emacs/etc/NEWS

GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.

Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
See the end of the file for license conditions.

Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.

This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.

See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.

You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.


Temporary note:
 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
so we will look at it and add it to the manual.


* Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1

** Configure links against libselinux if it is found.
You can disable this by using --without-selinux.

---
** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.

---
** There are new configure options:
--with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.

---
** There is a new configure option --with-crt-dir.
This is only useful if your crt*.o files are in a non-standard location.

---
** Emacs can be compiled against Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
to configure.  Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
also depend on Gtk+.  You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
--without-gconf.

** There is a new configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
These is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.


* Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1


* Changes in Emacs 24.1

** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID can be used to open a
client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed.  This works like the
--parent-id argument to Emacs.

** Completion can cycle, depending on completion-cycle-threshold.

** auto-mode-case-fold is now enabled by default.

+++
** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.

See the node "Bidirectional Editing" in the Emacs Manual for some
initial documentation.

To turn this on in any given buffer, set the buffer-local variable
`bidi-display-reordering' to a non-nil value.  The default is nil.

The buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction', if non-nil,
forces each paragraph in the buffer to have its base direction
according to the value of this variable.  Possible values are
`right-to-left' and `left-to-right'.  If the value is nil (the
default), Emacs determines the base direction of each paragraph from
its text, as specified by the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm.

The function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction' returns the actual
value of paragraph base direction at point.

Reordering of bidirectional text for display in Emacs is a "Full
bidirectionality" class implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional
Algorithm.

Note that some advanced display features, such as overlay strings and
`display' text properties, do not yet work correctly when
bidirectional text is reordered for display.

** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
Use `set-scroll-bar-mode' to change this.

** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose style.  On a Gnome desktop, the default
is taken from the desktop settings.

** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is built
with Xft.

** Basic SELinux support has been added.
This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.

*** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up, and
optionally when copying files. To this end, copy-file has an extra
optional argument, and backup-buffer and friends include the SELinux
context in their return values.

*** The new functions file-selinux-context and set-file-selinux-context
get and set the SELinux context of a file.

*** Tramp offers handlers for file-selinux-context and set-file-selinux-context
for remote machines which support SELinux.

** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
(bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) does not signal errors at top/bottom
of buffer at first key-press (instead moves to top/bottom of buffer)
when a new variable `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.

** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
scroll a line instead of full screen.

** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position.

** Trash changes

*** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
trashing.  This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.

*** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.

** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
for `list-colors-display'.

** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
from elpa.gnu.org.  `M-x package-list-packages' shows a list of
packages, which can be selected for installation.

*** By default, all installed packages are loaded and activated
automatically when Emacs starts up.  To disable this, set
`package-enable-at-startup' to nil.  To change which packages are
loaded, customize `package-load-list'.


* Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1

** completion-at-point is now an alias for complete-symbol.

** mouse-region-delete-keys has been deleted.

** Deletion changes

*** New option `delete-active-region'.
If non-nil, C-d, [delete], and DEL delete the region if it is active
and no prefix argument is given.  If set to `kill', these commands
kill instead.

*** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to C-d and [delete].
This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region';
delete-char, meant for Lisp, does not obey `delete-active-region'.

*** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; you
should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.

*** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.

** Selection changes.

The way Emacs interacts with the clipboard and primary selection, by
default, is now similar to other X applications.  In particular, kill
and yank use the clipboard, in addition to the primary selection.

*** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.

*** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t.

*** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.

*** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.

*** `mouse-2' is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.


* Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1

** Archive Mode has basic support to browse 7z archives.

** In ido-mode, C-v is no longer bound to ido-toggle-vc.
The reason is that this interferes with cua-mode.

** partial-completion-mode is now obsolete.
You can get a comparable behavior with:
(setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
(setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)

** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
** Customize

*** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
To turn off the search field, set custom-search-field to nil .

*** Custom options now start out hidden if at their default values.
Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.

*** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.

*** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
choose a color via list-colors-display.

** Dired-x

*** dired-jump and dired-jump-other-window called with a prefix argument
read a file name from the minibuffer instead of using buffer-file-name.

** VC and related modes

*** New VC commands: vc-log-incoming, vc-log-outgoing, vc-find-conflicted-file.

**** vc-log-incoming for Git runs "git fetch" so that the necessary
data is available locally.

**** vc-log-incoming and vc-log-outgoing for Git require version 1.7 (or newer).

*** New key bindings: C-x v I and C-x v O bound to vc-log-incoming and
vc-log-outgoing, respectively.

*** vc-dir for Bzr supports viewing shelve contents and shelving snapshots.

*** Special markup can be added to log-edit buffers.
The log-edit buffers are expected to have a format similar to email messages
with headers of the form:
  Author: <author of this change>
  Summary: <one line summary of this change>
  Fixes: <reference to the bug fixed by this change>
Some backends handle some of those headers specially, but any unknown header
is just left as is in the message, so it is not lost.

**** vc-git handles Author: and Date:
**** vc-hg handles  Author: and Date:
**** vc-bzr handles Author:, Date: and Fixes:
**** vc-mtn handles Author: and Date:

** Directory local variables can apply to file-less buffers.
For example, adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to your
.dir-locals.el file, will turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers.

** SQL Mode enhancements.

*** Several variables have been marked as safe local variables.  The
variables `sql-product', `sql-user', `sql-server', `sql-database' and
`sql-port' can now be safely used as local variables.

*** Added ability to login with a port on MySQL.
The custom variable `sql-port' can be specified for connection to
MySQL servers.

*** Custom variables control prompting for login parameters.
Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params'
which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
connection is established.

*** Added `sql-connection-alist' to record login parameter values.
An alist for recording different username, database and server
values.  If there are multiple databases that you connect to the
parameters needed can be stored in this alist.

For example, the following might be set in the user's init.el:

  (setq sql-connection-alist
        '((dev (sql-product 'sqlite)
               (sql-database "/home/mmaug/dev.db"))
          (prd (sql-product 'oracle)
               (sql-user "mmaug")
               (sql-database "iprd2a"))))

This defines two connections named "dev" and "prd".

*** Added `sql-connect' to use predefined connections.
Sets the login parameters based on the values in the
`sql-connection-alist' and start a SQL interactive session.  Any
values specified in the connection will not be prompted for.

In the example above, if the user were to invoke M-x sql-connect, they
would be prompted for the connection.  The user can respond with
either "dev" or "prd".  The "dev" connection would connect to the
SQLite database without prompting; the "prd" connection would prompt
for the users password and then connect to the Oracle database.

*** Added option `sql-send-terminator'.
When set makes sure that each command sent with `sql-send-*' commands
are properly terminated and submitted to the SQL processor.

*** Added option `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
When set commands sent to Oracle's SQL*Plus are scanned for strings
starting with an ampersand and the user is asked for replacement text.
In general, the SQL*Plus option SCAN should always be set OFF under
SQL interactive mode and this option used in its place.

*** SQL interactive mode will replace tabs with spaces.
This prevents the comand interpretter for MySQL and Postgres from
listing object name completions when being sent text via
`sql-send-*' functions.

*** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.

** s-region.el is now declared obsolete, superceded by shift-select-mode
enabled by default in 23.1.

** gdb-mi

*** GDB User Interface migrated to GDB Machine Interface and now
supports multithread non-stop debugging and debugging of several
threads simultaneously.


* New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1

** smie.el is a package providing a simple generic indentation engine.

** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet.  The
Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication.  The command
`secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
secrets.

** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
Notifications API.  It requires D-Bus for communication.


* Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1

** A backquote not followed by a space is now always treated as new-style.

** Test for special mode-class was moved from view-file to view-buffer.
FIXME: This only says what was changed, but not what are the
programmer-visible consequences.

** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function now turns the mode
   ON unconditionally.

** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and
`initial-frame-alist'.  With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame'
checks the value of the variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to
determine whether to create a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively.
If the alist entries are added, they override the value of
`menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.

** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
similar to the ones created by shift-selection.  In previous Emacs
versions, these regions were delineated by `mouse-drag-overlay', which
has now been removed.


* Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1

** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
** prog-mode is a new major-mode meant to be the parent of programming mode.
** define-minor-mode accepts a new keyword :variable.

** `delete-file' and `delete-directory now accept optional arg TRASH.
Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
both non-nil.  Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).

** buffer-substring-filters is obsoleted by filter-buffer-substring-functions.

** New completion style `substring'.

** Image API

*** When the image type is one of listed in `image-animated-types'
and the number of sub-images in the image is more than one, then the
new function `create-animated-image' creates an animated image where
sub-images are displayed successively with the duration defined by
`image-animate-max-time' and the delay between sub-images defined
by the Graphic Control Extension of the image.

*** `image-extension-data' is renamed to `image-metadata'.

** Isearch

*** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.

** Progress reporters can now "spin".
The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
now be nil, or omitted.  This makes a "non-numeric" reporter.  Each
time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
displayed with a "spinning bar".


* Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems

** New configure.bat option --enable-checking builds emacs with extra
runtime checks.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.


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