' and `decode-char' now accept any character sets.
2167 *** The function `define-charset' now accepts a completely different
2168 form of arguments (old-style arguments still work).
2170 *** The value of the function `char-charset' depends on the current
2171 priorities of charsets.
2173 *** The function get-char-code-property now accepts many Unicode base
2174 character properties. They are `name', `general-category',
2175 `canonical-combining-class', `bidi-class', `decomposition',
2176 `decimal-digit-value', `digit-value', `numeric-value', `mirrored',
2177 `old-name', `iso-10646-comment', `uppercase', `lowercase', and
2180 *** The functions `modify-syntax-entry' and `modify-category-entry' now
2181 accept a cons of characters as the first argument, and modify all
2182 entries in that range of characters.
2184 *** Use of `translation-table-for-input' for character code unification
2185 is now obsolete, since Emacs 23.1 and later uses Unicode as basis for
2186 internal representation of characters.
2190 **** `characterp' returns t if and only if the argument is a character.
2191 This replaces `char-valid-p', which is now obsolete.
2193 **** `max-char' returns the maximum character code (currently #x3FFFFF).
2195 **** `define-charset-alias' defines an alias of a charset.
2197 **** `set-charset-priority' sets priorities of charsets.
2199 **** `charset-priority-list' returns a prioritized list of charsets.
2201 **** `unibyte-string' makes a unibyte string from bytes.
2203 **** `define-char-code-property' defines a character code property.
2205 **** `char-code-property-description' returns the description string of
2206 a character code property.
2210 **** `find-word-boundary-function-table' is a char-table of functions to
2211 search for a word boundary.
2213 **** `char-script-table' is a char-table of script names.
2215 **** `char-width-table' is a char-table of character widths.
2217 **** `print-charset-text-property' controls how to handle `charset' text
2218 property on printing a string.
2220 **** `printable-chars' is a char-table of printable characters.
2222 ** Code conversion changes
2224 *** The new function `define-coding-system' should be used to define a
2225 coding system instead of `make-coding-system' (which is now obsolete).
2227 *** The functions `encode-coding-region' and `decode-coding-region'
2228 have an optional 4th argument to specify where the result of
2229 conversion should go.
2231 *** The functions `encode-coding-string' and `decode-coding-string'
2232 have an optional 4th argument specifying a buffer to store the result
2235 *** The new variable `inhibit-null-byte-detection' controls whether to
2236 consider text with null bytes as binary data. By default, it is
2237 `nil', and Emacs uses `no-conversion' for any text containing null
2240 *** The functions `set-coding-priority' and `make-coding-system' are obsolete.
2244 **** `with-coding-priority' executes Lisp code using the specified
2245 coding system priority order.
2247 **** `check-coding-systems-region' checks if the text in the region is
2248 encodable by the specified coding systems.
2250 **** `coding-system-aliases' returns a list of aliases of a coding system.
2252 **** `coding-system-charset-list' returns a list of charsets supported
2255 **** `coding-system-priority-list' returns a list of coding systems
2256 ordered by their priorities.
2258 **** `set-coding-system-priority' sets priorities of coding systems.
2260 **** `coding-system-from-name' returns a coding system matching with
2263 ** There is a new input method, Robin, different from Quail.
2264 It has three functionalities:
2265 i) a simple input method (converts an ASCII sequence into a string).
2266 ii) converts an existing buffer substring into another string
2267 iii) reverse conversion (each character produced by a
2268 robin rule can hold the original ASCII sequence as a char-code-property)
2270 *** The new function `robin-define-package' defines a Robin package.
2272 *** The new function `robin-modify-package' modifies an existing Robin package.
2274 *** The new function `robin-use-package' starts using a Robin package
2277 *** The new function `string-to-unibyte' is like `string-as-unibyte'
2278 but signals an error if STRING contains a non-ASCII, non-eight-bit
2281 ** Changes related to the new font backend
2283 *** Which font backends to use can be specified by the X resource
2284 "FontBackend". For instance, to use both X core fonts and Xft fonts:
2286 Emacs.FontBackend: x,xft
2288 If this resource is not set, Emacs tries to use all font backends
2289 available on your graphic device.
2291 *** New frame parameter `font-backend' specifies a list of
2292 font-backends supported by the frame's graphic device. On X, they are
2293 currently `x' and `xft'.
2295 *** The function `set-fontset-font' now accepts a script name as the
2296 second argument, and has an optional 5th argument to control how to
2301 **** `fontp' checks if the argument is a font-spec or font-entity.
2303 **** `font-spec' creates a new font-spec object.
2305 **** `font-get' returns a font property value.
2307 **** `font-put' sets a font property value.
2309 **** `font-face-attributes' returns a plist of face attributes set by a font.
2311 **** `list-fonts' returns a list of font-entities matching a font spec.
2313 **** `find-font' returns the font-entity best matching the given font spec.
2315 **** `font-family-list' returns a list of family names of available fonts.
2317 **** `font-xlfd-name' returns an XLFD name of a given font spec, font
2318 entity, or font object.
2320 **** `clear-font-cache' clears all font caches.
2322 ** Changes related to multiple-terminal (multi-tty) support
2324 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
2325 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
2327 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
2329 *** The `window-system' variable is now frame-local. The new
2330 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
2331 for the first frame. `window-system' is also now a function that
2332 takes a frame argument.
2334 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
2335 keyboard coding systems are now terminal-local.
2337 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
2338 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
2340 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
2343 *** A new `terminal' data type.
2344 The functions `get-device-terminal', `terminal-parameters',
2345 `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter' use this data type.
2347 *** Function key sequences are now mapped using `local-function-key-map',
2348 a new variable. This inherits from the global variable function-key-map,
2349 which is not used directly any more.
2353 **** before-hack-local-variables-hook is called after setting new
2354 variable file-local-variables-alist, and before actually applying the
2355 file-local variables.
2357 **** `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions' are called
2358 after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed, respectively. The
2359 functions are called with the terminal id of the frame being
2360 suspended/resumed as a parameter.
2362 **** The special hook `delete-terminal-functions' is called before
2363 deleting a terminal.
2367 **** `delete-terminal'
2373 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
2375 ** Redisplay changes
2377 *** For underlined characters, the distance between the underline and
2378 the baseline is controlled by a new variable, `underline-minimum-offset'.
2380 *** You can now pass the value of the `invisible' property to
2381 invisible-p to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible.
2382 This is convenient when checking invisibility of text with no buffer
2383 position (e.g. in before/after-strings).
2385 *** `clear-image-cache' can be told to flush only images of a specific file.
2387 *** `vertical-motion' can now be given a goal column.
2388 It now accepts a cons cell (COLS . LINES) in its first argument, which
2389 says to stop, where possible, at a pixel x-position equal to COLS
2390 times the default column width.
2392 *** redisplay-end-trigger-functions, set-window-redisplay-end-trigger,
2393 and window-redisplay-end-trigger are obsolete. Use `jit-lock-register'
2396 *** The new variables `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' specify display
2397 specs which are appended at display-time to every continuation line
2398 and non-continuation line, respectively. In addition, Emacs
2399 recognizes the `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' text or overlay
2400 properties; these have the same effects as the variables of the same
2401 name, but take precedence.
2403 ** The Lisp interpreter now treats non-breaking space as whitespace.
2405 ** Miscellaneous new functions
2407 *** `apply-partially' performs a "curried" application of a function.
2409 *** `buffer-swap-text' swaps text between two buffers. This can be
2410 useful for modes such as tar-mode, archive-mode, RMAIL.
2412 *** `combine-and-quote-strings' produces a single string from a list of strings
2413 sticking a separator string in between each pair, and quoting those
2414 strings that include the separator as their substring. Useful for
2415 consing shell command lines from the individual arguments.
2417 *** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a
2418 certain variable as having been made within Custom.
2420 *** `face-all-attributes' returns an alist describing all the basic
2421 attributes of a given face.
2423 *** `format-seconds' converts a number of seconds into a readable
2424 string of days, hours, etc.
2426 *** `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated with a given image
2429 *** `locate-user-emacs-file' helps packages to select the appropriate
2430 place to save user-specific files. It defaults to `user-emacs-directory'
2431 unless the file already exists at $HOME.
2433 *** `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
2435 *** `read-shell-command' does what its name says, with completion. It
2436 uses the minibuffer-local-shell-command-map for that.
2438 *** `split-string-and-unquote' splits a string into a list of substrings
2439 on the boundaries of a given delimiter, and unquotes the substrings that
2440 are quoted. Useful for taking apart shell commands.
2442 *** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
2443 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
2446 *** The two new functions `make-serial-process' and
2447 `serial-process-configure' provide a Lisp interface to the new serial
2448 port support (see Emacs changes, above).
2450 ** Miscellaneous new variables
2452 *** `auto-save-include-big-deletions', if non-nil, means auto-save is
2453 not turned off automatically after a big deletion.
2455 *** `read-circle', if nil, disables the reading of recursive Lisp
2456 structures using the #N= and #N# syntax.
2458 *** `this-command-keys-shift-translated' is non-nil if the key
2459 sequence invoking the current command was found by shift-translation.
2461 *** `window-point-insertion-type' determines the insertion-type of the
2462 marker used for window-point.
2464 *** bookmark provides `bookmark-make-record-function' so special major
2465 modes like Info can teach bookmark.el how to save and restore the
2468 *** `fill-forward-paragraph-function' specifies which function the
2469 filling code should use to find paragraph boundaries.
2472 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
2474 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
2476 ** The new package check-declare.el verifies the accuracy of
2477 declare-function macros (see Lisp Changes, above).
2479 ** find-cmd.el can build `find' commands using lisp syntax.
2481 ** The package misearch.el has been added. It allows Isearch to search
2482 through multiple buffers. A variable `multi-isearch-next-buffer-function'
2483 defines the function to call to get the next buffer to search in the series
2484 of multiple buffers. Top-level functions `multi-isearch-buffers',
2485 `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp', `multi-isearch-files' and
2486 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' accept a single argument that specifies
2487 a list of buffers/files to search for a string/regexp.
2489 ** The new major mode `special-mode' is intended as a parent for
2490 major modes such as those that set the "'mode-class 'special" property.
2493 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2494 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2496 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2497 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2498 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2499 (at your option) any later version.
2501 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2502 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2503 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2504 GNU General Public License for more details.
2506 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2507 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2512 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"