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  1. GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 17-Aug-1988
  2. Copyright (C) 1988, 2006-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  3. See the end of the file for license conditions.
  4. This file is about changes in emacs version 18.
  5. Changes in version 18.52.
  6. * X windows version 10 is supported under system V.
  7. * Pop-up menus are now supported with the same Lisp interface in
  8. both version 10 and 11 of X windows.
  9. * C-x 4 a is a new command to edit a change-log entry in another window.
  10. * The emacs client program now allows an option +NNN to specify the
  11. line number to go to in the file whose name follows. Thus,
  12. emacsclient foo.c +45 bar.c
  13. will find the files `foo.c' and `bar.c', going to line 45 in `bar.c'.
  14. * Dired allows empty directories to be deleted like files.
  15. * When the terminal type is used to find a terminal-specific file to
  16. run, Emacs now tries the entire terminal type first. If that doesn't
  17. yield a file that exists, the last hyphen and what follows it is
  18. stripped. If that doesn't yield a file that exists, the previous
  19. hyphen is stripped, and so on until all hyphens are gone. For
  20. example, if the terminal type is `aaa-48-foo', Emacs will try first
  21. `term/aaa-48-foo.el', then `term/aaa-48.el' and finally `term/aaa.el'.
  22. Underscores now receive the same treatment as hyphens.
  23. * Texinfo features: @defun, etc. texinfo-show-structure.
  24. New template commands. texinfo-format-region.
  25. * The special "local variable" `eval' is now ignored if you are running
  26. as root.
  27. * New command `c-macro-expand' shows the result of C macro expansion
  28. in the region. It works using the C preprocessor, so its results
  29. are completely accurate.
  30. * Errors in trying to auto save now flash error messages for a few seconds.
  31. * Killing a buffer now sends SIGHUP to the buffer's process.
  32. * New hooks.
  33. ** `spell-region' now allows you to filter the text before spelling-checking.
  34. If the value of `spell-filter' is non-nil, it is called, with no arguments,
  35. looking at a temporary buffer containing a copy of the text to be checked.
  36. It can alter the text freely before the spell program sees it.
  37. ** The variable `lpr-command' now specifies the command to be used when
  38. you use the commands to print text (such as M-x print-buffer).
  39. ** Posting netnews now calls the value of `news-inews-hook' (if not nil)
  40. as a function of no arguments before the actual posting.
  41. ** Rmail now calls the value of `rmail-show-message-hook' (if not nil)
  42. as a function of no arguments, each time a new message is selected.
  43. ** `kill-emacs' calls the value of `kill-emacs-hook' as a function of no args.
  44. * New libraries.
  45. See the source code of each library for more information.
  46. ** icon.el: a major mode for editing programs written in Icon.
  47. ** life.el: a simulator for the cellular automaton "life". Load the
  48. library and run M-x life.
  49. ** doctex.el: a library for converting the Emacs `etc/DOC' file of
  50. documentation strings into TeX input.
  51. ** saveconf.el: a library which records the arrangement of windows and
  52. buffers when you exit Emacs, and automatically recreates the same
  53. setup the next time you start Emacs.
  54. ** uncompress.el: a library that automatically uncompresses files
  55. when you visit them.
  56. ** c-fill.el: a mode for editing filled comments in C.
  57. ** kermit.el: an extended version of shell-mode designed for running kermit.
  58. ** spook.el: a library for adding some "distract the NSA" keywords to every
  59. message you send.
  60. ** hideif.el: a library for hiding parts of a C program based on preprocessor
  61. conditionals.
  62. ** autoinsert.el: a library to put in some initial text when you visit
  63. a nonexistent file. The text used depends on the major mode, and
  64. comes from a directory of files created by you.
  65. * New programming features.
  66. ** The variable `window-system-version' now contains the version number
  67. of the window system you are using (if appropriate). When using X windows,
  68. its value is either 10 or 11.
  69. ** (interactive "N") uses the prefix argument if any; otherwise, it reads
  70. a number using the minibuffer.
  71. ** VMS: there are two new functions `vms-system-info' and `shrink-to-icon'.
  72. The former allows you to get many kinds of system status information.
  73. See its self-documentation for full details.
  74. The second is used with the window system: it iconifies the Emacs window.
  75. ** VMS: the new function `define-logical-name' allows you to create
  76. job-wide logical names. The old function `define-dcl-symbol' has been
  77. removed.
  78. Changes in version 18.50.
  79. * X windows version 11 is supported.
  80. Define X11 in config.h if you want X version 11 instead of version 10.
  81. * The command M-x gdb runs the GDB debugger as an inferior.
  82. It asks for the filename of the executable you want to debug.
  83. GDB runs as an inferior with I/O through an Emacs buffer. All the
  84. facilities of Shell mode are available. In addition, each time your
  85. program stops, and each time you select a new stack frame, the source
  86. code is displayed in another window with an arrow added to the line
  87. where the program is executing.
  88. Special GDB-mode commands include M-s, M-n, M-i, M-u, M-d, and C-c C-f
  89. which send the GDB commands `step', `next', `stepi', `up', `down'
  90. and `finish'.
  91. In any source file, the commands C-x SPC tells GDB to set a breakpoint
  92. on the current line.
  93. * M-x calendar displays a three-month calendar.
  94. * C-u 0 C-x C-s never makes a backup file.
  95. This is a way you can explicitly request not to make a backup.
  96. * `term-setup-hook' is for users only.
  97. Emacs never uses this variable for internal purposes, so you can freely
  98. set it in your `.emacs' file to make Emacs do something special after
  99. loading any terminal-specific setup file from `lisp/term'.
  100. * `copy-keymap' now copies recursive submaps.
  101. * New overlay-arrow feature.
  102. If you set the variable `overlay-arrow-string' to a string
  103. and `overlay-arrow-position' to a marker, that string is displayed on
  104. the screen at the position of that marker, hiding whatever text would
  105. have appeared there. If that position isn't on the screen, or if
  106. the buffer the marker points into isn't displayed, there is no effect.
  107. * -batch mode can read from the terminal.
  108. It now works to use `read-char' to do terminal input in a noninteractive
  109. Emacs run. End of file causes Emacs to exit.
  110. * Variables `data-bytes-used' and `data-bytes-free' removed.
  111. These variables cannot really work because the 24-bit range of an
  112. integer in (most ports of) GNU Emacs is not large enough to hold their
  113. values on many systems.
  114. Changes in version 18.45, since version 18.41.
  115. * C indentation parameter `c-continued-brace-offset'.
  116. This parameter's value is added to the indentation of any
  117. line that is in a continuation context and starts with an open-brace.
  118. For example, it applies to the open brace shown here:
  119. if (x)
  120. {
  121. The default value is zero.
  122. * Dabbrev expansion (Meta-/) preserves case.
  123. When you use Meta-/ to search the buffer for an expansion of an
  124. abbreviation, if the expansion found is all lower case except perhaps
  125. for its first letter, then the case pattern of the abbreviation
  126. is carried over to the expansion that replaces it.
  127. * TeX-mode syntax.
  128. \ is no longer given "escape character" syntax in TeX mode. It now
  129. has the syntax of an ordinary punctuation character. As a result,
  130. \[...\] and such like are considered to balance each other.
  131. * Mail-mode automatic Reply-to field.
  132. If the variable `mail-default-reply-to' is non-`nil', then each time
  133. you start to compose a message, a Reply-to field is inserted with
  134. its contents taken from the value of `mail-default-reply-to'.
  135. * Where is your .emacs file?
  136. If you run Emacs under `su', so your real and effective uids are
  137. different, Emacs uses the home directory associated with the real uid
  138. (the name you actually logged in under) to find the .emacs file.
  139. Otherwise, Emacs uses the environment variable HOME to find the .emacs
  140. file.
  141. The .emacs file is not loaded at all if -batch is specified.
  142. * Prolog mode is the default for ".pl" files.
  143. * File names are not case-sensitive on VMS.
  144. On VMS systems, all file names that you specify are converted to upper
  145. case. You can use either upper or lower case indiscriminately.
  146. * VMS-only function 'define-dcl-symbol'.
  147. This is a new name for the function formerly called
  148. `define-logical-name'.
  149. Editing Changes in Emacs 18
  150. * Additional systems and machines are supported.
  151. GNU Emacs now runs on Vax VMS. However, many facilities that are normally
  152. implemented by running subprocesses do not work yet. This includes listing
  153. a directory and sending mail. There are features for running subprocesses
  154. but they are incompatible with those on Unix. I hope that some of
  155. the VMS users can reimplement these features for VMS (compatibly for
  156. the user, if possible).
  157. VMS wizards are also asked to work on making the subprocess facilities
  158. more upward compatible with those on Unix, and also to rewrite their
  159. internals to use the same Lisp objects that are used on Unix to
  160. represent processes.
  161. In addition, the TI Nu machine running Unix system V, the AT&T 3b, and
  162. the Wicat, Masscomp, Integrated Solutions, Alliant, Amdahl uts, Mips,
  163. Altos 3068 and Gould Unix systems are now supported. The IBM PC-RT is
  164. supported under 4.2, but not yet under system V. The GEC 93 is close
  165. to working. The port for the Elxsi is partly merged. See the file
  166. MACHINES for full status information and machine-specific installation
  167. advice.
  168. * Searching is faster.
  169. Forward search for a text string, or for a regexp that is equivalent
  170. to a text string, is now several times faster. Motion by lines and
  171. counting lines is also faster.
  172. * Memory usage improvements.
  173. It is no longer possible to run out of memory during garbage
  174. collection. As a result, running out of memory is never fatal. This
  175. is due to a new garbage collection algorithm which compactifies
  176. strings in place rather than copying them. Another consequence of the
  177. change is a reduction in total memory usage and a slight increase in
  178. garbage collection speed.
  179. * Display changes.
  180. ** Editing above top of screen.
  181. When you delete or kill or alter text that reaches to the top of the
  182. screen or above it, so that display would start in the middle of a
  183. line, Emacs will usually attempt to scroll the text so that display
  184. starts at the beginning of a line again.
  185. ** Yanking in the minibuffer.
  186. The message "Mark Set" is no longer printed when the minibuffer is
  187. active. This is convenient with many commands, including C-y, that
  188. normally print such a message.
  189. ** Cursor appears in last line during y-or-n questions.
  190. Questions that want a `y' or `n' answer now move the cursor
  191. to the last line, following the question.
  192. * Library loading changes.
  193. `load' now considers all possible suffixes (`.elc', `.el' and none)
  194. for each directory in `load-path' before going on to the next directory.
  195. It now accepts an optional fourth argument which, if non-nil, says to
  196. use no suffixes; then the file name must be given in full. The search
  197. of the directories in `load-path' goes on as usual in this case, but
  198. it too can be prevented by passing an absolute file name.
  199. The value of `load-path' no longer by default includes nil (meaning to
  200. look in the current default directory). The idea is that `load' should
  201. be used to search the path only for libraries to be found in the standard
  202. places. If you want to override system libraries with your own, place
  203. your own libraries in one special directory and add that directory to the
  204. front of `load-path'.
  205. The function `load' is no longer a command; that is to say, `M-x load'
  206. is no longer allowed. Instead, there are two commands for loading files.
  207. `M-x load-library' is equivalent to the old meaning of `M-x load'.
  208. `M-x load-file' reads a file name with completion and defaulting
  209. and then loads exactly that file, with no searching and no suffixes.
  210. * Emulation of other editors.
  211. ** `edt-emulation-on' starts emulating DEC's EDT editor.
  212. Do `edt-emulation-off' to return Emacs to normal.
  213. ** `vi-mode' and `vip-mode' starts emulating vi.
  214. These are two different vi emulations provided by GNU Emacs users.
  215. We are interested in feedback as to which emulation is preferable.
  216. See the documentation and source code for these functions
  217. for more information.
  218. ** `set-gosmacs-bindings' emulates Gosling Emacs.
  219. This command changes many global bindings to resemble those of
  220. Gosling Emacs. The previous bindings are saved and can be restored using
  221. `set-gnu-bindings'.
  222. * Emulation of a display terminal.
  223. Within Emacs it is now possible to run programs (such as emacs or
  224. supdup) which expect to do output to a visual display terminal.
  225. See the function `terminal-emulator' for more information.
  226. * New support for keypads and function keys.
  227. There is now a first attempt at terminal-independent support for
  228. keypad and function keys.
  229. Emacs now defines a standard set of key-names for function and keypad
  230. keys, and provides standard hooks for defining them. Most of the
  231. standard key-names have default definitions built into Emacs; you can
  232. override these in a terminal-independent manner. The default definitions
  233. and the conventions for redefining them are in the file `lisp/keypad.el'.
  234. These keys on the terminal normally work by sending sequences of
  235. characters starting with ESC. The exact sequences used vary from
  236. terminal to terminal. Emacs interprets them in two stages:
  237. in the first stage, terminal-dependent sequences are mapped into
  238. the standard key-names; then second stage maps the standard key-names
  239. into their definitions in a terminal-independent fashion.
  240. The terminal-specific file `term/$TERM.el' now is responsible only for
  241. establishing the mapping from the terminal's escape sequences into
  242. standard key-names. It no longer knows what Emacs commands are
  243. assigned to the standard key-names.
  244. One other change in terminal-specific files: if the value of the TERM
  245. variable contains a hyphen, only the part before the first hyphen is
  246. used in forming the name of the terminal-specific file. Thus, for
  247. terminal type `aaa-48', the file loaded is now `term/aaa.el' rather
  248. than `term/aaa-48.el'.
  249. * New startup command line options.
  250. `-i FILE' or `-insert FILE' in the command line to Emacs tells Emacs to
  251. insert the contents of FILE into the current buffer at that point in
  252. command line processing. This is like using the command M-x insert-file.
  253. `-funcall', `-load', `-user' and `-no-init-file' are new synonyms for
  254. `-f', `-l', `-u' and `-q'.
  255. `-nw' means don't use a window system. If you are using a terminal
  256. emulator on the X window system and you want to run Emacs to work through
  257. the terminal emulator instead of working directly with the window system,
  258. use this switch.
  259. * Buffer-sorting commands.
  260. Various M-x commands whose names start with `sort-' sort parts of
  261. the region:
  262. sort-lines divides the region into lines and sorts them alphabetically.
  263. sort-pages divides into pages and sorts them alphabetically.
  264. sort-paragraphs divides into paragraphs and sorts them alphabetically.
  265. sort-fields divides into lines and sorts them alphabetically
  266. according to one field in the line.
  267. The numeric argument specifies which field (counting
  268. from field 1 at the beginning of the line). Fields in a line
  269. are separated by whitespace.
  270. sort-numeric-fields
  271. is similar but converts the specified fields to numbers
  272. and sorts them numerically.
  273. sort-columns divides into lines and sorts them according to the contents
  274. of a specified range of columns.
  275. Refer to the self-documentation of these commands for full usage information.
  276. * Changes in various commands.
  277. ** `tags-query-replace' and `tags-search' change.
  278. These functions now display the name of the file being searched at the moment.
  279. ** `occur' output now serves as a menu. `occur-menu' command deleted.
  280. `M-x occur' now allows you to move quickly to any of the occurrences
  281. listed. Select the `*Occur*' buffer that contains the output of `occur',
  282. move point to the occurrence you want, and type C-c C-c.
  283. This will move point to the same occurrence in the buffer that the
  284. occurrences were found in.
  285. The command `occur-menu' is thus obsolete, and has been deleted.
  286. One way to get a list of matching lines without line numbers is to
  287. copy the text to another buffer and use the command `keep-lines'.
  288. ** Incremental search changes.
  289. Ordinary and regexp incremental searches now have distinct default
  290. search strings. Thus, regexp searches recall only previous regexp
  291. searches.
  292. If you exit an incremental search when the search string is empty,
  293. the old default search string is kept. The default does not become
  294. empty.
  295. Reversing the direction of an incremental search with C-s or C-r
  296. when the search string is empty now does not get the default search
  297. string. It leaves the search string empty. A second C-s or C-r
  298. will get the default search string. As a result, you can do a reverse
  299. incremental regexp search with C-M-s C-r.
  300. If you add a `*', `?' or `\|' to an incremental search regexp,
  301. point will back up if that is appropriate. For example, if
  302. you have searched for `ab' and add a `*', point moves to the
  303. first match for `ab*', which may be before the match for `ab'
  304. that was previously found.
  305. If an incremental search is failing and you ask to repeat it,
  306. it will start again from the beginning of the buffer (or the end,
  307. if it is a backward search).
  308. The search-controlling parameters `isearch-slow-speed' and
  309. `isearch-slow-window-lines' have now been renamed to start with
  310. `search' instead of `isearch'. Now all the parameters' names start
  311. with `search'.
  312. If `search-slow-window-lines' is negative, the slow search window
  313. is put at the top of the screen, and the absolute value or the
  314. negative number specifies the height of it.
  315. ** Undo changes
  316. The undo command now will mark the buffer as unmodified only when it is
  317. identical to the contents of the visited file.
  318. ** C-M-v in minibuffer.
  319. If while in the minibuffer you request help in a way that uses a
  320. window to display something, then until you exit the minibuffer C-M-v
  321. in the minibuffer window scrolls the window of help.
  322. For example, if you request a list of possible completions, C-M-v can
  323. be used reliably to scroll the completion list.
  324. ** M-TAB command.
  325. Meta-TAB performs completion on the Emacs Lisp symbol names. The sexp
  326. in the buffer before point is compared against all existing nontrivial
  327. Lisp symbols and completed as far as is uniquely determined by them.
  328. Nontrivial symbols are those with either function definitions, values
  329. or properties.
  330. If there are multiple possibilities for the very next character, a
  331. list of possible completions is displayed.
  332. ** Dynamic abbreviation package.
  333. The new command Meta-/ expands an abbreviation in the buffer before point
  334. by searching the buffer for words that start with the abbreviation.
  335. ** Changes in saving kbd macros.
  336. The commands `write-kbd-macro' and `append-kbd-macro' have been
  337. deleted. The way to save a keyboard macro is to use the new command
  338. `insert-kbd-macro', which inserts Lisp code to define the macro as
  339. it is currently defined into the buffer before point. Visit a Lisp
  340. file such as your Emacs init file `~/.emacs', insert the macro
  341. definition (perhaps deleting an old definition for the same macro)
  342. and then save the file.
  343. ** C-x ' command.
  344. The new command C-x ' (expand-abbrev) expands the word before point as
  345. an abbrev, even if abbrev-mode is not turned on.
  346. ** Sending to inferior Lisp.
  347. The command C-M-x in Lisp mode, which sends the current defun to
  348. an inferior Lisp process, now works by writing the text into a temporary
  349. file and actually sending only a `load'-form to load the file.
  350. As a result, it avoids the Unix bugs that used to strike when the
  351. text was above a certain length.
  352. With a prefix argument, this command now makes the inferior Lisp buffer
  353. appear on the screen and scrolls it so that the bottom is showing.
  354. Two variables `inferior-lisp-load-command' and `inferior-lisp-prompt',
  355. exist to customize these feature for different Lisp implementations.
  356. ** C-x p now disabled.
  357. The command C-x p, a nonrecommended command which narrows to the current
  358. page, is now initially disabled like C-x n.
  359. * Dealing with files.
  360. ** C-x C-v generalized
  361. This command is now allowed even if the current buffer is not visiting
  362. a file. As usual, it kills the current buffer and replaces it with a
  363. newly found file.
  364. ** M-x recover-file improved; auto save file names changed.
  365. M-x recover-file now checks whether the last auto-save file is more
  366. recent than the real visited file before offering to read in the
  367. auto-save file. If the auto-save file is newer, a directory listing
  368. containing the two files is displayed while you are asked whether you
  369. want the auto save file.
  370. Visiting a file also makes this check. If the auto-save file is more recent,
  371. a message is printed suggesting that you consider using M-x recover file.
  372. Auto save file names now by default have a `#' at the end as well
  373. as at the beginning. This is so that `*.c' in a shell command
  374. will never match auto save files.
  375. On VMS, auto save file names are made by appending `_$' at the front
  376. and `$' at the end.
  377. When you change the visited file name of a buffer, the auto save file
  378. is now renamed to belong to the new visited file name.
  379. You can customize the way auto save file names are made by redefining
  380. the two functions `make-auto-save-file-name' and `auto-save-file-name-p',
  381. both of which are defined in `files.el'.
  382. ** Modifying a buffer whose file is changed on disk is detected instantly.
  383. On systems where clash detection (locking of files being edited) is
  384. implemented, Emacs also checks the first time you modify a buffer
  385. whether the file has changed on disk since it was last visited or saved.
  386. If it has, you are asked to confirm that you want to change the buffer.
  387. ** Exiting Emacs offers to save `*mail*'.
  388. Emacs can now know about buffers that it should offer to save on exit
  389. even though they are not visiting files. This is done for any buffer
  390. which has a non-nil local value of `buffer-offer-save'. By default,
  391. Mail mode provides such a local value.
  392. ** Backup file changes.
  393. If a backup file cannot be written in the directory of the visited file
  394. due to fascist file protection, a backup file is now written in your home
  395. directory as `~/%backup%~'. Only one such file is made, ever, so only
  396. the most recently made such backup is available.
  397. When backup files are made by copying, the last-modification time of the
  398. original file is now preserved in the backup copy.
  399. ** Visiting remote files.
  400. On an internet host, you can now visit and save files on any other
  401. internet host directly from Emacs with the commands M-x ftp-find-file
  402. and M-x ftp-write-file. Specify an argument of the form HOST:FILENAME.
  403. Since standard internet FTP is used, the other host may be any kind
  404. of machine and is not required to have any special facilities.
  405. The first time any one remote host is accessed, you will be asked to
  406. give the user name and password for use on that host. FTP is reinvoked
  407. each time you ask to use it, but previously specified user names and
  408. passwords are remembered automatically.
  409. ** Dired `g' command.
  410. `g' in Dired mode is equivalent to M-x revert-buffer; it causes the
  411. current contents of the same directory to be read in.
  412. * Changes in major modes.
  413. ** C mode indentation change.
  414. The binding of Linefeed is no longer changed by C mode. It once again
  415. has its normal meaning, which is to insert a newline and then indent
  416. afterward.
  417. The old definition did one additional thing: it reindented the line
  418. before the new newline. This has been removed because it made the
  419. command twice as slow. The only time it was really useful was after the
  420. insertion of an `else', since the fact of starting with `else' may change
  421. the way that line is indented. Now you will have to type TAB again
  422. yourself to reindent the `else' properly.
  423. If the variable `c-tab-always-indent' is set to `nil', the TAB command
  424. in C mode, with no argument, will just insert a tab character if there
  425. is non-whitespace preceding point on the current line. Giving it a
  426. prefix argument will force reindentation of the line (as well as
  427. of the compound statement that begins after point, if any).
  428. ** Fortran mode now exists.
  429. This mode provides commands for motion and indentation of Fortran code,
  430. plus built-in abbrevs for Fortran keywords. For details, see the manual
  431. or the on-line documentation of the command `fortran-mode'.
  432. ** Scribe mode now exists.
  433. This mode does something useful for editing files of Scribe input.
  434. It is used automatically for files with names ending in ".mss".
  435. ** Modula2 and Prolog modes now exist.
  436. These modes are for editing programs in the languages of the same names.
  437. They can be selected with M-x modula-2-mode and M-x prolog-mode.
  438. ** Telnet mode changes.
  439. The telnet mode special commands have now been assigned to C-c keys.
  440. Most of them are the same as in Shell mode.
  441. ** Picture mode changes.
  442. The special picture-mode commands to specify the direction of cursor
  443. motion after insertion have been moved to C-c keys. The commands to
  444. specify diagonal motion were already C-c keys; they are unchanged.
  445. The keys to specify horizontal or vertical motion are now
  446. C-c < (left), C-c > (right), C-c ^ (up) and C-c . (down).
  447. ** Nroff mode comments.
  448. Comments are now supported in Nroff mode. The standard comment commands
  449. such as M-; and C-x ; know how to insert, align and delete comments
  450. that start with backslash-doublequote.
  451. ** LaTeX mode.
  452. LaTeX mode now exists. Use M-x latex-mode to select this mode, and
  453. M-x plain-tex-mode to select the previously existing mode for Plain
  454. TeX. M-x tex-mode attempts to examine the contents of the buffer and
  455. choose between latex-mode and plain-tex-mode accordingly; if the
  456. buffer is empty or it cannot tell, the variable `TeX-default-mode'
  457. controls the choice. Its value should be the symbol for the mode to
  458. be used.
  459. The facilities for running TeX on all or part of the buffer
  460. work with LaTeX as well.
  461. Some new commands available in both modes:
  462. C-c C-l recenter the window showing the TeX output buffer
  463. so most recent line of output can be seen.
  464. C-c C-k kill the TeX subprocess.
  465. C-c C-q show the printer queue.
  466. C-c C-f close a block (appropriate for LaTeX only).
  467. If the current line contains a \begin{...},
  468. this inserts an \end{...} on the following line
  469. and puts point on a blank line between them.
  470. ** Outline mode changes.
  471. Invisible lines in outline mode are now indicated by `...' at the
  472. end of the previous visible line.
  473. The special outline heading motion commands are now all on C-c keys.
  474. A few new ones have been added. Here is a full list:
  475. C-c C-n Move to next visible heading (formerly M-})
  476. C-c C-p Move to previous visible heading (formerly M-{)
  477. C-c C-f Move to next visible heading at the same level.
  478. Thus, if point is on a level-2 heading line,
  479. this command moves to the next visible level-2 heading.
  480. C-c C-b Move to previous visible heading at the same level.
  481. C-c C-u Move up to previous visible heading at a higher level.
  482. The variable `outline-regexp' now controls recognition of heading lines.
  483. Any line whose beginning matches this regexp is a heading line.
  484. The depth in outline structure is determined by the length of
  485. the string that matches.
  486. A line starting with a ^L (formfeed) is now by default considered
  487. a header line.
  488. * Mail reading and sending.
  489. ** MH-E changes.
  490. MH-E has been extensively modified and improved since the v17 release.
  491. It contains many new features, including commands to: extracted failed
  492. messages, kill a draft message, undo changes to a mail folder, monitor
  493. delivery of a letter, print multiple messages, page digests backwards,
  494. insert signatures, and burst digests. Also, many commands have been
  495. made to able to deal with named sequences of messages, instead of
  496. single messages. MH-E also has had numerous bugs fixed and commands
  497. made to run faster. Furthermore, its keybindings have been changed to
  498. be compatible with Rmail and the rest of GNU Emacs.
  499. ** Mail mode changes.
  500. The C-c commands of mail mode have been rearranged:
  501. C-c s, C-c c, C-c t and C-c b (move point to various header fields)
  502. have been reassigned as C-c C-f C-s, C-c C-f C-c, C-c C-f C-t and C-c
  503. C-f C-b. C-c C-f is for "field".
  504. C-c y, C-c w and C-c q have been changed to C-c C-y, C-c C-w and C-c C-q.
  505. Thus, C-c LETTER is always unassigned.
  506. ** Rmail C-r command changed to w.
  507. The Rmail command to edit the current message is now `w'. This change
  508. has been made because people frequently type C-r while in Rmail hoping
  509. to do a reverse incremental search. That now works.
  510. * Rnews changes.
  511. ** Caesar rotation added.
  512. The function news-caesar-buffer-body performs encryption and
  513. decryption of the body of a news message. It defaults to the USENET
  514. standard of 13, and accepts any numeric arg between 1 to 25 and -25 to -1.
  515. The function is bound to C-c C-r in both news-mode and news-reply-mode.
  516. ** rmail-output command added.
  517. The C-o command has been bound to rmail-output in news-mode.
  518. This allows one to append an article to a file which is in either Unix
  519. mail or RMAIL format.
  520. ** news-reply-mode changes.
  521. The C-c commands of news reply mode have been rearranged and changed,
  522. so that C-c LETTER is always unassigned:
  523. C-c y, C-c w and C-c q have been changed to C-c C-y, C-c C-w and C-c C-q.
  524. C-c c, C-c t, and C-c b (move to various mail header fields) have been
  525. deleted (they make no sense for posting and replying to USENET).
  526. C-c s (move to Subject: header field) has been reassigned as C-c C-f
  527. C-s. C-c C-f is for "field". Several additional move to news header
  528. field commands have been added.
  529. The local news-reply-mode bindings now look like this:
  530. C-c C-s news-inews (post the message) C-c C-c news-inews
  531. C-c C-f move to a header field (and create it if there isn't):
  532. C-c C-f C-n move to Newsgroups: C-c C-f C-s move to Subj:
  533. C-c C-f C-f move to Followup-To: C-c C-f C-k move to Keywords:
  534. C-c C-f C-d move to Distribution: C-c C-f C-a move to Summary:
  535. C-c C-y news-reply-yank-original (insert current message, in NEWS).
  536. C-c C-q mail-fill-yanked-message (fill what was yanked).
  537. C-c C-r caesar rotate all letters by 13 places in the article's body (rot13).
  538. * Existing Emacs usable as a server.
  539. Programs such as mailers that invoke "the editor" as an inferior
  540. to edit some text can now be told to use an existing Emacs process
  541. instead of creating a new editor.
  542. To do this, you must have an Emacs process running and capable of
  543. doing terminal I/O at the time you want to invoke it. This means that
  544. either you are using a window system and give Emacs a separate window
  545. or you run the other programs as inferiors of Emacs (such as, using
  546. M-x shell).
  547. First prepare the existing Emacs process by loading the `server'
  548. library and executing M-x server-start. (Your .emacs can do this
  549. automatically.)
  550. Now tell the other programs to use, as "the editor", the Emacs client
  551. program (etc/emacsclient, located in the same directory as this file).
  552. This can be done by setting the environment variable EDITOR.
  553. When another program invokes the emacsclient as "the editor", the
  554. client actually transfers the file names to be edited to the existing
  555. Emacs, which automatically visits the files.
  556. When you are done editing a buffer for a client, do C-x # (server-edit).
  557. This marks that buffer as done, and selects the next buffer that the client
  558. asked for. When all the buffers requested by a client are marked in this
  559. way, Emacs tells the client program to exit, so that the program that
  560. invoked "the editor" will resume execution.
  561. You can only have one server Emacs at a time, but multiple client programs
  562. can put in requests at the same time.
  563. The client/server work only on Berkeley Unix, since they use the Berkeley
  564. sockets mechanism for their communication.
  565. Changes in Lisp programming in Emacs version 18.
  566. * Init file changes.
  567. ** Suffixes no longer accepted on `.emacs'.
  568. Emacs will no longer load a file named `.emacs.el' or `emacs.elc'
  569. in place of `.emacs'. This is so that it will take less time to
  570. find `.emacs'. If you want to compile your init file, give it another
  571. name and make `.emacs' a link to the `.elc' file, or make it contain
  572. a call to `load' to load the `.elc' file.
  573. ** `default-profile' renamed to `default', and loaded after `.emacs'.
  574. It used to be the case that the file `default-profile' was loaded if
  575. and only if `.emacs' was not found.
  576. Now the name `default-profile' is not used at all. Instead, a library
  577. named `default' is loaded after the `.emacs' file. `default' is loaded
  578. whether the `.emacs' file exists or not. However, loading of `default'
  579. can be prevented if the `.emacs' file sets `inhibit-default-init' to non-nil.
  580. In fact, you would call the default file `default.el' and probably would
  581. byte-compile it to speed execution.
  582. Note that for most purposes you are better off using a `site-init' library
  583. since that will be loaded before the runnable Emacs is dumped. By using
  584. a `site-init' library, you avoid taking up time each time Emacs is started.
  585. ** inhibit-command-line has been eliminated.
  586. This variable used to exist for .emacs files to set. It has been
  587. eliminated because you can get the same effect by setting
  588. command-line-args to nil and setting inhibit-startup-message to t.
  589. * `apply' is more general.
  590. `apply' now accepts any number of arguments. The first one is a function;
  591. the rest are individual arguments to pass to that function, except for the
  592. last, which is a list of arguments to pass.
  593. Previously, `apply' required exactly two arguments. Its old behavior
  594. follows as a special case of the new definition.
  595. * New code-letter for `interactive'.
  596. (interactive "NFoo: ") is like (interactive "nFoo: ") in reading
  597. a number using the minibuffer to serve as the argument; however,
  598. if a prefix argument was specified, it uses the prefix argument
  599. value as the argument, and does not use the minibuffer at all.
  600. This is used by the `goto-line' and `goto-char' commands.
  601. * Semantics of variables.
  602. ** Built-in per-buffer variables improved.
  603. Several built-in variables which in the past had a different value in
  604. each buffer now behave exactly as if `make-variable-buffer-local' had
  605. been done to them.
  606. These variables are `tab-width', `ctl-arrow', `truncate-lines',
  607. `fill-column', `left-margin', `mode-line-format', `abbrev-mode',
  608. `overwrite-mode', `case-fold-search', `auto-fill-hook',
  609. `selective-display', `selective-display-ellipses'.
  610. To be precise, each variable has a default value which shows through
  611. in most buffers and can be accessed with `default-value' and set with
  612. `set-default'. Setting the variable with `setq' makes the variable
  613. local to the current buffer. Changing the default value has retroactive
  614. effect on all buffers in which the variable is not local.
  615. The variables `default-case-fold-search', etc., are now obsolete.
  616. They now refer to the default value of the variable, which is not
  617. quite the same behavior as before, but it should enable old init files
  618. to continue to work.
  619. ** New per-buffer variables.
  620. The variables `fill-prefix', `comment-column' and `indent-tabs-mode'
  621. are now per-buffer. They work just like `fill-column', etc.
  622. ** New function `setq-default'.
  623. `setq-default' sets the default value of a variable, and uses the
  624. same syntax that `setq' accepts: the variable name is not evaluated
  625. and need not be quoted.
  626. `(setq-default case-fold-search nil)' would make searches case-sensitive
  627. in all buffers that do not have local values for `case-fold-search'.
  628. ** Functions `global-set' and `global-value' deleted.
  629. These functions were never used except by mistake by users expecting
  630. the functionality of `set-default' and `default-value'.
  631. * Changes in defaulting of major modes.
  632. When `default-major-mode' is `nil', new buffers are supposed to
  633. get their major mode from the buffer that is current. However,
  634. certain major modes (such as Dired mode, Rmail mode, Rmail Summary mode,
  635. and others) are not reasonable to use in this way.
  636. Now such modes' names have been given non-`nil' `mode-class' properties.
  637. If the current buffer's mode has such a property, Fundamental mode is
  638. used as the default for newly created buffers.
  639. * `where-is-internal' requires additional arguments.
  640. This function now accepts three arguments, two of them required:
  641. DEFINITION, the definition to search for; LOCAL-KEYMAP, the keymap
  642. to use as the local map when doing the searching, and FIRST-ONLY,
  643. which is nonzero to return only the first key found.
  644. This function returns a list of keys (strings) whose definitions
  645. (in the LOCAL-KEYMAP or the current global map) are DEFINITION.
  646. If FIRST-ONLY is non-nil, it returns a single key (string).
  647. This function has changed incompatibly in that now two arguments
  648. are required when previously only one argument was allowed. To get
  649. the old behavior of this function, write `(current-local-map)' as
  650. the expression for the second argument.
  651. The incompatibility is sad, but `nil' is a legitimate value for the
  652. second argument (it means there is no local keymap), so it cannot also
  653. serve as a default meaning to use the current local keymap.
  654. * Abbrevs with hooks.
  655. When an abbrev defined with a hook is expanded, it now performs the
  656. usual replacement of the abbrev with the expansion before running the
  657. hook. Previously the abbrev itself was deleted but the expansion was
  658. not inserted.
  659. * Function `scan-buffer' deleted.
  660. Use `search-forward' or `search-backward' in place of `scan-buffer'.
  661. You will have to rearrange the arguments.
  662. * X window interface improvements.
  663. ** Detect release of mouse buttons.
  664. Button-up events can now be detected. See the file `lisp/x-mouse.el'
  665. for details.
  666. ** New pop-up menu facility.
  667. The new function `x-popup-menu' pops up a menu (in a X window)
  668. and returns an indication of which selection the user made.
  669. For more information, see its self-documentation.
  670. * M-x disassemble.
  671. This command prints the disassembly of a byte-compiled Emacs Lisp function.
  672. Would anyone like to interface this to the debugger?
  673. * `insert-buffer-substring' can insert part of the current buffer.
  674. The old restriction that the text being inserted had to come from
  675. a different buffer is now lifted.
  676. When inserting text from the current buffer, the text to be inserted
  677. is determined from the specified bounds before any copying takes place.
  678. * New function `substitute-key-definition'.
  679. This is a new way to replace one command with another command as the
  680. binding of whatever keys may happen to refer to it.
  681. (substitute-key-definition OLDDEF NEWDEF KEYMAP) looks through KEYMAP
  682. for keys defined to run OLDDEF, and rebinds those keys to run NEWDEF
  683. instead.
  684. * New function `insert-char'.
  685. Insert a specified character, a specified number of times.
  686. * `mark-marker' changed.
  687. When there is no mark, this now returns a marker that points
  688. nowhere, rather than `nil'.
  689. * `ding' accepts argument.
  690. When given an argument, the function `ding' does not terminate
  691. execution of a keyboard macro. Normally, `ding' does terminate
  692. all macros that are currently executing.
  693. * New function `minibuffer-depth'.
  694. This function returns the current depth in minibuffer activations.
  695. The value is zero when the minibuffer is not in use.
  696. Values greater than one are possible if the user has entered the
  697. minibuffer recursively.
  698. * New function `documentation-property'.
  699. (documentation-property SYMBOL PROPNAME) is like (get SYMBOL PROPNAME),
  700. except that if the property value is a number `documentation-property'
  701. will take that number (or its absolute value) as a character position
  702. in the DOC file and return the string found there.
  703. (documentation-property VAR 'variable-documentation) is the proper
  704. way for a Lisp program to get the documentation of variable VAR.
  705. * New documentation-string expansion feature.
  706. If a documentation string (for a variable or function) contains text
  707. of the form `\<FOO>', it means that all command names specified in
  708. `\[COMMAND]' construct from that point on should be turned into keys
  709. using the value of the variable FOO as the local keymap. Thus, for example,
  710. `\<emacs-lisp-mode-map>\[eval-defun] evaluates the defun containing point.'
  711. will expand into
  712. "ESC C-x evaluates the defun containing point."
  713. regardless of the current major mode, because ESC C-x is defined to
  714. run `eval-defun' in the keymap `emacs-lisp-mode-map'. The effect is
  715. to show the key for `eval-defun' in Emacs Lisp mode regardless of the
  716. current major mode.
  717. The `\<...>' construct applies to all `\[...]' constructs that follow it,
  718. up to the end of the documentation string or the next `\<...>'.
  719. Without `\<...>', the keys for commands specified in `\[...]' are found
  720. in the current buffer's local map.
  721. The current global keymap is always searched second, whether `\<...>'
  722. has been used or not.
  723. * Multiple hooks allowed in certain contexts.
  724. The old hook variables `find-file-hook', `find-file-not-found-hook' and
  725. `write-file-hook' have been replaced.
  726. The replacements are `find-file-hooks', `find-file-not-found-hooks'
  727. and `write-file-hooks'. Each holds a list of functions to be called;
  728. by default, `nil', for no functions. The functions are called in
  729. order of appearance in the list.
  730. In the case of `find-file-hooks', all the functions are executed.
  731. In the case of `find-file-not-found-hooks', if any of the functions
  732. returns non-`nil', the rest of the functions are not called.
  733. In the case of `write-file-hooks', if any of the functions returns
  734. non-`nil', the rest of the functions are not called, and the file is
  735. considered to have been written already; so actual writing in the
  736. usual way is not done. If `write-file-hooks' is local to a buffer,
  737. it is set to its global value if `set-visited-file-name' is called
  738. (and thus by C-x C-w as well).
  739. `find-file-not-found-hooks' and `write-file-hooks' can be used
  740. together to implement editing of files that are not stored as Unix
  741. files: stored in archives, or inside version control systems, or on
  742. other machines running other operating systems and accessible via ftp.
  743. * New hooks for suspending Emacs.
  744. Suspending Emacs runs the hook `suspend-hook' before suspending
  745. and the hook `suspend-resume-hook' if the suspended Emacs is resumed.
  746. Running a hook is done by applying the variable's value to no arguments
  747. if the variable has a non-`nil' value. If `suspend-hook' returns
  748. non-`nil', then suspending is inhibited and so is running the
  749. `suspend-resume-hook'. The non-`nil' value means that the `suspend-hook'
  750. has done whatever suspending is required.
  751. * Disabling commands can print a special message.
  752. A command is disabled by giving it a non-`nil' `disabled' property.
  753. Now, if this property is a string, it is included in the message
  754. printed when the user tries to run the command.
  755. * Emacs can open TCP connections.
  756. The function `open-network-stream' opens a TCP connection to
  757. a specified host and service. Its value is a Lisp object that represents
  758. the connection. The object is a kind of "subprocess", and I/O are
  759. done like I/O to subprocesses.
  760. * Display-related changes.
  761. ** New mode-line control features.
  762. The display of the mode line used to be controlled by a format-string
  763. that was the value of the variable `mode-line-format'.
  764. This variable still exists, but it now allows more general values,
  765. not just strings. Lists, cons cells and symbols are also meaningful.
  766. The mode line contents are created by outputting various mode elements
  767. one after the other. Here are the kinds of objects that can be
  768. used as mode elements, and what they do in the display:
  769. string the contents of the string are output to the mode line,
  770. and %-constructs are replaced by other text.
  771. t or nil ignored; no output results.
  772. symbol the symbol's value is used. If the value is a string,
  773. the string is output verbatim to the mode line
  774. (so %-constructs are not interpreted). Otherwise,
  775. the symbol's value is processed as a mode element.
  776. list (whose first element is a string or list or cons cell)
  777. the elements of the list are treated as as mode elements,
  778. so that the output they generate is concatenated,
  779. list (whose car is a symbol)
  780. if the symbol's value is non-nil, the second element of the
  781. list is treated as a mode element. Otherwise, the third
  782. element (if any) of the list is treated as a mode element.
  783. cons (whose car is a positive integer)
  784. the cdr of the cons is used as a mode element, but
  785. the text it produces is padded, if necessary, to have
  786. at least the width specified by the integer.
  787. cons (whose car is a negative integer)
  788. the cdr of the cons is used as a mode element, but
  789. the text it produces is truncated, if necessary, to have
  790. at most the width specified by the integer.
  791. There is always one mode element to start with, that being the value of
  792. `mode-line-format', but if this value is a list then it leads to several
  793. more mode elements, which can lead to more, and so on.
  794. There is one new %-construct for mode elements that are strings:
  795. `%n' displays ` Narrow' for a buffer that is narrowed.
  796. The default value of `mode-line-format' refers to several other variables.
  797. These variables are `mode-name', `mode-line-buffer-identification',
  798. `mode-line-process', `mode-line-modified', `global-mode-string' and
  799. `minor-mode-alist'. The first four are local in every buffer in which they
  800. are changed from the default.
  801. mode-name Name of buffer's major mode. Local in every buffer.
  802. mode-line-buffer-identification
  803. Normally the list ("Emacs: %17b"), it is responsible
  804. for displaying text to indicate what buffer is being shown
  805. and what kind of editing it is doing. `Emacs' means
  806. that a file of characters is being edited. Major modes
  807. such as Info and Dired which edit or view other kinds
  808. of data often change this value. This variables becomes
  809. local to the current buffer if it is setq'd.
  810. mode-line-process
  811. Normally nil, this variable is responsible for displaying
  812. information about the process running in the current buffer.
  813. M-x shell-mode and M-x compile alter this variable.
  814. mode-line-modified
  815. This variable is responsible for displaying the indication
  816. of whether the current buffer is modified or read-only.
  817. By default its value is `("--%*%*-")'.
  818. minor-mode-alist
  819. This variable is responsible for displaying text for those
  820. minor modes that are currently enabled. Its value
  821. is a list of elements of the form (VARIABLE STRING),
  822. where STRING is to be displayed if VARIABLE's value
  823. (in the buffer whose mode line is being displayed)
  824. is non-nil. This variable is not made local to particular
  825. buffers, but loading some libraries may add elements to it.
  826. global-mode-string
  827. This variable is used to display the time, if you ask
  828. for that.
  829. The idea of these variables is to eliminate the need for major modes
  830. to alter mode-line-format itself.
  831. ** `window-point' valid for selected window.
  832. The value returned by `window-point' used to be incorrect when its
  833. argument was the selected window. Now the value is correct.
  834. ** Window configurations may be saved as Lisp objects.
  835. The function `current-window-configuration' returns a special type of
  836. Lisp object that represents the current layout of windows: the
  837. sizes and positions of windows, which buffers appear in them, and
  838. which parts of the buffers appear on the screen.
  839. The function `set-window-configuration' takes one argument, which must
  840. be a window configuration object, and restores that configuration.
  841. ** New hook `temp-output-buffer-show-hook'.
  842. This hook allows you to control how help buffers are displayed.
  843. Whenever `with-output-to-temp-buffer' has executed its body and wants
  844. to display the temp buffer, if this variable is bound and non-`nil'
  845. then its value is called with one argument, the temp buffer.
  846. The hook function is solely responsible for displaying the buffer.
  847. The standard manner of display--making the buffer appear in a window--is
  848. used only if there is no hook function.
  849. ** New function `minibuffer-window'.
  850. This function returns the window used (sometimes) for displaying
  851. the minibuffer. It can be used even when the minibuffer is not active.
  852. ** New feature to `next-window'.
  853. If the optional second argument is neither `nil' nor `t', the minibuffer
  854. window is omitted from consideration even when active; if the starting
  855. window was the last non-minibuffer window, the value will be the first
  856. non-minibuffer window.
  857. ** New variable `minibuffer-scroll-window'.
  858. When this variable is non-`nil', the command `scroll-other-window'
  859. uses it as the window to be scrolled. Displays of completion-lists
  860. set this variable to the window containing the display.
  861. ** New argument to `sit-for'.
  862. A non-nil second argument to `sit-for' means do not redisplay;
  863. just wait for the specified time or until input is available.
  864. ** Deleted function `set-minor-mode'; minor modes must be changed.
  865. The function `set-minor-mode' has been eliminated. The display
  866. of minor mode names in the mode line is now controlled by the
  867. variable `minor-mode-alist'. To specify display of a new minor
  868. mode, it is sufficient to add an element to this list. Once that
  869. is done, you can turn the mode on and off just by setting a variable,
  870. and the display will show its status automatically.
  871. ** New variable `cursor-in-echo-area'.
  872. If this variable is non-nil, the screen cursor appears on the
  873. last line of the screen, at the end of the text displayed there.
  874. Binding this variable to t is useful at times when reading single
  875. characters of input with `read-char'.
  876. ** New per-buffer variable `selective-display-ellipses'.
  877. If this variable is non-nil, an ellipsis (`...') appears on the screen
  878. at the end of each text line that is followed by invisible text.
  879. If this variable is nil, no ellipses appear. Then there is no sign
  880. on the screen that invisible text is present.
  881. Text is made invisible under the control of the variable
  882. `selective-display'; this is how Outline mode and C-x $ work.
  883. ** New variable `no-redraw-on-reenter'.
  884. If you set this variable non-nil, Emacs will not clear the screen when
  885. you resume it after suspending it. This is for the sake of terminals
  886. with multiple screens of memory, where the termcap entry has been set
  887. up to switch between screens when Emacs is suspended and resumed.
  888. ** New argument to `set-screen-height' or `set-screen-width'.
  889. These functions now take an optional second argument which says
  890. what significance the newly specified height or width has.
  891. If the argument is nil, or absent, it means that Emacs should
  892. believe that the terminal height or width really is as just specified.
  893. If the argument is t, it means Emacs should not believe that the
  894. terminal really is this high or wide, but it should use the
  895. specific height or width as the number of lines or columns to display.
  896. Thus, you could display only 24 lines on a screen known to have 48 lines.
  897. What practical difference is there between using only 24 lines for display
  898. and really believing that the terminal has 24 lines?
  899. 1. The ``real'' height of the terminal says what the terminal command
  900. to move the cursor to the last line will do.
  901. 2. The ``real'' height of the terminal determines how much padding is
  902. needed.
  903. * File-related changes.
  904. ** New parameter `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch'.
  905. If this variable is non-`nil', then when Emacs is about to save a
  906. file, it will create the backup file by copying if that would avoid
  907. changing the file's uid or gid.
  908. The default value of this variable is `nil', because usually it is
  909. useful to have the uid of a file change according to who edited it
  910. last. I recommend that this variable be left normally `nil' and
  911. changed with a local variables list in those particular files where
  912. the uid needs to be preserved.
  913. ** New parameter `file-precious-flag'.
  914. If this variable is non-`nil', saving the buffer tries to avoid
  915. leaving an incomplete file due to disk full or other I/O errors.
  916. It renames the old file before saving. If saving is successful,
  917. the renamed file is deleted; if saving gets an error, the renamed
  918. file is renamed back to the name you visited.
  919. Backups are always made by copying for such files.
  920. ** New variable `buffer-offer-save'.
  921. If the value of this variable is non-`nil' in a buffer then exiting
  922. Emacs will offer to save the buffer (if it is modified and nonempty)
  923. even if the buffer is not visiting a file. This variable is
  924. automatically made local to the current buffer whenever it is set.
  925. ** `rename-file', `copy-file', `add-name-to-file' and `make-symbolic-link'.
  926. The third argument to these functions used to be `t' or `nil'; `t'
  927. meaning go ahead even if the specified new file name already has a file,
  928. and `nil' meaning to get an error.
  929. Now if the third argument is a number it means to ask the user for
  930. confirmation in this case.
  931. ** New optional argument to `copy-file'.
  932. If `copy-file' receives a non-nil fourth argument, it attempts
  933. to give the new copy the same time-of-last-modification that the
  934. original file has.
  935. ** New function `file-newer-than-file-p'.
  936. (file-newer-than-file-p FILE1 FILE2) returns non-nil if FILE1 has been
  937. modified more recently than FILE2. If FILE1 does not exist, the value
  938. is always nil; otherwise, if FILE2 does not exist, the value is t.
  939. This is meant for use when FILE2 depends on FILE1, to see if changes
  940. in FILE1 make it necessary to recompute FILE2 from it.
  941. ** Changed function `file-exists-p'.
  942. This function is no longer the same as `file-readable-p'.
  943. `file-exists-p' can now return t for a file that exists but which
  944. the fascists won't allow you to read.
  945. ** New function `file-locked-p'.
  946. This function receives a file name as argument and returns `nil'
  947. if the file is not locked, `t' if locked by this Emacs, or a
  948. string giving the name of the user who has locked it.
  949. ** New function `file-name-sans-versions'.
  950. (file-name-sans-versions NAME) returns a substring of NAME, with any
  951. version numbers or other backup suffixes deleted from the end.
  952. ** New functions for directory names.
  953. Although a directory is really a kind of file, specifying a directory
  954. uses a somewhat different syntax from specifying a file.
  955. In Emacs, a directory name is used as part of a file name.
  956. On Unix, the difference is small: a directory name ends in a slash,
  957. while a file name does not: thus, `/usr/rms/' to name a directory,
  958. while `/usr/rms' names the file which holds that directory.
  959. On VMS, the difference is considerable: `du:[rms.foo]' specifies a
  960. directory, but the name of the file that holds that directory is
  961. `du:[rms]foo.dir'.
  962. There are two new functions for converting between directory names
  963. and file names. `directory-file-name' takes a directory name and
  964. returns the name of the file in which that directory's data is stored.
  965. `file-name-as-directory' takes the name of a file and returns
  966. the corresponding directory name. These always understand Unix file name
  967. syntax; on VMS, they understand VMS syntax as well.
  968. For example, (file-name-as-directory "/usr/rms") returns "/usr/rms/"
  969. and (directory-file-name "/usr/rms/") returns "/usr/rms".
  970. On VMS, (file-name-as-directory "du:[rms]foo.dir") returns "du:[rms.foo]"
  971. and (directory-file-name "du:[rms.foo]") returns "du:[rms]foo.dir".
  972. ** Value of `file-attributes' changed.
  973. The function file-attributes returns a list containing many kinds of
  974. information about a file. Now the list has eleven elements.
  975. The tenth element is `t' if deleting the file and creating another
  976. file of the same name would result in a change in the file's group;
  977. `nil' if there would be no change. You can also think of this as
  978. comparing the file's group with the default group for files created in
  979. the same directory by you.
  980. The eleventh element is the inode number of the file.
  981. ** VMS-only function `file-name-all-versions'.
  982. This function returns a list of all the completions, including version
  983. number, of a specified version-number-less file name. This is like
  984. `file-name-all-completions', except that the latter returns values
  985. that do not include version numbers.
  986. ** VMS-only variable `vms-stmlf-recfm'.
  987. On a VMS system, if this variable is non-nil, Emacs will give newly
  988. created files the record format `stmlf'. This is necessary for files
  989. that must contain lines of arbitrary length, such as compiled Emacs
  990. Lisp.
  991. When writing a new version of an existing file, Emacs always keeps
  992. the same record format as the previous version; so this variable has
  993. no effect.
  994. This variable has no effect on Unix systems.
  995. ** `insert-file-contents' on an empty file.
  996. This no longer sets the buffer's "modified" flag.
  997. ** New function (VMS only) `define-logical-name':
  998. (define-logical-name LOGICAL TRANSLATION) defines a VMS logical name
  999. LOGICAL whose translation is TRANSLATION. The new name applies to
  1000. the current process only.
  1001. ** Deleted variable `ask-about-buffer-names'.
  1002. If you want buffer names for files to be generated in a special way,
  1003. you must redefine `create-file-buffer'.
  1004. * Subprocess-related changes.
  1005. ** New function `process-list'.
  1006. This function takes no arguments and returns a list of all
  1007. of Emacs's asynchronous subprocesses.
  1008. ** New function `process-exit-status'.
  1009. This function, given a process, process name or buffer as argument,
  1010. returns the exit status code or signal number of the process.
  1011. If the process has not yet exited or died, this function returns 0.
  1012. ** Process output ignores `buffer-read-only'.
  1013. Output from a process will go into the process's buffer even if the
  1014. buffer is read only.
  1015. ** Switching buffers in filter functions and sentinels.
  1016. Emacs no longer saves and restore the current buffer around calling
  1017. the filter and sentinel functions, so these functions can now
  1018. permanently alter the selected buffer in a straightforward manner.
  1019. ** Specifying environment variables for subprocesses.
  1020. When a subprocess is started with `start-process' or `call-process',
  1021. the value of the variable `process-environment' is taken to
  1022. specify the environment variables to give the subprocess. The
  1023. value should be a list of strings, each of the form "VAR=VALUE".
  1024. `process-environment' is initialized when Emacs starts up
  1025. based on Emacs's environment.
  1026. ** New variable `process-connection-type'.
  1027. If this variable is `nil', when a subprocess is created, Emacs uses
  1028. a pipe rather than a pty to communicate with it. Normally this
  1029. variable is `t', telling Emacs to use a pty if ptys are supported
  1030. and one is available.
  1031. ** New function `waiting-for-user-input-p'.
  1032. This function, given a subprocess as argument, returns `t' if that
  1033. subprocess appears to be waiting for input sent from Emacs,
  1034. or `nil' otherwise.
  1035. ** New hook `shell-set-directory-error-hook'.
  1036. The value of this variable is called, with no arguments, whenever
  1037. Shell mode gets an error trying to keep track of directory-setting
  1038. commands (such as `cd' and `pushd') used in the shell buffer.
  1039. * New functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid'.
  1040. These functions take no arguments and return, respectively,
  1041. the effective uid and the real uid of the Emacs process.
  1042. The value in each case is an integer.
  1043. * New variable `print-escape-newlines' controls string printing.
  1044. If this variable is non-`nil', then when a Lisp string is printed
  1045. by the Lisp printing function `prin1' or `print', newline characters
  1046. are printed as `\n' rather than as a literal newline.
  1047. * New function `sysnetunam' on HPUX.
  1048. This function takes two arguments, a network address PATH and a
  1049. login string LOGIN, and executes the system call `netunam'.
  1050. It returns `t' if the call succeeds, otherwise `nil'.
  1051. News regarding installation:
  1052. * Many `s-...' file names changed.
  1053. Many `s-...' files have been renamed. All periods in such names,
  1054. except the ones just before the final `h', have been changed to
  1055. hyphens. Thus, `s-bsd4.2.h' has been renamed to `s-bsd4-2.h'.
  1056. This is so a Unix distribution can be moved mechanically to VMS.
  1057. * `DOCSTR...' file now called `DOC-...'.
  1058. The file of on-line documentation strings, that used to be
  1059. `DOCSTR.mm.nn.oo' in this directory, is now called `DOC-mm.nn.oo'.
  1060. This is so that it can port to VMS using the standard conventions
  1061. for translating filenames for VMS.
  1062. This file also now contains the doc strings for variables as
  1063. well as functions.
  1064. * Emacs no longer uses floating point arithmetic.
  1065. This may make it easier to port to some machines.
  1066. * Macros `XPNTR' and `XSETPNTR'; flag `DATA_SEG_BITS'.
  1067. These macros exclusively are used to unpack a pointer from a Lisp_Object
  1068. and to insert a pointer into a Lisp_Object. Redefining them may help
  1069. port Emacs to machines in which all pointers to data objects have
  1070. certain high bits set.
  1071. If `DATA_SEG_BITS' is defined, it should be a number which contains
  1072. the high bits to be inclusive or'ed with pointers that are unpacked.
  1073. * New flag `HAVE_X_MENU'.
  1074. Define this flag in `config.h' in addition to `HAVE_X_WINDOWS'
  1075. to enable use of the Emacs interface to X Menus. On some operating
  1076. systems, the rest of the X interface works properly but X Menus
  1077. do not work; hence this separate flag. See the file `src/xmenu.c'
  1078. for more information.
  1079. * Macros `ARRAY_MARK_FLAG' and `DONT_COPY_FLAG'.
  1080. * `HAVE_ALLOCA' prevents assembly of `alloca.s'.
  1081. * `SYSTEM_MALLOC' prevents use of GNU `malloc.c'.
  1082. SYSTEM_MALLOC, if defined, means use the system's own `malloc' routines
  1083. rather than those that come with Emacs.
  1084. Use this only if absolutely necessary, because if it is used you do
  1085. not get warnings when space is getting low.
  1086. * New flags to control unexec.
  1087. See the file `unexec.c' for a long comment on the compilation
  1088. switches that suffice to make it work on many machines.
  1089. * `PNTR_COMPARISON_TYPE'
  1090. Pointers that need to be compared for ordering are converted to this type
  1091. first. Normally this is `unsigned int'.
  1092. * `HAVE_VFORK', `HAVE_DUP2' and `HAVE_GETTIMEOFDAY'.
  1093. These flags just say whether certain system calls are available.
  1094. * New macros control compiler switches, linker switches and libraries.
  1095. The m- and s- files can now control in a modular fashion the precise
  1096. arguments passed to `cc' and `ld'.
  1097. LIBS_STANDARD defines the standard C libraries. Default is `-lc'.
  1098. LIBS_DEBUG defines the extra libraries to use when debugging. Default `-lg'.
  1099. LIBS_SYSTEM can be defined by the s- file to specify extra libraries.
  1100. LIBS_MACHINE can be defined by the m- file to specify extra libraries.
  1101. LIBS_TERMCAP defines the libraries for Termcap or Terminfo.
  1102. It is defined by default in a complicated fashion but the m- or s- file
  1103. can override it.
  1104. LD_SWITCH_SYSTEM can be defined by the s- file to specify extra `ld' switches.
  1105. The default is `-X' on BSD systems except those few that use COFF object files.
  1106. LD_SWITCH_MACHINE can be defined by the m- file to specify extra `ld' switches.
  1107. C_DEBUG_SWITCH defines the switches to give `cc' when debugging. Default `-g'.
  1108. C_OPTIMIZE_SWITCH defines the switches to give `cc' to optimize. Default `-O'.
  1109. C_SWITCH_MACHINE can be defined by the m- file to specify extra `cc' switches.
  1110. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  1111. This file is part of GNU Emacs.
  1112. GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
  1113. it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  1114. the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
  1115. (at your option) any later version.
  1116. GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  1117. but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  1118. MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
  1119. GNU General Public License for more details.
  1120. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  1121. along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
  1122. Local variables:
  1123. mode: text
  1124. end: