1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 23.
11 See files NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17
12 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.3
21 ** New configure option --with-crt-dir specifies the location of your
22 crt*.o files, if they are in a non-standard location. This is only
23 used on x86-64 and s390x GNU/Linux architectures.
25 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.3
27 * Changes in Emacs 23.3
30 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.3
33 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.3
36 ** The appt-add command takes an optional argument for the warning time.
37 This can be used in place of the default appt-message-warning-time.
40 ** You can allow inferior Python processes to load modules from the
41 current directory by setting `python-remove-cwd-from-path' to nil.
43 ** VC and related modes
45 *** New VC command `vc-log-incoming', bound to `C-x v I'.
46 This shows a log of changes to be received with a pull operation.
47 For Git, this runs "git fetch" to make the necessary data available
48 locally; this requires version 1.7 or newer.
50 *** New VC command `vc-log-outgoing', bound to `C-x v O'.
51 This shows a log of changes to be sent in the next commit.
53 *** New VC command vc-find-conflicted-file.
56 *** The 'g' key in VC diff, log, log-incoming and log-outgoing buffers
57 reruns the corresponding VC command to compute an up to date version
60 *** vc-dir for Bzr supports viewing shelve contents and shelving snapshots.
63 *** Special markup can be added to log-edit buffers.
64 You can add headers specifying additional information to be supplied
65 to the version control system. For example:
67 Author: J. R. Hacker <jrh@example.com>
69 Actual text of log entry...
71 Bazaar recognizes the headers "Author", "Date" and "Fixes".
72 Git, Mercurial, and Monotone recognize "Author" and "Date".
73 Any unknown header is left as is in the message, so it is not lost.
78 *** lmenu.el and cl-compat.el are now obsolete.
81 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.3
83 ** smie.el is a generic navigation and indentation engine.
84 It takes a simple BNF description of the grammar, and provides both
85 sexp-style navigation (jumping over begin..end pairs) as well as
86 indentation, which can be adjusted via ad-hoc indentation rules.
89 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.3
91 ** posn-col-row now excludes the header line from the row count
92 If the frame has a header line, posn-col-row will count row numbers
93 starting from the first line of text below the header line.
96 * Lisp changes in Emacs 23.3
99 ** `e' and `pi' are now called `float-e' and `float-pi'.
100 The old names are obsolete.
103 ** The use of unintern without an obarray arg is now obsolete.
106 ** The function `princ-list' is now obsolete.
109 ** The yank-handler argument to kill-region and friends is now obsolete.
111 ** New function byte-to-string, like char-to-string but for bytes.
114 * Changes in Emacs 23.3 on non-free operating systems
117 ** The nextstep port can have different modifiers for the left and right
118 alt/option key by customizing the value for ns-right-alternate-modifier.
121 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.2
123 ** New configure options for Emacs developers.
124 These are not new features; only the configure flags are new.
126 *** --enable-profiling builds Emacs with profiling enabled.
127 This might not work on all platforms.
129 *** --enable-checking[=OPTIONS] builds emacs with extra runtime checks.
131 ** `make install' now consistently ignores umask, creating a
132 world-readable install.
134 ** Emacs compiles with Gconf support, if it is detected.
135 Use the configure option --without-gconf to disable this.
136 This is used by the `font-use-system-font' feature (see below).
138 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.2
140 ** The command-line option -Q (--quick) also inhibits loading X resources.
141 However, if Emacs is compiled with the Lucid or Motif toolkit, X
142 resource settings for the graphical widgets are still applied.
143 On Windows, the -Q option causes Emacs to ignore Registry settings,
144 but environment variables set on the Registry are still honored.
146 *** The new variable `inhibit-x-resources' shows whether X resources
149 ** New command-line option -mm (--maximized) maximizes the initial frame.
151 * Changes in Emacs 23.2
153 ** The maximum size of buffers (and the largest fixnum) is doubled.
154 On typical 32bit systems, buffers can now be up to 512MB.
156 ** The default value of `trash-directory' is now nil.
157 This means that `move-file-to-trash' trashes files according to
158 freedesktop.org specifications, the same method used by the Gnome,
159 KDE, and XFCE desktops. (This change has no effect on Windows, which
160 uses `system-move-file-to-trash' for trashing.)
162 ** The pointer now becomes invisible when typing.
163 Customize `make-pointer-invisible' to disable this feature.
167 *** Emacs can use the system default monospaced font in Gnome.
168 To enable this feature, set `font-use-system-font' to non-nil (it is
169 nil by default). If the system default changes, Emacs changes also.
170 This feature requires Gconf support, which is automatically included
171 at compile-time if configure detects the gconf libraries (you can
172 disable this with the configure option --without-gconf).
174 *** On X11, Emacs reacts to Xft changes made by configuration tools,
175 via the XSETTINGS mechanism. This includes antialias, hinting,
176 hintstyle, RGBA, DPI and lcdfilter changes.
178 ** Killing a buffer with a running process now asks for confirmation.
179 To remove this query, remove `process-kill-buffer-query-function' from
180 `kill-buffer-query-functions', or set the appropriate process flag
181 with `set-process-query-on-exit-flag'.
183 ** File-local variable changes
185 *** Specifying a minor mode as a local variables enables that mode,
186 unconditionally. The previous behavior, toggling the mode, was
187 neither reliable nor generally desirable.
189 *** There are new commands for adding and removing file-local variables:
190 `add-file-local-variable', `delete-file-local-variable',
191 `add-file-local-variable-prop-line', and
192 `delete-file-local-variable-prop-line'.
194 *** There are new commands for adding and removing directory-local variables,
195 and copying them to and from file-local variable lists:
196 `add-dir-local-variable', `delete-dir-local-variable',
197 `copy-dir-locals-to-file-locals',
198 `copy-dir-locals-to-file-locals-prop-line' and
199 `copy-file-locals-to-dir-locals'.
201 ** Internationalization changes
203 *** Unibyte sessions are now considered obsolete.
204 This refers to the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable as well as the
205 --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte command line
206 arguments. Customizing enable-multibyte-characters and setting
207 default-enable-multibyte-characters are also deprecated.
209 *** New coding system `utf-8-hfs'.
210 This is suitable for default-file-name-coding-system on Mac OS X; see
211 international/ucs-normalize.el.
213 ** Function arguments in *Help* buffers are now shown in upper-case.
214 Customize `help-downcase-arguments' to t to show them in lower-case.
216 ** New command `async-shell-command', bound globally to `M-&'.
217 This executes the command asynchronously, similar to calling `M-!' and
218 manually adding an ampersand to the end of the command. With `M-&',
219 you don't need the ampersand. The output appears in the buffer
220 `*Async Shell Command*'.
222 ** When running in a new enough xterm (newer than version 242), Emacs
223 asks xterm what the background color is and it sets up faces
224 accordingly for a dark background if needed (the current default is to
225 consider the background light).
228 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.2
230 ** Kill-ring and selection changes
232 *** If `select-active-regions' is t, any active region automatically
233 becomes the primary selection (for interaction with other window
234 applications). If you enable this, you might want to bind
235 `mouse-yank-primary' to Mouse-2.
237 *** When `save-interprogram-paste-before-kill' is non-nil, the kill
238 commands save the interprogram-paste selection into the kill ring
239 before doing anything else. This avoids losing the selection.
241 *** When `kill-do-not-save-duplicates' is non-nil, identical
242 subsequent kills are not duplicated in the `kill-ring'.
244 ** Completion changes
246 *** The new command `completion-at-point' provides mode-sensitive completion.
248 *** tab-always-indent set to `complete' lets TAB do completion as well.
250 *** The new completion-style `initials' is available.
251 For instance, this can complete M-x lch to list-command-history.
253 *** The new variable `completions-format' determines how completions
254 are displayed in the *Completions* buffer. If you set it to
255 `vertical', completions are sorted vertically in columns.
257 ** The default value of `blink-matching-paren-distance' is increased.
259 ** M-n provides more default values in the minibuffer for commands
260 that read file names. These include the file name at point (when ffap
261 is loaded without ffap-bindings), the file name on the current line
262 (in Dired buffers), and the directory names of adjacent Dired windows
263 (for Dired commands that operate on several directories, such as copy,
266 ** M-r is bound to the new `move-to-window-line-top-bottom'.
267 This moves point to the window center, top and bottom on successive
268 invocations, in the same spirit as the C-l (recenter-top-bottom)
271 ** The new variable `recenter-positions' determines the default
272 cycling order of C-l (`recenter-top-bottom').
274 ** The abbrevs file is now a file named abbrev_defs in
275 user-emacs-directory; but the old location, ~/.abbrev_defs, is used if
279 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
281 ** The bookmark menu has a narrowing search via bookmark-bmenu-search.
285 *** The Calc settings file is now a file named calc.el in
286 user-emacs-directory; but the old location, ~/.calc.el, is used if
289 *** Graphing commands (`g f' etc.) now work on MS-Windows, if you have
290 the native Windows port of Gnuplot version 3.8 or later installed.
292 ** Calendar and diary
294 *** Fancy diary display is now the default.
295 If you prefer the simple display, customize `diary-display-function'.
297 *** The diary's fancy display now enables view-mode.
299 *** The command `calendar-current-date' accepts an optional argument
300 giving an offset from today.
304 *** The default value for `desktop-buffers-not-to-save' is nil.
305 This means Desktop will try restoring all buffers, when you restart
306 your Emacs session. Also, `desktop-buffers-not-to-save' is only
307 effective for buffers that have no associated file. If you want to
308 exempt buffers that do correspond to files, customize the value of
309 `desktop-files-not-to-save' instead.
313 *** The new variable `dired-auto-revert-buffer', if non-nil, causes
314 Dired buffers to be reverted automatically on revisiting them.
318 *** When `doc-view-continuous' is non-nil, scrolling a line
319 on the page edge advances to the next/previous page.
323 *** Elint now uses compilation-mode.
325 *** Elint can now scan individual files and whole directories,
326 and can be run in batch mode.
328 *** Elint does a more thorough initialization, and recognizes more built-in
329 functions and variables. Customize `elint-scan-preloaded' if you want
330 to sacrifice some accuracy for a faster startup.
332 *** Elint attempts some basic understanding of featurep and (f)boundp tests.
334 *** Customize `elint-ignored-warnings' to suppress some warnings.
338 *** Toolbar functionality for reverse debugging. Display of STL
339 collections as watch expressions. These features require GDB 7.0 or later.
343 *** A new command `zrgrep' searches recursively in gzipped files.
347 *** The new command `Info-virtual-index' bound to "I" displays a menu of
348 matched topics found in the index.
350 *** The new command `info-finder' replaces finder.el with a virtual Info
351 manual that generates an Info file which gives the same information
352 through a menu structure.
354 ** LaTeX mode now provides completion (via completion-at-point).
356 ** Message mode is now the default mode for composing mail.
358 The default for `mail-user-agent' is now message-user-agent, so the
359 C-x m (`compose-mail') command uses Message mode instead of Mail mode.
361 Message mode has been included in Emacs, as part of the Gnus package,
362 for several years. It provides several features that are absent in
363 Mail mode, such as MIME handling.
365 *** If the user has not customized mail-user-agent, `compose-mail'
366 checks for Mail mode customizations, and issues a warning if these
367 customizations are found. This alerts users who may otherwise be
368 unaware that their mail configuration has changed.
370 To disable this check, set compose-mail-user-agent-warnings to nil.
372 ** The default value of mail-interactive is t, since Emacs 23.1.
373 (This was not announced at the time.) It means that when sending mail,
374 Emacs will wait for the process sending mail to return. If you
375 experience delays when sending mail, you may wish to set this to nil.
377 ** nXML mode is now the default for editing XML files.
379 ** pcomplete provides a new command `pcomplete-std-completion' which
380 is similar to `pcomplete' but using the standard completion UI code.
382 ** Shell (and other comint modes)
384 *** M-s is no longer bound to `comint-next-matching-input'.
386 *** M-r is now bound to `comint-history-isearch-backward-regexp'.
387 This starts an incremental search of the comint/shell input history.
389 *** ansi-color is now enabled by default in Shell mode.
390 To disable it, set ansi-color-for-comint-mode to nil.
394 *** New connection methods "rsyncc", "imap" and "imaps".
395 On systems which support GVFS-Fuse, Tramp offers also the new
396 connection methods "dav", "davs", "obex" and "synce".
398 ** VC and related modes
400 *** When using C-x v v or C-x v i on a unregistered file that is in a
401 directory not controlled by any VCS, ask the user what VC backend to
402 use to create a repository, create a new repository and register the
405 *** New command `vc-root-print-log', bound to `C-x v L'.
406 This displays a `*vc-change-log*' buffer showing the history of the
407 version-controlled directory tree as a whole.
409 *** New command `vc-root-diff', bound to `C-x v D'.
410 This is similar to `vc-diff', but compares the entire directory tree
411 of the current VC directory with its working revision.
413 *** `C-x v l' and `C-x v L' do not show the full log by default.
414 The number of entries shown can be chosen interactively with a prefix
415 argument, or by customizing vc-log-show-limit. The `*vc-change-log*'
416 buffer now contains buttons at the end of the buffer, which can be
417 used to increase the number of entries shown. RCS, SCCS, and CVS do
418 not support this feature.
420 *** vc-annotate supports annotations through file copies and renames,
421 it displays the old names for the files and it can show logs/diffs for
422 the corresponding lines. Currently only Git and Mercurial take
423 advantage of this feature.
425 *** The log command in vc-annotate can display a single log entry
426 instead of redisplaying the full log. The RCS, CVS and SCCS VC
427 backends do not support this.
429 *** When a file is not found, VC will not try to check it out of RCS anymore.
431 *** Diff and log operations can be used from Dired buffers.
435 **** The short log format for git makes use of the graph display,
436 so it's not supported on git versions earlier than 1.5.6.
438 **** vc-dir uses the --relative option of git, and so requires at least
441 **** Support for operating with stashes has been added to vc-dir:
442 the stash list is displayed in the *vc-dir* header, stashes can be
443 created, removed, applied and their content displayed.
445 *** vc-bzr supports operating with shelves: the shelve list is
446 displayed in the *vc-dir* header, shelves can be created, removed and applied.
448 *** log-edit-strip-single-file-name controls whether or not single filenames
449 are stripped when copying text from the ChangeLog to the *VC-Log* buffer.
453 *** Interactively `multi-isearch-buffers' and `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp'
454 read buffer names to search, one by one, ended with RET. With a prefix
455 argument, they ask for a regexp, and search in buffers whose names match
456 the specified regexp. Interactively `multi-isearch-files' and
457 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' read file names to search, one by one,
458 ended with RET. With a prefix argument, they ask for a wildcard, and
459 search in file buffers whose file names match the specified wildcard.
461 *** Autorevert Tail mode now works also for remote files.
463 *** The new eshell built-in commands `su' and `sudo' support Tramp.
464 Thus, they change `default-directory' to reflect the new user id, and
465 let commands run under that user's permissions. This works even when
466 `default-directory' is already remote. Calling the external commands
467 is possible via `*su' or `*sudo', respectively.
471 *** sym-comp.el is now obsolete, superseded by completion-at-point.
473 *** lucid.el and levents.el are now obsolete.
476 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
478 ** CEDET (the Collection of Emacs Development Tools) is now in Emacs.
479 This is a collection of packages to aid with using Emacs as an IDE
480 (integrated development environment):
482 *** The Semantic package allows the use of parsers to intelligently
483 edit and navigate source code. Parsers for C/C++, Java, Javascript,
484 and several other languages are included by default, and Semantic can
485 also interface with external tools such as GNU Global and GNU Idutils.
487 To enable Semantic, use the global minor mode `semantic-mode'.
488 See the Semantic manual for details.
490 *** EDE (Emacs Development Environment) is a package for managing code
491 projects, including features such as automatic Makefile generation.
493 To enable EDE, use the minor mode `global-ede-mode'.
494 See the EDE manual for details.
496 *** SRecode is a library for recoding Semantic tags back into source
497 code. It is currently used by some parts of Semantic and EDE; in the
498 future, it may be used for code generation features.
500 *** The EIEIO library implements a subset of the Common Lisp Object
501 System (CLOS). It is used by the other CEDET packages.
503 ** mpc.el is a front end for the Music Player Daemon. Run it with M-x mpc.
505 ** htmlfontify.el turns a fontified Emacs buffer into an HTML page.
507 ** js.el is a new major mode for JavaScript files.
509 ** imap-hash.el is a new library to address IMAP mailboxes as hashtables.
512 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.2
514 ** The Lisp reader turns integers that are too large/small into floats.
515 For instance, on machines where `536870911' is the largest integer,
516 reading `536870912' gives the floating-point object `536870912.0'.
518 This change only concerns the Lisp reader; it does not affect how
519 actual integer objects overflow.
521 ** Several obsolete functions removed.
522 The functions have been obsolete since Emacs 19, and are unlikely to
525 time-stamp-month-dd-yyyy, time-stamp-dd/mm/yyyy, time-stamp-mon-dd-yyyy
526 time-stamp-dd-mon-yy, time-stamp-yy/mm/dd, time-stamp-yyyy/mm/dd,
527 time-stamp-yyyy-mm-dd, time-stamp-yymmdd, time-stamp-hh:mm:ss,
528 time-stamp-hhmm, baud-rate
530 ** Support for generating Emacs 18 compatible bytecode (by setting
531 the variable `byte-compile-compatibility') has been removed.
533 ** In image-mode.el `image-mode-maybe' is obsolete.
534 Instead, you can either use `image-mode' (which displays an image file
535 as the actual image initially), or `image-mode-as-text' (when you want
536 to display an image file as text initially). `image-mode-as-text' is a
537 combination of a non-image mode from `auto-mode-alist' (or Fundamental
538 mode) and `image-minor-mode'. `image-minor-mode' provides a `C-c C-c'
539 key binding to toggle image display.
540 `image-toggle-display-text' removes image properties.
541 `image-toggle-display-image' adds image properties.
542 `image-toggle-display' toggles between `image-mode-as-text' and `image-mode'.
545 * Lisp changes in Emacs 23.2
547 ** All the default-FOO variables that hold the default value of the FOO
548 variable, are now declared obsolete.
550 ** read-key is a function halfway between read-event and read-key-sequence.
551 It reads a single key, but obeys input and escape sequence decoding.
553 ** Frame parameter changes
555 *** You can give the `fullscreen' frame parameter the value `maximized'.
556 This maximizes the frame.
558 *** The new frame parameter `sticky' makes Emacs frames sticky in
561 ** Completion changes
563 *** completion-base-size is obsoleted by completion-base-position.
564 This change causes a few backward incompatibilities, mostly with
565 choose-completion-string-functions where the `mini-p' argument has
566 been replaced by a `base-position' argument, and where the `base-size'
567 argument is now always nil.
569 *** New function `completion-in-region' to use the standard completion
570 facilities on a particular region of text.
572 *** The 4th arg to all-completions (aka hide-spaces) is declared obsolete.
574 *** completion-annotate-function specifies how to compute annotations
575 for completions displayed in *Completions*.
577 ** Minibuffer changes
579 *** read-file-name-predicate is obsolete. It was used to pass the predicate
580 to read-file-name-internal because read-file-name-internal abused its `pred'
581 argument to pass the current directory, but this hack is not needed
584 ** Changes to file-manipulation functions
586 *** `delete-directory' has an optional parameter RECURSIVE.
588 *** New function `copy-directory', which copies a directory recursively.
590 ** called-interactively-p now takes one argument and replaces interactive-p
591 which is now marked obsolete.
593 ** New function set-advertised-calling-convention makes it possible
594 to obsolete arguments as well as make some arguments mandatory.
596 ** You can control which binding is preferentially shown in menus and
597 docstrings by adding a `:advertised-binding' property to the corresponding
598 command's symbol. That property can hold a single binding or a list
601 ** Network and process changes
603 *** start-process-shell-command and start-file-process-shell-command
604 now only take a single `command' argument.
606 *** The new variable `process-file-side-effects' should be set to nil
607 if a `process-file' call does not change a remote file. This allows
608 file name handlers such as Tramp to optimizations.
610 *** make-network-process can now also create `seqpacket' Unix sockets.
614 *** eval-next-after-load is obsolete.
616 *** New hook `after-load-functions' run after loading an Elisp file.
618 ** Byte compilation changes
620 *** Changing the file-names generated by byte-compilation by redefining
621 the function `byte-compile-dest-file' before loading bytecomp.el is obsolete.
622 Instead, customize byte-compile-dest-file-function.
624 *** `byte-compile-warnings' has new members, `constants' and `suspicious'.
626 ** New macro with-silent-modifications to tweak text properties without
627 affecting the buffer's modification state.
629 ** Hash tables have a new printed representation that is readable.
630 The feature `hashtable-print-readable' identifies this new
633 ** New functions for performing Unicode normalization:
634 ucs-normalize-NFD-region, ucs-normalize-NFD-string,
635 ucs-normalize-NFC-region, ucs-normalize-NFC-string,
636 ucs-normalize-NFKD-region, ucs-normalize-NFKD-string,
637 ucs-normalize-NFKC-region, ucs-normalize-NFKC-string,
638 ucs-normalize-HFS-NFD-region, ucs-normalize-HFS-NFD-string,
639 ucs-normalize-HFS-NFC-region, ucs-normalize-HFS-NFC-string.
641 ** Face aliases can now be marked as obsolete, using the macro
642 `define-obsolete-face-alias'.
644 ** New function `window-full-height-p', analogous to the full-width version.
647 * Changes in Emacs 23.2 on non-free operating systems
649 ** On MS-Windows, `display-time' now displays the system load average
650 as well as the time, as it does on GNU and Unix.
653 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
655 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
656 The configure option `--with-gtk' has been removed. Gtk is now the
657 default toolkit, but you can use --with-x-toolkit=gtk if necessary.
660 Fonts are handled by new code capable of dealing with multiple font
661 backends. This uses the freetype and fontconfig libraries.
663 *** Emacs now accepts font names supplied in the fontconfig format
664 (e.g. "monospace-12:bold") and GTK format (e.g. "Monospace Bold 12").
666 *** Added support for local fonts (fonts installed on the machine
667 where Emacs is running).
669 *** Added support for the Xft library for antialiasing.
671 *** Added support for the otf library for complex text layout by
674 *** Added support for the m17n library for text shaping.
676 ** Changes to image support
678 *** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
681 *** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
683 *** Emacs now supports multi-page TIFF images.
685 ** New NeXTSTEP-based port.
686 This provides support for GNUstep (via the GNUstep libraries) and Mac
687 OS X (via the Cocoa libraries).
689 Specify --with-ns to configure for this. By default, a self-contained
690 app will be built (containing all lisp). To install/share lisp with
691 other emacsen (e.g. X11 build) use --disable-ns-self-contained. See
692 nextstep/README and nextstep/INSTALL in the Emacs source directory.
694 ** Mac OS X is no longer supported via Carbon.
695 Use the NeXTSTEP port, described above.
697 ** The new configuration option "--with-dbus" enables D-Bus language
700 ** Support for many obsolete platforms has been removed.
701 See the list at the end of etc/MACHINES for details.
703 *** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
705 *** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
707 *** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
709 ** The following platforms will be removed in a future Emacs version:
710 If you are still using Emacs on one of these platforms, please email
711 emacs-devel@gnu.org to inform the Emacs developers.
713 *** Old GNU/Linux systems based on libc version 5.
715 *** Old FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD systems based on the COFF
718 *** Solaris versions 2.6 and below.
720 *** Solaris on IBM RS6000 machines.
722 *** UNIX System V (the original SysV, not later platforms based on it).
724 *** Unixware on non-x86 machines.
726 *** Platforms not supporting shared libraries (i.e., requiring the
727 NO_SHARED_LIBS compilation flag).
729 ** The configure options `--with-gcc', `--without-gcc' have been removed.
730 Configure will use gcc by default. Set the CC environment variable if
731 you need control over which C compiler is used.
733 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
735 ** The manuals are now licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License v1.3,
736 or any later version.
738 ** Emacs 23 comes with a new set of default icons.
739 Various resolutions are available as etc/images/icons/hicolor/*/apps/emacs.png.
740 The Emacs 22 icon is available as `emacs22.png' in the same location.
742 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
744 ** Improved X Window System support
746 *** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
747 With an Emacs server active (M-x server-start), `emacsclient -t'
748 creates a tty frame connected to the running emacs server. You can
749 use any number of different ttys. `emacsclient -c' creates a new X11
750 frame on the current $DISPLAY (or a tty frame if $DISPLAY is not set).
751 There may be problems if a display exits unexpectedly and Emacs is compiled
752 with Gtk+, see etc/PROBLEMS.
754 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
755 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
757 *** Emacs starts in the background, as a daemon, when given the
758 --daemon command line argument. It disconnects from the terminal and
759 starts the server. Clients can connect and create graphical or
760 terminal frames using emacsclient.
762 **** emacsclient starts emacs in daemon mode and connects to it when
763 --alternate-editor="" is used (or when the evironment variable
764 ALTERNATE_EDITOR is set to "") and emacsclient cannot connect to an
767 *** The new command close-display-connection closes a connection to a
768 remote display. There are some bugs for Gtk+. See etc/PROBLEMS.
770 *** Emacs now supports the XEmbed specification.
771 You can embed Emacs in another application on X11. The new command line
772 option --parent-id is used to pass the parent window id to Emacs. See
773 http://standards.freedesktop.org/xembed-spec/xembed-spec-latest.html
774 for details about XEmbed.
776 *** Emacs can now set the frame opacity.
777 The opacity of a frame can be controlled by setting the `alpha' frame
778 parameter. This only takes effect on a compositing window manager for
779 the X Window System, such as Compiz, Beryl and Compiz Fusion, on Mac
780 OS X, or on Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows.
782 The alpha parameter should be an integer between 0 (transparent) and
783 100 (opaque), or a float number between 0.0 and 1.0. It can also be a
784 cons cell (ACTIVE . INACTIVE), where ACTIVE is the opacity of an
785 active frame and INACTIVE is the opacity of non-active frames.
787 The variable `frame-alpha-lower-limit' defines a lower bound for the
788 opacity; the default is 20.
790 ** Internationalization changes
792 *** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
793 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
795 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
796 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs' (`emacs-internal' is an alias
797 for this). This encoding is backward-compatible with Unicode's UTF-8
798 encoding. The internal encoding previously used by Emacs,
799 `emacs-mule', is still available for reading and writing files.
801 During byte-compilation, Emacs 23 uses `utf-8-emacs' to write files.
802 As a result, byte-compiled files containing non-ASCII characters can't
803 be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files compiled by Emacs 20, 21,
804 or 22 are loaded correctly as `emacs-mule' (whether or not they
805 contain multibyte characters). This takes somewhat more time, so it
806 may be worth recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be
807 shared with older Emacsen.
809 *** There are new coding systems/aliases; see M-x list-coding-systems.
811 *** There is a new charset implementation with many new charsets.
812 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
813 as tables of unicodes.
815 *** There are new language environments for Chinese-GBK,
816 Chinese-GB18030, Khmer, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu,
817 Sinhala, and TaiViet.
819 *** The minor modes unify-8859-on-encoding-mode and
820 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode are obsolete.
822 *** `ucs-insert' is bound to `C-x 8 RET' and in addition to hex numbers
823 accepts numbers in hash notation (e.g. #o21430 for octal, or #10r8984 for
824 decimal). It also accepts Unicode character names with completion.
826 *** The `cyrillic-translit' input method supports many new characters.
827 Common typographical characters available from Unicode were added to
828 `cyrillic-translit': punctuation marks, accented characters, fractions,
831 ** Emacs now supports serial port access on GNU/Linux, Unix, and
832 Windows. The new command `serial-term' starts an interactive terminal
833 on a serial port. The serial port can be configured at runtime with
834 the mode-line mouse menu.
838 *** In the Options menu, the "Set Default Font" item applies the
839 selected font to the `default' face on all frames, not just the
840 current frame. Furthermore, if Emacs is compiled with both GTK and
841 Fontconfig support, the "Set Default Font" item uses the GTK font
842 selection dialog instead of an Emacs pop-up menu.
844 *** The font setting chosen by "Set Default Font" is saved if the
845 "Save Options" item is used.
847 *** The Tools menu contains a new Encryption/Decryption submenu.
848 This contains commands provided by EasyPG, the newly-included
849 interface to GnuPG (see New Modes and Packages).
851 *** In the Options menu, the "Truncate Long Lines in the Buffer" entry
852 has been replaced with a submenu offering three different ways to
853 handle long lines: truncation, continuation at the window edge, and
854 the new word wrapping behavior (see Editing Changes, below).
856 *** Improvements to menus for major and minor modes
857 More major and minor modes now have a mode specific menu, and existing
858 mode menus have been improved to include more functionality.
862 *** The mode-line displays a `@', instead of `-', if the
863 default-directory for the current buffer is on a remote machine.
865 *** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a
866 minor mode, in the same way as it already did for major modes.
868 *** The `mode-line-emphasis' face is used to highlight certain
869 mode-line information (e.g. waiting for a VC command to finish).
871 *** The mode-line tooltips have been improved to provide more details.
873 *** The VC, line/colum number and minor mode indicators on the mode
874 line are now interactive: mouse-1 can be used on them to pop up a menu.
876 ** File deletion can make use of the Recycle Bin or system Trash folder.
877 Set `delete-by-moving-to-trash' non-nil to use this. Deleted files
878 and directories will then be sent to the Recycle Bin on Windows, and
879 to `trash-directory' on other systems.
881 ** Directory-local variables can now be defined.
882 By default, Emacs looks in .dir-locals.el for directory-local
883 variables. For more information, see `dir-locals-set-directory-class'
884 and `dir-locals-set-class-variables'.
886 ** Emacs can now use `auth-source' for authentication.
887 `smtpmail' and `url' (Tramp and Gnus also) use `auth-source' to obtain
888 login names and passwords. The match, if found, is reported
889 in *Messages* with the password blanked out.
891 ** `where-is-preferred-modifier' can specify your favorite modifier.
894 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
896 ** The option `inhibit-startup-screen' (with aliases to old names
897 `inhibit-splash-screen' and `inhibit-startup-message') doesn't inhibit
898 display of the initial message in the *scratch* buffer. If you don't
899 want to display the initial message in the *scratch* buffer at startup,
900 you can set the option `initial-scratch-message' to nil.
902 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
903 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
906 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
907 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
908 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
911 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
913 ** Emacs now supports invocation by an X session manager.
914 It can save a session and restore it later. See the documentation of
915 the functions `emacs-session-save' and `emacs-session-restore'.
916 (Actually, this feature was introduced with Emacs 22, but it was not
919 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
921 ** In Dired, `dired-flag-garbage-files' is rebound from `&' to `%&'
922 on the regexp command prefix map.
924 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
925 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
928 ** In Isearch mode, a special case of typing `C-w' at the beginning of
929 the minibuffer that toggles word search (i.e. using key sequences
930 `C-s RET C-w' or `C-s M-e C-w') is obsolete. You can use the global key
931 `M-s w' to start word search, or type `M-s w' in Isearch mode to
932 toggle word search. To start nonincremental word search you can now use
933 `M-s w RET' and `M-s w C-r RET' instead of `C-s RET C-w' and `C-r RET C-w'.
935 ** In Info, `Info-search' is unbound from `M-s' to allow using `M-s w'
936 for word search as well as other search commands from the global prefix
937 key `M-s'. `Info-search' is still bound to `s', and also incremental
938 search commands `C-s', `C-M-s', `C-r', `C-M-r' are available for searching
939 through multiple Info nodes, together with their nonincremental versions
940 `C-s RET', `C-r RET', `C-M-s RET', `C-M-r RET', `M-s w RET'.
942 ** In Text mode, `center-line' and `center-paragraph' are rebound from
943 `M-s' and `M-S' to global keys `M-o M-s' and `M-o M-S' on the global
944 prefix map `M-o', which is intended for such formatting commands.
946 ** The following input methods were removed in Emacs 22.2, but this was
947 not advertised: danish-alt-postfix, esperanto-alt-postfix,
948 finnish-alt-postfix, german-alt-postfix, icelandic-alt-postfix,
949 norwegian-alt-postfix, scandinavian-alt-postfix, spanish-alt-postfix,
950 and swedish-alt-postfix. Use the versions without "alt-", which are
954 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
956 ** The C-n and C-p line-motion commands now move by screen lines,
957 taking continued lines and variable-width characters into account.
958 Setting `line-move-visual' to nil reverts this to the previous
959 behavior (i.e., motion by logical lines based on buffer contents
962 ** C-x C-c now invokes `save-buffers-kill-terminal', and C-z now
963 invokes `suspend-frame'. These changes are for compatibility with the
964 new multi-tty support (see `Improved X Window System support' above).
968 *** Transient Mark mode is now on by default.
970 *** mark-even-if-inactive now defaults to t
972 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, C-SPC C-SPC pushes a mark without
975 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-q now fills the region if the
976 region is active. Otherwise, it fills the current paragraph.
978 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-$ now checks spelling of the
979 region if the region is active. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
982 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, TAB now indents the region if the
985 *** The variable `use-empty-active-region' controls whether an empty
986 active region in Transient Mark mode should make commands operate on
989 ** Temporarily active regions
991 *** The new variable shift-select-mode, non-nil by default, controls
992 shift-selection. When Shift Select mode is on, shift-translated
993 motion keys (e.g. S-left and S-down) activate and extend a temporary
994 region, similar to mouse-selection.
996 *** Temporarily active regions, created using shift-selection or
997 mouse-selection, are not necessarily deactivated in the next command.
998 They are only deactivated after point motion commands that are not
999 shift-translated, or after commands that would ordinarily deactivate
1000 the mark in Transient Mark mode (e.g., any command that modifies the
1003 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
1005 *** Emacs may ask for confirmation before opening a non-existent file
1006 or buffer. By default, Emacs requests confirmation if you type RET
1007 immediately after TAB, and the resulting input is not an existing file
1008 or buffer; this usually happens when the minibuffer input did not
1009 complete far enough and you entered RET by mistake. In that case,
1010 Emacs puts the message "[Confirm]" in the minibuffer; type RET again
1011 to create the file or buffer.
1013 The new variable confirm-nonexistent-file-or-buffer determines whether
1014 Emacs asks for confirmation. The default value is `after-completion'.
1015 If you change it to t, Emacs always asks for confirmation; if you
1016 change it to nil, Emacs never asks for confirmation.
1018 *** The rules for performing completion have been changed.
1019 When generating completion alternatives, Emacs now takes the
1020 minibuffer text after point, if any, into account: this text is
1021 treated as a substring of the remaining part of the completion
1022 alternative (i.e., the part not matched by the minibuffer text before
1023 point). If no completion alternatives are found this way, Emacs
1024 attempts to perform partial-completion. If still no completion
1025 alternatives are found, we fall back on the Emacs 22 rules for
1026 performing completion.
1028 The new variable `completion-styles' can be customized to choose your
1029 favorite completion style.
1031 *** When M-n in the minibuffer reaches the end of the list of defaults,
1032 it adds the completion list to the end, so next M-n continues putting
1033 completion items to the minibuffer. The same principle applies to
1034 incremental search commands as well: C-s or C-M-s starts searching
1035 the default values and after the end of defaults they continue
1036 searching minibuffer completion items.
1038 *** Minibuffer input of shell commands now comes with completion.
1040 *** In the `C-x d' (Dired) prompt, typing M-n gives the visited file
1041 name of the current buffer.
1043 *** In the M-! (shell-command) prompt, M-n provides some default commands.
1044 These are guessed using the file extension of the current file, based
1045 on the file-handlers specified in the operating system's `mailcap'
1046 file. The ! command in Dired (dired-do-shell-command) works
1047 similarly, using the file displayed on the current line.
1049 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
1050 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
1051 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last Isearch
1052 regexp, the last Isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
1054 *** When enable-recursive-minibuffers is non-nil, operations which use
1055 switch-to-buffer (such as C-x b and C-x C-f) do not fail any more when
1056 used in a minibuffer or a dedicated window. Instead, they fallback on
1057 using pop-to-buffer, which will use some other window. This change
1058 has no effect when enable-recursive-minibuffers is nil (the default).
1060 *** Isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
1061 Reverse Isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
1062 history elements, and forward Isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
1063 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
1064 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
1065 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
1066 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
1068 *** The variable read-file-name-completion-ignore-case overrides
1069 completion-ignore-case for file name completion.
1071 *** The variable read-buffer-completion-ignore-case overrides
1072 completion-ignore-case for buffer name completion.
1074 *** The new command `minibuffer-force-complete' chooses one of the
1075 possible completions, rather than stopping at the common prefix.
1077 *** If `completion-auto-help' is `lazy', Emacs shows the completions
1078 buffer only on the second attempt to complete. This was already
1079 supported in `partial-completion-mode'.
1083 *** S-down-mouse-1 now pops up a menu for changing the font and text
1084 size of the default face in the current buffer. The face is changed
1085 via face remapping (see Lisp changes, below).
1087 *** New commands to change the default face size in the current buffer.
1088 To increase it, type `C-x C-+' or `C-x C-='. To decrease it, type
1089 `C-x C--'. To restore the default (global) face size, type `C-x C-0'.
1090 These work via Text Scale mode, a new minor mode.
1092 The final key in the above commands may be repeated without the
1093 leading `C-x', e.g. `C-x C-= C-= C-=' increases the face height by
1094 three steps. Each step scales the height of the default face by the
1095 value of the variable `text-scale-mode-step'.
1097 *** The commands buffer-face-mode and buffer-face-set can be used to
1098 remap the default face in the current buffer. See "Buffer Face mode",
1099 under New Modes and Packages.
1101 ** Primary selection changes
1103 *** You can disable kill ring commands from accessing the primary
1104 selection by setting `x-select-enable-primary' to nil.
1106 ** Continuation lines can now be wrapped at word boundaries
1107 (word-wrapping). This is controlled by the new per-buffer variable
1108 `word-wrap'. Word wrapping does not take place if continuation lines
1109 are not shown, e.g. if truncate-lines is non-nil. The most convenient
1110 way to enable word-wrapping is using the new minor mode Visual Line
1111 mode; in addition to setting `word-wrap' to t, this rebinds some
1112 editing commands to work on screen lines rather than text lines. See
1113 New Modes and Packages, below.
1115 ** Window management changes
1117 *** truncate-partial-width-windows now accepts integer values, which
1118 specify a minimum window width for partial-width windows, below which
1119 lines are truncated. The default has been changed to 50.
1121 *** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both
1122 vertically and horizontally.
1124 *** pop-to-buffer now always sets input focus when the popped-to window
1125 is on a different frame.
1127 ** Miscellaneous changes:
1129 *** C-l is bound to the new command recenter-top-bottom, rather than recenter.
1130 This moves the current line to window center, top and bottom on
1131 successive invocations.
1133 *** scroll-preserve-screen-position also preserves the column position.
1135 *** If `yank-pop-change-selection' is t, rotating the kill ring also
1136 updates the selection or clipboard to the current yank, just as M-w
1137 would do so with the text it copies to the kill ring.
1139 *** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
1140 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
1141 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
1143 *** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
1144 called with a prefix and the default directory is a remote file name.
1145 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
1146 run processes remotely.
1148 *** The new command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name
1151 *** The value of comment-style now defaults to `indent'.
1152 Thefore, comment-start markers are inserted at the current indentation
1153 of the region to comment, rather than the leftmost column.
1155 *** The new commands `pp-macroexpand-expression' and
1156 `pp-macroexpand-last-sexp' pretty-print macro expansions.
1158 *** The new command `set-file-modes' allows to set file's mode bits.
1159 The mode bits can be specified in symbolic notation, like with GNU
1160 Coreutils, in addition to an octal number. `chmod' is a new
1161 convenience alias for this function.
1163 *** `next-error-recenter' specifies how next-error should recenter the
1164 visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example, 0 for
1165 top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
1167 *** When typing in a password in the echo area, C-y yanks the current
1168 kill into the password.
1170 *** Tooltip frame parameters `font' and `color' in `tooltip-frame-parameters'
1171 are ignored. Customize the `tooltip' face instead.
1173 *** `mkdir' is a new convenience alias for `make-directory'.
1175 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
1177 ** Auto Composition Mode is a minor mode that composes characters
1178 automatically when they are displayed. It is globally on by default.
1179 It uses `auto-composition-function' (default `auto-compose-chars').
1181 ** Bubbles, a new game, is similar to SameGame.
1183 ** Buffer Face mode is a minor mode for remapping the default face in
1184 the current buffer. The variable `buffer-face-mode-face' specifies
1185 the face to remap to. The command `buffer-face-set' prompts for a
1186 face name, sets `buffer-face-mode-face' to it, and enables
1187 buffer-face-mode. See "Face changes", under Editing Changes, for a
1188 description of face remapping.
1190 ** butterfly flips the desired bit on the drive platter.
1191 See http://xkcd.com/378/
1193 ** bug-reference.el provides clickable links to bug reports.
1195 ** dbus.el provides D-Bus language bindings.
1196 D-Bus is an inter-process communication mechanism for applications
1197 residing on the same host. See the manual for details.
1199 ** DocView mode allows viewing of PDF, PostScript and DVI documents.
1200 One can also search for a regular expression in the document. For
1201 details, see the commentary in doc-view.el.
1203 PDF and DVI files are now opened in Doc View mode by default.
1205 In Postcript mode, C-c C-c launches Doc View minor mode for viewing
1206 the postscript file.
1208 ** EasyPG provides an interface to the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG).
1209 It includes a GnuPG keyring browser, cryptographic operations on
1210 regions and files, and automatic encryption of *.gpg files. For
1211 details, see the EasyPG Assistant User's Manual.
1213 ** json.el is a library for parsing and generating JSON
1214 (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format.
1216 ** linum.el is a new minor mode to display line numbers for the
1219 ** mairix.el is an interface to mairix, a free tool for indexing and
1220 searching locally stored mail. It allows you to query mairix and
1221 display the search results with Rmail, Gnus and VM. Note that there
1222 is an existing Gnus back end, nnmairix.el, which should be used with
1225 ** minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
1228 This is a new mode for editing XML documents. It allows a schema to
1229 be associated with the XML document being edited, using Relax NG as
1230 the schema language. The schema is used to provide two key features:
1232 *** Continuous validation. nXML validates as you type, highlighting
1233 any invalid parts of your document.
1235 *** Completion. nXML can assist you in entering an element name,
1236 attribute name or data value by using information about what is
1237 allowed by the schema in that context.
1239 ** proced.el provides a Dired-like interface for operating on
1240 processes. Proced makes an Emacs buffer containing a listing of the
1241 current processes. You can use the normal Emacs commands to move
1242 around in this buffer, and special Proced commands to operate on the
1243 processes listed. It is currently only functional on GNU/Linux,
1244 MS-Windows and Solaris.
1246 ** Remember Mode is a mode for jotting down things to remember.
1247 Notes can be saved to a Diary file. For details, see the Remember
1250 ** RST mode is a major mode for editing reStructuredText files.
1252 ** Ruby mode is a major mode for Ruby files.
1254 ** Visual Line mode provides support for editing by visual lines.
1255 It turns on word-wrapping in the current buffer, and rebinds C-a, C-e,
1256 and C-k to commands that operate by visual lines instead of logical
1257 lines. This is a more reliable replacement for longlines-mode.
1258 This can also be turned on using the menu bar, via
1259 Options -> Line Wrapping in this Buffer -> Word Wrap
1261 ** xesam.el is an implementation of Xesam, an interface to (desktop)
1262 search engines like Beagle, Strigi, and Tracker. The Xesam API
1263 requires D-Bus for communication.
1265 ** zeroconf.el offers service discovery and service publishing
1266 interfaces according to the zeroconf specification. It communicates
1267 with Avahi, a zeroconf implementation, via D-Bus messages on systems
1268 which have installed this software.
1270 ** There is a new `whitespace' package.
1271 (The pre-existing one has been renamed to `old-whitespace'.)
1272 Now, besides reporting bogus blanks, the whitespace package has a
1273 minor mode and a global minor mode to visualize blanks (TAB, (HARD)
1274 SPACE and NEWLINE). The visualization is made via faces and/or display
1275 table. It can also indicate lines that extend beyond a given column,
1276 trailing blanks, and empty lines at the start or end of a buffer.
1277 See `whitespace-style' for more details. The `whitespace-action' option
1278 specifies what to do when a buffer is visited, killed, or written.
1281 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
1283 ** Abbrev has been rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
1285 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
1286 abbrev-table-p, abbrev-insert, abbrev-table-menu.
1288 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
1290 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
1291 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
1293 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
1295 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
1297 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
1298 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
1300 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
1301 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
1302 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
1306 *** `apropos-library' describes the elements defined in a given library.
1308 *** Set `apropos-compact-layout' is you want a more compact (but wider) layout.
1310 ** Archive Mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
1311 Note, however, that the free version of the unrar command only handles
1312 versions 1 and 2 of the Rar format.
1316 *** New command `bibtex-initialize' (re)initializes BibTeX buffers.
1318 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
1319 `string', disabled by default.
1321 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
1322 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
1324 *** Command `bibtex-url' allows multiple URLs per entry.
1328 *** bookmark.el saves bookmarks in a pre-Emacs-23-incompatible file format
1329 bookmark.el can read a .emacs.bmk file saved by an older Emacs, but an
1330 older Emacs cannot read one saved by Emacs 23.
1332 ** Calendar and diary
1334 *** There is a new date style, `iso', essentially year/month/day.
1335 The variable `european-calendar-style' is obsolete - use `calendar-date-style'.
1336 Similarly, the commands `american-calendar' and `european-calendar'
1337 should be replaced by `calendar-set-date-style'.
1339 *** The calendar namespace has been rationalized.
1340 All functions and variables now begin with a `calendar-', `diary-', or
1341 `holiday-' prefix. The various calendar systems have secondary
1342 prefixes, eg `calendar-french-'. The old names you are likely to use
1343 directly still exist, for the time being, as aliases, but please start
1344 using the new names.
1346 *** The whitespace in the calendar layout can be customized.
1348 calendar-left-margin, calendar-intermonth-spacing, calendar-column-width,
1349 calendar-day-header-width, and calendar-day-digit-width.
1351 *** Text (e.g. ISO weeks) can be displayed between the calendar months.
1352 See the variables calendar-intermonth-header and calendar-intermonth-text.
1354 *** The function `holiday-chinese' computes holidays on the Chinese calendar.
1355 It has been used to add items to the list `holiday-oriental-holidays'.
1357 *** `diary-remind' accepts a negative number -DAYS as a shorthand for
1358 the list (1 2 ... DAYS).
1362 *** The new command C-c C-f (change-log-find-file) finds the file
1363 associated with the current log entry.
1365 *** The new command C-c C-c (change-log-goto-source) goes to the
1366 source code associated with a log entry.
1368 ** Compile and grep modes
1370 *** The mode-line entry for the *compilation* and *grep* buffer is color coded.
1371 It has different colors for to show that: (a) the command is still
1372 running, (b) successful completion, (c) error.
1374 *** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
1375 the first error encountered during compilations.
1377 *** compilation-scroll-output accepts a new value, `first-error', which
1378 says to stop auto scrolling at the first error that occurs.
1380 *** The `cc' alias for C++ files in `grep-file-aliases' has been
1381 improved. `hh' can be used to match C++ header files and `cchh' both
1382 C++ sources and headers.
1386 *** You can specify your copyright holders' names.
1387 Only copyright lines with holders matching `copyright-names-regexp' are
1388 considered for update.
1390 *** Copyrights can be at the end of the buffer.
1391 This is controlled by `copyright-at-end-flag' (used by, e.g., change-log-mode).
1395 *** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
1396 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
1400 *** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
1401 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see
1402 diff-auto-refine-mode. It is bound to `C-c C-b'.
1404 *** diff-add-change-log-entries-other-window iterates through the diff
1405 buffer and tries to create ChangeLog entries for each change.
1406 It is bound to `C-x 4 A'.
1408 *** Turning on `whitespace-mode' in a diff buffer will show trailing
1409 whitespace problems in the modified lines.
1413 *** In Dired, C-x C-q now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
1414 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
1417 *** `&' runs the command `dired-do-async-shell-command' that executes
1418 the command asynchronously without the need to manually add ampersand
1419 to the end of the command. Its output appears in the buffer `*Async Shell
1422 *** `M-s f C-s' and `M-s f M-C-s' run Isearch that matches only at file names.
1423 When a new user option `dired-isearch-filenames' is t, then even ordinary
1424 Isearch started with `C-s' and `C-M-s' matches only at file names in the
1425 Dired buffer. When `dired-isearch-filenames' is `dwim' then activation of
1426 file name Isearch depends on the position of point - if point is on a file
1427 name initially, then Isearch matches only file names, otherwise it matches
1428 everywhere in the Dired buffer. You can toggle file names matching on or
1429 off by typing `M-s f' in Isearch mode.
1431 *** `M-s a C-s' and `M-s a M-C-s' run multi-file Isearch on the marked files.
1432 They visit the first marked file in the sequence and display the usual Isearch
1433 prompt for a string or a regexp where all Isearch commands are available.
1435 *** `Q' in Dired provides two new keys for multi-file replacement.
1436 The upper case key `Y' replaces all remaining matches in all remaining files
1437 with no more questions. The upper case key `N' stops doing replacements
1438 in the current file and skips to the next file. These multi-file keys
1439 are available for all commands that use `tags-query-replace'
1440 including `dired-do-query-replace-regexp', `vc-dir-query-replace-regexp',
1441 `reftex-query-replace-document'.
1445 *** The line length of fixed-form Fortran is not fixed at 72 any more.
1446 Customize the variable `fortran-line-length' to change it.
1448 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
1449 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
1451 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
1455 *** The Gnus package has been updated
1456 There are many new features, bug fixes and improvements; see the file
1457 GNUS-NEWS or the node "No Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
1459 *** In Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs' new internal coding system `utf-8-emacs' for
1460 saving articles, drafts, and ~/.newsrc.eld. These file may not be read
1461 correctly in Emacs 22 and below. If you want to Gnus across different Emacs
1462 versions, you may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.
1464 *** Passwords are consistently loaded through `auth-source'
1465 Gnus can use `auth-source' for POP and IMAP passwords. Also see that
1466 `smtpmail' and `url' support `auth-source' for SMTP and HTTP/HTTPS/RSS
1467 authentication respectively.
1471 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
1472 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
1474 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
1475 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
1477 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits one to specify a new
1478 position for point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
1482 *** New command `isearch-forward-word' bound globally to `M-s w' starts
1483 incremental word search. New command `isearch-toggle-word' bound to the
1484 same key `M-s w' in Isearch mode toggles word searching on or off
1485 while Isearch is active.
1487 *** New command `isearch-highlight-regexp' bound to `M-s h r' in Isearch
1488 mode runs `highlight-regexp' (`hi-lock-face-buffer') with the current
1489 search string as its regexp argument. The same key `M-s h r' and
1490 other keys on the `M-s h' prefix are bound globally to the command
1491 `highlight-regexp' and other hi-lock commands.
1493 *** New command `isearch-occur' bound to `M-s o' in Isearch mode
1494 runs `occur' with the current search string. The same key `M-s o'
1495 is bound globally to the command `occur'.
1497 *** Isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
1498 When running Isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
1499 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
1500 if there is one (e.g. going from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
1501 This is enabled if multi-isearch-search is non-nil.
1503 *** Two new commands to start Isearch on a list of marked buffers
1504 for buff-menu.el and ibuffer.el are bound to the keys `M-s a C-s' and
1507 *** The part of an Isearch that failed to match is highlighted in
1508 `isearch-fail' face.
1510 *** `C-h C-h' in Isearch mode displays isearch-specific Help screen,
1511 `C-h b' displays all Isearch key bindings, `C-h k' displays the full
1512 documentation of the given Isearch key sequence, `C-h m' displays
1513 documentation for Isearch mode. All the other Help commands exit
1514 Isearch mode and execute their global definitions.
1516 *** When started in the minibuffer, Isearch searches in the minibuffer
1517 history. See `Minibuffer changes', above.
1521 *** Upgraded to MH-E version 8.2. See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1524 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
1525 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
1527 *** Python mode now has `pdbtrack' functionality. When using pdb to
1528 debug a Python program, pdbtrack notices the pdb prompt and displays
1529 the source file and line that the program is stopped at, much the same
1530 way as gud-mode does for debugging C programs with gdb.
1534 *** The default value of `recentf-keep' prevents from checking of
1535 remote files, if there is no established connection to the
1536 corresponding remote host.
1540 *** Rmail no longer converts the messages to Babyl format.
1541 Instead, it uses UNIX mbox format, both on disk and in Rmail buffers,
1542 and does conversion and decoding when a message is displayed.
1544 The first time you visit an Rmail file in Babyl format, Rmail
1545 automatically converts it to mbox format. This is a one-time
1546 conversion, but it can take a few minutes, depending on how fast is
1547 your machine and on the size of the file. You should find the rest of
1548 Rmail usage unaltered.
1550 However, M-x set-rmail-inbox-list now lasts only for one session
1551 because there is no way to save the list of inbox files in an
1554 Also, whereas with Babyl format M-x find-file would switch to Rmail
1555 mode, with mbox format this is no longer the case (there being no way
1556 to add an "-*- rmail-*-" cookie to an mbox file). Use C-u M-x rmail
1559 If you have written any extensions to Rmail, they are likely to need
1560 updating. Conceptually, the Rmail buffer that you see is no longer
1561 just a narrowed portion of the whole. So you cannot access the whole
1562 of a message (or message collection) by a simple save-restriction and
1563 widen. Instead, there are two buffers: the rmail-buffer, and the
1564 rmail-view-buffer. The former is the buffer that you see, the latter
1565 is invisible. Most of the time, the invisible `view' buffer contains
1566 the full contents of the Rmail file, and the Rmail buffer contains a
1567 decoded copy of the current message (with only a subset of the
1568 headers). In this state, Rmail is said to be `swapped'.
1570 You may find the following functions useful:
1572 `rmail-get-header' and `rmail-set-header' get or set the value of a
1573 message header, whether or not it is currently visible.
1575 `rmail-apply-in-message' is a general purpose function that calls a
1576 function (with arguments) which you specify on the full text of a given
1577 message. To further narrow to just the headers, search forward for "\n\n".
1579 *** The new command `rmail-mime' displays MIME messages.
1580 It is bound to `v' in Rmail buffers and summaries. It displays plain
1581 text and multipart messages in a temporary buffer, and offers buttons
1582 to save attachments.
1584 *** The command `rmail-redecode-body' no longer accepts the optional arg RAW.
1585 Since Rmail now holds messages in their original undecoded form in a
1586 separate buffer, `rmail-redecode-body' no longer encodes the original
1587 message, and therefore there should be no need to avoid encoding it.
1589 *** The o command is now `rmail-output'. It is an all-purpose command
1590 for copying messages from Rmail and appending them to files. It
1591 handles Babyl-format files as well as mbox-format files, and it
1592 handles both kinds properly when they are visited in Emacs. It always
1593 copies the full headers of the message.
1595 *** The C-o command is now `rmail-output-as-seen'. It uses
1596 the message as displayed, appending it to an mbox file.
1598 *** The modified status of the Rmail buffer is reported in the mode-line.
1599 Previously, this information was hidden.
1603 *** New option latex-indent-within-escaped-parens
1604 permits to customize indentation of LaTeX environments delimited
1609 *** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode is enabled,
1610 Emacs uses a Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server,
1611 rather than faking events using the client program mev. This C level
1612 approach provides mouse highlighting and help echoing in the
1617 *** New connection methods.
1618 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
1619 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
1620 "tunnel" and "socks".
1623 IPv6 addresses are supported now as host names. They must be embedded
1624 in square brackets, like in "/ssh:[::1]:".
1626 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
1627 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead, multi hops
1628 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
1630 *** More default settings.
1631 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
1632 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
1634 *** Connection information is cached.
1635 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
1636 connections is kept persistently in a file. The name of this file is
1637 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
1639 *** Control of remote processes.
1640 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
1641 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
1643 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
1644 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
1645 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
1647 *** Passwords can be read from an authentification file.
1648 Tramp uses the package `auth-source' to read passwords from a file, if
1651 ** VC and related modes
1653 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
1654 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
1655 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, Git
1656 and Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems as
1659 *** vc-dir is a new command that displays file names and their VC
1660 status. It allows to apply various VC operations to a file, a
1661 directory or a set of files/directories.
1663 *** VC switches are no longer appended, rather the first non-nil value is used.
1664 (This was for the most part true in Emacs 22, but was not advertised).
1665 This is because there is an increasing variety of VC systems, and they
1666 do not all accept the same "common" options. For example, a CVS diff
1667 command used to append the values of `vc-cvs-diff-switches',
1668 `vc-diff-switches', and `diff-switches'. Now the first non-nil value
1669 from that sequence is used. The special value `t' means "no switches".
1671 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
1673 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
1675 *** In VC Annotate mode, the key bindings have changed to use lower
1676 case keys instead of the upper case keys used in the past.
1678 *** In VC Annotate mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1679 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1680 by typing the D key. Using the "Show changeset diff of revision at
1681 line" menu entry does the same thing.
1683 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type v to toggle the annotation visibility.
1685 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type f to show the file revision on
1688 *** Asynchronous VC commands display [Waiting...] in the mode-line
1689 of the corresponding buffer as long as the asynchronous process is
1692 *** Log entries can be modified using the key "e" in log-view.
1693 For now only CVS, RCS, SCCS and SVN support this functionality.
1694 This is done by the `modify-change-comment' backend function.
1696 *** In log-view-mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1697 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1698 by typing the D key or using the "Changeset Diff" menu entry.
1700 *** In Log Edit mode, C-c C-d now shows the diff for the files involved.
1702 *** vc-git supports the "git grep" command.
1704 *** VC Support for Meta-CVS has been removed for lack of a maintainer able
1705 to update it to the new VC.
1709 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
1710 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
1711 on the corresponding remote system.
1713 *** Eldoc highlights the function argument under point
1714 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
1716 *** In Etags, the --members option is now the default.
1717 Use --no-members if you want the old default behavior of not tagging
1718 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
1720 *** The `gdb' command only works with the graphical interface now.
1721 Use `gud-gdb' if you want the (old) text command mode.
1723 *** goto-address.el provides two new minor modes, goto-address-mode and
1724 goto-address-prog-mode, which buttonize URLS and email addresses.
1726 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
1728 *** The new variable `ffap-rfc-directories' specifies a list of local
1729 directories in which `ffap-rfc' will first search for RFCs.
1731 *** hide-ifdef-mode allows shadowing ifdef-blocks instead of hiding them.
1732 See option `hide-ifdef-shadow' and function `hide-ifdef-toggle-shadowing'.
1734 *** `icomplete-prospects-height' now supercedes `icomplete-prospects-length'.
1736 *** Info displays breadcrumbs in the header of the page.
1737 See Info-breadcrumbs-depth to control it.
1739 *** net-utils has an `iwconfig' command, similar to the existing `ifconfig'.
1740 It is used to configure wireless interfaces.
1742 *** The pcmpl-unix package supports hostname completion for ssh and scp.
1744 *** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
1746 *** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
1747 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see
1748 smerge-auto-refine-mode.
1750 *** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
1752 *** A new command `display-time-world' has been added to the Time
1753 package. It creates a buffer with an updating time display using
1756 *** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
1757 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
1758 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
1759 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
1761 *** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
1762 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
1764 *** WoMan tries to add locale-specific manual page directories to the
1765 search path. This can be disabled by setting `woman-locale' to nil.
1768 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
1770 ** Case is now considered significant in completion on MS-Windows.
1771 The default value of `completion-ignore-case' is now nil on
1772 MS-Windows, the same as it is for other operating systems. The
1773 variable doesn't apply to reading a file name -- in that case Emacs
1774 heeds `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' instead.
1776 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
1777 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
1778 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. In Emacs 22, IPv6 was
1779 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
1780 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
1782 ** Busy cursor (hourglass) now displays on MS-Windows.
1783 When Emacs is busy, an hourglass mouse cursor is displayed on Windows.
1784 In Emacs 22 only X supported the busy cursor.
1786 ** Battery status is available on MS-Windows
1787 Emacs can now display the battery status in the mode-line when enabled with
1788 display-battery-mode or from the Options menu. More verbose battery
1789 information is also available with the command `battery'. In Emacs 22
1790 battery status was supported only on GNU/Linux and Mac.
1792 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
1793 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
1794 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
1795 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
1796 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
1798 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
1799 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
1800 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
1801 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
1802 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
1803 for the list of extra keys that are available.
1805 ** BDF fonts no longer supported on MS-Windows.
1806 The font backend was completely rewritten for this release. The focus
1807 on Windows has been getting acceptable performance and full unicode
1808 support, including complex script shaping for native Windows fonts. A
1809 rewrite of the BDF font support has not happened due to lack of time
1810 and developers. If demand still exists for such a backend even with
1811 the improved language support for native Windows fonts, future
1812 development in this direction will most likely be based on the
1813 freetype library, giving access to a wider range of font formats.
1816 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1818 ** Variables cannot be both buffer-local and frame-local any more.
1820 ** `functionp' returns nil for special forms.
1821 I.e., it only returns t for objects that can be passed to `funcall'.
1823 ** The behavior of map-char-table has changed. It may call the
1824 specified function with a cons (FROM . TO) as a key if characters in
1825 that range have the same value.
1829 *** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
1831 *** The multibyteness of process filters is now determined by the
1832 coding-system used for decoding. The functions
1833 `process-filter-multibyte-p' and `set-process-filter-multibyte' are
1836 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
1837 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
1838 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
1839 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
1840 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
1841 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
1842 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
1844 ** `mode-name' is no longer guaranteed to be a string.
1845 Use `(format-mode-line mode-name)' to ensure a string value.
1847 ** The function x-font-family-list has been removed.
1848 Use the new function font-family-list (see Lisp Changes, below).
1850 ** Internationalization changes
1852 *** The value of the function `charset-id' is now always 0.
1854 *** The functions `register-char-codings' and `coding-system-spec'
1857 *** The cpXXX coding systems are now supported automatically.
1858 The functions cp-...-codepage, which you had to use in Emacs 22 to
1859 enable support for these coding systems, have been deleted.
1861 *** The following features have been removed. They were used for
1862 displaying various scripts with specific fonts, and are no longer
1863 needed now that OpenType font support is available:
1865 **** `devanagari' and `devan-util', and all associated devanagari-* and
1866 dev-* functions and variables (formerly used for Devanagari script).
1868 **** `kannada' and `knd-util', and all associated kannada-* and knd-*
1869 functions and variables (formerly used for Kannada script).
1871 **** `malayalam' and `mlm-util', and all associated malayalam-* and
1872 mlm-* functions and variables (formerly used for Malayalam script).
1874 **** `tamil' and `tml-util, and all associated tamil-* and tml-*
1875 functions and variables (formerly used for Tamil script).
1877 *** The meaning of NAME argument of `set-fontset-font' is changed.
1878 Previously nil is accepted as the default fontset. Now, nil is for
1879 the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the default fontset.
1881 *** The meaning of FONTSET argument of `print-fontset' is changed.
1882 Now, nil is for the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the
1885 ** If a function in write-region-annotate-functions returns with a
1886 different buffer current, Emacs no longer kills that buffer
1887 automatically. This behavior existed in previous versions of Emacs,
1888 but was undocumented. To kill a buffer after write-region, give the
1889 variable `write-region-post-annotation-function' a buffer-local value
1892 ** The variable temp-file-name-pattern has been removed.
1893 This variable was only used by call-process-region, which now uses
1894 temporary-file-directory instead.
1896 ** The COUNT and SYSTEM-FLAG arguments to define-abbrev have been
1897 removed. The function now takes extra arguments for specifying
1898 arbitrary abbrev properties.
1900 ** end-of-defun-function is now guaranteed to work only when called
1901 from the start of a defun. It must now leave point exactly at the end
1902 of defun, since `end-of-defun' now itself moves forward over
1903 whitespace after calling it.
1906 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1908 ** The new variable `generate-autoload-cookie' controls the magic comment
1909 string used by `update-file-autoloads' to find autoloaded forms. The
1910 variable `generated-autoload-file' similarly controls the name of the
1911 file where `update-file-autoloads' writes the calls to `autoload'.
1912 The default values are ";;;###autoload" and `loaddefs.el',
1915 ** New primitives `list-system-processes' and `process-attributes'
1916 let Lisp programs access the processes that are running on the local
1917 machine. See the doc strings of these functions for more details.
1918 Not all platforms support accessing this information; on those that
1919 don't, these primitives will return nil.
1921 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
1922 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
1924 ** If a local hook function has a non-nil `permanent-local-hook'
1925 property, `kill-all-local-variables' does not remove it from the local
1926 value of the hook variable; it remains even if you change major modes.
1928 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
1931 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
1932 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
1933 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
1934 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
1936 ** `ignore-errors' is now a standard macro (does not require the CL package).
1938 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
1939 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
1940 strings on the kill ring.
1942 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
1943 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
1948 ((debug error) nil))
1950 ** clone-indirect-buffer now runs the clone-indirect-buffer-hook.
1952 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count given to
1953 `beginning-of-defun'. (N.B. `end-of-defun-function' doesn't take any
1956 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
1957 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
1958 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
1959 remote connection has been established already.
1961 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
1962 undefined functions.
1964 ** Changes to interactive function handling
1966 *** The new interactive spec code ^ says to first call
1967 handle-shift-selection if shift-select-mode is non-nil, before reading
1968 the command arguments. This is used for shift-selection (see above).
1970 *** Built-in functions can now have an interactive specification that
1971 is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
1972 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
1974 *** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
1975 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex
1976 interactive forms to subroutines.
1980 *** Commands should use `use-region-p' to test whether there is
1981 an active region that they should operate on.
1983 *** `region-active-p' returns non-nil when Transient Mark mode is
1984 enabled and the mark is active. Most commands that act specially on
1985 the active region in Transient Mark mode should use `use-region-p'
1986 instead of `region-active-p', because `use-region-p' obeys the new
1987 user option `use-empty-active-region' (see Editing Changes, above).
1989 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to (only . OLDVAL), that
1990 means to activate transient-mark-mode temporarily, until the next
1991 unshifted point motion command or mark deactivation. Afterwards,
1992 reset transient-mark-mode to the value OLDVAL. The values `only' and
1993 `identity', introduced in Emacs 22, are now deprecated.
1995 ** Emacs session information
1997 *** The new variables `before-init-time' and `after-init-time' record the
1998 value of `current-time' before and after Emacs loads the init files.
2000 *** The new function `emacs-uptime' returns the uptime of an Emacs instance.
2002 *** The new function `emacs-init-time' returns the duration of the
2003 Emacs initialization.
2005 ** Changes affecting display-buffer
2007 *** display-buffer tries to be smarter when splitting windows.
2008 The new option split-window-preferred-function lets you specify your own
2009 function to pop up new windows. Its default value split-window-sensibly
2010 can split a window either vertically or horizontally, whichever seems
2011 more suitable in the current configuration. You can tune the behavior
2012 of split-window-sensibly by customizing split-height-threshold and the
2013 new option split-width-threshold. Both options now take the value nil
2014 to inhibit splitting in one direction. Setting split-width-threshold to
2015 nil inhibits horizontal splitting and gets you the behavior of Emacs 22
2016 in this respect. In any case, display-buffer may now split the largest
2017 window vertically even when it is not as wide as the containing frame.
2019 *** If pop-up-frames has the value `graphic-only', display-buffer only
2020 makes a separate frame on graphic displays.
2022 *** select-frame and set-frame-selected-window have a new optional
2023 argument NORECORD. If non-nil, this will avoid messing with the order
2024 of recently selected windows and the buffer list.
2026 ** Window parameters can now be defined.
2027 These are analogous to frame parameters, but are associated with
2030 *** The new functions window-parameters, window-parameter, and
2031 set-window-parameter are used to query and set window parameters.
2033 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
2035 *** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
2036 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
2037 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
2038 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
2039 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
2041 *** New function `read-regexp' uses the regexp history and some useful
2042 regexp defaults (string at point, last Isearch/replacement regexp/string)
2043 via M-n when reading a regexp in the minibuffer.
2045 *** minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map is now named
2046 minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map.
2048 *** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts the new
2049 values `confirm-only' and `confirm-after-completion'.
2051 ** Search and replacement changes
2053 *** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
2055 *** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
2056 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
2058 *** The new variable `replace-search-function' determines the function
2059 to use for searching in query-replace and replace-string. The
2060 function it specifies is called by `perform-replace' when its 4th
2063 *** The new variable `replace-re-search-function' determines the
2064 function to use for searching in `query-replace-regexp',
2065 `replace-regexp', `query-replace-regexp-eval', and
2066 `map-query-replace-regexp'. The function it specifies is called by
2067 `perform-replace' when its 4th argument is non-nil.
2069 *** New keymap `search-map' bound to `M-s' provides global bindings
2070 for search related commands.
2072 *** New keymap `multi-query-replace-map' contains additonal keys bound
2073 to `automatic-all' and `exit-current' for multi-buffer interactive replacement.
2075 *** The variable `inhibit-changing-match-data', if non-nil, prevents
2076 the search and match primitives from changing the match data.
2078 *** New functions `word-search-forward-lax' and `word-search-backward-lax'.
2079 These are like `word-search-forward and `word-search-backward', except
2080 that the end of the search string need not match a word boundary,
2081 unless it ends in whitespace.
2083 ** File handling changes
2085 *** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
2086 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
2088 *** file-local-variables-alist stores an alist of file-local
2089 variables defined in the current buffer.
2093 *** Each face can be remapped to a different face definition using the
2094 variable `face-remapping-alist'. This is an alist that maps faces to
2095 replacement definitions (which can be face names, lists of face names,
2096 or attribute/value plists. If this variable is buffer-local, the
2097 remapping occurs only in that buffer.
2099 *** text-scale-mode remaps the default face to a larger or smaller
2100 size in the current buffer. This feature is used by the Buffer Face
2101 menu and the new `C-x C-+', `C-x C--', and `C-x C-0' commands (see
2102 Editing Changes, above).
2106 **** `face-remap-add-relative' adds a face remapping entry to the
2109 **** ``face-remap-remove-relative' removes a face remapping entry from
2112 **** `face-remap-reset-base' restores a face to its global definition.
2114 **** `face-remap-set-base' sets the base remapping of a face.
2118 *** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
2119 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
2120 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
2121 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
2122 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
2124 *** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
2125 returns its output as a list of lines.
2127 ** Character code, representation, and charset changes.
2129 *** In multibyte buffers and strings, characters are represented by
2130 UTF-8 byte sequences. The character code space is now 0x0..0x3FFFFF
2131 with no gap; code points 0x0..0x10FFFF are Unicode characters of the
2132 same code points, while code points 0x3FFF80..0x3FFFFF are raw 8-bit
2135 *** Generic characters no longer exist.
2137 *** The concept of a charset has changed. A single character may
2138 belong to multiple charsets (e.g. a-grave, U+00E0, belongs to charsets
2139 unicode, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-3, etc).
2141 **** The dimension of a charset is now 1, 2, 3, or 4, and the size of
2142 each dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
2144 **** A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
2145 characters for display.
2147 *** The functions `split-char' and `make-char' now accept up to 4
2148 positional codes instead of just 2.
2150 *** The functions `encode-char' and `decode-char' now accept any character sets.
2152 *** The function `define-charset' now accepts a completely different
2153 form of arguments (old-style arguments still work).
2155 *** The value of the function `char-charset' depends on the current
2156 priorities of charsets.
2158 *** The function get-char-code-property now accepts many Unicode base
2159 character properties. They are `name', `general-category',
2160 `canonical-combining-class', `bidi-class', `decomposition',
2161 `decimal-digit-value', `digit-value', `numeric-value', `mirrored',
2162 `old-name', `iso-10646-comment', `uppercase', `lowercase', and
2165 *** The functions `modify-syntax-entry' and `modify-category-entry' now
2166 accept a cons of characters as the first argument, and modify all
2167 entries in that range of characters.
2169 *** Use of `translation-table-for-input' for character code unification
2170 is now obsolete, since Emacs 23.1 and later uses Unicode as basis for
2171 internal representation of characters.
2175 **** `characterp' returns t if and only if the argument is a character.
2176 This replaces `char-valid-p', which is now obsolete.
2178 **** `max-char' returns the maximum character code (currently #x3FFFFF).
2180 **** `define-charset-alias' defines an alias of a charset.
2182 **** `set-charset-priority' sets priorities of charsets.
2184 **** `charset-priority-list' returns a prioritized list of charsets.
2186 **** `unibyte-string' makes a unibyte string from bytes.
2188 **** `define-char-code-property' defines a character code property.
2190 **** `char-code-property-description' returns the description string of
2191 a character code property.
2195 **** `find-word-boundary-function-table' is a char-table of functions to
2196 search for a word boundary.
2198 **** `char-script-table' is a char-table of script names.
2200 **** `char-width-table' is a char-table of character widths.
2202 **** `print-charset-text-property' controls how to handle `charset' text
2203 property on printing a string.
2205 **** `printable-chars' is a char-table of printable characters.
2207 ** Code conversion changes
2209 *** The new function `define-coding-system' should be used to define a
2210 coding system instead of `make-coding-system' (which is now obsolete).
2212 *** The functions `encode-coding-region' and `decode-coding-region'
2213 have an optional 4th argument to specify where the result of
2214 conversion should go.
2216 *** The functions `encode-coding-string' and `decode-coding-string'
2217 have an optional 4th argument specifying a buffer to store the result
2220 *** The new variable `inhibit-null-byte-detection' controls whether to
2221 consider text with null bytes as binary data. By default, it is
2222 `nil', and Emacs uses `no-conversion' for any text containing null
2225 *** The functions `set-coding-priority' and `make-coding-system' are obsolete.
2229 **** `with-coding-priority' executes Lisp code using the specified
2230 coding system priority order.
2232 **** `check-coding-systems-region' checks if the text in the region is
2233 encodable by the specified coding systems.
2235 **** `coding-system-aliases' returns a list of aliases of a coding system.
2237 **** `coding-system-charset-list' returns a list of charsets supported
2240 **** `coding-system-priority-list' returns a list of coding systems
2241 ordered by their priorities.
2243 **** `set-coding-system-priority' sets priorities of coding systems.
2245 **** `coding-system-from-name' returns a coding system matching with
2248 ** There is a new input method, Robin, different from Quail.
2249 It has three functionalities:
2250 i) a simple input method (converts an ASCII sequence into a string).
2251 ii) converts an existing buffer substring into another string
2252 iii) reverse conversion (each character produced by a
2253 robin rule can hold the original ASCII sequence as a char-code-property)
2255 *** The new function `robin-define-package' defines a Robin package.
2257 *** The new function `robin-modify-package' modifies an existing Robin package.
2259 *** The new function `robin-use-package' starts using a Robin package
2262 *** The new function `string-to-unibyte' is like `string-as-unibyte'
2263 but signals an error if STRING contains a non-ASCII, non-eight-bit
2266 ** Changes related to the new font backend
2268 *** Which font backends to use can be specified by the X resource
2269 "FontBackend". For instance, to use both X core fonts and Xft fonts:
2271 Emacs.FontBackend: x,xft
2273 If this resource is not set, Emacs tries to use all font backends
2274 available on your graphic device.
2276 *** New frame parameter `font-backend' specifies a list of
2277 font-backends supported by the frame's graphic device. On X, they are
2278 currently `x' and `xft'.
2280 *** The function `set-fontset-font' now accepts a script name as the
2281 second argument, and has an optional 5th argument to control how to
2286 **** `fontp' checks if the argument is a font-spec or font-entity.
2288 **** `font-spec' creates a new font-spec object.
2290 **** `font-get' returns a font property value.
2292 **** `font-put' sets a font property value.
2294 **** `font-face-attributes' returns a plist of face attributes set by a font.
2296 **** `list-fonts' returns a list of font-entities matching a font spec.
2298 **** `find-font' returns the font-entity best matching the given font spec.
2300 **** `font-family-list' returns a list of family names of available fonts.
2302 **** `font-xlfd-name' returns an XLFD name of a given font spec, font
2303 entity, or font object.
2305 **** `clear-font-cache' clears all font caches.
2307 ** Changes related to multiple-terminal (multi-tty) support
2309 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
2310 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
2312 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
2314 *** The `window-system' variable is now frame-local. The new
2315 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
2316 for the first frame. `window-system' is also now a function that
2317 takes a frame argument.
2319 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
2320 keyboard coding systems are now terminal-local.
2322 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
2323 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
2325 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
2328 *** A new `terminal' data type.
2329 The functions `get-device-terminal', `terminal-parameters',
2330 `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter' use this data type.
2332 *** Function key sequences are now mapped using `local-function-key-map',
2333 a new variable. This inherits from the global variable function-key-map,
2334 which is not used directly any more.
2338 **** before-hack-local-variables-hook is called after setting new
2339 variable file-local-variables-alist, and before actually applying the
2340 file-local variables.
2342 **** `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions' are called
2343 after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed, respectively. The
2344 functions are called with the terminal id of the frame being
2345 suspended/resumed as a parameter.
2347 **** The special hook `delete-terminal-functions' is called before
2348 deleting a terminal.
2352 **** `delete-terminal'
2358 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
2360 ** Redisplay changes
2362 *** For underlined characters, the distance between the underline and
2363 the baseline is controlled by a new variable, `underline-minimum-offset'.
2365 *** You can now pass the value of the `invisible' property to
2366 invisible-p to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible.
2367 This is convenient when checking invisibility of text with no buffer
2368 position (e.g. in before/after-strings).
2370 *** `clear-image-cache' can be told to flush only images of a specific file.
2372 *** `vertical-motion' can now be given a goal column.
2373 It now accepts a cons cell (COLS . LINES) in its first argument, which
2374 says to stop, where possible, at a pixel x-position equal to COLS
2375 times the default column width.
2377 *** redisplay-end-trigger-functions, set-window-redisplay-end-trigger,
2378 and window-redisplay-end-trigger are obsolete. Use `jit-lock-register'
2381 *** The new variables `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' specify display
2382 specs which are appended at display-time to every continuation line
2383 and non-continuation line, respectively. In addition, Emacs
2384 recognizes the `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' text or overlay
2385 properties; these have the same effects as the variables of the same
2386 name, but take precedence.
2388 ** The Lisp interpreter now treats non-breaking space as whitespace.
2390 ** Miscellaneous new functions
2392 *** `apply-partially' performs a "curried" application of a function.
2394 *** `buffer-swap-text' swaps text between two buffers. This can be
2395 useful for modes such as tar-mode, archive-mode, RMAIL.
2397 *** `combine-and-quote-strings' produces a single string from a list of strings
2398 sticking a separator string in between each pair, and quoting those
2399 strings that include the separator as their substring. Useful for
2400 consing shell command lines from the individual arguments.
2402 *** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a
2403 certain variable as having been made within Custom.
2405 *** `face-all-attributes' returns an alist describing all the basic
2406 attributes of a given face.
2408 *** `format-seconds' converts a number of seconds into a readable
2409 string of days, hours, etc.
2411 *** `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated with a given image
2414 *** `locate-user-emacs-file' helps packages to select the appropriate
2415 place to save user-specific files. It defaults to `user-emacs-directory'
2416 unless the file already exists at $HOME.
2418 *** `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
2420 *** `read-shell-command' does what its name says, with completion. It
2421 uses the minibuffer-local-shell-command-map for that.
2423 *** `split-string-and-unquote' splits a string into a list of substrings
2424 on the boundaries of a given delimiter, and unquotes the substrings that
2425 are quoted. Useful for taking apart shell commands.
2427 *** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
2428 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
2431 *** The two new functions `make-serial-process' and
2432 `serial-process-configure' provide a Lisp interface to the new serial
2433 port support (see Emacs changes, above).
2435 ** Miscellaneous new variables
2437 *** `auto-save-include-big-deletions', if non-nil, means auto-save is
2438 not turned off automatically after a big deletion.
2440 *** `read-circle', if nil, disables the reading of recursive Lisp
2441 structures using the #N= and #N# syntax.
2443 *** `this-command-keys-shift-translated' is non-nil if the key
2444 sequence invoking the current command was found by shift-translation.
2446 *** `window-point-insertion-type' determines the insertion-type of the
2447 marker used for window-point.
2449 *** bookmark provides `bookmark-make-record-function' so special major
2450 modes like Info can teach bookmark.el how to save and restore the
2453 *** `fill-forward-paragraph-function' specifies which function the
2454 filling code should use to find paragraph boundaries.
2457 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
2459 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
2461 ** The new package check-declare.el verifies the accuracy of
2462 declare-function macros (see Lisp Changes, above).
2464 ** find-cmd.el can build `find' commands using lisp syntax.
2466 ** The package misearch.el has been added. It allows Isearch to search
2467 through multiple buffers. A variable `multi-isearch-next-buffer-function'
2468 defines the function to call to get the next buffer to search in the series
2469 of multiple buffers. Top-level functions `multi-isearch-buffers',
2470 `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp', `multi-isearch-files' and
2471 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' accept a single argument that specifies
2472 a list of buffers/files to search for a string/regexp.
2474 ** The new major mode `special-mode' is intended as a parent for
2475 major modes such as those that set the "'mode-class 'special" property.
2478 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2479 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2481 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2482 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2483 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2484 (at your option) any later version.
2486 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2487 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2488 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2489 GNU General Public License for more details.
2491 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2492 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2497 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
2500 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2