emacs/etc/ERC-NEWS

ERC NEWS                                                       -*- outline -*-

Copyright (C) 2006, 2007, 2008  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
See the end of the file for license conditions.

* 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.

** Changes and additions to modules

*** 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".

* 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 http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/erc/erc-5.2-extras.tar.gz, or
 o http://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 <backtab> 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 <backtab> instead of <C-tab> 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 hashtable,
    `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 initialisation code a bit, if you
  have some existing customsations.  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 statments 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.


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