1 Release Notes for NEdit Version 5.5, October 2004
4 $Id: ReleaseNotes,v 1.31 2004/10/08 22:58:04 yooden Exp $
6 This file contains last minute notes to users about the release, which are not
7 included in the documentation or README files included with the distribution
8 kits. It also contains change information, for users who are interested in
9 what bugs have been fixed, and what features have been added in the current
12 If you are upgrading NEdit from a version prior to 5.0, please see the notes in
13 the README file which came with the (source or executable) distribution kit,
14 about updating macros and font settings in your .nedit file.
16 Bugs fixed in $NEXT_VERSION
18 - The text insertion cursor does no longer blink while typing
21 - The status bar reflects a changed keybinding in the shell command banner.
23 - There is now a pattern for highlighting nested command substitution in
24 shell scripts (SF patch #1010742).
29 - The most important new feature is the introduction of window tabs
30 (SF patches #569287 and #893177).
32 - More efficient string search operations for the macro language.
34 - Auto-scrolling is now (partly) configurable through the preference menu.
36 - Find and Clear buttons for i-search bar (SF patch #891884).
38 - Faster user-defined menu creation (SF patch #891126).
40 - Open documents on current desktop (SF patch #963120)
42 - Superuser receives a warning when trying to overwrite a read-only file.
44 - Simplified global font resources.
46 - Macro language: added new $args[] array and removed 9 arguments limit
49 - Improved Latex & Python syntax highlighting patterns
53 - If underscore (_) is among the word delimiters for a language mode then
54 word boundary regexes will work as expected. (SF bug #1008656)
56 - Problem with writing history file on VMS (SF bug #933146).
58 - Race condition fix for running NEdit in -sync mode (SF bug #978104).
60 - Removed obsolete special window title treatment on SGI (SF bug #779454).
62 - Forbid the deletion of the "Plain" Text Drawing Style (SF patch #970491).
64 - File descriptor handling fix that allows shell commands to be invoked
67 - Crash on Solaris when dragging a calltip (SF bug #925951).
69 - Preference resource name mistakes (SF bug #884862).
71 - Don't delete incremental backup files when incremental backups are off
74 - Allow zero-length ranges to be added to range sets (SF bug #871209).
76 - Improved shell syntax highlighting patterns (SF bug #770855).
78 - Regular expression crash fix (SF bug #987102).
82 - Using exit() in macro no longer causes hang (SF bug #999021).
84 - Updated rangeset documentation (SF bug #1005442).
86 - Minor changes to the regular expression word boundary semantics
89 - Tabs keep reasonable sizes when things get crowded (SF bug #1005064).
91 - Many unnecessary file status checks are avoided.
93 - Warn On Exit also affects closing of window with multiple tabs
96 - "File Modified Externally" dialogs are only allowed for top tabs.
98 - Broken virtual key bindings workaround was restored (problems with
99 page-up and page-down).
101 - Preference file number was bumped.
103 - Dialogs' OK button layout fixes.
105 - Fix for SF bug #999820: spaces in dialog button mnemonics.
107 - Fix for SF bug #996786: problems with overtype mode
111 - Less confusing menu wording (SF bug #1023089).
113 - Shell command output is now sent to a new window or a new tab,
114 depending on the tabbed editing preference settings.
116 - Detaching/Moving non-top tab should not change top tab (SF bug #1020035).
118 - Opening new window from a tabbed window no longer diminishes size
123 - Calltips (SF patch #495286)
125 - Rangesets (SF patch #529298, #628933)
127 - Backlighting (SF patch #529298)
129 - Highlighting information macros (SF patch #529298)
131 - Full mouse wheel support for XFree86 (SF patch #715941)
133 - Look-behind matching for regular expressions (SF patch #530308)
135 - Regular expression and syntax highlighting speed-ups
137 - Flexible resource file location (SF patch #484674)
138 See the section "Upgrading from 5.3 to 5.4" of the README file for
141 - Color dialog (SF patch #595330)
143 - Option to auto-hide mouse pointer while typing
145 - Option to keep cursor away from top and bottom of the screen
147 - Check for real changes of externally modified files (SF patch #602426)
149 - Synchronized interaction between nc and nedit (SF patch #403647)
151 - Several smaller improvements on usability and speed
153 - Several smaller improvements to the macro language (SF patch #552760, ...)
157 - Unconvential word boundary semantics for regular expressions have
158 been corrected (including affected syntax highlighting patterns).
159 See the section "Upgrading from 5.3 to 5.4" of the README file for
160 important information.
162 - Config files didn't accept non-Unix file format (SF bug #411092)
164 - Removed regex search bugs (SF bug #429110, #515120)
166 - Smart-indent macros were unaffected by language mode renames (SF bug #439867)
168 - All dialogs have titles now (SF bug #480960)
170 - Giving long filenames at startup caused buffer overflows (SF bug #488412)
172 - Made sure that dialogs don't get wider than screen
173 (SF bug #488593, #489614, #713999)
175 - Workaround for Motif drag icon bug (SF bug #526981: Crash using btn2 on
176 help window buttons and SF bug #582469: 5.3 crash when selecting stats
179 - Dragging a rectangular selection could delete characters (SF bug #557225)
181 - Show Matching Range bug (SF bug #559902)
183 - Keyboard-based rectangular selections were forgotten if the selection ever
186 - Workaround for KDE's FONTLIST bug (SF bug #561659)
188 - Paths were still shown in current's window Windows menu after global option
189 was changed (SF bug #564782)
191 - Scrolling to searched or undone/redone section stopped short (SF bug #578551)
193 - Removed flicker in stats line due to bug prevention (SF bug #594838)
195 - Crash while dismissing a resized help window (SF bug #600175)
197 - Macro functions were evaluated in a wrong order (SF bug #602336, #628552)
199 - Syntax highlighting failures in LaTeX (SF bug #607072)
201 - Crash with wrong values for -tabs option (SF bug #608693)
203 - Macro shortcuts were sensitive to Lock and NumLock (SF bug #612558)
205 - Appending the terminating line break was not reflected in the buffer
208 - A new nc(1) hanged after a server was killed or crashed (SF bug #619231)
210 - Adds (short) list of deprecated macro functions (SF bug #619236)
212 - Removed hazardous command shortcut (SF bug #649442)
214 - Workaround for OpenMotif radio button bug (SF bug #678198: bug in
215 Replace in multiple files).
217 - Typo in SCO makefile (SF bug #689808)
219 - Syntax highlighting routines assumed ASCII encoding (SF bug #700823)
221 - Crash when starting up in a UTF-8 locale (SF bug #703246, 621972)
223 - Crash while manipulating highlighting pattern (SF bug #705495)
225 - Removed flicker in stats line during macro execution (SF bug #713780)
227 - Close pane resize bug (SF bug #715767)
229 - Macro function goto_line_number() only accepted one argument (SF bug #726325)
231 - Newline macro inserting a string caused a crash when triggered
234 - Help text foreground was hard-coded to black (SF bug #723096)
236 - System default colors from CDE Style Manager were ignored (SF bug #544053)
240 - Panes didn't inherit the right colors (SF bug #780267)
242 - Fixed Rangeset API usability issues and bugs.
244 - Plain KP Enter now inserts a newline, not <CR> (SF bug #779439).
246 - Enabled Motif version checking for xBSD.
248 - SGI: compilation problem (SF bug #780841)
250 - File modification issues (SF bug #782513, SF bug #784442)
252 - Documentation updates.
254 - Color dialog button resize problem.
256 - undoModifiesSelection is no longer saved in .nedit/nedit.rc
258 - Workaround for Lesstif's 'frozen windows' bug.
260 - Fixed calltip parsing problem (SF bug #779681)
262 - Macro language HL pattern updates.
264 - nc -do ... no longer creates unwanted windows (SF bug #785738).
266 - Improved color resource migration.
268 - File accessibility is now determined with access() (SF bug #782518)
272 - Nc crash fix on VMS.
274 - Fixes in highlighting information inspection macros.
276 - Nc -lm command line option fix.
280 This is mainly a bug fix release. The list of new features is therefore
283 - The built-in Help system was revamped. Most notably, a hyperlink
284 mechanism was added for following cross-references.
286 - Enhanced Exuberant ctags support (SF #491109).
288 - Line numbers are available in shell commands (SF #434451).
290 - Goto Line also accepts column numbers (SF #403435).
292 - Automatic line-feed termination when saving is now optional (SF #503073).
294 - A customizable window title (SF #477875/#519092).
296 - Optional syntax based parenthesis matching (iso. purely character based)
302 - Find Definition incorrectly reads the X selection when not needed
305 - Background popup menu could lock up X-server when used with any of
308 - Very wide windows when starting NEdit under fvwm (SF #496526).
310 - Workaround for illegal key bindings installed by other Motif applications,
311 causing PageUp/PageDown and arrow keys to stop responding in NEdit
312 (SF #493421/#525903). This is not an NEdit bug, it just looks like one.
314 - Fix for PageUp/PageDown keys not responding (SF #508961).
316 - Crash when running X on 2nd screen (SF #478234, #500353).
318 - Line number display updating in continous wrap mode (SF #516920).
320 - Performance problem with X Resources highlight patterns (SF #481290).
322 - Menu fonts showing up as blocks (SF #434383)
324 - Lockup's in syntax highlighting (especially Perl) (SF #512961).
326 - Crash when using characters with ASCII code >= 128 in syntax
327 highlighting patterns.
329 - Crash when modifying tab distance in continous wrap mode (SF #510631).
331 - Crash when running NEdit in low-depth color modes.
333 - Continous wrap mode + variable width font display bugs.
335 - Potential scroll bar corruption in continuous wrap mode (SF #510765).
337 - Workaround for selection copy/paste problems with recent versions
340 - Jump to tags only referenced by line number.
342 - Composed characters in learned sequence (SF #480966).
344 - Missing titles in some dialogs (SF #480960).
346 - Macro language: continue statement outside loop crash (SF #495293).
348 - Rectangular overstrike past fixes (SF #487945).
350 - Hard-coded statistics line font (SF #487153).
352 - Open filenames starting with a dash (SF #485610).
354 - Crash when closing window of non-existing file while error dialog is up.
356 - Bad CapsLock grab on certain keyboard configurations (SF #482504).
358 - Replacements in rectangular selections could sometimes fail.
360 - Various buffer overflow fixes.
362 - Multiple selection dialog does not pop up on first find (SF #473602).
364 - Tag not found (SF #466742).
366 - Files opened with -read command line option could not be unlocked.
370 - Added built-in patterns for CSS, XML, and regular expressions (Regex).
371 Many other pattern updates.
373 - Support for high- and true-color systems. NEdit now will automatically
374 select the best visual from your X server. This reduces the chance of
375 running out of colors.
377 - New features in the Find and Replace dialogs:
379 o Replacement across multiple windows in a session.
380 o Case sensitivity may be set independently of regular expressions.
381 o Add "Replace and Find" command, which saves keystrokes when doing
382 a large-scale find & replace.
384 - ClearCase version-extended pathnames.
386 - Many new macro subroutines and variables.
388 - Array support in macros.
390 - Range highlighting of matching delimiters.
392 - Undo and Redo highlights the text that has changed, when visible.
394 - Support for wheel mouse scrolling on servers that support it (XFree86).
396 - Improved accelerator key handling.
398 - Insert Control Code dialog accepts value in any valid C notation
400 - Optional beeping when search operations wrap.
402 - Additional default search styles.
404 - Optional displaying of path names in the window list menu.
409 - Fix a crash when entering an invalid line number in "Goto Line".
411 - Ignore the Caps-Lock key when invoking accelerators.
413 - Fix problems when running NEdit on 64-bit platforms like Alpha
415 - NEdit failed to open files if some directories above were not "readable"
417 - Fix potential crashes if some system calls fail
419 - When no colors are left, attempt to reuse the closest matching color. This
420 allows NEdit's syntax highlighting to better coexist with Netscape, which
421 unfortuntely takes all available colors.
423 - "Overtype" mode is now bound to the Insert key, to be consistent with
426 - Accelerators now available in confirmation dialogs, and may be invoked
429 - Don't even try to open a directory for editing
431 - Fix a couple of memory corruption problems
436 - Significant extensions to the regular expression syntax. See details
439 - Incremental search, and optional search bar.
441 - New ctags code with full support for Exuberant Ctags, better
442 handling of tag collisions, multiple tag file support, on-demand
443 loading of tag files, and automatic reload of modified tag files.
445 - Optional display of line numbers along the left side of the text.
447 - NEdit can now read and write MS DOS format files.
449 - New built-in syntax highlighting patterns for Lex, PostScript, SQL,
450 Many syntax highlighting pattern improvements.
452 - Improved international character set input
454 - New macro subroutines: list_dialog, getenv, set_language_mode.
456 - Optional warnings about external modifications to files
458 - Clearcase awareness
460 - Session manager restart capability
462 - Default language mode "*" for user-defined menu items, allows
463 per-language variations on a common base
465 - Allow additional modifiers like Sun diamond key in user defined
468 - Option to sort open previous menu.
470 - -geometry and -iconic command line arguments act per-window, and
471 can be specified via nc
473 - -geometry now specified in characters, rather than pixels
475 - -lm (language mode) command line option
477 - Save As dialog defaults to same file name
479 - Better default fonts for Linux systems
481 - .nedit file version mechanism to make future upgrades easier
486 - Crash on large amounts of data fed to shell command which does not
489 - Delayed secondary windows when executable statements specified in
490 users .neditmacro file
492 - Many corrections to online help
494 - Many highlight patterns corrections
496 - Using window close box in file open/save dialogs leaves nedit server
499 - escape in macro dialogs can cause macro hang
501 - Lesstif-specific fixes: attachment warnings in font selector,
502 Work around replace dialog focus bug.
504 - NEdit no longer maintains original protection settings on files. It
505 allows them to be changed externally.
508 Details of Regular Expression Changes in 5.1
512 o Fixed bug that caused character classes with a character range not to
513 work properly if one of the range characters was an escaped character.
515 Improvements In Existing Features
517 o Increased maximum number of capturing parentheses from 40 to 50.
519 o Removed optimization that uses `must match' strings (it didn't work and
520 caused more problems than it solved.)
522 o Improved error messages.
524 o Improved Start-Of-Line and End-Of-Line detection by the `^', `$', and the
525 new `\B' (see below) anchors. The Start-Of-Word and End-Of-Word anchors
526 `<' and `>' where not enhanced due to syntax color highlighting pattern
527 compatibility issues.
529 o Changed code to use "unsigned char" in most cases instead of "signed
530 char". Also, use of ANSI character functions (e.g. isdigit(), isspace())
531 were added wherever possible. These changes should improve support for
532 locales other than "C", for example character sets with accented
535 o Added character escapes for:
536 - \e ASCII escape character (for environments that use the EBCDIC
537 character set, set the EBCDIC_CHARSET compiler symbol to get the
538 EBCDIC equivalent escape character.)
544 o Removed the `\"' escape since `"' is not a meta character.
546 o In order to support numeric escapes, use of `\0' as a synonym for `&'
547 in replacement strings was removed. `\0' now signals the start of a
548 numeric (octal) escape sequence (see below.)
550 o Minor tweaks for improved performance.
554 o Octal and Hexadecimal Escapes
556 Octal and hexadecimal escapes begin with \0 and \x (or \X) respectively.
557 For example, \052 and \X2A both specify the `*' character. Escapes for
558 null (\00 or \x0) are not valid and will generate an error message.
560 o Shortcut Escapes for Common Character Classes
563 \l letters a-z and A-Z
564 \s whitespace \t, \r, \v, \f, and space
565 \w word characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and underscore, `_'
567 `\D', `\L', `\S', and `\W' are the same as the lowercase versions except
568 that the resulting character class is negated.
572 The `\B' non-word boundary anchor has been added as the logical opposite
573 of `<' and `>' collectively. This anchor ensures that the left and
574 right characters are either both delimiter characters or both
575 non-delimiter characters.
577 o Word Delimiter Escape Sequences
579 \y Word delimiter character
580 \Y Not a word delimiter character
582 The `\y' token matches any single character that is one of the characters
583 that NEdit recognizes as a word delimiter character, while the `\Y' token
584 matches any character that is NOT a word delimiter character. Note:
585 these are not anchors and DO consume one character of input.
590 + Minimal (lazy) Matching Quantifiers
592 *? Match zero or more
593 +? Match one at least one
596 These quantifiers match only what is absolutely necessary to achieve
599 + Counting (or Brace) Quantifier
601 {min,max} Match from `min' to `max' times the previous regular
604 If `min' is omitted, it is assumed to be zero. If `max' is omitted,
605 it is assumed to be infinity. Whether specified or assumed, `min'
606 must be less than or equal to `max'. If both are omitted, then the
607 construct is the same as `*'. Note that `{,}' and `{}' are both
608 valid brace constructs. A single number appearing without a comma,
609 e.g. `{3}' is short for the `{min,min}' construct, or to match
610 exactly `min' number of times.
612 o Non-Capturing Parentheses
614 Non-Capturing Parentheses are of the form `(?:<regex>)' and facilitate
615 grouping only and do not incur the overhead of normal capturing
618 o Positive Look-Ahead
620 Positive look-ahead constructs are of the form `(?=<regex>)' and
621 implement a zero width assertion of the enclosed regular expression. In
622 other words, a match of the regular expression contained in the positive
623 look-ahead construct is attempted. If it succeeds, control is passed to
624 the next regular expression atom, but the text that was consumed by the
625 positive look-ahead is first unmatched (backtracked) to the place in the
626 text where the positive look-ahead was first encountered.
628 o Negative Look-Ahead
630 Negative look-ahead takes the form `(?!<regex>)' and is exactly the same
631 as positive look-ahead except that the enclosed regular expression must
636 (?i<regex>) Case insensitive; `AbcD' and `aBCd' are equivalent.
637 (?I<regex>) Case sensitive; `AbcD' and `aBCd' are different.
639 Regular expressions are case sensitive by default, i.e `(?I<regex>)' is
640 assumed. All regular expression meta characters respond appropriately to
641 case insensitivity including character classes and back-references.
645 (?n<regex>) `.', `[^...]', `\s', `\S' will match newlines
646 (?N<regex>) `.', `[^...]', `\s', `\S' do not match newlines
648 `(?N<regex>)' is the default behavior.
652 Comments are of the form `(?#<comment text>)' and can be inserted
653 anywhere and have no effect on the execution of the regular expression.
655 o Notes on New Parenthetical Constructs
657 Except for plain parentheses, none of the parenthetical constructs
658 capture text. If that is desired, the construct must be wrapped with
659 capturing parentheses, e.g. `((?i<regex))'.
661 All parenthetical constructs can be nested as deeply as desired, except
662 for capturing parentheses which have a limit of 50 sets of parentheses,
663 regardless of nesting level.
666 New Features in 5.0.2:
668 - Word-selection (double click) can be used to select ranges of delimiters
670 - New built-in macro variables: $line, $column, and $modified
672 - Smart-indent mode available for Python language
674 - Minor improvements in default pattern sets for NEdit Macros, X Resources,
680 - -import did not work as advertised in 5.0.1. When used, it re-set a
681 number of preferences back to default values. Could also potentially
684 - Macro -> Repeat crashes on some systems.
686 - Mouse state can get "stuck" on Alpha-based systems.
688 - Combination of auto-wrap, auto-indent, and unbreakable lines extending the
689 width of the window, caused nedit to unnecessarily insert blank lines.
691 - Incorrect case-insensitive comparison in character sets > 128 bits.
693 - in by-word drag-selection (double click then drag) when begun in the middle
694 of a whitespace selection, anchor would revert to original cursor position
695 rather than maintaining the entire whitespace block.
697 - Language mode names containing spaces could not be used in language
698 sensitive user-defined menu items.
700 - New windows did not always see existing learn/replay sequence, recorded
701 before the window was created.
703 - Possible crash in search_string and search_window macros, when used with
706 - Possible crash in get_selection("any") macro.
708 - Under Solaris, crashes on window opening, file dialog, and language mode
709 selection, when user-defined sub-menus were used.
711 - Filenames containing spaces could cause the .neditdb file to become
714 - Escape key could not be used to cancel file-selection dialogs when the
715 file list had keyboard focus (which it almost always does).
718 New Features in 5.0.1:
720 - Repeat-over-range, and repeat-to-end capability for repeating last
721 command and learn/replay sequence.
723 - Import capability for loading macro/shell menu commands, highlight
724 patterns, and style sets created by other users.
726 - New macro language routines: string_to_clipboard, clipboard_to_string,
727 toupper, tolower, variables: $em_tab_dist.
729 - Additional default highlight patterns for sh and X resources.
731 - Sorted Open Previous menu.
733 - Numerous improvements to default highlighting patterns and smart indent
739 - Various crashes on Motif 2.0 (Linux and FreeBSD) systems, usually
740 associated with opening files and changing language modes. Usually,
741 but not necessarily, following changes to user-defined menu items.
743 - Background menu activation during drag operation could leave drag
744 unfinished, cause undo to malfunction, and eventually lead to a crash (which
745 was easy to trigger accidentally when the middle button is emulated with
746 mouse-chords on a two button mouse).
748 - X11R6 clients talking to X11R5 servers could crash on font dialog.
750 - Rapid repetition of long macros (such as binding to key and using keyboard
751 repeat) could cause crash.
753 - Several commands which put up dialogs were vulnerable to timing windows
754 where repeating the command could cause a crash.
756 - Calling macro close() routine could cause crash if used to close the window
757 in which the macro was executing.
759 - Using load_macro_file() as an "include" statement in macro files could
762 - Artifacts when using non-matching highlight fonts, and making certain types
763 of changes which change the fonts used to display other (not the line being
764 modified) lines in the file.
766 - Auto-newline wrap in overtype mode could duplicate part of wrapped text.
768 - Lower panes in split window mode allowed modification to read-only windows.
770 - Several minor dialog and window focus related problems for explicit (click
773 - Paste Column ignored existing selection.
775 - After copying and re-naming language mode information, highlight patterns
776 and smart indent macros remained attached to the re-named pattern instead of
779 - Trailing newlines should not have been prohibited in Open Selected.
781 - Help for creating smart indent macros was missing.
786 - Completed macro extension language (Simple C/awk-like syntax, safe,
789 - Syntax highlighting. Built-in patterns for C, C++, Java, Fortran, Pascal,
790 Ada, Perl, Python, Tcl, Awk, Csh, HTML, LaTeX, VHDL, Verilog, and more.
792 - Programmable Smart indent. (Experimentally, at least. There are only
793 macros for C and C++, and they may not fit everyone's programming style.)
795 - Language-sensitive preferences
797 - Continuous wrap mode (long line wrapping), in addition to existing
798 automatic-newline wrapping
800 - User-defined menus can be hierarchical and language-sensitive.
802 - Configurable right-button pop up menu
806 - Searchable on-line help
808 - Word boundary matching (<>) in regular expressions
812 - More dialogs have up-arrow recall
814 - White-space selection via double-click
817 Bug Fixes and Enhancements to Existing Features in 5.0
819 - No more limits on editing files containing ascii nul characters
821 - Fill Paragraph command handles leading indents
825 - Better directory defaulting in Open Selected and shell commands
827 - Open Selected processes tilde (~) and wildcards
829 - Goto Mark centers scroll position better
831 - Multiple shell commands can be run simultaneously
833 - Shell command execution doesn't block server command processing
835 - Emulated-tab deletion treats auto-indent as emulated tabs
837 - Auto-wrapping of pasted text is optional (off by default)
839 - Notice that default preferences have changed and ask about saving
842 - Selections remain selected after shell command and filter execution
844 - Wrap margin and emulated tab distance preferences are properly
845 transferred to new panes in split window mode