comparison etc/NEWS @ 68070:0c26a0aebc97

Fix typos.

68069:4935b1c9290b

disables the splash screen; see also the variable
`inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
`inhibit-splash-screen').

+++
** The default is now to use an bitmap as the icon, so the command-line options
--icon-type, -i has been replaced with options --no-bitmap-icon, -nbi to turn
the bitmap icon off.

+++
** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.

Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
is only rarely needed.

+++
*** In processing a local variables list, Emacs strips the prefix and
suffix are from every line before processing all the lines.

+++
*** find-file-read-only visits multiple files in read-only mode,
when the file name contains wildcard characters.

The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
`auto-hscroll-mode'.  The old name is still available as an alias.

---
*** Moving or scrolling through images (and other lines) taller that
the window now works sensibly, by automatically adjusting the window's
vscroll property.

+++
*** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line

** Buffer Menu changes:

+++
*** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
buffers only in the Buffer Menu.  It is bound to `T' in Buffer Menu
mode.

+++
*** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
with a space, when those buffers are visiting files.  Normally buffers

`kill-region' if read-only properties are involved: it copies the text
to the kill-ring, but does not delete it.

+++
*** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
modes (shell-mode etc) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
like bash's `ESC .' binding.  It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.

+++
*** `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields' has been renamed

*** The new function `f90-backslash-not-special' can be used to change
the syntax of backslashes in F90 buffers.

---
** Reftex mode changes
+++
*** Changes to RefTeX's table of contents

The new command keys "<" and ">" in the TOC buffer promote/demote the
section at point or all sections in the current region, with full

*** The new command `bibtex-url' browses a URL for the BibTeX entry at
point (bound to C-c C-l and mouse-2, RET on clickable fields).

*** The new command `bibtex-entry-update' (bound to C-c C-u) updates
an existing BibTeX entry.

*** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.

*** `bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries' can take values `plain',
`crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used

not executing.

---
** GUD mode improvements for jdb:

*** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class
    information. Fast startup since there is no need to scan all
    source files up front. There is also no need to create and maintain
    lists of source directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
    and `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.

*** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
    set/clear operations from java source files under the classpath, stack
    traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
    (gud-finish).

*** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
    (Java 1.1 jdb).

*** The previous method of searching for source files has been
    preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
    Set `gud-jdb-use-classpath' to nil.

  Added Customization Variables

*** `gud-jdb-command-name'.  What command line to use to invoke jdb.

*** `gud-jdb-use-classpath'. Allows selection of java source file searching
    method: set to t for new method, nil to scan `gud-jdb-directories' for
    java sources (previous method).

*** `gud-jdb-directories'. List of directories to scan and search for java
    classes using the original gud-jdb method (if `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
    is nil).

  Minor Improvements

*** The STARTTLS wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
instead of the OpenSSL based `starttls' tool.  For backwards
compatibility, it prefers `starttls', but you can toggle
`starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
`starttls' tool).

*** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.

** Auto-Revert changes:

+++
*** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.

only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.

---
** recentf changes.

The recent file list is now automatically cleanup when recentf mode is
enabled.  The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
automatic cleanup.

The ten most recent files can be quickly opened by using the shortcut
keys 1 to 9, and 0, when the recent list is displayed in a buffer via

**** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in GCC.

The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
CR, TAB, VT,

**** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.

The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise.  This is

+++
*** New function `unsafep' determines whether a Lisp form is safe.

It returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly do anything
dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be unsafe
(calls unknown function, alters global variable, etc).

+++
*** New macro `eval-at-startup' specifies expressions to
evaluate when Emacs starts up.  If this is done after startup,
it evaluates those expressions immediately.

*** Argument to `forward-to-indentation' and `backward-to-indentation' is optional.

It defaults to 1.

+++
*** New function `mouse-on-link-p' test if a position is in a clickable link.

This is the function used by the new `mouse-1-click-follows-link'
functionality.

+++

value of VARIABLE instead.

*** The function `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' now lets you maintain
various status records in parallel.

It take a variable (a symbol) as argument.  If the variable is non-nil,
then its value should be a vector installed previously by
`frame-or-buffer-changed-p'.  If the frame names, buffer names, buffer
order, or their read-only or modified flags have changed, since the
time the vector's contents were recorded by a previous call to
`frame-or-buffer-changed-p', then the function returns t.  Otherwise

accepts such a list for restoring the match state.

+++
*** Functions `match-data' and `set-match-data' now have an optional
argument `reseat'.  When non-nil, all markers in the match data list
passed to these function will be reseated to point to nowhere.

+++
*** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
variable `sentence-end-without-space', which contains such characters
that end a sentence without following spaces.

`file-chase-links' returns it anyway.

+++
*** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
before saving buffers.  This allows packages to perform various final
tasks, for example; it can be used by the copyright package to make
sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.

+++
*** If `buffer-save-without-query' is non-nil in some buffer,
`save-some-buffers' will always save that buffer without asking (if

of suffixes.  The function also accepts a predicate argument to
further filter candidate files.

One advantage of using this function is that the list of suffixes in
`exec-suffixes' is OS-dependant, so this function will find
executables without polluting Lisp code with OS dependancies.

---
*** The precedence of file name handlers has been changed.

Instead of choosing the first handler that matches,

*** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
`read-file-name' function.

+++
*** The new function `read-directory-name' for reading a directory name.

It is like `read-file-name' except that the defaulting works better
for directories, and completion inside it shows only directories.

** Completion changes:

On some systems, when emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
very poor performance.  This behavior can be remedied to some extent
by setting the new variable `process-adaptive-read-buffering' to a
non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
from such processes, to allowing them to produce more output before
emacs tries to read it.

*** The new function `call-process-shell-command'.

This executes a shell command synchronously in a separate process.

*** New function `define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to create new
fringe bitmaps, as well as change the built-in fringe bitmaps.

To change a built-in bitmap, do (require 'fringe) and use the symbol
identifing the bitmap such as `left-truncation or `continued-line'.

*** New function `destroy-fringe-bitmap' deletes a fringe bitmap
or restores a built-in one to its default value.

*** New function `set-fringe-bitmap-face' specifies the face to be

Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.

The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
integral number of columns.  The extra width is distributed evenly
between the left and right fringe.  For force a specific fringe width,
specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
only the left fringe gets the specified width).

Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any

+++
*** Enhancements to stretch display properties

The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
PROPS is a property list now allows pixel based width and height
specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.

The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
which is evaluated during redisplay.  The following expressions
are supported:

+++
*** `set-auto-mode' now gives the interpreter magic line (if present)
precedence over the file name.  Likewise an `<?xml' or `<!DOCTYPE'
declaration will give the buffer XML or SGML mode, based on the new
var `magic-mode-alist'.

+++
*** Use the new function `run-mode-hooks' to run the major mode's mode hook.

+++

`delete-frame-hook' to `delete-frame-functions'.

In each case the old name remains as an alias for the moment.

+++
*** local-write-file-hooks is marked obsolete

Use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook'.

---
*** New function `x-send-client-message' sends a client message when

documentation string checking for style and spelling.  The style
guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.

*** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
available in Emacs.  Some of these functions are wrappers around
system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp.  There are also
functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
the like.

*** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to

  apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
  samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
  fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
  x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
  hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
  mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
  javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
  vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
  java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
  java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files

68070:0c26a0aebc97

disables the splash screen; see also the variable
`inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
`inhibit-splash-screen').

+++
** The default is now to use a bitmap as the icon, so the command-line options
--icon-type, -i has been replaced with options --no-bitmap-icon, -nbi to turn
the bitmap icon off.

+++
** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.

Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
is only rarely needed.

+++
*** In processing a local variables list, Emacs strips the prefix and
suffix from every line before processing all the lines.

+++
*** find-file-read-only visits multiple files in read-only mode,
when the file name contains wildcard characters.

The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
`auto-hscroll-mode'.  The old name is still available as an alias.

---
*** Moving or scrolling through images (and other lines) taller than
the window now works sensibly, by automatically adjusting the window's
vscroll property.

+++
*** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line

** Buffer Menu changes:

+++
*** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
buffers only in the Buffer Menu.  It is bound to T in Buffer Menu
mode.

+++
*** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
with a space, when those buffers are visiting files.  Normally buffers

`kill-region' if read-only properties are involved: it copies the text
to the kill-ring, but does not delete it.

+++
*** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
modes (shell-mode, etc.) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
like bash's `ESC .' binding.  It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.

+++
*** `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields' has been renamed

*** The new function `f90-backslash-not-special' can be used to change
the syntax of backslashes in F90 buffers.

---
** Reftex mode changes

+++
*** Changes to RefTeX's table of contents

The new command keys "<" and ">" in the TOC buffer promote/demote the
section at point or all sections in the current region, with full

*** The new command `bibtex-url' browses a URL for the BibTeX entry at
point (bound to C-c C-l and mouse-2, RET on clickable fields).

*** The new command `bibtex-entry-update' (bound to C-c C-u) updates
an existing BibTeX entry by inserting fields that may occur but are not
present.

*** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.

*** `bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries' can take values `plain',
`crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used

not executing.

---
** GUD mode improvements for jdb:

*** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class information.
Fast startup since there is no need to scan all source files up front.
There is also no need to create and maintain lists of source
directories to scan.  Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath' and
`gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.

*** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
set/clear operations from Java source files under the classpath, stack
traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
(gud-finish).

*** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
(Java 1.1 jdb).

*** The previous method of searching for source files has been
preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
Set `gud-jdb-use-classpath' to nil.

*** Added Customization Variables

**** `gud-jdb-command-name'.   What command line to use to invoke jdb.

**** `gud-jdb-use-classpath'.  Allows selection of java source file searching
method: set to t for new method, nil to scan `gud-jdb-directories' for
java sources (previous method).

**** `gud-jdb-directories'.  List of directories to scan and search for Java
classes using the original gud-jdb method (if `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
is nil).

*** Minor Improvements

**** The STARTTLS wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
instead of the OpenSSL based `starttls' tool.  For backwards
compatibility, it prefers `starttls', but you can toggle
`starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
`starttls' tool).

**** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.

** Auto-Revert changes:

+++
*** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.

only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.

---
** recentf changes.

The recent file list is now automatically cleaned up when recentf mode is
enabled.  The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
automatic cleanup.

The ten most recent files can be quickly opened by using the shortcut
keys 1 to 9, and 0, when the recent list is displayed in a buffer via

**** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in GCC.

The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
CR, TAB, VT.

**** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.

The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise.  This is

+++
*** New function `unsafep' determines whether a Lisp form is safe.

It returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly do anything
dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be unsafe
(calls unknown function, alters global variable, etc.).

+++
*** New macro `eval-at-startup' specifies expressions to
evaluate when Emacs starts up.  If this is done after startup,
it evaluates those expressions immediately.

*** Argument to `forward-to-indentation' and `backward-to-indentation' is optional.

It defaults to 1.

+++
*** New function `mouse-on-link-p' tests if a position is in a clickable link.

This is the function used by the new `mouse-1-click-follows-link'
functionality.

+++

value of VARIABLE instead.

*** The function `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' now lets you maintain
various status records in parallel.

It takes a variable (a symbol) as argument.  If the variable is non-nil,
then its value should be a vector installed previously by
`frame-or-buffer-changed-p'.  If the frame names, buffer names, buffer
order, or their read-only or modified flags have changed, since the
time the vector's contents were recorded by a previous call to
`frame-or-buffer-changed-p', then the function returns t.  Otherwise

accepts such a list for restoring the match state.

+++
*** Functions `match-data' and `set-match-data' now have an optional
argument `reseat'.  When non-nil, all markers in the match data list
passed to these functions will be reseated to point to nowhere.

+++
*** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
variable `sentence-end-without-space', which contains such characters
that end a sentence without following spaces.

`file-chase-links' returns it anyway.

+++
*** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
before saving buffers.  This allows packages to perform various final
tasks.  For example, it can be used by the copyright package to make
sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.

+++
*** If `buffer-save-without-query' is non-nil in some buffer,
`save-some-buffers' will always save that buffer without asking (if

of suffixes.  The function also accepts a predicate argument to
further filter candidate files.

One advantage of using this function is that the list of suffixes in
`exec-suffixes' is OS-dependant, so this function will find
executables without polluting Lisp code with OS dependencies.

---
*** The precedence of file name handlers has been changed.

Instead of choosing the first handler that matches,

*** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
`read-file-name' function.

+++
*** The new function `read-directory-name' is for reading a directory name.

It is like `read-file-name' except that the defaulting works better
for directories, and completion inside it shows only directories.

** Completion changes:

On some systems, when emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
very poor performance.  This behavior can be remedied to some extent
by setting the new variable `process-adaptive-read-buffering' to a
non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
from such processes, allowing them to produce more output before
emacs tries to read it.

*** The new function `call-process-shell-command'.

This executes a shell command synchronously in a separate process.

*** New function `define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to create new
fringe bitmaps, as well as change the built-in fringe bitmaps.

To change a built-in bitmap, do (require 'fringe) and use the symbol
identifing the bitmap such as `left-truncation' or `continued-line'.

*** New function `destroy-fringe-bitmap' deletes a fringe bitmap
or restores a built-in one to its default value.

*** New function `set-fringe-bitmap-face' specifies the face to be

Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.

The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
integral number of columns.  The extra width is distributed evenly
between the left and right fringe.  To force a specific fringe width,
specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
only the left fringe gets the specified width).

Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any

+++
*** Enhancements to stretch display properties

The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
PROPS is a property list, now allows pixel based width and height
specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.

The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
which is evaluated during redisplay.  The following expressions
are supported:

+++
*** `set-auto-mode' now gives the interpreter magic line (if present)
precedence over the file name.  Likewise an `<?xml' or `<!DOCTYPE'
declaration will give the buffer XML or SGML mode, based on the new
variable `magic-mode-alist'.

+++
*** Use the new function `run-mode-hooks' to run the major mode's mode hook.

+++

`delete-frame-hook' to `delete-frame-functions'.

In each case the old name remains as an alias for the moment.

+++
*** Variable `local-write-file-hooks' is marked obsolete.

Use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook'.

---
*** New function `x-send-client-message' sends a client message when

documentation string checking for style and spelling.  The style
guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.

*** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
available in Emacs.  Some of these functions are wrappers around
system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc.); others are implementations of
simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp.  There are also
functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
the like.

*** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to

  apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
  samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
  fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
  x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
  hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc.)
  mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
  javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
  vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
  java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
  java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files