ERC NEWS -*- outline -*- Copyright (C) 2006-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. See the end of the file for license conditions. Please send ERC bug reports to 'bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org', and Cc the 'emacs-erc@gnu.org' mailing list as well. If possible, use 'M-x erc-bug' or 'M-x report-emacs-bug'. This file is about changes in ERC, the powerful, modular, and extensible IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client distributed with GNU Emacs since Emacs version 22.1. * Changes in ERC 5.6 ** Module 'keep-place' now offers a visual indicator. Remember your place in ERC buffers a bit more easily while retaining the freedom to look around. Optionally sync the indicator to any progress made when you haven't yet caught up to the live stream. See options 'erc-keep-place-indicator-style' and friends and new module 'keep-place-indicator', which for now must be added manually to 'erc-modules'. ** Module 'fill' now offers a style based on 'visual-line-mode'. This fill style mimics the "hanging indent" look of 'erc-fill-static' and provides some movement and editing commands to optionally tame the less familiar aspects of 'visual-line' behavior. An interactive helper called 'erc-fill-wrap-nudge' allows for dynamic "refilling" of buffers on the fly. Set 'erc-fill-function' to 'erc-fill-wrap' to get started. ** A unified interactive entry point. New users are often dismayed to discover that M-x ERC doesn't connect to its default network, Libera.Chat, over TLS. Though perhaps a decade overdue, this is no longer the case. Other UX improvements in this area aim to make the process of connecting interactively slightly more streamlined and less repetitive, even for veteran users. ** Revised buffer-display handling for interactive commands. A point of friction for new users and one only just introduced with ERC 5.5 has been the lack of visual feedback when first connecting via M-x erc or when issuing a "/JOIN" command at the prompt. As explained below, in the news for 5.5, the discovery of a security issue led to most new ERC buffers being "buried" on creation. On further reflection, this was judged to have been an overcorrection in the case of interactive invocations, hence the borrowing of an old option, 'erc-query-display', and the bestowing of a new alias, 'erc-interactive-display', which better describes its expanded role as a more general buffer-display knob for interactive commands ("/QUERY" still among them). Accompanying this addition are "display"-suffixed aliases for related options 'erc-join-buffer' and 'erc-auto-query', which users have reported as being difficult to discover and remember. When the latter option (now known as 'erc-receive-query-display') is nil, ERC uses 'erc-join-buffer' in its place, much like it does for 'erc-interactive-display'. The old nil behavior can still be gotten via the new compatibility flag 'erc-receive-query-display-defer'. ** Setting a module's mode variable via Customize earns a warning. Trying and failing to activate a module via its minor mode's Custom widget has been an age-old annoyance for new users. Previously ineffective, this method now actually works, but it also admonishes users to edit the 'erc-modules' widget instead. ** The option 'erc-timestamp-use-align-to' is more versatile. While this option has always offered to right-align stamps via the 'display' text property, it's now more effective at doing so when set to a number indicating an offset from the right edge. And when set to the symbol 'margin', it displays stamps in the right margin, although, at the moment, this is mostly intended for use by other modules, such as 'fill-wrap', described above. For both these variants, users of the 'log' module may want to customize 'erc-log-filter-function' to 'erc-stamp-prefix-log-filter' to avoid ragged right-hand stamps appearing in their saved logs. ** Smarter reconnect handling for users on the move. ERC now offers a new, experimental reconnect strategy in the function 'erc-server-delayed-check-reconnect', which tests for underlying connectivity before attempting to reconnect in earnest. See options 'erc-server-reconnect-function' and 'erc-nickname-in-use-functions' to get started. ** Easily constrain all ERC-related business to a dedicated frame. The option 'erc-reuse-frames' can now be set to 'displayed', which tells ERC to show new buffers in frames already occupied by buffers from the same connection. This customization depends on the option 'erc-buffer-display' (formerly 'erc-join-buffer') being set to 'frame'. If you find the name 'displayed' unhelpful, please suggest an alternative by writing to the mailing list. ** Module 'fill' can add a bit of space between messages. On graphical displays, it's now possible to add some breathing room around certain messages via the new option 'erc-fill-line-spacing'. This is especially handy when using the option 'erc-fill-wrap-merge' to omit repeated speaker tags, which can make message boundaries less detectable by tired eyes. ** Some keybindings are now set by modules rather than their libraries. To put it another way, simply loading a built-in module's library no longer modifies 'erc-mode-map'. Instead, modifications occur during module setup. This should not impact most user configs since ERC doesn't bother with keys already taken and only removes bindings it's previously created. Note that while all affected bindings still reside in 'erc-mode-map', future built-in modules will use their own minor-mode maps, and new third-party modules should do the same. ** The option 'erc-timestamp-format-right' has been deprecated. Having to account for this option prevented other ERC modules from easily determining what right-hand stamps would look like before insertion, which is knowledge needed for certain UI decisions. The way ERC has chosen to address this is imperfect and boils down to asking users who've customized this option to switch to 'erc-timestamp-format' instead. If you're affected by this and feel that some other solution, like automatic migration, is justified, please make that known on the bug list. ** The 'nicknames' entry in 'erc-button-alist' is officially exceptional. It's no secret that the 'buttons' module treats potential nicknames specially. To simplify ERC's move to next-gen "rich UI" extensions, this special treatment is being canonized. From now on, all values other than the symbol 'erc-button-buttonize-nicks' appearing in the "FORM" field (third element) of this entry are considered deprecated and will incur a warning. ** Option 'erc-query-on-unjoined-chan-privmsg' restored and renamed. This option was accidentally removed from the default client in ERC 5.5 and was thus prevented from influencing PRIVMSG routing. It's now been restored with a slightly revised role contingent on a few assumptions explained in its doc string. For clarity, it has been renamed 'erc-ensure-target-buffer-on-privmsg'. ** Miscellaneous UX changes. Some minor quality-of-life niceties have finally made their way to ERC. For example, the function 'erc-echo-timestamp' is now interactive and can be invoked on any message to view its timestamp in the echo area. The command 'erc-button-previous' now moves to the beginning instead of the end of buttons. A new command, 'erc-news', can now be invoked to visit this very file. And the 'irccontrols' module now supports additional colors and special handling for "spoilers" (hidden text). ** Changes in the library API. *** Some top-level dependencies have been removed. The library 'erc-goodies' is no longer loaded by ERC's main library. This was done to further cement the move toward a unidirectional dependency flow begun in 5.5. Additionally, a few barely used and newly introduced dependencies are now lazily loaded, which may upset some third-party code. The first of these is 'pp' because its 'pp-to-string' is autoloaded in all supported ERC versions. Also gone are 'thingatpt', 'time-date', and 'iso8601'. All were used ultra sparingly, and the latter two have only been around for one minor release cycle, so their removal hopefully won't cause much churn. *** Some ERC-applied text properties have changed. Chiefly, 'rear-sticky' has been replaced by 'erc-command', which records the IRC command (or numeric) associated with a message. Less impactfully, the value of the 'field' property for ERC's prompt has changed from 't' to the more useful 'erc-prompt', although the property of the same name has been retained. *** ERC now manages timestamp-related properties a bit differently. For starters, the 'cursor-sensor-functions' property no longer contains unique closures and thus no longer proves effective for traversing messages. To compensate, a new property, 'erc-timestamp', now spans message bodies but not the newlines delimiting them. Somewhat relatedly, the function 'erc-insert-aligned' has been deprecated and removed from the primary client code path. *** The role of a module's Custom group is now more clearly defined. Associating built-in modules with Custom groups and provided library features has improved. More specifically, a module's group now enjoys the singular purpose of determining where the module's minor mode variable lives in the Customize interface. And although ERC is now slightly more adept at linking these entities, third-parties are still encouraged to keep a module's name aligned with its group's as well as the provided feature of its containing library, if only for the usual reasons of namespace hygiene and discoverability. *** ERC now supports arbitrary CHANTYPES. Specifically, channels can be prefixed with any predesignated character, mainly to afford more flexibility to specialty services, like bridges to other protocols. *** 'erc-cmd-HELP' recognizes subcommands. Some IRC "slash" commands are hierarchical and require users to specify a subcommand to actually carry out anything of consequence. Built-in modules can now provide more detailed help for a particular subcommand by telling ERC to defer to a specialized handler. *** Longtime quasi modules have been made proper. The 'fill' module is now defined by 'define-erc-module'. The same goes for ERC's imenu integration, which has 'imenu' now appearing in the default value of 'erc-modules'. *** Prompt input is split before 'erc-pre-send-functions' has a say. Hook members are now treated to input whose lines have already been adjusted to fall within the allowed length limit. For convenience, third-party code can request that the final input be "re-filled" prior to being sent. See doc string for details. *** ERC's prompt survives the insertion of user input and messages. Previously, ERC's prompt and its input marker disappeared while running hooks during message insertion, and the position of its "insert marker" (ERC's per-buffer process mark) was inconsistent during these spells. To make insertion handling more predictable in preparation for incorporating various protocol extensions, the prompt and its bounding markers have become perennial fixtures. In rare cases, these changes may mean third-party code needs tweaking, for example, requiring the use of 'insert-before-markers' instead of 'insert'. As always, users feeling unduly inconvenienced by these changes are encouraged to voice their concerns on the bug list. *** Miscellaneous changes Two helper macros from GNU ELPA's Compat library are now available to third-party modules as 'erc-compat-call' and 'erc-compat-function'. In the area of buttons, 'Info-goto-node' has been supplanted by plain old 'info' in 'erc-button-alist', and the bracketed "" pattern entry has been removed because it was more or less redundant. And the "TAB" key is now bound to a new command, 'erc-tab', that only calls 'completion-at-point' when point is in the input area and module-specific commands, like 'erc-button-next', otherwise. * Changes in ERC 5.5 ** Smarter buffer naming for withstanding collisions. ERC buffers now remain tied to their logical network contexts, even while offline. These associations can survive regional server changes and the intercession of proxies. As has long been practiced in other areas of Emacs, "uniquified" buffer renaming prevents collisions between buffers of different contexts. ERC's approach prioritizes predictability over economy, favoring fully qualified suffixes without elided or omitted components. Potential avenues for confusion remain but will die out with the adoption of emerging protocol extensions. ** Option 'erc-rename-buffers' deprecated. The promises made by its old "on" state are now fully realized and enabled permanently by default. Its old behavior when disabled has been preserved and will remain available (with warnings) for years to come. ** Option 'erc-reuse-buffers' deprecated. This ancient option has been a constant source of confusion, as exhibited most recently when its "disabled" meaning was partially inverted. Introduced in ERC 5.4 (Emacs 28.1), this regression saw existing channel buffers transparently reassociated instead of created anew. The pre-5.4 "disabled" behavior has been restored and will remain accessible for the foreseeable future, warts and all (e.g., with its often superfluous "/DIALED-HOST" suffixing always present). ** The 'networks' module is now quasi-required. The 'networks' module is now all but required for everyday interactive use. A default member of 'erc-modules' since ERC 5.3, 'networks' has grown increasingly integral to core client operations over the years. From now on, only the most essential operations will be officially supported in its absence, and users will see a warning upon invoking an entry point, like 'erc-tls', when that's the case. On a related note, the function 'erc-network' now always returns non-nil in buffers created by a successfully established IRC connection, even after that connection has been closed. This was done to aid the overall effort to improve buffer association. ** Tighter auth-source integration. The days of hit-and-miss auth-source queries are hopefully behind us. With the overhaul of the services module temporarily shelved and the transition to SASL-based authentication still underway, users may feel left in the lurch to endure yet another release cycle of backtick hell. For some, auth-source may provide a workaround in the form of nonstandard server passwords. See the section entitled "auth-source" in the Integrations chapter of ERC's manual. ** Rudimentary SASL support has arrived. A new module, 'erc-sasl', now ships with ERC. See Info node "(erc) SASL" in the manual for details. ** Username argument for entry-point commands. Commands 'erc' and 'erc-tls' now accept a ':user' keyword argument, which, when present, becomes the first argument passed to the "USER" IRC command. The traditional way of setting this globally, via 'erc-email-userid', is still honored. ** Changes to display options for new ERC buffers. The default value for the option 'erc-join-buffer', which determines how new buffers are displayed, has been changed to 'bury' for security reasons. Although the old value of 'buffer' is still accessible, along with its original behavior, users wanting a safer alternative can now opt for an improved 'window-noselect' instead. It still offers the same pronounced visual cue when connecting and joining but now avoids any hijacking of the active window as well. Beyond this, additional flexibility is now available for controlling the behavior of newly created target buffers during reconnection. See the option 'erc-reconnect-display' for more. ** Improved handling of multiline prompt input. This means better detection and handling of intervening and trailing blanks when 'erc-send-whitespace-lines' is active. New options have also been added for warning when input spans multiple lines. Although off by default, new users are encouraged to enable them. See options 'erc-inhibit-multiline-input' and 'erc-ask-about-multiline-input'. ** URL handling has improved. Clicking on 'irc://' and 'ircs://' links elsewhere in Emacs now does the right thing most of the time. However, for security reasons, users are now prompted to confirm connection parameters prior to lift off. See the new '(erc) Integrations' section in the Info manual for details. ** ERC's major-mode hook now runs slightly later. The function 'erc-open' now delays running 'erc-mode-hook' until ERC's prompt and its bounding markers and many essential local variables have been initialized. Those essentials include the familiar 'erc-default-recipients', 'erc-server-users', and 'erc-network', as well as the various "session" variables, like 'erc-session-connector'. ERC activates "local modules" immediately afterward, just before running 'erc-connect-pre-hook', which is still useful for gaining a full accounting of what's been set. In similar news, 'erc-open' no longer calls 'erc-update-modules'. However, it still activates modules in a similar fashion, meaning, among other things, global-module setup still occurs before major-mode activation (something that's here to stay for compatibility reasons). ** Miscellaneous behavioral changes impacting the user experience. A bug has been fixed that saw prompts being mangled, doubled, or erased in server buffers upon disconnection. Instead, input prompts now collapse into an alternate form designated by the option 'erc-prompt-hidden'. Behavior differs for query and channel buffers but can be fine-tuned via the repurposed, formerly abandoned option 'erc-hide-prompt'. Another fix-turned-feature involves certain commands provided by the 'erc-match' module, such as 'erc-add-keyword', 'erc-add-pal', and others, which now optionally offer to 'regexp-quote' the current input. The old behavior, if desired, can still be had via the new option 'erc-match-quote-when-adding'. In 5.4, support for using network symbols as keys was added for 'erc-autojoin-channels-alist'. This has been extended to include explicit symbols passed to 'erc-tls' and 'erc' as so-called network-context identifiers via a new ':id' keyword. The latter carries wider significance beyond autojoin and can be used for unequivocally identifying a connection in a human-readable way. A number of UX-centric bug fixes accompany this release. For example, spaces are now possible in server passwords, and users of the Soju bouncer should no longer see outgoing messages pile up during periods of heavy traffic. See the Emacs change log for the full complement. ** Miscellaneous behavioral changes in the library API. A number of core macros and other definitions have been moved to a new file called erc-common.el. This was done to help mitigate various complications arising from the mutual dependency between 'erc' and 'erc-backend'. Also on the maintainability front, ERC now relies on the Compat library from GNU ELPA to supply forward compatibility shims for users running older versions of Emacs. The required Compat version resides atop ERC's main library file, in the 'Package-Requires' header. Third-party modules should benefit automatically from its adoption. In an effort to help further tame ERC's complexity, the variable 'erc-default-recipients' is now expected to hold but a single target. As a consequence, functions like 'erc-add-default-channel' that imagine an alternate, aspirational model of buffer-target relations have been deprecated. For specifics, see entries in Emacs' ChangeLog.4 from around June 30, 2022. A number of less consequential deprecations also debut in this release. For example, the function 'erc-auto-query' was deemed too difficult to understand, behavior wise, and has thus been stricken from the client code path with no public replacement. Although likely uncontroversial, such changes may still spell disruption for some. If you find yourself among them and in need of explanations, please see related entries in the change log and discussions on the bug tracker. Although this release is light on API features, some groundwork has been laid for what may become a new breed of ERC module, namely, "connection-local" (or simply "local") modules. This marks a small but crucial step forward toward a more flexible and granular revamping of ERC's long touted extensibility. See the Info node "(erc) Local Modules" for details. Lastly, a few internal variables have been introduced that could just as well have been made public, possibly as user options. Likewise for some internal functions. As always, users needing such functionality officially exposed are encouraged to write to emacs-erc@gnu.org. * Changes in ERC 5.4.1 ** No user-visible changes since ERC 5.4, but a few tweaks in some ERC file headers and the ERC manual in order to successfully build ERC for GNU ELPA. (See below for the news item of ERC now being distributed on GNU ELPA in addition to its continued inclusion in GNU Emacs core.) * Changes in ERC 5.4 ** Starting with Emacs 28.1 and ERC 5.4, ERC NEWS are added here again. After ERC 5.3, since November 2012, ERC's NEWS items were added in the main Emacs NEWS file, and users were referred to there. Now, starting with Emacs 28.1 and ERC 5.4, which mark ERC's release to GNU ELPA, ERC NEWS have been moved to this file again, so that we can include a NEWS file consisting only of ERC changes in ERC's package on GNU ELPA. The NEWS entries for ERC changes in Emacs 28.1 have been moved from the main Emacs NEWS file to here. For ERC NEWS entries corresponding to Emacs versions before 28, to avoid modifying the NEWS file for all of those releases, the ERC NEWS entries have only been copied below, and the NEWS.* files were left intact. ** ERC is now available on GNU ELPA. Starting with ERC 5.4, in addition to being distributed with GNU Emacs itself, ERC is also included in GNU ELPA, allowing users to enjoy the improvements of newer ERC versions on older Emacs versions as well. ERC's package page on GNU ELPA: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/erc.html ** New option 'erc-rename-buffers'. ** New faces 'erc-my-nick-prefix-face' and 'erc-nick-prefix-face'. ** 'erc-format-@nick' displays all user modes instead of only op and voice. ** The display of irc commands in the current buffer has been disabled. ** 'erc-version' now follows the Emacs version. ** ERC can now hide message types by network or channel. 'erc-hide-list' will hide all messages of the specified type, while 'erc-network-hide-list' and 'erc-channel-hide-list' will only hide the specified message types for the respective specified targets. ** Reconnection is now asynchronous. ** Nick completion is now case-insensitive again after inadvertently being made case-sensitive in Emacs 24.2. ** New variable 'erc-default-port-tls' used to connect to TLS IRC servers. ** New hook 'erc-insert-done-hook'. This hook is called after strings have been inserted into the buffer, and is free to alter point and window configurations, as it's not called from inside a 'save-excursion', as opposed to 'erc-insert-post-hook'. ** 'erc-button-google-url' has been renamed to 'erc-button-search-url' and its value has been changed to Duck Duck Go. ** 'erc-send-pre-hook' and 'erc-send-this' have been obsoleted. The user option to use instead to alter text to be sent is now 'erc-pre-send-functions'. ** Improve matching/highlighting of nicknames. Open and close parenthesis and apostrophe are not considered valid nick characters anymore, matching the given grammar in RFC 2812 section 2.3.1. This enables correct matching and highlighting of nicks when they are surrounded by parentheses, like "(nick)", and when adjacent to an apostrophe, like "nick's". ** Set 'erc-button-url-regexp' to 'browse-url-button-regexp' which better handles surrounding pair of parentheses. ** New function 'erc-switch-to-buffer-other-window' which is like 'erc-switch-to-buffer', but opens the buffer in another window. ** New function 'erc-track-switch-buffer-other-window' which is like 'erc-track-switch-buffer', but opens the buffer in another window. ** NickServ passwords can now be retrieved from auth-source. The 'erc-use-auth-source-for-nickserv-password' user option enables querying auth-source for NickServ passwords. To enable this, add the following to your init file: (setq erc-use-auth-source-for-nickserv-password t) ** NickServ identification now prompts for password last. When 'erc-prompt-for-nickserv-password' is non-nil, the user used to be unconditionally prompted interactively for a password, regardless of the value of 'erc-nickserv-passwords', which was effectively ignored (same for the new 'erc-use-auth-source-for-nickserv-password'). This limitation is now lifted, and the user is interactively prompted last, after the other identification methods have run. ** The '/ignore' command will now ask for a timeout to stop ignoring the user. Allowed inputs are seconds or ISO8601-like periods like "1h" or "4h30m". ** ERC now recognizes 'C-]' for italic text. Italic text is displayed in the new 'erc-italic-face'. ** erc-match.el now supports 'message' highlight type (not including the nick). The 'erc-current-nick-highlight-type', 'erc-pal-highlight-type', 'erc-fool-highlight-type', 'erc-keyword-highlight-type', and 'erc-dangerous-host-highlight-type' user options now support a 'message' type for highlighting the entire message but not the sender's nick. ** erc-status-sidebar.el is now part of ERC. The 'erc-status-sidebar' package which provides a HexChat-like activity overview sidebar for joined IRC channels is now part of ERC. ** erc-tls now supports specifying a TLS client certificate. The 'erc-tls' function has been updated to allow specifying a TLS client certificate for authentication, as an alternative to NickServ password-based authentication. This is referred to as "CertFP" (short for Certificate Fingerprint) by several IRC networks. See the Info node "(erc) Connecting" in the ERC manual for more details and examples on how to specify and use TLS client certificates with 'erc-tls'. ** Update IRC-related references to point to Libera.Chat. The Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project have moved their official IRC channels from the Freenode network to Libera.Chat. For the original announcement and the follow-up update, including more details, see: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2021-06/msg00005.html https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2021-06/msg00007.html Given the relocation of GNU and FSF's official IRC channels, as well as #emacs and various other Emacs-themed channels (see the link below) to Libera.Chat, IRC-related references in the Emacs repository have now been updated to point to Libera.Chat. https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu-emacs/2021-06/msg00000.html ** Add 'erc-track-select-mode-line-face' (obsoletes 'erc-track-find-face'). The 'erc-track-find-face' function of the erc-track module has been declared obsolete and rewritten as 'erc-track-select-mode-line-face', with different expected arguments (the current and old faces are now separated) and clearer documentation. ** Add '/opme' and '/deopme' convenience commands. The new '/opme' convenience command asks ChanServ to set the operator status for the current nick in the current channel, and '/deopme' unsets it. ** Add '/wii' convenience command for whois with idle time. The new '/wii' convenience command calls the '/whois' command with the given nick as both arguments, which is useful for displaying the whois information for the nick along with idle time, even if the nick is on a different server than the one the current user is connected to. Using the given nick itself instead of the server it is connected to is not standardized, but is widely supported across IRC networks. ** Add 'erc-bug' command for reporting ERC bugs. The new 'erc-bug' command prompts for a subject, and passes it on to 'report-emacs-bug' along with the current ERC version, and adds the ERC mailing list in Cc. * Changes in ERC 5.3 ** New function `erc-tls' is to be used for connecting to a server via TLS. It requires the tls.el library. ** The function `erc-ssl' will now always use ssl.el, even in the version of ERC that comes with Emacs. ** Type `C-u' before `C-c C-j' to prompt for a channel key `erc-join-channel' now accepts a prefix-argument to prompt for the key when channels are protected by keywords. ** ERC will now automatically determine which nick prefixes are valid when joining a server. ** Figure out which directory contains startup files when looking for .erc.el. For Emacs this is usually ~/.emacs.d, and for XEmacs this is usually ~/.xemacs. ** Fix bug with view-mode when running erc-toggle-debug-irc-protocol. ** Permit several commands to be run even when the server connection is dead. This includes /CLEAR, /COUNTRY, /HELP, /LASTLOG, /QUIT, /GQUIT, /RECONNECT, /SERVER, and /SET. ** Make /RECONNECT work better when the server connection is dead. Also, handle case where the server buffer has been killed. ** Better handle interaction with /RECONNECT and indefinite reconnect attempts. Display message which tells the user that they can stop the reconnect attempts by killing the server buffer. ** New option `erc-reuse-frames' determines whether new frames are always created. It defaults to not creating a new frame for an ERC buffer if there is already a window displaying it. This only has an effect when the `erc-join-buffer' option is set to 'frame. ** New command /ME'S handles the case where someone types "/me's" in an ERC buffer. It concatenates the text " 's" to the beginning of the input and then sends the result like a normal /ME command. ** Fix bug where some messages were being sent to the server too soon. In the past, this may have resulted in strange problems like seeing the connection attempt stall, which may have especially affected spotty or traffic-shaped connections. ** Handle 307 (nick has identified) responses from the server. ** Display a less-confusing message if the connection attempt fails. ** On a tty, make sure that notices are displayed in blue rather than pink. ** By default, open query buffers that are initiated by others in a new unselected window. This may be changed by customizing the `erc-auto-query' option. This should make ERC more friendly to new users. ** New option `erc-query-display' indicates how to display a query buffer that is made using the /QUERY command. The default is to display the query in a new selected window. ** By default, display network name rather than server name in the modeline. This should ERC use less space in the modeline. To get the old behavior back, set `erc-mode-line-format' to "%s %a". ** New option `erc-remove-parsed-property' determines whether to remove the 'erc-parsed property. This should save some memory in channels with large amounts of text on screen. It is enabled by default. ** Modules newly enabled by default *** move-to-prompt: Move to the prompt when typing text. *** networks: Provide data about IRC networks. ** New formatting variables allowed in `erc-format-network': *** `%N': the name of the network. *** `%S': much like %s, but let the network name trump the server name. ** Compatibility with old releases *** In `erc-server-coding-system' and `erc-coding-system-for-target', pass the `target' argument as the first and only argument to the function named by these options. *** In `erc-track-faces-priority-list', permit list entries to be lists of faces. This can be used to differentiate between, for example, buttons in default text and buttons in notices. *** The `erc-assert' function has been removed in favor of using `assert' from cl-macs.el. *** If your application uses the 'erc-parsed text property outside of the insert hooks, you will need to set `erc-remove-parsed-property' to nil. ** Changes and additions to modules *** BBDB (erc-bbdb.el) **** Work around bug in XEmacs 21.4 that causes an error to be thrown when the first argument to `run-at-time' is nil. *** Button (erc-button.el) **** Recognize parentheses that are part of URLs. **** When in a channel, only buttonize nicks from that channel. *** DCC support (erc-dcc.el) **** Turn this into the "dcc" module for ERC, so that it can be more easily enabled. **** New option `erc-dcc-listen-host' determines which IP address to listen on for outside connection attempts. **** New option `erc-dcc-public-host' determines which IP address to advertise when sending a file. This is useful for people who are on a local subnet. Together, these two options replace the `erc-dcc-host' option. **** New option `erc-dcc-receive-cache' indicates how much of a received file to store in an Emacs buffer before flushing it to disk. The default is 0.5 MB. **** Save only parts of received files in buffers, writing repeatedly to disk after we get at least `erc-dcc-receive-cache' bytes. This allows users to receive very large files without running out of memory. **** Rename `erc-verbose-dcc' option to `erc-dcc-verbose' and also default it to nil. **** Fix edge case in erc-dcc-send-sentinel. **** If client confirms too much, then display byte count and kill the file buffer. *** Goodies (erc-goodies.el) **** New module move-to-prompt causes the point to be moved to the prompt if a user tries to type elsewhere in the buffer, and then inserts their keystrokes after the prompt. It is enabled by default. **** New module keep-place keeps your place in unvisited ERC buffers when new messages arrive. **** Enable scroll-to-bottom in all ERC buffers when the module is enabled, rather than having the user do it manually. **** Fix bug with buffer ordering and scroll-to-bottom module. **** In the unmorse module, handle the morse code style that has "/ " at the end of every letter. *** Identd (erc-identd.el) **** Fix bad behavior when closing the identd process. *** Channel lists (erc-list.el) **** Replace the old module with a rewritten one, so that we can include it with Emacs. The old version of erc-list.el has been renamed to erc-list-old.el, and is available as the list-old module. The new version does not yet have support for XEmacs. **** Don't display lots of output in the server buffer when running /LIST. *** Logging (erc-log.el) **** Permit the `erc-log-channels-directory' option to be set to a function name. This makes it easier to write custom functions that determine where log files should be placed. **** New option `erc-log-filter-function' specifies the function to call for filtering text before writing it to a log file. By default, no filtering is performed. *** Networks (erc-networks.el) **** Turn this into the "networks" module for ERC, so that it can be more easily enabled. Enable it by default. **** Add support for Rizon. *** Internet services / Nickserv (erc-services.el) **** New hook option `erc-nickserv-identified-hook' is run after NickServ acknowledges a successful identification. **** Add support for the GRnet and Rizon networks. *** Timestamps (erc-stamp.el) **** By default, place timestamps on both the left and the right. The left timestamps appear once a day, and the right timestamps appear once a minute when new messages arrive. To change this, customize the `erc-insert-timestamp-function' and `erc-insert-away-timestamp-function' options. *** Channel tracking (erc-track.el) **** If `erc-track-position-in-mode-line' is set to nil, the tracking information won't be shown in the mode line, which is a change from the previous behavior of showing it "After all other information". If this variable is set to t, then the information will be added to the very end of the mode line. **** New option `erc-track-remove-disconnected-buffers' controls whether buffers associated with a server that is disconnected should be removed from the modified buffers list. The default is to keep them in the list. **** New hook option `erc-track-list-changed-hook' is run whenever the contents of the modified channels list changes. It is useful for people who use a separate mechanism to provide notification of channel activity. **** The `erc-track-switch-direction' option now can be set to the value 'importance. If set to this value, ERC will switch to channels in order of importance, which is determined by the position of the channel's face in `erc-track-faces-priority-list'. **** Activate erc-track-minor-mode earlier in the connection process. **** Don't track buttons in notices. **** Get a rough idea for which channels are currently active by switching between several normal conversation faces in the modeline. This behavior can be modified by changing the new `erc-track-faces-normal-list' option. **** Ignore display of who set the default channel topic and listing of users on the current channel. Customize the `erc-track-exclude-types' option to indicate the types of messages to exclude. These two message types are "333" and "353", respectively. *** Support for acting as an XDCC file-server (erc-xdcc.el) **** Turn this into the "xdcc" module for ERC, so that it can be more easily enabled. * Changes in ERC 5.2 ** M-x erc RET now starts ERC. `erc-select' has been changed to `erc'. `erc-select' still remains as an alias of `erc'. Likewise, `erc-select-ssl' has been renamed to `erc-ssl' with `erc-select-ssl' as its alias. The function that was known as `erc' is now `erc-open'. ** Open query buffers by default when private messages are received. The default value of `erc-auto-query' has been changed to 'bury. ** New command: /RECONNECT This command tries to reconnect to the current IRC server exactly once. It does not work in server buffers (throws an error before the command is run), but works in query and channel buffers. ** In MS-DOS environments, look for _ercrc.el rather than .ercrc.el. ** Fix buggy interaction with multi-tty Emacs. ** After running /QUIT, make sure that the IRC process is killed within 4 seconds. Freenode, in particular, needs this at times. ** If the IRC process has not responded to our PINGs within a certain time, kill it and restart the connection. See `erc-server-auto-reconnect', `erc-server-reconnect-attempts', `erc-server-reconnect-timeout', `erc-server-send-ping-interval', and `erc-server-send-ping-timeout' to fine-tune ERC's behavior. ** Avoid getting into an infinite connection loop. Previously, this could happen if your nick was banned, you were using Tor, incorrect information was entered, or the connection was bad. ** Make ban messages less confusing. ** Restore the point correctly when reconnecting to an IRC server. ** Make /IGNORE and /UNIGNORE prompt to determine whether their argument is a user or a regexp. This results in less-confusing behavior when trying to ignore someone who has a bracket in their nick. ** Make the default port "6667" rather than "ircd", because some operating systems don't know what port "ircd" maps to. ** Fix several bugs in erc-iswitchb (C-c C-b). ** Clean up internal documentation. Special thanks go to Juanma Barranquero for the thorough vetting of ERC's internal documentation. ** Display a more informative message when a module is not found. ** Fix a bug where paths were being colored like IRC commands. ** In the customize interface for `erc-modules', add the name of the module. This makes it easier to find modules by name. ** erc-server-send-ping-interval: Change to use a default of 30 seconds. ** Some files which are included with the release of ERC 5.2 will not appear in the version of ERC that is bundled with Emacs 22. These extras files may be found at: o https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/erc/erc-5.2-extras.tar.gz, or o https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/erc/erc-5.2-extras.zip. ** Renamed files Several files were renamed so as to make them distinct to users of the MS-DOS operating system. o erc-autojoin.el -> erc-join.el o erc-complete.el -> erc-hecomplete.el o erc-nickserv.el -> erc-services.el o ChangeLog.NNNN -> ChangeLog.NN ** Header line changes *** Remove "[IRC]" from the header line. *** Add the %l format character to `erc-header-line-format', *** Document how to remove the header line. Namely: (setq erc-header-line-format nil). ** New options *** erc-server-reconnect-attempts: Determines the number of reconnection attempts that ERC will make per server. *** erc-server-reconnect-timeout: Determines the amount of time, in seconds, that ERC will wait between successive reconnect attempts. *** erc-server-send-ping-timeout: Determines when to consider a connection stalled and restart it. The default is after 120 seconds. *** erc-system-name: Determines the system name to use when logging in. The default is to figure this out by calling `system-name'. ** New face: `erc-my-nick-face' This helps make it easier to distinguish messages sent by yourself from messages sent by other users when the value of the variable `erc-show-my-nick' is non-nil. ** Namespace changes *** New macro: `erc-with-server-buffer' Switches to the current ERC server buffer and runs some code. If no server buffer is available, return nil. This is a useful way to access variables in the server buffer. *** New function: `erc-open-server-buffer-p' Returns non-nil if the given buffer is an ERC server buffer that has an open IRC process. *** New function: `erc-format-lag-time' Returns the estimated lag time to server, `erc-server-lag'. *** Renamed items o `erc-server-setup-periodical-server-ping' is now `erc-server-setup-periodical-ping' o `erc-away-p' is now `erc-away-time' ** Changes to the ERC manual *** New section: Sample Session. Describes a sample ERC session for connecting to the #emacs channel on Freenode. Also mention the #erc channel. *** New section: Special Features. Describes some of the special features of ERC. *** Getting Started: Mention ~/.emacs.d/.ercrc.el and the Customize interface. *** Development: Mention ErcDevelopment page on emacswiki.org. *** Tips and Tricks: Remove empty section for now. *** Options: Mention how to see available ERC options. *** Sample Configuration: Add an example of how to configure ERC. ** New modules *** Autoaway (erc-autoaway.el) **** Make this much more reliable. **** Avoid duplicate messages when coming back from being away. **** Fix bug where autoaway was enabled just by loading the file. *** BBDB (erc-bbdb.el) **** Display information on how to cancel merging of info or how to create a new John Doe record. **** Make it so that information from /whois continues to come in, even while prompting for a record to merge. **** Make hitting C-g correctly abort merging the record. *** Capab identify (erc-capab.el) Mark users who haven't identified to NickServ on servers supporting CAPAB IDENTIFY-MSG. ** Changes and additions to modules *** Button (erc-button.el) **** Make go to the previous button. *** Channel tracking (erc-track.el) **** Use mouse-face and help-echo for channel names in the mode-line. This helps people using a mouse know that they are buttons and can be clicked on. **** Fix issue where C-c C-SPC could conflict with user-defined keybindings. This is accomplished by moving these bindings to their own global minor mode. Now the default is to check whether the user has bound something to C-c C-SPC or C-c C-@. If they have, prompt them about whether to really override that binding. This also has the effect of preventing ERC from clobbering rcirc's keybinding, unless this is desired. See `erc-track-enable-keybindings' for more details. **** New option: erc-track-enable-keybindings. Determine whether or not to enable the C-c C-SPC and C-c C-@ keybindings. The default is to ask whether to do this if a binding to these keys already exists. It can also be set to t or nil to always bind or never bind, respectively. **** Remove `track-when-inactive' module. See `erc-track-when-inactive' for further details. **** New option: erc-track-when-inactive. This option replaces the track-when-inactive module. Set it to non-nil to track activity even in visible buffers when inactive. The default is nil. **** Remove the `track-modified-channels' alias for the `track' module. *** DCC support (erc-dcc.el) **** Add Usage section to Commentary. **** Fix a bug in the server message output. *** Filling (erc-fill.el) **** Fix bug involving messages that start with one or more blank lines. *** Identd (erc-identd.el) **** New option `erc-identd-port' Specifies the port to use if none is given as an argument to `erc-identd-start'. This is placed in the new customization group `erc-identd'. **** New function: `erc-identd-quickstart' Ignores any arguments and calls `erc-identd-start'. *** Channel lists (erc-list.el) **** Enable by default, except in the version of ERC bundled with Emacs 22. *** Logging (erc-log.el) **** Make sure filenames are safe to use before writing to them. **** Save all log buffers when exiting Emacs. **** erc-generate-log-file-name-function: Add option for `erc-generate-log-file-name-network', which is a new function that uses the network name rather than the server name when possible. *** Menu (erc-menu.el) **** Name the menu "ERC" instead of "IRC" to avoid confusion with rcirc and other clients. **** Make this into a proper module and load it by default. **** Add "Current channel" submenu. *** Networks (erc-networks.el) **** Add support for Ars OpenIRC, LinuxChix, and OFTC networks. **** Escape periods in Konfido.Net and Kewl.Org. *** Internet services / Nickserv (erc-nickserv.el) **** Add new 'both method for the `erc-nickserv-identify-mode' option and make it the default. This tries to do the right thing both when a known nickserv message exists for an IRC network, and when it does not. **** Support nickserv authentication on OFTC, Azzurra, Ars, and QuakeNet. **** Support authentication on BitlBee. **** Make source code easier to understand by using accessor functions. *** Sound support (erc-sound.el) **** Make this work with both Emacs 21 and Emacs 22. *** Timestamps (erc-stamp.el) **** Exclude the newline from the erc-timestamp field. **** New function: `erc-toggle-timestamps'. Toggles display of timestamps. * Changes in ERC 5.1.4 ** Make find-function and find-variable work in Emacs 22 for names that are constructed by `define-erc-module'. ** Fix bug introduced in ERC 5.1.3 that caused messages to go the wrong buffer. ** Changes and additions to modules *** Highlighting (erc-match.el) **** Don't activate view-mode. *** Logging (erc-log.el) **** When this module is activated, make sure logging is enabled on already-opened buffers. Ditto for disabling logging when the module is deactivated. **** Fix some errors that occur when exiting Emacs without first quitting open IRC servers. * Changes in ERC 5.1.3 ** Fix use of /quote command with no initial whitespace. ** Make it possible to customize the colorization of the header line. The `erc-header-line' face is used to color the header line. The `erc-header-line-face-method' determines the method to use when colorizing the header line. ** Add the new function `erc-handle-irc-url', which is a suitable candidate to use for `url-irc-function'. This permits some integration of url.el and ERC. ** Fix several errors that occur when server or channel buffers are killed prematurely. ** Fix toggling of flood control. ** Match the patterns in `erc-encoding-coding-alist' as regexps, instead of verbatim text. Also, match case-insensitively. ** The /SMV command has been removed, since we no longer have meaningful module-specific version information. ** Fix a "(stringp nil)" error that can happen when doing /PART. ** Use a better example in the `erc-part-reason-various-alist' documentation. ** When using `erc-quit-reason-various' and `erc-part-reason-various' and no matches are found, default to using the ERC version string rather than "nil". ** Add the `list' and `page' modules to the `erc-modules' customize interface. ** Changes to the ERC manual *** Update the list of available modules. *** Revise information about releases and development. *** Provide a simpler example in the "Getting Started" chapter. *** Fully document how to connect to an IRC server in the new "Connecting" chapter. ** Changes and additions to modules *** Autoaway (erc-autoaway.el) **** Rename the `erc-autoaway-use-emacs-idle' option to `erc-autoaway-idle-method'. **** Add support for autoaway based on user idle time. This is now the default. **** If you set the AWAY status yourself, erc-autoaway will not interfere by un-setting AWAY prematurely. **** If you are set away while visiting a non-ERC buffer, erc-autoaway used to fail in bringing the user back. This is now fixed. *** BBDB (erc-bbdb.el) **** Add new option `erc-bbdb-electric-p', which determines whether to make the BBDB buffer electric. This defaults to not electric. *** Button (erc-button.el) **** Use instead of for `erc-button-previous'. *** Identd (erc-identd.el) **** Fix a bug that involves starting the identd server. **** Make this work with Emacs 22. **** Provide a real ERC module named `identd'. **** Don't create an extra buffer for the identd process. *** Channel lists (erc-list.el) **** Enable by default, except in the version of ERC bundled with Emacs 22. *** Logging (erc-log.el) **** By default, don't insert old logs when opening an ERC buffer. This may be changed by customizing `erc-log-insert-log-on-open'. **** New option `erc-log-write-after-send' determines whether the log file will be written to after every sent message. The default is not to do this. **** New option `erc-log-write-after-insert' determines whether the log file will be written to when new text is added to a logged ERC buffer. The default is not to do this. With this option and the previous option, logging should no longer slow down ERC as much. **** Default to saving buffers and queries on quit. This may be changed by customizing the `erc-save-buffer-on-quit' and `erc-save-queries-on-quit' options, respectively. **** Only perform logging when the `logging' module is added to `erc-modules'. This prevents logging from being activated just by loading the erc-log.el file, and makes logging act like other ERC modules. *** Programmable completion (erc-pcomplete.el) **** Don't complete the user's current nickname. * Changes in ERC 5.1.2 ** Fix compiler errors in erc-autojoin.el and erc-dcc.el. ** Move to end of prompt when ERC reconnects to a server. ** Changes and additions to modules *** Spell-checking (erc-spelling.el) **** Don't spell-check nicks or words that are prefixed with '/'. **** Remove flyspell properties from words we shouldn't spell-check. **** Fix an issue that caused the ispell process to reload every time we switch to an ERC buffer. *** Timestamps (erc-stamp.el) **** Fix an inconsistency in calculating width of right timestamps. **** Rename option `erc-timestamp-right-align-by-pixel' to `erc-timestamp-use-align-to'. This controls whether to use the more fail-proof method of aligning right timestamps, as mentioned below. **** Fix a right timestamp spacing problem that used to occur when erc-stamp.el was byte-compiled. Now that this is fixed, it is safe to use the method that aligns right timestamps perfectly in Emacs22 with X. If the current version of Emacs doesn't support this method, use the simpler method, which is prone to alignment issues for math symbols and other variable-width text. A side effect of using this new method is that there will only be one space before a right timestamp in any saved logs. If this is unacceptable, set `erc-timestamp-use-align-to' to nil. * Changes in ERC 5.1.1 ** Fix a requirement on cl.el. ** Use tls.el for SSL connections, rather than ssl.el. ** Changes and additions to modules *** ibuffer integration (erc-ibuffer.el) **** Update this to work with the version of ibuffer.el that comes with recent Emacs variants. *** Old completion (erc-complete.el) **** Fix a few errors. *** Speedbar (erc-speedbar.el) **** Make this work with the version of speedbar.el that comes with recent Emacs variants. *** Timestamps (erc-stamp.el) **** By default, use a more failsafe method of displaying right timestamps. To get right timestamps to align perfectly in Emacs22 using X, set the new `erc-timestamp-right-align-by-pixel' option to non-nil. *** Viper compatibility (erc-viper.el) **** Since most of these changes are now merged into Emacs22, detect whether we need these changes and install them only if necessary. * Changes in ERC 5.1 ** Improve XEmacs compatibility. ** Namespace changes *** Now ERC doesn't use global variable space. Renamed all variables that didn't start with "erc-". o `away' is now `erc-away' o `current-nick' is now `erc-server-current-nick' o `last-peers' is now `erc-server-last-peers' o `last-ping-time' is now `erc-server-last-ping-time' o `last-sent-time' is now `erc-server-last-sent-time' o `lines-sent' is now `erc-server-lines-sent' o `quitting' is now `erc-server-quitting' *** Remove the `with-erc-channel-buffer' function. ** Bugfixes *** Don't inadvertently destroy face properties. *** Load erc scripts in a safer way. *** Don't insert a timestamp if text at point is invisible. *** Don't hide messages from those in `erc-fools' by default. Color their nicks instead. *** Use a more foolproof method of encoding and decoding strings before sending to a channel. ** Backend changes *** Renamed some server-specific variables o `erc-announced-server-name' is now `erc-server-announced-name' o `erc-auto-reconnect' is now `erc-server-auto-reconnect' o `erc-connect-function' is now `erc-server-connect-function' o `erc-default-coding-system' is now `erc-server-coding-system' o `erc-duplicate-timeout' is now `erc-server-duplicate-timeout' o `erc-duplicates' is now `erc-server-duplicates' o `erc-lag' is now `erc-server-lag' o `erc-prevent-duplicates' is now `erc-server-prevent-duplicates' o `erc-previous-read' is now `erc-server-filter-data' o `erc-process' is now `erc-server-process' o `erc-ping-handler' is now `erc-server-send-ping-handler' o `erc-ping-interval' is now `erc-server-send-ping-interval' *** Renamed some functions o `erc-connect' is now `erc-server-connect' o `erc-process-filter' is now `erc-server-filter-function' o `erc-send-command' is now `erc-server-send' o `erc-send-single-line' is now `erc-send-input' o `erc-setup-periodical-server-ping' is now `erc-server-setup-periodical-server-ping' o `erc-split-command is now `erc-split-line' *** New options o erc-server-flood-margin, erc-server-flood-penalty: New options that allow tweaking of flood control. o erc-split-line-length: The maximum line length of a single message. *** New variables o erc-server-flood-last-message, erc-server-flood-queue, erc-server-flood-timer: Flood control. o erc-server-processing-p: Indicate when we're currently processing a message. *** Remove some options o `erc-flood-limit' o `erc-flood-limit2' ** New customization group `erc-server' for dealing with IRC servers. ** ERC can now be installed by doing `make install' from the command line. ** ERC now has a manual in erc.texi. Type `make doc' to generate HTML and Info versions of it. ** ERC no longer depends on cl.el. Only the macros in cl-macs.el are used. ** Fix an edge case when quitting as new messages come in. ** Make flood protection toggle-able as on/off, removing the 'strict option. ** If possible, re-use channel buffers when reconnecting to a server. ** Text in ERC buffers is now read-only by default. To get the previous behavior, ** Changes and additions to modules *** Auto-join (erc-autojoin.el) **** Recognize the Azzurra server. *** BBDB (erc-bbdb.el) **** When the user types /WHOIS, ask for a record to merge to. **** Store the displayed name of a BitlBee contact. The new `erc-bbdb-bitlbee-name-field' option specifies the field to use to store this information. **** Don't prompt for a name on /JOIN or /NICK. *** Button (erc-button.el) **** Fix customization of `erc-button-alist' **** New option `erc-button-nickname-face' determines the face to use when coloring ERC nicknames. *** Channel tracking (erc-track.el) **** Remove channels from the modified channels list if not currently connected. This should remove residue from the mode line after quitting ERC. **** Recognize buttonized text *** Highlighting (erc-match.el) **** Highlight current nickname by default. **** Added the option of beeping when certain matches occur. Add `erc-beep-on-match' to `erc-text-matched-hook' to enable beeping. Set the new variable `erc-beep-match-types' which match types that make beeps. *** Nicklist (erc-nicklist.el) **** Fix a couple of errors. **** Make sure a stray mouse click doesn't trigger an error. **** Insert icons from the /images directory next to nicks. This indicates their away status. The location is customizable via the new `erc-nicklist-icons-directory' option. If you do not want these icons, set `erc-nicklist-use-icons' to nil. *** Nickserv identification (erc-nickserv.el) **** Recognize Azzurra and OFTC networks. *** Old completion (erc-complete.el) **** Disable by default. *** Programmable completion (erc-pcomplete.el) **** Enable by default. *** Timestamps (erc-stamp.el) **** On Emacs22, align right timestamps perfectly, even if variable-width characters are used. If we aren't using Emacs22, move text farther away from the right margin when variable-width characters are used. It is considered better to misalign the stamp by a bit than to go past the right margin. **** Enable by default ** New modules *** Spell-checking (erc-spelling.el) **** Use flyspell in ERC. *** Viper compatibility (erc-viper.el) **** Helps ERC work correctly in viper-mode. * Changes in ERC 5.0.4 ** Fix a problem with undo in channels. * Changes in ERC 5.0.3 ** Fix typo in the `ctcp-request-to' entry of the English catalog. ** Debugging with edegug has been made easier in all of the erc-with-* and with-erc* macros. ** Non-ASCII character sets should be better supported when sending and processing messages. ** A load failure with erc-autoaway.el and Emacs21 has been fixed. ** A few XEmacs warnings were fixed. ** Changes and additions to modules *** Backend (erc-backend.el) **** Move the check for hidden messages into `erc-display-message' so there isn't so much replicated code. **** Add `definition-name' property to constructed symbols so that `find-function' and `find-variable' will be able to locate them. **** Make sure logs are inserted info the correct channel buffers. There was previously an error when using `erc-insert-log-on-open' in combination with autojoin to multiple channels. *** Button (erc-button.el) **** The layering of `erc-button-face' on other faces in ERC buffers has been improved. *** Channel tracking (erc-track.el) **** Use optimal amount of whitespace around modified channels indicator. Previously, there was an additional unnecessary space. **** Fix an error that occurred when unchecked buffers existed when invoking /QUIT. * Changes in ERC 5.0.2 ** If a channel key is required for a certain channel, ERC will prompt for one if `erc-prompt-for-channel-key' is non-nil. ** ERC doesn't try to reconnect if the network connection is refused when using `open-network-stream-nowait' as the `erc-connect-function'. ** Messages from multiple servers will not go to the currently active buffer. The messages from each server will be contained in the most recently active channel/server buffer that corresponds with the server. ** Some text messages were cleaned up slightly. ** Button faces should no longer "cover" other faces. ** Made some XEmacs compatibility fixes. ** Nicknames containing a backslash are now correctly highlighted as current-nick and buttonized as nicks. ** `erc-server-select' doesn't offer networks without servers as a choice anymore. ** Non-ASCII character support has been improved. ** Changes and additions to modules *** Menu (erc-menu.el) **** You can now save logs and truncate buffers from the menu-bar. * Changes in ERC 5.0.1 ** Narrowing in ERC buffers no longer causes formatting errors. ** The BBDB module now loads correctly when customizing `erc-modules'. ** The value of `erc-button-face' is now respected. ** Fixed a bug which caused a read-only error during connection. ** Server buffers are now tracked correctly. This means that `erc-track-priority-faces-only', `erc-track-exclude', and `erc-track-exclude-types' now work with server buffers. * Changes in ERC 5.0 ** Channel members are now stored as a hash-table. `erc-server-users' and `erc-channel-users' are now hash-tables, rather than alists. This significantly increases performance, especially in large channels. Each channel member is stored as an `erc-server-user' struct, with additional information about the channels they are on stored in an `erc-channel-user' struct. Code using old alist-style channel members needs to be updated to work with hash-tables. This new code also removes the need for erc-members.el, which has been removed. ** The way ERC deals with input from the server has changed. All server response code is now in a new file, erc-backend.el. There should be no real user visible changes. There are, however, a few major changes for implementers, and module writers: *** The PARSED response that all handlers get called with is no longer a vector, but an `erc-response' struct. This means LESS MAGIC NUMBERS in the ERC source code, but a few changes in how you get at parsed responses. The sender is accessed via `erc-response.sender'. The command is accessed via `erc-response.command'. The arguments to the command (everything after the command and before the colon) are accessed via `erc-response.command-args'. This is a /list/ of arguments in the order they appear in the unparsed response. The contents of the response is accessed via `erc-response.contents'. Should, for some reason, you want to do something with the /unparsed/ response, you can get it via `erc-response.unparsed'. *** The `erc-server-hook-list' mechanism is gone. All server response handlers should be defined with `define-erc-response-handler'. This defines functions and corresponding hook variables. The mapping of server commands to hook variables is no longer done via `erc-event-to-hook', but through an #'equal hash table, `erc-server-responses'. In order to find a hook you do: (erc-get-hook command) See the docstring of `define-erc-response-handler' for more information. *** ALL hook variables have been renamed. In accordance with recommendations in the Emacs Lisp manual, the hook variables are no longer called `erc-server-FOO-hook', but rather `erc-server-FOO-functions'. This is to indicate that the functions they call take arguments. All the modules in ERC have been updated to reflect this change, but external module authors should beware. ** The values of `erc-mode-line-format' and `erc-header-line-format' are now defined as strings to be formatted using `format-spec'. `erc-mode-line-format' does not replace the whole mode-line anymore, only `mode-line-buffer-identification' is set. This way, personal mode-line configurations are not modified and all key bindings work as expected. The process status (connecting, closed) is now shown in `mode-line-process'. ** Customization of ERC variables has been made easier. Variables have been split into more groups for better organization. ** New variables o `erc-send-whitespace-lines' - Set this to send lines even if they are empty. o `erc-manual-set-nick-on-bad-nick-p' - If the nickname you chose is already taken or not allowed, your nick is not changed and you can try again manually if this is non-nil. o `erc-mode-line-away-status-format' - You can now set what is shown in the mode-line when you are away. o `erc-header-line-uses-help-echo-p' - The header-line now uses the help-echo property. You can set this to nil to disable it. o `erc-format-query-as-channel-p' - Set this to nil to have messages in the query buffer formatted like private messages. o `erc-show-channel-key-p' - The channel key is now shown with the other channel modes in the header line. Set this to nil if you want it hidden. o `erc-prompt-for-channel-key' - Set this if you want to be prompted for the channel key (channel's mode is +k) when you call `erc-join-channel' interactively. o `erc-kill-server-buffer-on-quit' - If non-nil, kill the server buffer automatically when you quit. ** New hooks o `erc-join-hook' - Called when you join a channel. o `erc-kick-hook' - Called when you are kicked from a channel. The channel's buffer is sent as an argument to functions called from this hook. o `erc-nick-changed-functions' - Whenever your nickname changes successfully, the functions in this hook are run with the arguments NEW-NICK and OLD-NICK. ** New command /WHOAMI - Do a /WHOIS on your current nickname. ** The key binding for changing channel modes is now C-c C-o. ** Removed variables o `erc-echo-notices-in-minibuffer-flag' and `erc-echo-notices-in-current-buffer' - You should use `erc-echo-notice-hook' and `erc-echo-notice-always-hook' instead. o `erc-prompt-interactive-input' has been removed (commented out) because nickname completion does not work with it. o All INFO buffer-related variables and functions have been removed. ** You can now disable modules by setting `erc-modules' with the customization interface. ** Changes and additions to modules *** Autoaway (erc-autoaway.el) **** New variable `erc-autoaway-no-auto-back-regexp' - Add text which, when you type anything matching it, will not automatically discard your away status when `erc-auto-discard-away' is non-nil. *** Filling (erc-fill.el) **** New variable `erc-fill-variable-maximum-indentation' - Don't indent more than this many characters when indenting a message from a user with a long nickname. *** Goodies (erc-goodies.el) **** Miscellaneous small modules have been moved from erc.el. The functions erc-add-scroll-to-bottom, erc-make-read-only, erc-send-distinguish-noncommands, erc-interpret-controls, erc-unmorse, erc-smiley, and erc-occur, which were defined in the main erc.el file have been moved to erc-goodies.el and have mostly been translated to the modules scrolltobottom, readonly, noncommands, irccontrols, smiley and unmorse. **** New variables o `erc-input-line-position' - The line number to use with `erc-scroll-to-bottom'. o `erc-beep-p' - Beep if there is a \C-g control character in a message. *** Channel lists (erc-list.el) **** New variable `erc-chanlist-highlight-face' - A face used for highlighting the current line. *** Highlighting (erc-match.el) **** `erc-current-nick-highlight-type' has new options: 'keyword and 'nick-or-keyword. *** Menu (erc-menu.el) **** The `IRC' menu is now automatically added to `erc-mode' buffers. *** Networks (erc-nets.el) **** The functions for determining current network are in this file. There were a couple of functions spread about in different files which each had a different way of determining the current network. The methods have been combined, and the big list of known networks (`erc-networks-alist') is being put to use. You can access the network's name by calling the new function `erc-network'. This returns the name of the current network as a symbol or 'Unknown if it could not determine which network it is. *** Nicklist (erc-nicklist.el) **** ERC has a new way of displaying nicknames in a channel. The new file erc-nicklist.el defines a new command `erc-nicklist' which pops up a small Emacs window showing the nicknames of all members of the current channel. The implementation is not complete and is rather proof-of-concept for now. The result is something a bit like erc-speedbar, but not quite as invasive, and doesn't require use of a new frame. *** Internet services / Nickserv (erc-nickserv.el) **** Network detection is now taken care of by erc-nets.el. The function `erc-current-network' is deprecated, use `erc-network' instead. The variable `erc-networks' has been removed, use `erc-networks-alist'. The network symbols used in `erc-nickserv-alist' now match those in `erc-networks-alist'. **** New variable `erc-nickserv-identify-mode' - Choose which method to use for automatic identification: you can wait for Nickserv to ask you to identify (the default), or send an identify message automatically after you change your nickname. *** Speedbar (erc-speedbar.el) **** New variable `erc-speedbar-sort-users-type' - Sort users in a channel by activity, alphabetically, or not at all. *** Timestamps (erc-stamp.el) **** `erc-timestamp-only-if-changed-flag' now works when `erc-insert-timestamp-function' is set to 'erc-insert-timestamp-left. **** New variable `erc-timestamp-intangible' - Set this to nil if timestamps should not have the 'intangible property. *** Channel tracking (erc-track.el) **** Using faces to indicate channel activity in the modeline now works in XEmacs. **** New variables o `erc-track-priority-faces-only' - Ignore changes in a channel unless there is a face from the `erc-track-faces-priority-list' in the message. o `erc-track-exclude-server-buffer' - Ignore changes in the server buffer. o `erc-track-position-in-mode-line' - Set the position in the mode-line where modified channels are shown (only works in GNU Emacs versions above 21.3). * Changes in ERC 4.0 ** The module system has again changed a lot. You can now customize the variable `erc-modules' and define once and for all which extension modules you want to use. This unfortunately may require you to change your current erc initialization code a bit, if you have some existing customizations. On the other hand, this change makes the configuration of extension modules a lot easier for new users. In theory, you should be able to configure all aspects of ERC by using the customize interface, you should no longer really need to write Lisp code for trivial customizations. By default, the following modules are now loaded: (pcomplete netsplit fill track ring button autojoin) Please use M-x customize-variable RET erc-modules RET to change the default if it does not suite your needs. ** THe symbol used in `erc-nickserv-passwords' for debian.org IRC servers (formerly called OpenProjects, now FreeNode) has changed from openprojects to freenode. You may need to update your configuration for a successful automatic nickserv identification. * Changes in ERC 3.0.cvs.20030119 ** New module erc-dcc: This finally implements DCC. It requires server sockets to fully work in both directions. This feature is currently only available in Emacs 21.3.50 (CVS). Here is a short list of what should work though. ** Compatibility: * Emacs 21.2, DCC get, and accepting DCC chat offers. * XEmacs 21, Only accepting DCC chat offers. ** erc is switching to global-minor-modes for activation of submodules. This allows you to customize such a mode and get automatic loading of the module. No longer putting a lot of require statements in .emacs. At least this is the long-term plan, not all modules are converted yet. ** The most important user visible change is that you now need to activate erc-completion-mode, to get TAB completion. The new completion code is based on pcomplete. To get the old code, manually load erc-complete and bind TAB to erc-complete in erc-mode-map. To activate completion on startup, put (erc-completion-mode 1) in your .emacs file. Same applies to timestamps. You no longer need to (require 'erc-stamp), you can customize the variable `erc-timestamp-mode', and the rest should be automatic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This file is part of GNU Emacs. GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with GNU Emacs. If not, see . Local variables: coding: utf-8 mode: outline paragraph-separate: "[ ]*$" end: