1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to emacs-pretest-bug@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 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
26 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
27 The configure option `--with-gtk' has been removed. Gtk is now the
28 default toolkit, but you can use --with-x-toolkit=gtk if necessary.
31 Fonts are handled by new code capable of dealing with multiple font
32 backends. This uses the freetype and fontconfig libraries.
34 *** Emacs now accepts font names supplied in the fontconfig format
35 (e.g. "monospace-12:bold") and GTK format (e.g. "Monospace Bold 12").
37 *** Added support for local fonts (fonts installed on the machine
38 where Emacs is running).
40 *** Added support for the Xft library for antialiasing.
42 *** Added support for the otf library for complex text layout by
45 *** Added support for the m17n library for text shaping.
47 ** Changes to image support
49 *** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
52 *** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
54 *** Emacs now supports multi-page TIFF images.
56 ** New NeXTSTEP-based port
57 This provides support for GNUstep (via the GNUstep libraries) and Mac
58 OS X (via the Cocoa libraries).
60 Specify --with-ns to configure for this. By default, a self-contained
61 app will be built (containing all lisp). To install/share lisp with
62 other emacsen (e.g. X11 build) use --disable-ns-self-contained. See
63 nextstep/README and nextstep/INSTALL in the Emacs source directory.
65 ** Mac OS X is no longer supported via Carbon.
66 Use the NeXTSTEP port, described above.
68 ** The new configuration option "--with-dbus" enables D-Bus language
71 ** Support for many obsolete platforms has been removed.
72 See the list at the end of etc/MACHINES for details.
74 *** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
76 *** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
78 *** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
80 ** The following platforms will be removed in a future Emacs version:
81 If you are still using Emacs on one of these platforms, please email
82 emacs-devel@gnu.org to inform the Emacs developers.
84 *** Old GNU/Linux systems based on libc version 5.
86 *** Old FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD systems based on the COFF
89 *** Solaris versions 2.6 and below.
91 *** Solaris on IBM RS6000 machines.
93 *** UNIX System V (the original SysV, not later platforms based on it).
95 *** Unixware on non-x86 machines.
97 *** Platforms not supporting shared libraries (i.e., requiring the
98 NO_SHARED_LIBS compilation flag).
101 ** The configure options `--with-gcc', `--without-gcc' have been removed.
102 Configure will use gcc by default. Set the CC environment variable if
103 you need control over which C compiler is used.
105 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
108 ** The manuals are now licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License v1.3,
109 or any later version.
112 ** Emacs 23 comes with a new set of default icons.
113 Various resolutions are available as etc/images/icons/hicolor/*/apps/emacs.png.
114 The Emacs 22 icon is available as `emacs22.png' in the same location.
116 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
118 ** Improved X Window System support
120 *** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
121 With an Emacs server active (M-x server-start), `emacsclient -t'
122 creates a tty frame connected to the running emacs server. You can
123 use any number of different ttys. `emacsclient -c' creates a new X11
124 frame on the current $DISPLAY (or a tty frame if $DISPLAY is not set).
125 There may be problems if a display exits unexpectedly and Emacs is compiled
126 with Gtk+, see etc/PROBLEMS.
128 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
129 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
131 *** Emacs can now start in background, as a daemon when using the
132 --daemon command line argument. It disconnects from the terminal and
133 starts the server. Clients can connect and create graphical or
134 terminal frames using emacsclient.
136 **** emacsclient starts emacs in daemon mode and connects to it when
137 --alternate-editor="" is used (or when the evironment variable
138 ALTERNATE_EDITOR is set to "") and emacsclient cannot connect to an
141 *** The new command close-display-connection closes a connection to a
142 remote display. There are some bugs for Gtk+. See etc/PROBLEMS.
144 *** Emacs now supports the XEmbed specification.
145 You can embed Emacs in another application on X11. The new command line
146 option --parent-id is used to pass the parent window id to Emacs. See
147 http://standards.freedesktop.org/xembed-spec/xembed-spec-latest.html
148 for details about XEmbed.
150 *** Emacs can now set the frame opacity.
151 The opacity of a frame can be controlled by setting the `alpha' frame
152 parameter. This only takes effect on a compositing window manager for
153 the X Window System, such as Compiz, Beryl and Compiz Fusion, on Mac
154 OS X, or on Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows.
156 The alpha parameter should be an integer between 0 (transparent) and
157 100 (opaque), or a float number between 0.0 and 1.0. It can also be a
158 cons cell (ACTIVE . INACTIVE), where ACTIVE is the opacity of an
159 active frame and INACTIVE is the opacity of non-active frames.
161 The variable `frame-alpha-lower-limit' defines a lower bound for the
162 opacity; the default is 20.
164 ** Internationalization changes
166 *** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
167 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
169 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
170 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs'. This encoding is backwards
171 compatible with Unicode's UTF-8 encoding. The encoding
172 `emacs-internal' is an alias for this. The internal encoding
173 previously used by Emacs, `emacs-mule', is still available.
175 During byte-compilation, Emacs 23 uses `utf-8-emacs' to write files.
176 As a result, byte-compiled files containing non-ASCII characters can't
177 be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files compiled by Emacs 20, 21,
178 or 22 are loaded correctly as emacs-mule (whether or not they contain
179 multibyte characters). This takes somewhat more time, so it may be
180 worth recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be shared
183 *** There are new coding systems/aliases; see M-x list-coding-systems.
185 *** There is a new charset implementation with many new charsets.
186 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
187 as tables of unicodes.
189 **** The dimension of a charset is now 1, 2, 3, or 4, and the size of
190 each dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
192 **** A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
193 characters for display.
195 *** There are new language environments for Chinese-GBK,
196 Chinese-GB18030, Khmer, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu,
197 Sinhala, and TaiViet.
199 *** The minor modes unify-8859-on-encoding-mode and
200 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode are obsolete.
202 *** `ucs-insert' is bound to `C-x 8 RET' and in addition to hex numbers
203 accepts numbers in hash notation (e.g. #o21430 for octal, or #10r8984 for
204 decimal). It also accepts Unicode character names with completion.
206 *** The `cyrillic-translit' input method supports many new characters.
207 Common typographical characters available from Unicode were added to
208 `cyrillic-translit': punctuation marks, accented characters, fractions,
211 ** Emacs now supports serial port access on GNU/Linux, Unix, and
212 Windows. The new command `serial-term' starts an interactive terminal
213 on a serial port. The serial port can be configured at runtime with
214 the mode-line mouse menu.
218 *** In the Options menu, the "Set Default Font" item applies the
219 selected font to the `default' face on all frames, not just the
220 current frame. Furthermore, if Emacs is compiled with both GTK and
221 Fontconfig support, the "Set Default Font" item uses the GTK font
222 selection dialog instead of an Emacs pop-up menu.
224 *** The font setting chosen by "Set Default Font" is saved if the
225 "Save Options" item is used.
227 *** The Tools menu contains a new Encryption/Decryption submenu.
228 This contains commands provided by EasyPG, the newly-included
229 interface to GnuPG (see New Modes and Packages).
231 *** In the Options menu, the "Truncate Long Lines in the Buffer" entry
232 has been replaced with a submenu offering three different ways to
233 handle long lines: truncation, continuation at the window edge, and
234 the new word wrapping behavior (see Editing Changes, below).
236 *** Improvements to menus for major and minor modes
237 More major and minor modes now have a mode specific menu, and existing
238 mode menus have been improved to include more functionality.
242 *** The mode-line displays a `@', instead of `-', if the
243 default-directory for the current buffer is on a remote machine.
245 *** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a
246 minor mode, in the same way as it already did for major modes.
248 *** The `mode-line-emphasis' face is used to highlight certain
249 mode-line information (e.g. waiting for a VC command to finish).
251 *** The mode-line tooltips have been improved to provide more details.
253 *** The VC, line/colum number and minor mode indicators on the mode
254 line are now interactive: mouse-1 can be used on them to pop up a menu.
257 ** File deletion can make use of the Recycle Bin or system Trash folder.
258 Set `delete-by-moving-to-trash' non-nil to use this. Deleted files
259 and directories will then be sent to the Recycle Bin on Windows, and
260 to `trash-directory' on other systems.
263 ** Directory-local variables can now be defined.
264 By default, Emacs looks in .dir-locals.el for directory-local
265 variables. For more information, see `dir-locals-set-directory-class'
266 and `dir-locals-set-class-variables'.
268 ** Emacs can now use `auth-source' for authentication.
269 `smtpmail' and `url' (Tramp and Gnus also) use `auth-source' to obtain
270 login names and passwords. The match, if found, is reported
271 in *Messages* with the password blanked out.
273 ** `where-is-preferred-modifier' can specify your favorite modifier.
276 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
279 ** The option `inhibit-startup-screen' (with aliases to old names
280 `inhibit-splash-screen' and `inhibit-startup-message') doesn't inhibit
281 display of the initial message in the *scratch* buffer. If you don't
282 want to display the initial message in the *scratch* buffer at startup,
283 you can set the option `initial-scratch-message' to nil.
285 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
286 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
289 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
290 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
291 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
295 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
297 ** Emacs now supports invocation by an X session manager.
298 It can save a session and restore it later. See the documentation of
299 the functions `emacs-session-save' and `emacs-session-restore'.
300 (Actually, this feature was introduced with Emacs 22, but it was not
303 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
306 ** In Dired, `dired-flag-garbage-files' is rebound from `&' to `%&'
307 on the regexp command prefix map.
310 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
311 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
315 ** In Isearch mode, a special case of typing `C-w' at the beginning of
316 the minibuffer that toggles word search (i.e. using key sequences
317 `C-s RET C-w' or `C-s M-e C-w') is obsolete. You can use the global key
318 `M-s w' to start word search, or type `M-s w' in Isearch mode to
319 toggle word search. To start nonincremental word search you can now use
320 `M-s w RET' and `M-s w C-r RET' instead of `C-s RET C-w' and `C-r RET C-w'.
323 ** In Info, `Info-search' is unbound from `M-s' to allow using `M-s w'
324 for word search as well as other search commands from the global prefix
325 key `M-s'. `Info-search' is still bound to `s', and also incremental
326 search commands `C-s', `C-M-s', `C-r', `C-M-r' are available for searching
327 through multiple Info nodes, together with their nonincremental versions
328 `C-s RET', `C-r RET', `C-M-s RET', `C-M-r RET', `M-s w RET'.
331 ** In Text mode, `center-line' and `center-paragraph' are rebound
332 from `M-s' and `M-S' to global keys `M-o M-s' and `M-o M-S' on the
333 global prefix map `M-o' intended for such formatting commands.
336 ** The following input methods were removed in Emacs 22.2, but this was
337 not advertised: danish-alt-postfix, esperanto-alt-postfix,
338 finnish-alt-postfix, german-alt-postfix, icelandic-alt-postfix,
339 norwegian-alt-postfix, scandinavian-alt-postfix, spanish-alt-postfix,
340 and swedish-alt-postfix. Use the versions without "alt-", which are
344 ** If a function in write-region-annotate-functions returns with a
345 different buffer current, Emacs no longer kills that buffer
346 automatically. This behavior existed in previous versions of Emacs,
347 but was undocumented. To kill a buffer after write-region, give the
348 variable `write-region-post-annotation-function' a buffer-local value
352 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
355 ** The C-n and C-p line-motion commands now move by screen lines,
356 taking continued lines and variable-width characters into account.
357 Setting `line-move-visual' to nil reverts this to the previous
358 behavior (motion by logical lines based on buffer contents alone).
361 ** C-x C-c now invokes `save-buffers-kill-terminal', and C-z now
362 invokes `suspend-frame'. This change is for compatibility with the
363 new multi-tty support (see `Improved X Window System support' above).
367 *** Transient Mark mode is now on by default.
369 *** mark-even-if-inactive now defaults to t
371 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, C-SPC C-SPC pushes a mark without
374 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-q now fills the region if the
375 region is active. Otherwise, it fills the current paragraph.
377 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-$ now checks spelling of the
378 region if the region is active. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
381 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, TAB now indents the region if the
384 *** `use-empty-active-region' controls whether an empty active region
385 in Transient Mark mode should make commands operate on that empty
388 ** Temporarily active regions
390 *** The new variable shift-select-mode, non-nil by default, controls
391 shift-selection. When Shift Select mode is on, shift-translated
392 motion keys (e.g. S-left and S-down) activate and extend a temporary
393 region, similar to mouse-selection.
395 *** Temporarily active regions, created using shift-selection or
396 mouse-selection, are not necessarily deactivated in the next command.
397 They are only deactivated after point motion commands that are not
398 shift-translated, or after commands that would ordinarily deactivate
399 the mark in Transient Mark mode (e.g., any command that modifies the
402 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
404 *** Emacs may ask for confirmation before opening a non-existent file
405 or buffer. By default, Emacs requests confirmation if you type RET
406 immediately after TAB, and the resulting input is not an existing file
407 or buffer; this usually happens when the minibuffer input did not
408 complete far enough and you entered RET by mistake. In that case,
409 Emacs puts the message "[Confirm]" in the minibuffer; type RET again
410 to create the file or buffer.
412 The new variable confirm-nonexistent-file-or-buffer determines whether
413 Emacs asks for confirmation. The default value is `after-completion'.
414 If you change it to t, Emacs always asks for confirmation; if you
415 change it to nil, Emacs never asks for confirmation.
417 *** The rules for performing completion have been changed.
418 When generating completion alternatives, Emacs now takes the
419 minibuffer text after point, if any, into account: this text is
420 treated as a substring of the remaining part of the completion
421 alternative (i.e., the part not matched by the minibuffer text before
422 point). If no completion alternatives are found this way, Emacs
423 attempts to perform partial-completion. If still no completion
424 alternatives are found, we fall back on the Emacs 22 rules for
425 performing completion.
427 The new variable `completion-styles' can be customized to choose your
428 favorite completion style.
430 *** When M-n in the minibuffer reaches the end of the list of defaults,
431 it adds the completion list to the end, so next M-n continues putting
432 completion items to the minibuffer. The same principle applies to
433 incremental search commands as well: C-s or C-M-s starts searching
434 the default values and after the end of defaults they continue
435 searching minibuffer completion items.
437 *** Minibuffer input of shell commands now comes with completion.
439 *** In the `C-x d' (Dired) prompt, typing M-n gives the visited file
440 name of the current buffer.
442 *** In the M-! (shell-command) prompt, M-n provides some default commands.
443 These are guessed using the file extension of the current file, based
444 on the file-handlers specified in the operating system's `mailcap'
445 file. The ! command in Dired (dired-do-shell-command) works
446 similarly, using the file displayed on the current line.
448 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
449 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
450 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last Isearch
451 regexp, the last Isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
453 *** When enable-recursive-minibuffers is non-nil, operations which use
454 switch-to-buffer (such as C-x b and C-x C-f) do not fail any more when
455 used in a minibuffer or a dedicated window. Instead, they fallback on
456 using pop-to-buffer, which will use some other window. This change
457 has no effect when enable-recursive-minibuffers is nil (the default).
459 *** Isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
460 Reverse Isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
461 history elements, and forward Isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
462 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
463 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
464 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
465 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
467 *** The variable read-file-name-completion-ignore-case overrides
468 completion-ignore-case for file name completion.
470 *** The variable read-buffer-completion-ignore-case overrides
471 completion-ignore-case for buffer name completion.
473 *** The new command `minibuffer-force-complete' chooses one of the
474 possible completions, rather than stopping at the common prefix.
476 *** If `completion-auto-help' is `lazy', Emacs shows the completions
477 buffer only on the second attempt to complete. This was already
478 supported in `partial-completion-mode'.
482 *** S-down-mouse-1 now pops up a menu for changing the font and text
483 size of the default face in the current buffer. The face is changed
484 via face remapping (see Lisp changes, below).
486 *** New commands to change the default face size in the current buffer.
487 To increase it, type `C-x C-+' or `C-x C-='. To decrease it, type
488 `C-x C--'. To restore the default (global) face size, type `C-x C-0'.
489 These work via Text Scale mode, a new minor mode.
491 The final key in the above commands may be repeated without the
492 leading `C-x', e.g. `C-x C-= C-= C-=' increases the face height by
493 three steps. Each step scales the height of the default face by the
494 value of the variable `text-scale-mode-step'.
496 *** The command `buffer-face-mode' prompts for a face name, and remaps
497 the default face in the current buffer to that specified face. The
498 command `variable-pitch-mode' turns on Buffer Face mode for the
499 `variable-pitch' face.
501 ** Primary selection changes
503 *** If `select-active-regions' is t, setting the mark automatically
504 makes the new region into the primary selection (for interaction with
505 other window applications). If you enable this, you might want to
506 bind `mouse-yank-primary' to Mouse-2.
508 *** You can disable kill ring commands from accessing the primary
509 selection by setting `x-select-enable-primary' to nil.
512 ** Continuation lines can now be wrapped at word boundaries
513 (word-wrapping). This is controlled by the new per-buffer variable
514 `word-wrap'. Word wrapping does not take place if continuation lines
515 are not shown, e.g. if truncate-lines is non-nil. The most convenient
516 way to enable word-wrapping is using the new minor mode Visual Line
517 mode; in addition to setting `word-wrap' to t, this rebinds some
518 editing commands to work on screen lines rather than text lines. See
519 New Modes and Packages, below.
521 ** Window management changes
523 *** truncate-partial-width-windows now accepts integer values, which
524 specify a minimum window width for partial-width windows, below which
525 lines are truncated. The default has been changed to 50.
527 *** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both
528 vertically and horizontally.
530 *** pop-to-buffer now always sets input focus when the popped-to window
531 is on a different frame.
533 ** Miscellaneous changes:
535 *** C-l is bound to the new command recenter-top-bottom, rather than recenter.
536 This moves the current line to window center, top and bottom on
537 successive invocations.
539 *** scroll-preserve-screen-position also preserves the column position.
541 *** If `yank-pop-change-selection' is t, rotating the kill ring also
542 updates the selection or clipboard to the current yank, just as M-w
543 would do so with the text it copies to the kill ring.
545 *** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
546 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
547 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
549 *** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
550 called with a prefix and the default directory is a remote file name.
551 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
552 run processes remotely.
554 *** The new command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name
557 *** The new commands `pp-macroexpand-expression' and
558 `pp-macroexpand-last-sexp' pretty-print macro expansions.
560 *** The new command `set-file-modes' allows to set file's mode bits.
561 The mode bits can be specified in symbolic notation, like with GNU
562 Coreutils, in addition to an octal number. `chmod' is a new
563 convenience alias for this function.
565 *** `next-error-recenter' specifies how next-error should recenter the
566 visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example, 0 for
567 top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
569 *** When typing in a password in the echo area, C-y yanks the current
570 kill into the password.
572 *** Tooltip frame parameters `font' and `color' in `tooltip-frame-parameters'
573 are ignored. Customize the `tooltip' face instead.
575 *** `mkdir' is a new convenience alias for `make-directory'.
577 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
579 ** FIXME add details of new packages imported from lisp/gnus.
580 [Maybe some information from doc/misc/gnus-coding.texi can be reused]
582 ** Auto Composition Mode is a minor mode that composes characters
583 automatically when they are displayed. It is globally on by default.
584 It uses `auto-composition-function' (default `auto-compose-chars').
586 ** Bubbles, a new game, is similar to SameGame.
588 ** butterfly flips the desired bit on the drive platter.
589 See http://xkcd.com/378/
591 ** bug-reference.el provides clickable links to bug reports.
593 ** dbus.el provides D-Bus language bindings.
594 D-Bus is an inter-process communication mechanism for applications
595 residing on the same host. See the manual for details.
598 ** DocView mode allows viewing of PDF, PostScript and DVI documents.
599 One can also search for a regular expression in the document. For
600 details, see the commentary in doc-view.el.
602 PDF and DVI files are now opened in Doc View mode by default.
604 In Postcript mode, C-c C-c launches Doc View minor mode for viewing
607 ** EasyPG provides an interface to the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG).
608 It includes a GnuPG keyring browser, cryptographic operations on
609 regions and files, and automatic encryption of *.gpg files. For
610 details, see the EasyPG Assistant User's Manual.
612 ** json.el is a library for parsing and generating JSON
613 (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format.
616 ** linum.el is a new minor mode to display line numbers for the
619 ** mairix.el is an interface to mairix, a free tool for indexing and
620 searching locally stored mail. It allows you to query mairix and
621 display the search results with Rmail, Gnus and VM. Note that there
622 is an existing Gnus back end, nnmairix.el, which should be used with
625 ** minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
629 This is a new mode for editing XML documents. It allows a schema to
630 be associated with the XML document being edited, using Relax NG as
631 the schema language. The schema is used to provide two key features:
633 *** Continuous validation. nXML validates as you type, highlighting
634 any invalid parts of your document.
636 *** Completion. nXML can assist you in entering an element name,
637 attribute name or data value by using information about what is
638 allowed by the schema in that context.
640 ** proced.el provides a Dired-like interface for operating on
641 processes. Proced makes an Emacs buffer containing a listing of the
642 current processes. You can use the normal Emacs commands to move
643 around in this buffer, and special Proced commands to operate on the
644 processes listed. It is currently only functional on GNU/Linux,
645 MS-Windows and Solaris.
647 ** Remember Mode is a mode for jotting down things to remember.
648 Notes can be saved to a Diary file. For details, see the Remember
651 ** RST mode is a major mode for editing reStructuredText files.
654 ** Ruby mode is a major mode for Ruby files.
657 ** Visual Line mode provides support for editing by visual lines.
658 It turns on word-wrapping in the current buffer, and rebinds C-a, C-e,
659 and C-k to commands that operate by visual lines instead of logical
660 lines. This is a more reliable replacement for longlines-mode.
661 This can also be turned on using the menu bar, via
662 Options -> Line Wrapping in this Buffer -> Word Wrap
664 ** xesam.el is an implementation of Xesam, an interface to (desktop)
665 search engines like Beagle, Strigi, and Tracker. The Xesam API
666 requires D-Bus for communication.
668 ** zeroconf.el offers service discovery and service publishing
669 interfaces according to the zeroconf specification. It communicates
670 with Avahi, a zeroconf implementation, via D-Bus messages on systems
671 which have installed this software.
673 ** There is a new `whitespace' package.
674 (The pre-existing one has been renamed to `old-whitespace'.)
675 Now, besides reporting bogus blanks, the whitespace package has a
676 minor mode and a global minor mode to visualize blanks (TAB, (HARD)
677 SPACE and NEWLINE). The visualization is made via faces and/or display
678 table. It can also indicate lines that extend beyond a given column,
679 trailing blanks, and empty lines at the start or end of a buffer.
680 See `whitespace-style' for more details. The `whitespace-action' option
681 specifies what to do when a buffer is visited, killed, or written.
684 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
686 ** Abbrev has been rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
687 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
688 abbrev-table-p, abbrev-insert, abbrev-table-menu.
689 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
690 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
691 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
692 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
693 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
694 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
695 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
696 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
697 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
698 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
701 *** `apropos-library' describes the elements defined in a given library.
702 *** Set `apropos-compact-layout' is you want a more compact (but wider) layout.
705 ** Archive Mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
706 Note, however, that the free version of the unrar command only handles
707 versions 1 and 2 of the Rar format.
712 *** New command `bibtex-initialize' (re)initializes BibTeX buffers.
714 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
715 `string', disabled by default.
717 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
718 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
720 *** Command `bibtex-url' allows multiple URLs per entry.
722 ** Calendar and diary
725 *** There is a new date style, `iso', essentially year/month/day.
726 The variable `european-calendar-style' is obsolete - use `calendar-date-style'.
727 Similarly, the commands `american-calendar' and `european-calendar'
728 should be replaced by `calendar-set-date-style'.
731 *** The calendar namespace has been rationalized.
732 All functions and variables now begin with a `calendar-', `diary-', or
733 `holiday-' prefix. The various calendar systems have secondary
734 prefixes, eg `calendar-french-'. The old names you are likely to use
735 directly still exist, for the time being, as aliases, but please start
739 *** The whitespace in the calendar layout can be customized.
741 calendar-left-margin, calendar-intermonth-spacing, calendar-column-width,
742 calendar-day-header-width, and calendar-day-digit-width.
745 *** Text (e.g. ISO weeks) can be displayed between the calendar months.
746 See the variables calendar-intermonth-header and calendar-intermonth-text.
749 *** The function `holiday-chinese' computes holidays on the Chinese calendar.
750 It has been used to add items to the list `holiday-oriental-holidays'.
753 *** `diary-remind' accepts a negative number -DAYS as a shorthand for
754 the list (1 2 ... DAYS).
758 *** The new command C-c C-f (change-log-find-file) finds the file
759 associated with the current log entry.
761 *** The new command C-c C-c (change-log-goto-source) goes to the
762 source code associated with a log entry.
764 ** Compile and grep modes
766 *** The mode-line entry for the *compilation* and *grep* buffer is color coded.
767 It has different colors for to show that: (a) the command is still
768 running, (b) successful completion, (c) error.
770 *** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
771 the first error encountered during compilations.
773 *** compilation-scroll-output accepts a new value, `first-error', which
774 says to stop auto scrolling at the first error that occurs.
776 *** The `cc' alias for C++ files in `grep-file-aliases' has been
777 improved. `hh' can be used to match C++ header files and `cchh' both
778 C++ sources and headers.
782 *** You can specify your copyright holders' names.
783 Only copyright lines with holders matching `copyright-names-regexp' are
784 considered for update.
786 *** Copyrights can be at the end of the buffer.
787 This is controlled by `copyright-at-end-flag' (used by, e.g., change-log-mode).
791 *** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
792 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
796 *** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
797 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see
798 diff-auto-refine-mode. It is bound to `C-c C-b'.
800 *** diff-add-change-log-entries-other-window iterates through the diff
801 buffer and tries to create ChangeLog entries for each change.
802 It is bound to `C-x 4 A'.
804 *** Turning on `whitespace-mode' in a diff buffer will show trailing
805 whitespace problems in the modified lines.
809 *** In Dired, C-x C-q now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
810 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
813 *** `&' runs the command `dired-do-async-shell-command' that executes
814 the command asynchronously without the need to manually add ampersand
815 to the end of the command. Its output appears in the buffer `*Async Shell
818 *** `M-s f C-s' and `M-s f M-C-s' run Isearch that matches only at file names.
819 When a new user option `dired-isearch-filenames' is t, then even ordinary
820 Isearch started with `C-s' and `C-M-s' matches only at file names in the
821 Dired buffer. When `dired-isearch-filenames' is `dwim' then activation of
822 file name Isearch depends on the position of point - if point is on a file
823 name initially, then Isearch matches only file names, otherwise it matches
824 everywhere in the Dired buffer. You can toggle file names matching on or
825 off by typing `M-s f' in Isearch mode.
827 *** `M-s a C-s' and `M-s a M-C-s' run multi-file Isearch on the marked files.
828 They visit the first marked file in the sequence and display the usual Isearch
829 prompt for a string or a regexp where all Isearch commands are available.
831 *** `Q' in Dired provides two new keys for multi-file replacement.
832 The upper case key `Y' replaces all remaining matches in all remaining files
833 with no more questions. The upper case key `N' stops doing replacements
834 in the current file and skips to the next file. These multi-file keys
835 are available for all commands that use `tags-query-replace'
836 including `dired-do-query-replace-regexp', `vc-dir-query-replace-regexp',
837 `reftex-query-replace-document'.
841 *** The line length of fixed-form Fortran is not fixed at 72 any more.
842 Customize the variable `fortran-line-length' to change it.
845 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
846 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
849 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
853 *** The Gnus package has been updated
854 There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements; see the file
855 GNUS-NEWS or the node "No Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
857 *** In Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs' new internal coding system `utf-8-emacs' for
858 saving articles drafts and ~/.newsrc.eld. These file may not be read
859 correctly in Emacs 22 and below. If you want to Gnus across different Emacs
860 versions, you may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.
862 *** Passwords are consistently loaded through `auth-source'
863 Gnus can use `auth-source' for POP and IMAP passwords. Also see that
864 `smtpmail' and `url' support `auth-source' for SMTP and HTTP/HTTPS/RSS
865 authentication respectively.
869 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
870 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
872 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
873 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
875 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits one to specify a new
876 position for point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
880 *** New command `isearch-forward-word' bound globally to `M-s w' starts
881 incremental word search. New command `isearch-toggle-word' bound to the
882 same key `M-s w' in Isearch mode toggles word searching on or off
883 while Isearch is active.
885 *** New command `isearch-highlight-regexp' bound to `M-s h r' in Isearch
886 mode runs `highlight-regexp' (`hi-lock-face-buffer') with the current
887 search string as its regexp argument. The same key `M-s h r' and
888 other keys on the `M-s h' prefix are bound globally to the command
889 `highlight-regexp' and other hi-lock commands.
891 *** New command `isearch-occur' bound to `M-s o' in Isearch mode
892 runs `occur' with the current search string. The same key `M-s o'
893 is bound globally to the command `occur'.
895 *** Isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
896 When running Isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
897 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
898 if there is one (e.g. going from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
899 This is enabled if multi-isearch-search is non-nil.
901 *** Two new commands to start Isearch on a list of marked buffers
902 for buff-menu.el and ibuffer.el are bound to the keys `M-s a C-s' and
905 *** The part of an Isearch that failed to match is highlighted in
908 *** `C-h C-h' in Isearch mode displays isearch-specific Help screen,
909 `C-h b' displays all Isearch key bindings, `C-h k' displays the full
910 documentation of the given Isearch key sequence, `C-h m' displays
911 documentation of Isearch mode. All the rest Help commands exit Isearch mode
912 and execute their global definitions.
914 *** When started in the minibuffer, Isearch searches in the minibuffer
915 history. See `Minibuffer changes', above.
920 *** Upgraded to MH-E version 8.1. See MH-E-NEWS for details.
923 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
924 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
926 *** Python mode now has `pdbtrack' functionality. When using pdb to
927 debug a Python program, pdbtrack notices the pdb prompt and displays
928 the source file and line that the program is stopped at, much the same
929 way as gud-mode does for debugging C programs with gdb.
933 *** The default value of `recentf-keep' prevents from checking of
934 remote files, if there is no established connection to the
935 corresponding remote host.
940 *** Rmail no longer converts the messages to Babyl format.
941 Instead, it uses UNIX mbox format, both on disk and in Rmail buffers,
942 and does conversion and decoding when a message is displayed.
944 The first time you visit an Rmail file in Babyl format, Rmail
945 automatically converts it to mbox format. This is a one-time
946 conversion, but it can take a few minutes, depending on how fast is
947 your machine and on the size of the file. You should find the rest of
948 Rmail usage unaltered.
950 However, M-x set-rmail-inbox-list now lasts only for one session
951 because there is no way to save the list of inbox files in an
954 Also, whereas with Babyl format M-x find-file would switch to Rmail
955 mode, with mbox format this is no longer the case (there being no way
956 to add an "-*- rmail-*-" cookie to an mbox file). Use C-u M-x rmail
959 If you have written any extensions to Rmail, they are likely to need
960 updating. Conceptually, the Rmail buffer that you see is no longer
961 just a narrowed portion of the whole. So you cannot access the whole
962 of a message (or message collection) by a simple save-restriction and
963 widen. Instead, there are two buffers: the rmail-buffer, and the
964 rmail-view-buffer. The former is the buffer that you see, the latter
965 is invisible. Most of the time, the invisible `view' buffer contains
966 the full contents of the Rmail file, and the Rmail buffer contains a
967 decoded copy of the current message (with only a subset of the
968 headers). In this state, Rmail is said to be `swapped'.
970 You may find the following functions useful:
972 `rmail-get-header' and `rmail-set-header' get or set the value of a
973 message header, whether or not it is currently visible.
975 `rmail-apply-in-message' is a general purpose function that calls a
976 function (with arguments) which you specify on the full text of a given
977 message. To further narrow to just the headers, search forward for "\n\n".
980 *** The new command `rmail-mime' displays MIME messages.
981 It is bound to `v' in Rmail buffers and summaries. It displays plain
982 text and multipart messages in a temporary buffer, and offers buttons
986 *** The command `rmail-redecode-body' no longer accepts the optional arg RAW.
987 Since Rmail now holds messages in their original undecoded form in a
988 separate buffer, `rmail-redecode-body' no longer encodes the original
989 message, and therefore there should be no need to avoid encoding it.
992 *** The o command is now `rmail-output'. It is an all-purpose command
993 for copying messages from Rmail and appending them to files. It
994 handles Babyl-format files as well as mbox-format files, and it
995 handles both kinds properly when they are visited in Emacs. It always
996 copies the full headers of the message.
999 *** The C-o command is now `rmail-output-as-seen'. It uses
1000 the message as displayed, appending it to an mbox file.
1003 *** The modified status of the Rmail buffer is reported in the mode-line.
1004 Previously, this information was hidden.
1008 *** New option latex-indent-within-escaped-parens
1009 permits to customize indentation of LaTeX environments delimited
1014 *** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode is enabled,
1015 Emacs uses a Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server,
1016 rather than faking events using the client program mev. This C level
1017 approach provides mouse highlighting and help echoing in the
1023 *** New connection methods.
1024 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
1025 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
1026 "tunnel" and "socks".
1029 IPv6 addresses are supported now as host names. They must be embedded
1030 in square brackets, like in "/ssh:[::1]:".
1032 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
1033 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead, multi hops
1034 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
1036 *** More default settings.
1037 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
1038 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
1040 *** Connection information is cached.
1041 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
1042 connections is kept persistently in a file. The name of this file is
1043 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
1045 *** Control of remote processes.
1046 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
1047 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
1049 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
1050 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
1051 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
1053 *** Passwords can be read from an authentification file.
1054 Tramp uses the package `auth-source' to read passwords from a file, if
1057 ** VC and related modes
1059 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
1060 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
1061 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, Git
1062 and Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems as
1065 *** vc-dir is a new command that displays file names and their VC
1066 status. It allows to apply various VC operations to a file, a
1067 directory or a set of files/directories.
1069 *** VC switches are no longer appended, rather the first non-nil value is used.
1070 (This was for the most part true in Emacs 22, but was not advertised).
1071 This is because there is an increasing variety of VC systems, and they
1072 do not all accept the same "common" options. For example, a CVS diff
1073 command used to append the values of `vc-cvs-diff-switches',
1074 `vc-diff-switches', and `diff-switches'. Now the first non-nil value
1075 from that sequence is used. The special value `t' means "no switches".
1077 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
1079 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
1081 *** In VC Annotate mode, the key bindings have changed to use lower
1082 case keys instead of the upper case keys used in the past.
1084 *** In VC Annotate mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1085 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1086 by typing the D key. Using the "Show changeset diff of revision at
1087 line" menu entry does the same thing.
1089 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type v to toggle the annotation visibility.
1091 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type f to show the file revision on
1094 *** Asynchronous VC commands display [Waiting...] in the mode-line
1095 of the corresponding buffer as long as the asynchronous process is
1098 *** Log entries can be modified using the key "e" in log-view.
1099 For now only CVS, RCS, SCCS and SVN support this functionality.
1100 This is done by the `modify-change-comment' backend function.
1102 *** In log-view-mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1103 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1104 by typing the D key or using the "Changeset Diff" menu entry.
1106 *** In Log Edit mode, C-c C-d now shows the diff for the files involved.
1108 *** vc-git supports the "git grep" command.
1110 *** VC Support for Meta-CVS has been removed for lack of a maintainer able
1111 to update it to the new VC.
1115 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
1116 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
1117 on the corresponding remote system.
1119 *** Eldoc highlights the function argument under point
1120 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
1122 *** In Etags, the --members option is now the default.
1123 Use --no-members if you want the old default behavior of not tagging
1124 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
1126 *** The `gdb' command only works with the graphical interface now.
1127 Use `gud-gdb' if you want the (old) text command mode.
1129 *** goto-address.el provides two new minor modes, goto-address-mode and
1130 goto-address-prog-mode, which buttonize URLS and email addresses.
1132 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
1134 *** The new variable `ffap-rfc-directories' specifies a list of local
1135 directories in which `ffap-rfc' will first search for RFCs.
1137 *** hide-ifdef-mode allows shadowing ifdef-blocks instead of hiding them.
1138 See option `hide-ifdef-shadow' and function `hide-ifdef-toggle-shadowing'.
1140 *** `icomplete-prospects-height' now supercedes `icomplete-prospects-length'.
1142 *** Info displays breadcrumbs in the header of the page.
1143 See Info-breadcrumbs-depth to control it.
1145 *** net-utils has an `iwconfig' command, similar to the existing `ifconfig'.
1146 It is used to configure wireless interfaces.
1148 *** The pcmpl-unix package supports hostname completion for ssh and scp.
1150 *** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
1152 *** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
1153 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see
1154 smerge-auto-refine-mode.
1156 *** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
1158 *** A new command `display-time-world' has been added to the Time
1159 package. It creates a buffer with an updating time display using
1162 *** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
1163 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
1164 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
1165 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
1167 *** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
1168 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
1170 *** WoMan tries to add locale-specific manual page directories to the
1171 search path. This can be disabled by setting `woman-locale' to nil.
1174 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
1176 ** Case is now considered significant in completion on MS-Windows.
1177 The default value of `completion-ignore-case' is now nil on
1178 MS-Windows, the same as it is for other operating systems. The
1179 variable doesn't apply to reading a file name -- in that case Emacs
1180 heeds `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' instead.
1183 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
1184 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
1185 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. In Emacs 22, IPv6 was
1186 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
1187 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
1190 ** Busy cursor (hourglass) now displays on MS-Windows.
1191 When Emacs is busy, an hourglass mouse cursor is displayed on Windows.
1192 In Emacs 22 only X supported the busy cursor.
1195 ** Battery status is available on MS-Windows
1196 Emacs can now display the battery status in the mode-line when enabled with
1197 display-battery-mode or from the Options menu. More verbose battery
1198 information is also available with the command `battery'. In Emacs 22
1199 battery status was supported only on GNU/Linux and Mac.
1201 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
1202 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
1203 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
1204 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
1205 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
1207 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
1208 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
1209 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
1210 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
1211 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
1212 for the list of extra keys that are available.
1214 ** BDF fonts no longer supported on MS-Windows.
1215 The font backend was completely rewritten for this release. The focus
1216 on Windows has been getting acceptable performance and full unicode
1217 support, including complex script shaping for native Windows fonts. A
1218 rewrite of the BDF font support has not happened due to lack of time
1219 and developers. If demand still exists for such a backend even with
1220 the improved language support for native Windows fonts, future
1221 development in this direction will most likely be based on the
1222 freetype library, giving access to a wider range of font formats.
1225 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1228 ** Variables cannot be both buffer-local and frame-local any more.
1231 ** `functionp' returns nil for special forms.
1232 I.e., it only returns t for objects that can be passed to `funcall'.
1235 ** The behavior of map-char-table has changed. It may call the
1236 specified function with a cons (FROM . TO) as a key if characters in
1237 that range have the same value.
1241 *** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
1243 *** The multibyteness of process filters is now determined by the
1244 coding-system used for decoding. The functions
1245 `process-filter-multibyte-p' and `set-process-filter-multibyte' are
1249 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
1250 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
1251 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
1252 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
1253 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
1254 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
1255 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
1258 ** `mode-name' is no longer guaranteed to be a string.
1259 Use `(format-mode-line mode-name)' to ensure a string value.
1262 ** The function x-font-family-list has been removed.
1263 Use the new function font-family-list (see Lisp Changes, below).
1265 ** Internationalization changes
1267 *** The value of the function `charset-id' is now always 0.
1269 *** The functions `register-char-codings' and `coding-system-spec'
1272 *** The cpXXX coding systems are now supported automatically.
1273 The functions cp-...-codepage, which you had to use in Emacs 22 to
1274 enable support for these coding systems, have been deleted.
1276 *** The following features have been removed. They were used for
1277 displaying various scripts with specific fonts, and are no longer
1278 needed now that OpenType font support is available:
1280 **** `devanagari' and `devan-util', and all associated devanagari-* and
1281 dev-* functions and variables (formerly used for Devanagari script).
1283 **** `kannada' and `knd-util', and all associated kannada-* and knd-*
1284 functions and variables (formerly used for Kannada script).
1286 **** `malayalam' and `mlm-util', and all associated malayalam-* and
1287 mlm-* functions and variables (formerly used for Malayalam script).
1289 **** `tamil' and `tml-util, and all associated tamil-* and tml-*
1290 functions and variables (formerly used for Tamil script).
1292 *** The meaning of NAME argument of `set-fontset-font' is changed.
1293 Previously nil is accepted as the default fontset. Now, nil is for
1294 the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the default fontset.
1296 *** The meaning of FONTSET argument of `print-fontset' is changed.
1297 Now, nil is for the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the
1301 ** The variable temp-file-name-pattern has been removed.
1302 This variable was only used by call-process-region, which now uses
1303 temporary-file-directory instead.
1306 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1309 ** The new variable `generate-autoload-cookie' controls the magic comment
1310 string used by `update-file-autoloads' to find autoloaded forms. The
1311 variable `generated-autoload-file' similarly controls the name of the
1312 file where `update-file-autoloads' writes the calls to `autoload'.
1313 The default values are ";;;###autoload" and `loaddefs.el',
1317 ** New primitives `list-system-processes' and `process-attributes'
1318 let Lisp programs access the processes that are running on the local
1319 machine. See the doc strings of these functions for more details.
1320 Not all platforms support accessing this information; on those that
1321 don't, these primitives will return nil.
1324 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
1325 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
1328 ** If a local hook function has a non-nil `permanent-local-hook'
1329 property, `kill-all-local-variables' does not remove it from the local
1330 value of the hook variable; it remains even if you change major modes.
1333 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
1337 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
1338 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
1339 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
1340 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
1343 ** `ignore-errors' is now a standard macro (does not require the CL package).
1346 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
1347 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
1348 strings on the kill ring.
1351 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
1352 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
1357 ((debug error) nil))
1360 ** clone-indirect-buffer now runs the clone-indirect-buffer-hook.
1363 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count
1364 given to `beginning-of-defun'.
1367 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
1368 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
1369 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
1370 remote connection has been established already.
1373 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
1374 undefined functions.
1376 ** Changes to interactive function handling
1379 *** The new interactive spec code ^ says to first call
1380 handle-shift-selection if shift-select-mode is non-nil, before reading
1381 the command arguments. This is used for shift-selection (see above).
1384 *** Built-in functions can now have an interactive specification that
1385 is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
1386 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
1389 *** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
1390 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex
1391 interactive forms to subroutines.
1396 *** Commands should use `use-region-p' to test whether there is
1397 an active region that they should operate on.
1399 *** `region-active-p' returns non-nil when Transient Mark mode is
1400 enabled and the mark is active. Most commands that act specially on
1401 the active region in Transient Mark mode should use `use-region-p'
1402 instead of `region-active-p', because `use-region-p' obeys the new
1403 user option `use-empty-active-region' (see Editing Changes, above).
1406 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to (only . OLDVAL), that
1407 means to activate transient-mark-mode temporarily, until the next
1408 unshifted point motion command or mark deactivation. Afterwards,
1409 reset transient-mark-mode to the value OLDVAL. The values `only' and
1410 `identity', introduced in Emacs 22, are now deprecated.
1412 ** Emacs session information
1415 *** The new variables `before-init-time' and `after-init-time' record the
1416 value of `current-time' before and after Emacs loads the init files.
1419 *** The new function `emacs-uptime' returns the uptime of an Emacs instance.
1422 *** The new function `emacs-init-time' returns the duration of the
1423 Emacs initialization.
1425 ** Changes affecting display-buffer
1428 *** New value nil for split-height-threshold inhibits vertical splitting
1429 unless there's no other window.
1432 *** New option split-width-threshold controls horizontal splitting.
1435 *** A window can be split horizontally even when it's not full-width.
1438 *** New option split-window-preferred-function can be set to a function
1439 to override the default splitting mechanism of display-buffer.
1442 *** If pop-up-frames has the value `graphic-only', display-buffer only
1443 makes a separate frame on graphic displays.
1446 *** select-frame and set-frame-selected-window have new optional
1447 argument NORECORD. If non-nil, this will avoid messing with the order
1448 of recently selected windows and the buffer list.
1450 ** Window parameters can now be defined.
1451 These are analogous to frame parameters, but are associated with
1454 *** The new functions window-parameters, window-parameter, and
1455 set-window-parameter are used to query and set window parameters.
1457 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
1459 *** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
1460 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
1461 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
1462 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
1463 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
1466 *** New function `read-regexp' uses the regexp history and some useful
1467 regexp defaults (string at point, last Isearch/replacement regexp/string)
1468 via M-n when reading a regexp in the minibuffer.
1471 *** minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map is now named
1472 minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map.
1475 *** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts the new
1476 values `confirm-only' and `confirm-after-completion'.
1478 ** Search and replacement changes
1480 *** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
1482 *** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
1483 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
1486 *** The new variable `replace-search-function' determines the function
1487 to use for searching in query-replace and replace-string. The
1488 function it specifies is called by `perform-replace' when its 4th
1492 *** The new variable `replace-re-search-function' determines the
1493 function to use for searching in `query-replace-regexp',
1494 `replace-regexp', `query-replace-regexp-eval', and
1495 `map-query-replace-regexp'. The function it specifies is called by
1496 `perform-replace' when its 4th argument is non-nil.
1499 *** New keymap `search-map' bound to `M-s' provides global bindings
1500 for search related commands.
1503 *** New keymap `multi-query-replace-map' contains additonal keys bound
1504 to `automatic-all' and `exit-current' for multi-buffer interactive replacement.
1507 *** The variable `inhibit-changing-match-data', if non-nil, prevents
1508 the search and match primitives from changing the match data.
1511 *** New functions `word-search-forward-lax' and `word-search-backward-lax'.
1512 These are like `word-search-forward and `word-search-backward', except
1513 that the end of the search string need not match a word boundary,
1514 unless it ends in whitespace.
1516 ** File handling changes
1519 *** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
1520 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
1522 *** file-local-variables-alist stores an alist of file-local
1523 variables defined in the current buffer.
1527 *** Each face can be remapped to a different face definition using the
1528 variable `face-remapping-alist'. This is an alist that maps faces to
1529 replacement definitions (which can be face names, lists of face names,
1530 or attribute/value plists. If this variable is buffer-local, the
1531 remapping occurs only in that buffer.
1533 *** text-scale-mode remaps the default face to a larger or smaller
1534 size in the current buffer. This feature is used by the Buffer Face
1535 menu and the new `C-x C-+', `C-x C--', and `C-x C-0' commands (see
1536 Editing Changes, above).
1540 **** `face-remap-add-relative' adds a face remapping entry to the
1543 **** ``face-remap-remove-relative' removes a face remapping entry from
1546 **** `face-remap-reset-base' restores a face to its global definition.
1548 **** `face-remap-set-base' sets the base remapping of a face.
1552 *** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
1553 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
1554 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
1555 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
1556 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
1559 *** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
1560 returns its output as a list of lines.
1562 ** Character code, representation, and charset changes.
1565 The character code space is now 0x0..0x3FFFFF with no gap.
1566 Characters of code 0x0..0x10FFFF are Unicode characters of the same code points.
1567 Characters of code 0x3FFF80..0x3FFFFF are raw 8-bit bytes.
1570 Generic characters no longer exist.
1573 In buffers and strings, characters are represented by UTF-8 byte
1574 sequences in a multibyte buffer/string.
1577 The concept of a charset has changed. A single character may belong
1578 to multiple charsets (e.g. a-grave, U+00E0, belongs to charsets
1579 unicode, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-3, etc).
1582 *** The functions `split-char' and `make-char' now accept up to 4
1583 positional codes instead of just 2.
1586 *** The functions `encode-char' and `decode-char' now accept any character sets.
1589 *** The function `define-charset' now accepts a completely different
1590 form of arguments (old-style arguments still work).
1593 *** The value of the function `char-charset' depends on the current
1594 priorities of charsets.
1597 *** The function get-char-code-property now accepts many Unicode base
1598 character properties. They are `name', `general-category',
1599 `canonical-combining-class', `bidi-class', `decomposition',
1600 `decimal-digit-value', `digit-value', `numeric-value', `mirrored',
1601 `old-name', `iso-10646-comment', `uppercase', `lowercase', and
1605 *** The functions `modify-syntax-entry' and `modify-category-entry' now
1606 accept a cons of characters as the first argument, and modify all
1607 entries in that range of characters.
1610 *** Use of `translation-table-for-input' for character code unification
1611 is now obsolete, since Emacs 23.1 and later uses Unicode as basis for
1612 internal representation of characters.
1617 **** `characterp' returns t if and only if the argument is a character.
1618 This replaces `char-valid-p', which is now obsolete.
1621 **** `max-char' returns the maximum character code (currently #x3FFFFF).
1624 **** `define-charset-alias' defines an alias of a charset.
1627 **** `set-charset-priority' sets priorities of charsets.
1630 **** `charset-priority-list' returns a prioritized list of charsets.
1633 **** `unibyte-string' makes a unibyte string from bytes.
1636 **** `define-char-code-property' defines a character code property.
1639 **** `char-code-property-description' returns the description string of
1640 a character code property.
1644 **** `find-word-boundary-function-table' is a char-table of functions to
1645 search for a word boundary.
1648 **** `char-script-table' is a char-table of script names.
1651 **** `char-width-table' is a char-table of character widths.
1654 **** `print-charset-text-property' controls how to handle `charset' text
1655 property on printing a string.
1658 **** `printable-chars' is a char-table of printable characters.
1660 ** Code conversion changes
1663 *** The new function `define-coding-system' should be used to define a
1664 coding system instead of `make-coding-system' (which is now obsolete).
1667 *** The functions `encode-coding-region' and `decode-coding-region'
1668 have an optional 4th argument to specify where the result of
1669 conversion should go.
1672 *** The functions `encode-coding-string' and `decode-coding-string'
1673 have an optional 4th argument specifying a buffer to store the result
1677 *** The new variable `inhibit-null-byte-detection' controls whether to
1678 consider text with null bytes as binary data. By default, it is
1679 `nil', and Emacs uses `no-conversion' for any text containing null
1683 *** The functions `set-coding-priority' and `make-coding-system' are obsolete.
1688 **** `with-coding-priority' executes Lisp code using the specified
1689 coding system priority order.
1692 **** `check-coding-systems-region' checks if the text in the region is
1693 encodable by the specified coding systems.
1696 **** `coding-system-aliases' returns a list of aliases of a coding system.
1699 **** `coding-system-charset-list' returns a list of charsets supported
1703 **** `coding-system-priority-list' returns a list of coding systems
1704 ordered by their priorities.
1707 **** `set-coding-system-priority' sets priorities of coding systems.
1709 **** `coding-system-from-name' returns a coding system matching with
1713 ** There is a new input method, Robin, different from Quail.
1714 It has three functionalities:
1715 i) a simple input method (converts an ASCII sequence into a string).
1716 ii) converts an existing buffer substring into another string
1717 iii) reverse conversion (each character produced by a
1718 robin rule can hold the original ASCII sequence as a char-code-property)
1720 *** The new function `robin-define-package' defines a Robin package.
1722 *** The new function `robin-modify-package' modifies an existing Robin package.
1724 *** The new function `robin-use-package' starts using a Robin package
1728 *** The new function `string-to-unibyte' is like `string-as-unibyte'
1729 but signals an error if STRING contains a non-ASCII, non-eight-bit
1732 ** Changes related to the new font backend
1734 Which font backends to use can be specified by the X resource "FontBackend".
1735 For instance, to use both X core fonts and Xft fonts:
1737 Emacs.FontBackend: x,xft
1739 If this resource is not set, Emacs tries to use all font backends
1740 available on your graphic device.
1742 *** New frame parameter `font-backend' specifies a list of
1743 font-backends supported by the frame's graphic device. On X, they are
1744 currently `x' and `xft'.
1746 *** The function `set-fontset-font' now accepts a script name as the
1747 second argument, and has an optional 5th argument to control how to
1752 **** `fontp' checks if the argument is a font-spec or font-entity.
1754 **** `font-spec' creates a new font-spec object.
1756 **** `font-get' returns a font property value.
1758 **** `font-put' sets a font property value.
1760 **** `font-face-attributes' returns a plist of face attributes set by a font.
1762 **** `list-fonts' returns a list of font-entities matching a font spec.
1764 **** `find-font' returns the font-entity best matching the given font spec.
1766 **** `font-family-list' returns a list of family names of available fonts.
1768 **** `font-xlfd-name' returns an XLFD name of a given font spec, font
1769 entity, or font object.
1771 **** `clear-font-cache' clears all font caches.
1773 ** Changes related to multiple-terminal (multi-tty) support
1776 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
1777 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
1780 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
1783 *** The `window-system' variable is now frame-local. The new
1784 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
1785 for the first frame. `window-system' is also now a function that
1786 takes a frame argument.
1789 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
1790 keyboard coding systems are now terminal-local.
1793 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
1794 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
1797 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
1801 *** A new `terminal' data type.
1802 The functions `get-device-terminal', `terminal-parameters',
1803 `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter' use this data type.
1806 *** Function key sequences are now mapped using `local-function-key-map',
1807 a new variable. This inherits from the global variable function-key-map,
1808 which is not used directly any more.
1813 **** before-hack-local-variables-hook is called after setting new
1814 variable file-local-variables-alist, and before actually applying the
1815 file-local variables.
1818 **** `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions' are called
1819 after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed, respectively. The
1820 functions are called with the terminal id of the frame being
1821 suspended/resumed as a parameter.
1824 **** The special hook `delete-terminal-functions' is called before
1825 deleting a terminal.
1830 **** `delete-terminal'
1839 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
1841 ** Redisplay changes
1843 *** For underlined characters, the distance between the underline and
1844 the baseline is controlled by a new variable, `underline-minimum-offset'.
1846 *** You can now pass the value of the `invisible' property to
1847 invisible-p to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible.
1848 This is convenient when checking invisibility of text with no buffer
1849 position (e.g. in before/after-strings).
1852 *** `clear-image-cache' can be told to flush only images of a specific file.
1854 *** `vertical-motion' can now be given a goal column.
1855 It now accepts a cons cell (COLS . LINES) in its first argument, which
1856 says to stop, where possible, at a pixel x-position equal to COLS
1857 times the default column width.
1859 *** redisplay-end-trigger-functions, set-window-redisplay-end-trigger,
1860 and window-redisplay-end-trigger are obsolete. Use `jit-lock-register'
1863 ** The Lisp interpreter now treats non-breaking space as whitespace.
1865 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1868 *** `apply-partially' performs a "curried" application of a function.
1871 *** `buffer-swap-text' swaps text between two buffers. This can be
1872 useful for modes such as tar-mode, archive-mode, RMAIL.
1875 *** `combine-and-quote-strings' produces a single string from a list of strings
1876 sticking a separator string in between each pair, and quoting those
1877 strings that include the separator as their substring. Useful for
1878 consing shell command lines from the individual arguments.
1881 *** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a
1882 certain variable as having been made within Custom.
1885 *** `face-all-attributes' returns an alist describing all the basic
1886 attributes of a given face.
1889 *** `format-seconds' converts a number of seconds into a readable
1890 string of days, hours, etc.
1893 *** `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated with a given image
1896 *** `locate-user-emacs-file' helps packages to select the appropriate
1897 place to save user-specific files. It defaults to `user-emacs-directory'
1898 unless the file already exists at $HOME.
1901 *** `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
1904 *** `read-shell-command' does what its name says, with completion. It
1905 uses the minibuffer-local-shell-command-map for that.
1908 *** `split-string-and-unquote' splits a string into a list of substrings
1909 on the boundaries of a given delimiter, and unquotes the substrings that
1910 are quoted. Useful for taking apart shell commands.
1913 *** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
1914 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
1918 *** The two new functions `make-serial-process' and
1919 `serial-process-configure' provide a Lisp interface to the new serial
1920 port support (see Emacs changes, above).
1922 ** Miscellaneous new variables
1925 *** `this-command-keys-shift-translated' is non-nil if the key
1926 sequence invoking the current command was found by shift-translation.
1928 *** `window-point-insertion-type' determines the insertion-type of the
1929 marker used for window-point.
1932 *** bookmark provides `bookmark-make-record-function' so special major
1933 modes like Info can teach bookmark.el how to save and restore the
1937 *** `fill-forward-paragraph-function' specifies which function the
1938 filling code should use to find paragraph boundaries.
1941 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
1943 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
1946 ** The new package check-declare.el verifies the accuracy of
1947 declare-function macros (see Lisp Changes, above).
1949 ** find-cmd.el can build `find' commands using lisp syntax.
1951 ** The package misearch.el has been added. It allows Isearch to search
1952 through multiple buffers. A variable `multi-isearch-next-buffer-function'
1953 defines the function to call to get the next buffer to search in the series
1954 of multiple buffers. Top-level commands `multi-isearch-buffers',
1955 `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp', `multi-isearch-files' and
1956 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' accept a single argument that specifies
1957 a list of buffers/files to search for a string/regexp.
1960 ** The new major mode `special-mode' is intended as a parent for
1961 major modes such as those that set the "'mode-class 'special" property.
1964 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1965 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1967 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1968 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1969 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1970 (at your option) any later version.
1972 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1973 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1974 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1975 GNU General Public License for more details.
1977 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1978 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1983 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
1986 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2