1GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 17-Aug-1988 2 3Copyright (C) 1988, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 4See the end of the file for license conditions. 5 6 7This file is about changes in emacs version 18. 8 9 10 11Changes in version 18.52. 12 13* X windows version 10 is supported under system V. 14 15* Pop-up menus are now supported with the same Lisp interface in 16both version 10 and 11 of X windows. 17 18* C-x 4 a is a new command to edit a change-log entry in another window. 19 20* The emacs client program now allows an option +NNN to specify the 21line number to go to in the file whose name follows. Thus, 22 emacsclient foo.c +45 bar.c 23will find the files `foo.c' and `bar.c', going to line 45 in `bar.c'. 24 25* Dired allows empty directories to be deleted like files. 26 27* When the terminal type is used to find a terminal-specific file to 28run, Emacs now tries the entire terminal type first. If that doesn't 29yield a file that exists, the last hyphen and what follows it is 30stripped. If that doesn't yield a file that exists, the previous 31hyphen is stripped, and so on until all hyphens are gone. For 32example, if the terminal type is `aaa-48-foo', Emacs will try first 33`term/aaa-48-foo.el', then `term/aaa-48.el' and finally `term/aaa.el'. 34 35Underscores now receive the same treatment as hyphens. 36 37* Texinfo features: @defun, etc. texinfo-show-structure. 38New template commands. texinfo-format-region. 39 40* The special "local variable" `eval' is now ignored if you are running 41as root. 42 43* New command `c-macro-expand' shows the result of C macro expansion 44in the region. It works using the C preprocessor, so its results 45are completely accurate. 46 47* Errors in trying to auto save now flash error messages for a few seconds. 48 49* Killing a buffer now sends SIGHUP to the buffer's process. 50 51* New hooks. 52 53** `spell-region' now allows you to filter the text before spelling-checking. 54If the value of `spell-filter' is non-nil, it is called, with no arguments, 55looking at a temporary buffer containing a copy of the text to be checked. 56It can alter the text freely before the spell program sees it. 57 58** The variable `lpr-command' now specifies the command to be used when 59you use the commands to print text (such as M-x print-buffer). 60 61** Posting netnews now calls the value of `news-inews-hook' (if not nil) 62as a function of no arguments before the actual posting. 63 64** Rmail now calls the value of `rmail-show-message-hook' (if not nil) 65as a function of no arguments, each time a new message is selected. 66 67** `kill-emacs' calls the value of `kill-emacs-hook' as a function of no args. 68 69* New libraries. 70See the source code of each library for more information. 71 72** icon.el: a major mode for editing programs written in Icon. 73 74** life.el: a simulator for the cellular automaton "life". Load the 75library and run M-x life. 76 77** doctex.el: a library for converting the Emacs `etc/DOC' file of 78documentation strings into TeX input. 79 80** saveconf.el: a library which records the arrangement of windows and 81buffers when you exit Emacs, and automatically recreates the same 82setup the next time you start Emacs. 83 84** uncompress.el: a library that automatically uncompresses files 85when you visit them. 86 87** c-fill.el: a mode for editing filled comments in C. 88 89** kermit.el: an extended version of shell-mode designed for running kermit. 90 91** spook.el: a library for adding some "distract the NSA" keywords to every 92message you send. 93 94** hideif.el: a library for hiding parts of a C program based on preprocessor 95conditionals. 96 97** autoinsert.el: a library to put in some initial text when you visit 98a nonexistent file. The text used depends on the major mode, and 99comes from a directory of files created by you. 100 101* New programming features. 102 103** The variable `window-system-version' now contains the version number 104of the window system you are using (if appropriate). When using X windows, 105its value is either 10 or 11. 106 107** (interactive "N") uses the prefix argument if any; otherwise, it reads 108a number using the minibuffer. 109 110** VMS: there are two new functions `vms-system-info' and `shrink-to-icon'. 111The former allows you to get many kinds of system status information. 112See its self-documentation for full details. 113The second is used with the window system: it iconifies the Emacs window. 114 115** VMS: the new function `define-logical-name' allows you to create 116job-wide logical names. The old function `define-dcl-symbol' has been 117removed. 118 119 120 121Changes in version 18.50. 122 123* X windows version 11 is supported. 124 125Define X11 in config.h if you want X version 11 instead of version 10. 126 127* The command M-x gdb runs the GDB debugger as an inferior. 128It asks for the filename of the executable you want to debug. 129 130GDB runs as an inferior with I/O through an Emacs buffer. All the 131facilities of Shell mode are available. In addition, each time your 132program stops, and each time you select a new stack frame, the source 133code is displayed in another window with an arrow added to the line 134where the program is executing. 135 136Special GDB-mode commands include M-s, M-n, M-i, M-u, M-d, and C-c C-f 137which send the GDB commands `step', `next', `stepi', `up', `down' 138and `finish'. 139 140In any source file, the commands C-x SPC tells GDB to set a breakpoint 141on the current line. 142 143* M-x calendar displays a three-month calendar. 144 145* C-u 0 C-x C-s never makes a backup file. 146 147This is a way you can explicitly request not to make a backup. 148 149* `term-setup-hook' is for users only. 150 151Emacs never uses this variable for internal purposes, so you can freely 152set it in your `.emacs' file to make Emacs do something special after 153loading any terminal-specific setup file from `lisp/term'. 154 155* `copy-keymap' now copies recursive submaps. 156 157* New overlay-arrow feature. 158 159If you set the variable `overlay-arrow-string' to a string 160and `overlay-arrow-position' to a marker, that string is displayed on 161the screen at the position of that marker, hiding whatever text would 162have appeared there. If that position isn't on the screen, or if 163the buffer the marker points into isn't displayed, there is no effect. 164 165* -batch mode can read from the terminal. 166 167It now works to use `read-char' to do terminal input in a noninteractive 168Emacs run. End of file causes Emacs to exit. 169 170* Variables `data-bytes-used' and `data-bytes-free' removed. 171 172These variables cannot really work because the 24-bit range of an 173integer in (most ports of) GNU Emacs is not large enough to hold their 174values on many systems. 175 176 177 178Changes in version 18.45, since version 18.41. 179 180* C indentation parameter `c-continued-brace-offset'. 181 182This parameter's value is added to the indentation of any 183line that is in a continuation context and starts with an open-brace. 184For example, it applies to the open brace shown here: 185 186 if (x) 187 { 188 189The default value is zero. 190 191* Dabbrev expansion (Meta-/) preserves case. 192 193When you use Meta-/ to search the buffer for an expansion of an 194abbreviation, if the expansion found is all lower case except perhaps 195for its first letter, then the case pattern of the abbreviation 196is carried over to the expansion that replaces it. 197 198* TeX-mode syntax. 199 200\ is no longer given "escape character" syntax in TeX mode. It now 201has the syntax of an ordinary punctuation character. As a result, 202\[...\] and such like are considered to balance each other. 203 204* Mail-mode automatic Reply-to field. 205 206If the variable `mail-default-reply-to' is non-`nil', then each time 207you start to compose a message, a Reply-to field is inserted with 208its contents taken from the value of `mail-default-reply-to'. 209 210* Where is your .emacs file? 211 212If you run Emacs under `su', so your real and effective uids are 213different, Emacs uses the home directory associated with the real uid 214(the name you actually logged in under) to find the .emacs file. 215 216Otherwise, Emacs uses the environment variable HOME to find the .emacs 217file. 218 219The .emacs file is not loaded at all if -batch is specified. 220 221* Prolog mode is the default for ".pl" files. 222 223* File names are not case-sensitive on VMS. 224 225On VMS systems, all file names that you specify are converted to upper 226case. You can use either upper or lower case indiscriminately. 227 228* VMS-only function 'define-dcl-symbol'. 229 230This is a new name for the function formerly called 231`define-logical-name'. 232 233 234 235Editing Changes in Emacs 18 236 237* Additional systems and machines are supported. 238 239GNU Emacs now runs on Vax VMS. However, many facilities that are normally 240implemented by running subprocesses do not work yet. This includes listing 241a directory and sending mail. There are features for running subprocesses 242but they are incompatible with those on Unix. I hope that some of 243the VMS users can reimplement these features for VMS (compatibly for 244the user, if possible). 245 246VMS wizards are also asked to work on making the subprocess facilities 247more upward compatible with those on Unix, and also to rewrite their 248internals to use the same Lisp objects that are used on Unix to 249represent processes. 250 251In addition, the TI Nu machine running Unix system V, the AT&T 3b, and 252the Wicat, Masscomp, Integrated Solutions, Alliant, Amdahl uts, Mips, 253Altos 3068 and Gould Unix systems are now supported. The IBM PC-RT is 254supported under 4.2, but not yet under system V. The GEC 93 is close 255to working. The port for the Elxsi is partly merged. See the file 256MACHINES for full status information and machine-specific installation 257advice. 258 259* Searching is faster. 260 261Forward search for a text string, or for a regexp that is equivalent 262to a text string, is now several times faster. Motion by lines and 263counting lines is also faster. 264 265* Memory usage improvements. 266 267It is no longer possible to run out of memory during garbage 268collection. As a result, running out of memory is never fatal. This 269is due to a new garbage collection algorithm which compactifies 270strings in place rather than copying them. Another consequence of the 271change is a reduction in total memory usage and a slight increase in 272garbage collection speed. 273 274* Display changes. 275 276** Editing above top of screen. 277 278When you delete or kill or alter text that reaches to the top of the 279screen or above it, so that display would start in the middle of a 280line, Emacs will usually attempt to scroll the text so that display 281starts at the beginning of a line again. 282 283** Yanking in the minibuffer. 284 285The message "Mark Set" is no longer printed when the minibuffer is 286active. This is convenient with many commands, including C-y, that 287normally print such a message. 288 289** Cursor appears in last line during y-or-n questions. 290 291Questions that want a `y' or `n' answer now move the cursor 292to the last line, following the question. 293 294* Library loading changes. 295 296`load' now considers all possible suffixes (`.elc', `.el' and none) 297for each directory in `load-path' before going on to the next directory. 298It now accepts an optional fourth argument which, if non-nil, says to 299use no suffixes; then the file name must be given in full. The search 300of the directories in `load-path' goes on as usual in this case, but 301it too can be prevented by passing an absolute file name. 302 303The value of `load-path' no longer by default includes nil (meaning to 304look in the current default directory). The idea is that `load' should 305be used to search the path only for libraries to be found in the standard 306places. If you want to override system libraries with your own, place 307your own libraries in one special directory and add that directory to the 308front of `load-path'. 309 310The function `load' is no longer a command; that is to say, `M-x load' 311is no longer allowed. Instead, there are two commands for loading files. 312`M-x load-library' is equivalent to the old meaning of `M-x load'. 313`M-x load-file' reads a file name with completion and defaulting 314and then loads exactly that file, with no searching and no suffixes. 315 316* Emulation of other editors. 317 318** `edt-emulation-on' starts emulating DEC's EDT editor. 319 320Do `edt-emulation-off' to return Emacs to normal. 321 322** `vi-mode' and `vip-mode' starts emulating vi. 323 324These are two different vi emulations provided by GNU Emacs users. 325We are interested in feedback as to which emulation is preferable. 326 327See the documentation and source code for these functions 328for more information. 329 330** `set-gosmacs-bindings' emulates Gosling Emacs. 331 332This command changes many global bindings to resemble those of 333Gosling Emacs. The previous bindings are saved and can be restored using 334`set-gnu-bindings'. 335 336* Emulation of a display terminal. 337 338Within Emacs it is now possible to run programs (such as emacs or 339supdup) which expect to do output to a visual display terminal. 340 341See the function `terminal-emulator' for more information. 342 343* New support for keypads and function keys. 344 345There is now a first attempt at terminal-independent support for 346keypad and function keys. 347 348Emacs now defines a standard set of key-names for function and keypad 349keys, and provides standard hooks for defining them. Most of the 350standard key-names have default definitions built into Emacs; you can 351override these in a terminal-independent manner. The default definitions 352and the conventions for redefining them are in the file `lisp/keypad.el'. 353 354These keys on the terminal normally work by sending sequences of 355characters starting with ESC. The exact sequences used vary from 356terminal to terminal. Emacs interprets them in two stages: 357in the first stage, terminal-dependent sequences are mapped into 358the standard key-names; then second stage maps the standard key-names 359into their definitions in a terminal-independent fashion. 360 361The terminal-specific file `term/$TERM.el' now is responsible only for 362establishing the mapping from the terminal's escape sequences into 363standard key-names. It no longer knows what Emacs commands are 364assigned to the standard key-names. 365 366One other change in terminal-specific files: if the value of the TERM 367variable contains a hyphen, only the part before the first hyphen is 368used in forming the name of the terminal-specific file. Thus, for 369terminal type `aaa-48', the file loaded is now `term/aaa.el' rather 370than `term/aaa-48.el'. 371 372* New startup command line options. 373 374`-i FILE' or `-insert FILE' in the command line to Emacs tells Emacs to 375insert the contents of FILE into the current buffer at that point in 376command line processing. This is like using the command M-x insert-file. 377 378`-funcall', `-load', `-user' and `-no-init-file' are new synonyms for 379`-f', `-l', `-u' and `-q'. 380 381`-nw' means don't use a window system. If you are using a terminal 382emulator on the X window system and you want to run Emacs to work through 383the terminal emulator instead of working directly with the window system, 384use this switch. 385 386* Buffer-sorting commands. 387 388Various M-x commands whose names start with `sort-' sort parts of 389the region: 390 391sort-lines divides the region into lines and sorts them alphabetically. 392sort-pages divides into pages and sorts them alphabetically. 393sort-paragraphs divides into paragraphs and sorts them alphabetically. 394sort-fields divides into lines and sorts them alphabetically 395 according to one field in the line. 396 The numeric argument specifies which field (counting 397 from field 1 at the beginning of the line). Fields in a line 398 are separated by whitespace. 399sort-numeric-fields 400 is similar but converts the specified fields to numbers 401 and sorts them numerically. 402sort-columns divides into lines and sorts them according to the contents 403 of a specified range of columns. 404 405Refer to the self-documentation of these commands for full usage information. 406 407* Changes in various commands. 408 409** `tags-query-replace' and `tags-search' change. 410 411These functions now display the name of the file being searched at the moment. 412 413** `occur' output now serves as a menu. `occur-menu' command deleted. 414 415`M-x occur' now allows you to move quickly to any of the occurrences 416listed. Select the `*Occur*' buffer that contains the output of `occur', 417move point to the occurrence you want, and type C-c C-c. 418This will move point to the same occurrence in the buffer that the 419occurrences were found in. 420 421The command `occur-menu' is thus obsolete, and has been deleted. 422 423One way to get a list of matching lines without line numbers is to 424copy the text to another buffer and use the command `keep-lines'. 425 426** Incremental search changes. 427 428Ordinary and regexp incremental searches now have distinct default 429search strings. Thus, regexp searches recall only previous regexp 430searches. 431 432If you exit an incremental search when the search string is empty, 433the old default search string is kept. The default does not become 434empty. 435 436Reversing the direction of an incremental search with C-s or C-r 437when the search string is empty now does not get the default search 438string. It leaves the search string empty. A second C-s or C-r 439will get the default search string. As a result, you can do a reverse 440incremental regexp search with C-M-s C-r. 441 442If you add a `*', `?' or `\|' to an incremental search regexp, 443point will back up if that is appropriate. For example, if 444you have searched for `ab' and add a `*', point moves to the 445first match for `ab*', which may be before the match for `ab' 446that was previously found. 447 448If an incremental search is failing and you ask to repeat it, 449it will start again from the beginning of the buffer (or the end, 450if it is a backward search). 451 452The search-controlling parameters `isearch-slow-speed' and 453`isearch-slow-window-lines' have now been renamed to start with 454`search' instead of `isearch'. Now all the parameters' names start 455with `search'. 456 457If `search-slow-window-lines' is negative, the slow search window 458is put at the top of the screen, and the absolute value or the 459negative number specifies the height of it. 460 461** Undo changes 462 463The undo command now will mark the buffer as unmodified only when it is 464identical to the contents of the visited file. 465 466** C-M-v in minibuffer. 467 468If while in the minibuffer you request help in a way that uses a 469window to display something, then until you exit the minibuffer C-M-v 470in the minibuffer window scrolls the window of help. 471 472For example, if you request a list of possible completions, C-M-v can 473be used reliably to scroll the completion list. 474 475** M-TAB command. 476 477Meta-TAB performs completion on the Emacs Lisp symbol names. The sexp 478in the buffer before point is compared against all existing nontrivial 479Lisp symbols and completed as far as is uniquely determined by them. 480Nontrivial symbols are those with either function definitions, values 481or properties. 482 483If there are multiple possibilities for the very next character, a 484list of possible completions is displayed. 485 486** Dynamic abbreviation package. 487 488The new command Meta-/ expands an abbreviation in the buffer before point 489by searching the buffer for words that start with the abbreviation. 490 491** Changes in saving kbd macros. 492 493The commands `write-kbd-macro' and `append-kbd-macro' have been 494deleted. The way to save a keyboard macro is to use the new command 495`insert-kbd-macro', which inserts Lisp code to define the macro as 496it is currently defined into the buffer before point. Visit a Lisp 497file such as your Emacs init file `~/.emacs', insert the macro 498definition (perhaps deleting an old definition for the same macro) 499and then save the file. 500 501** C-x ' command. 502 503The new command C-x ' (expand-abbrev) expands the word before point as 504an abbrev, even if abbrev-mode is not turned on. 505 506** Sending to inferior Lisp. 507 508The command C-M-x in Lisp mode, which sends the current defun to 509an inferior Lisp process, now works by writing the text into a temporary 510file and actually sending only a `load'-form to load the file. 511As a result, it avoids the Unix bugs that used to strike when the 512text was above a certain length. 513 514With a prefix argument, this command now makes the inferior Lisp buffer 515appear on the screen and scrolls it so that the bottom is showing. 516 517Two variables `inferior-lisp-load-command' and `inferior-lisp-prompt', 518exist to customize these feature for different Lisp implementations. 519 520** C-x p now disabled. 521 522The command C-x p, a nonrecomended command which narrows to the current 523page, is now initially disabled like C-x n. 524 525* Dealing with files. 526 527** C-x C-v generalized 528 529This command is now allowed even if the current buffer is not visiting 530a file. As usual, it kills the current buffer and replaces it with a 531newly found file. 532 533** M-x recover-file improved; auto save file names changed. 534 535M-x recover-file now checks whether the last auto-save file is more 536recent than the real visited file before offering to read in the 537auto-save file. If the auto-save file is newer, a directory listing 538containing the two files is displayed while you are asked whether you 539want the auto save file. 540 541Visiting a file also makes this check. If the auto-save file is more recent, 542a message is printed suggesting that you consider using M-x recover file. 543 544Auto save file names now by default have a `#' at the end as well 545as at the beginning. This is so that `*.c' in a shell command 546will never match auto save files. 547 548On VMS, auto save file names are made by appending `_$' at the front 549and `$' at the end. 550 551When you change the visited file name of a buffer, the auto save file 552is now renamed to belong to the new visited file name. 553 554You can customize the way auto save file names are made by redefining 555the two functions `make-auto-save-file-name' and `auto-save-file-name-p', 556both of which are defined in `files.el'. 557 558** Modifying a buffer whose file is changed on disk is detected instantly. 559 560On systems where clash detection (locking of files being edited) is 561implemented, Emacs also checks the first time you modify a buffer 562whether the file has changed on disk since it was last visited or saved. 563If it has, you are asked to confirm that you want to change the buffer. 564 565** Exiting Emacs offers to save `*mail*'. 566 567Emacs can now know about buffers that it should offer to save on exit 568even though they are not visiting files. This is done for any buffer 569which has a non-nil local value of `buffer-offer-save'. By default, 570Mail mode provides such a local value. 571 572** Backup file changes. 573 574If a backup file cannot be written in the directory of the visited file 575due to fascist file protection, a backup file is now written in your home 576directory as `~/%backup%~'. Only one such file is made, ever, so only 577the most recently made such backup is available. 578 579When backup files are made by copying, the last-modification time of the 580original file is now preserved in the backup copy. 581 582** Visiting remote files. 583 584On an internet host, you can now visit and save files on any other 585internet host directly from Emacs with the commands M-x ftp-find-file 586and M-x ftp-write-file. Specify an argument of the form HOST:FILENAME. 587Since standard internet FTP is used, the other host may be any kind 588of machine and is not required to have any special facilities. 589 590The first time any one remote host is accessed, you will be asked to 591give the user name and password for use on that host. FTP is reinvoked 592each time you ask to use it, but previously specified user names and 593passwords are remembered automatically. 594 595** Dired `g' command. 596 597`g' in Dired mode is equivalent to M-x revert-buffer; it causes the 598current contents of the same directory to be read in. 599 600* Changes in major modes. 601 602** C mode indentation change. 603 604The binding of Linefeed is no longer changed by C mode. It once again 605has its normal meaning, which is to insert a newline and then indent 606afterward. 607 608The old definition did one additional thing: it reindented the line 609before the new newline. This has been removed because it made the 610command twice as slow. The only time it was really useful was after the 611insertion of an `else', since the fact of starting with `else' may change 612the way that line is indented. Now you will have to type TAB again 613yourself to reindent the `else' properly. 614 615If the variable `c-tab-always-indent' is set to `nil', the TAB command 616in C mode, with no argument, will just insert a tab character if there 617is non-whitespace preceding point on the current line. Giving it a 618prefix argument will force reindentation of the line (as well as 619of the compound statement that begins after point, if any). 620 621** Fortran mode now exists. 622 623This mode provides commands for motion and indentation of Fortran code, 624plus built-in abbrevs for Fortran keywords. For details, see the manual 625or the on-line documentation of the command `fortran-mode'. 626 627** Scribe mode now exists. 628 629This mode does something useful for editing files of Scribe input. 630It is used automatically for files with names ending in ".mss". 631 632** Modula2 and Prolog modes now exist. 633 634These modes are for editing programs in the languages of the same names. 635They can be selected with M-x modula-2-mode and M-x prolog-mode. 636 637** Telnet mode changes. 638 639The telnet mode special commands have now been assigned to C-c keys. 640Most of them are the same as in Shell mode. 641 642** Picture mode changes. 643 644The special picture-mode commands to specify the direction of cursor 645motion after insertion have been moved to C-c keys. The commands to 646specify diagonal motion were already C-c keys; they are unchanged. 647The keys to specify horizontal or vertical motion are now 648C-c < (left), C-c > (right), C-c ^ (up) and C-c . (down). 649 650** Nroff mode comments. 651 652Comments are now supported in Nroff mode. The standard comment commands 653such as M-; and C-x ; know how to insert, align and delete comments 654that start with backslash-doublequote. 655 656** LaTeX mode. 657 658LaTeX mode now exists. Use M-x latex-mode to select this mode, and 659M-x plain-tex-mode to select the previously existing mode for Plain 660TeX. M-x tex-mode attempts to examine the contents of the buffer and 661choose between latex-mode and plain-tex-mode accordingly; if the 662buffer is empty or it cannot tell, the variable `TeX-default-mode' 663controls the choice. Its value should be the symbol for the mode to 664be used. 665 666The facilities for running TeX on all or part of the buffer 667work with LaTeX as well. 668 669Some new commands available in both modes: 670 671C-c C-l recenter the window showing the TeX output buffer 672 so most recent line of output can be seen. 673C-c C-k kill the TeX subprocess. 674C-c C-q show the printer queue. 675C-c C-f close a block (appropriate for LaTeX only). 676 If the current line contains a \begin{...}, 677 this inserts an \end{...} on the following line 678 and puts point on a blank line between them. 679 680** Outline mode changes. 681 682Invisible lines in outline mode are now indicated by `...' at the 683end of the previous visible line. 684 685The special outline heading motion commands are now all on C-c keys. 686A few new ones have been added. Here is a full list: 687 688C-c C-n Move to next visible heading (formerly M-}) 689C-c C-p Move to previous visible heading (formerly M-{) 690C-c C-f Move to next visible heading at the same level. 691 Thus, if point is on a level-2 heading line, 692 this command moves to the next visible level-2 heading. 693C-c C-b Move to previous visible heading at the same level. 694C-c C-u Move up to previous visible heading at a higher level. 695 696The variable `outline-regexp' now controls recognition of heading lines. 697Any line whose beginning matches this regexp is a heading line. 698The depth in outline structure is determined by the length of 699the string that matches. 700 701A line starting with a ^L (formfeed) is now by default considered 702a header line. 703 704* Mail reading and sending. 705 706** MH-E changes. 707 708MH-E has been extensively modified and improved since the v17 release. 709It contains many new features, including commands to: extracted failed 710messages, kill a draft message, undo changes to a mail folder, monitor 711delivery of a letter, print multiple messages, page digests backwards, 712insert signatures, and burst digests. Also, many commands have been 713made to able to deal with named sequences of messages, instead of 714single messages. MH-E also has had numerous bugs fixed and commands 715made to run faster. Furthermore, its keybindings have been changed to 716be compatible with Rmail and the rest of GNU Emacs. 717 718** Mail mode changes. 719 720The C-c commands of mail mode have been rearranged: 721 722C-c s, C-c c, C-c t and C-c b (move point to various header fields) 723have been reassigned as C-c C-f C-s, C-c C-f C-c, C-c C-f C-t and C-c 724C-f C-b. C-c C-f is for "field". 725 726C-c y, C-c w and C-c q have been changed to C-c C-y, C-c C-w and C-c C-q. 727 728Thus, C-c LETTER is always unassigned. 729 730** Rmail C-r command changed to w. 731 732The Rmail command to edit the current message is now `w'. This change 733has been made because people frequently type C-r while in Rmail hoping 734to do a reverse incremental search. That now works. 735 736* Rnews changes. 737 738** Caesar rotation added. 739 740The function news-caesar-buffer-body performs encryption and 741decryption of the body of a news message. It defaults to the USENET 742standard of 13, and accepts any numeric arg between 1 to 25 and -25 to -1. 743The function is bound to C-c C-r in both news-mode and news-reply-mode. 744 745** rmail-output command added. 746 747The C-o command has been bound to rmail-output in news-mode. 748This allows one to append an article to a file which is in either Unix 749mail or RMAIL format. 750 751** news-reply-mode changes. 752 753The C-c commands of news reply mode have been rearranged and changed, 754so that C-c LETTER is always unassigned: 755 756C-c y, C-c w and C-c q have been changed to C-c C-y, C-c C-w and C-c C-q. 757 758C-c c, C-c t, and C-c b (move to various mail header fields) have been 759deleted (they make no sense for posting and replying to USENET). 760 761C-c s (move to Subject: header field) has been reassigned as C-c C-f 762C-s. C-c C-f is for "field". Several additional move to news header 763field commands have been added. 764 765The local news-reply-mode bindings now look like this: 766 767C-c C-s news-inews (post the message) C-c C-c news-inews 768C-c C-f move to a header field (and create it if there isn't): 769 C-c C-f C-n move to Newsgroups: C-c C-f C-s move to Subj: 770 C-c C-f C-f move to Followup-To: C-c C-f C-k move to Keywords: 771 C-c C-f C-d move to Distribution: C-c C-f C-a move to Summary: 772C-c C-y news-reply-yank-original (insert current message, in NEWS). 773C-c C-q mail-fill-yanked-message (fill what was yanked). 774C-c C-r caesar rotate all letters by 13 places in the article's body (rot13). 775 776* Existing Emacs usable as a server. 777 778Programs such as mailers that invoke "the editor" as an inferior 779to edit some text can now be told to use an existing Emacs process 780instead of creating a new editor. 781 782To do this, you must have an Emacs process running and capable of 783doing terminal I/O at the time you want to invoke it. This means that 784either you are using a window system and give Emacs a separate window 785or you run the other programs as inferiors of Emacs (such as, using 786M-x shell). 787 788First prepare the existing Emacs process by loading the `server' 789library and executing M-x server-start. (Your .emacs can do this 790automatically.) 791 792Now tell the other programs to use, as "the editor", the Emacs client 793program (etc/emacsclient, located in the same directory as this file). 794This can be done by setting the environment variable EDITOR. 795 796When another program invokes the emacsclient as "the editor", the 797client actually transfers the file names to be edited to the existing 798Emacs, which automatically visits the files. 799 800When you are done editing a buffer for a client, do C-x # (server-edit). 801This marks that buffer as done, and selects the next buffer that the client 802asked for. When all the buffers requested by a client are marked in this 803way, Emacs tells the client program to exit, so that the program that 804invoked "the editor" will resume execution. 805 806You can only have one server Emacs at a time, but multiple client programs 807can put in requests at the same time. 808 809The client/server work only on Berkeley Unix, since they use the Berkeley 810sockets mechanism for their communication. 811 812 813Changes in Lisp programming in Emacs version 18. 814 815* Init file changes. 816 817** Suffixes no longer accepted on `.emacs'. 818 819Emacs will no longer load a file named `.emacs.el' or `emacs.elc' 820in place of `.emacs'. This is so that it will take less time to 821find `.emacs'. If you want to compile your init file, give it another 822name and make `.emacs' a link to the `.elc' file, or make it contain 823a call to `load' to load the `.elc' file. 824 825** `default-profile' renamed to `default', and loaded after `.emacs'. 826 827It used to be the case that the file `default-profile' was loaded if 828and only if `.emacs' was not found. 829 830Now the name `default-profile' is not used at all. Instead, a library 831named `default' is loaded after the `.emacs' file. `default' is loaded 832whether the `.emacs' file exists or not. However, loading of `default' 833can be prevented if the `.emacs' file sets `inhibit-default-init' to non-nil. 834 835In fact, you would call the default file `default.el' and probably would 836byte-compile it to speed execution. 837 838Note that for most purposes you are better off using a `site-init' library 839since that will be loaded before the runnable Emacs is dumped. By using 840a `site-init' library, you avoid taking up time each time Emacs is started. 841 842** inhibit-command-line has been eliminated. 843 844This variable used to exist for .emacs files to set. It has been 845eliminated because you can get the same effect by setting 846command-line-args to nil and setting inhibit-startup-message to t. 847 848* `apply' is more general. 849 850`apply' now accepts any number of arguments. The first one is a function; 851the rest are individual arguments to pass to that function, except for the 852last, which is a list of arguments to pass. 853 854Previously, `apply' required exactly two arguments. Its old behavior 855follows as a special case of the new definition. 856 857* New code-letter for `interactive'. 858 859(interactive "NFoo: ") is like (interactive "nFoo: ") in reading 860a number using the minibuffer to serve as the argument; however, 861if a prefix argument was specified, it uses the prefix argument 862value as the argument, and does not use the minibuffer at all. 863 864This is used by the `goto-line' and `goto-char' commands. 865 866* Semantics of variables. 867 868** Built-in per-buffer variables improved. 869 870Several built-in variables which in the past had a different value in 871each buffer now behave exactly as if `make-variable-buffer-local' had 872been done to them. 873 874These variables are `tab-width', `ctl-arrow', `truncate-lines', 875`fill-column', `left-margin', `mode-line-format', `abbrev-mode', 876`overwrite-mode', `case-fold-search', `auto-fill-hook', 877`selective-display', `selective-display-ellipses'. 878 879To be precise, each variable has a default value which shows through 880in most buffers and can be accessed with `default-value' and set with 881`set-default'. Setting the variable with `setq' makes the variable 882local to the current buffer. Changing the default value has retroactive 883effect on all buffers in which the variable is not local. 884 885The variables `default-case-fold-search', etc., are now obsolete. 886They now refer to the default value of the variable, which is not 887quite the same behavior as before, but it should enable old init files 888to continue to work. 889 890** New per-buffer variables. 891 892The variables `fill-prefix', `comment-column' and `indent-tabs-mode' 893are now per-buffer. They work just like `fill-column', etc. 894 895** New function `setq-default'. 896 897`setq-default' sets the default value of a variable, and uses the 898same syntax that `setq' accepts: the variable name is not evaluated 899and need not be quoted. 900 901`(setq-default case-fold-search nil)' would make searches case-sensitive 902in all buffers that do not have local values for `case-fold-search'. 903 904** Functions `global-set' and `global-value' deleted. 905 906These functions were never used except by mistake by users expecting 907the functionality of `set-default' and `default-value'. 908 909* Changes in defaulting of major modes. 910 911When `default-major-mode' is `nil', new buffers are supposed to 912get their major mode from the buffer that is current. However, 913certain major modes (such as Dired mode, Rmail mode, Rmail Summary mode, 914and others) are not reasonable to use in this way. 915 916Now such modes' names have been given non-`nil' `mode-class' properties. 917If the current buffer's mode has such a property, Fundamental mode is 918used as the default for newly created buffers. 919 920* `where-is-internal' requires additional arguments. 921 922This function now accepts three arguments, two of them required: 923DEFINITION, the definition to search for; LOCAL-KEYMAP, the keymap 924to use as the local map when doing the searching, and FIRST-ONLY, 925which is nonzero to return only the first key found. 926 927This function returns a list of keys (strings) whose definitions 928(in the LOCAL-KEYMAP or the current global map) are DEFINITION. 929 930If FIRST-ONLY is non-nil, it returns a single key (string). 931 932This function has changed incompatibly in that now two arguments 933are required when previously only one argument was allowed. To get 934the old behavior of this function, write `(current-local-map)' as 935the expression for the second argument. 936 937The incompatibility is sad, but `nil' is a legitimate value for the 938second argument (it means there is no local keymap), so it cannot also 939serve as a default meaning to use the current local keymap. 940 941* Abbrevs with hooks. 942 943When an abbrev defined with a hook is expanded, it now performs the 944usual replacement of the abbrev with the expansion before running the 945hook. Previously the abbrev itself was deleted but the expansion was 946not inserted. 947 948* Function `scan-buffer' deleted. 949 950Use `search-forward' or `search-backward' in place of `scan-buffer'. 951You will have to rearrange the arguments. 952 953* X window interface improvements. 954 955** Detect release of mouse buttons. 956 957Button-up events can now be detected. See the file `lisp/x-mouse.el' 958for details. 959 960** New pop-up menu facility. 961 962The new function `x-popup-menu' pops up a menu (in a X window) 963and returns an indication of which selection the user made. 964For more information, see its self-documentation. 965 966* M-x disassemble. 967 968This command prints the disassembly of a byte-compiled Emacs Lisp function. 969 970Would anyone like to interface this to the debugger? 971 972* `insert-buffer-substring' can insert part of the current buffer. 973 974The old restriction that the text being inserted had to come from 975a different buffer is now lifted. 976 977When inserting text from the current buffer, the text to be inserted 978is determined from the specified bounds before any copying takes place. 979 980* New function `substitute-key-definition'. 981 982This is a new way to replace one command with another command as the 983binding of whatever keys may happen to refer to it. 984 985(substitute-key-definition OLDDEF NEWDEF KEYMAP) looks through KEYMAP 986for keys defined to run OLDDEF, and rebinds those keys to run NEWDEF 987instead. 988 989* New function `insert-char'. 990 991Insert a specified character, a specified number of times. 992 993* `mark-marker' changed. 994 995When there is no mark, this now returns a marker that points 996nowhere, rather than `nil'. 997 998* `ding' accepts argument. 999 1000When given an argument, the function `ding' does not terminate 1001execution of a keyboard macro. Normally, `ding' does terminate 1002all macros that are currently executing. 1003 1004* New function `minibuffer-depth'. 1005 1006This function returns the current depth in minibuffer activations. 1007The value is zero when the minibuffer is not in use. 1008Values greater than one are possible if the user has entered the 1009minibuffer recursively. 1010 1011* New function `documentation-property'. 1012 1013(documentation-property SYMBOL PROPNAME) is like (get SYMBOL PROPNAME), 1014except that if the property value is a number `documentation-property' 1015will take that number (or its absolute value) as a character position 1016in the DOC file and return the string found there. 1017 1018(documentation-property VAR 'variable-documentation) is the proper 1019way for a Lisp program to get the documentation of variable VAR. 1020 1021* New documentation-string expansion feature. 1022 1023If a documentation string (for a variable or function) contains text 1024of the form `\<FOO>', it means that all command names specified in 1025`\[COMMAND]' construct from that point on should be turned into keys 1026using the value of the variable FOO as the local keymap. Thus, for example, 1027 1028 `\<emacs-lisp-mode-map>\[eval-defun] evaluates the defun containing point.' 1029 1030will expand into 1031 1032 "ESC C-x evaluates the defun containing point." 1033 1034regardless of the current major mode, because ESC C-x is defined to 1035run `eval-defun' in the keymap `emacs-lisp-mode-map'. The effect is 1036to show the key for `eval-defun' in Emacs Lisp mode regardless of the 1037current major mode. 1038 1039The `\<...>' construct applies to all `\[...]' constructs that follow it, 1040up to the end of the documentation string or the next `\<...>'. 1041 1042Without `\<...>', the keys for commands specified in `\[...]' are found 1043in the current buffer's local map. 1044 1045The current global keymap is always searched second, whether `\<...>' 1046has been used or not. 1047 1048* Multiple hooks allowed in certain contexts. 1049 1050The old hook variables `find-file-hook', `find-file-not-found-hook' and 1051`write-file-hook' have been replaced. 1052 1053The replacements are `find-file-hooks', `find-file-not-found-hooks' 1054and `write-file-hooks'. Each holds a list of functions to be called; 1055by default, `nil', for no functions. The functions are called in 1056order of appearance in the list. 1057 1058In the case of `find-file-hooks', all the functions are executed. 1059 1060In the case of `find-file-not-found-hooks', if any of the functions 1061returns non-`nil', the rest of the functions are not called. 1062 1063In the case of `write-file-hooks', if any of the functions returns 1064non-`nil', the rest of the functions are not called, and the file is 1065considered to have been written already; so actual writing in the 1066usual way is not done. If `write-file-hooks' is local to a buffer, 1067it is set to its global value if `set-visited-file-name' is called 1068(and thus by C-x C-w as well). 1069 1070`find-file-not-found-hooks' and `write-file-hooks' can be used 1071together to implement editing of files that are not stored as Unix 1072files: stored in archives, or inside version control systems, or on 1073other machines running other operating systems and accessible via ftp. 1074 1075* New hooks for suspending Emacs. 1076 1077Suspending Emacs runs the hook `suspend-hook' before suspending 1078and the hook `suspend-resume-hook' if the suspended Emacs is resumed. 1079Running a hook is done by applying the variable's value to no arguments 1080if the variable has a non-`nil' value. If `suspend-hook' returns 1081non-`nil', then suspending is inhibited and so is running the 1082`suspend-resume-hook'. The non-`nil' value means that the `suspend-hook' 1083has done whatever suspending is required. 1084 1085* Disabling commands can print a special message. 1086 1087A command is disabled by giving it a non-`nil' `disabled' property. 1088Now, if this property is a string, it is included in the message 1089printed when the user tries to run the command. 1090 1091* Emacs can open TCP connections. 1092 1093The function `open-network-stream' opens a TCP connection to 1094a specified host and service. Its value is a Lisp object that represents 1095the connection. The object is a kind of "subprocess", and I/O are 1096done like I/O to subprocesses. 1097 1098* Display-related changes. 1099 1100** New mode-line control features. 1101 1102The display of the mode line used to be controlled by a format-string 1103that was the value of the variable `mode-line-format'. 1104 1105This variable still exists, but it now allows more general values, 1106not just strings. Lists, cons cells and symbols are also meaningful. 1107 1108The mode line contents are created by outputting various mode elements 1109one after the other. Here are the kinds of objects that can be 1110used as mode elements, and what they do in the display: 1111 1112 string the contents of the string are output to the mode line, 1113 and %-constructs are replaced by other text. 1114 1115 t or nil ignored; no output results. 1116 1117 symbol the symbol's value is used. If the value is a string, 1118 the string is output verbatim to the mode line 1119 (so %-constructs are not interpreted). Otherwise, 1120 the symbol's value is processed as a mode element. 1121 1122 list (whose first element is a string or list or cons cell) 1123 the elements of the list are treated as as mode elements, 1124 so that the output they generate is concatenated, 1125 1126 list (whose car is a symbol) 1127 if the symbol's value is non-nil, the second element of the 1128 list is treated as a mode element. Otherwise, the third 1129 element (if any) of the list is treated as a mode element. 1130 1131 cons (whose car is a positive integer) 1132 the cdr of the cons is used as a mode element, but 1133 the text it produces is padded, if necessary, to have 1134 at least the width specified by the integer. 1135 1136 cons (whose car is a negative integer) 1137 the cdr of the cons is used as a mode element, but 1138 the text it produces is truncated, if necessary, to have 1139 at most the width specified by the integer. 1140 1141There is always one mode element to start with, that being the value of 1142`mode-line-format', but if this value is a list then it leads to several 1143more mode elements, which can lead to more, and so on. 1144 1145There is one new %-construct for mode elements that are strings: 1146`%n' displays ` Narrow' for a buffer that is narrowed. 1147 1148The default value of `mode-line-format' refers to several other variables. 1149These variables are `mode-name', `mode-line-buffer-identification', 1150`mode-line-process', `mode-line-modified', `global-mode-string' and 1151`minor-mode-alist'. The first four are local in every buffer in which they 1152are changed from the default. 1153 1154mode-name Name of buffer's major mode. Local in every buffer. 1155 1156mode-line-buffer-identification 1157 Normally the list ("Emacs: %17b"), it is responsible 1158 for displaying text to indicate what buffer is being shown 1159 and what kind of editing it is doing. `Emacs' means 1160 that a file of characters is being edited. Major modes 1161 such as Info and Dired which edit or view other kinds 1162 of data often change this value. This variables becomes 1163 local to the current buffer if it is setq'd. 1164 1165mode-line-process 1166 Normally nil, this variable is responsible for displaying 1167 information about the process running in the current buffer. 1168 M-x shell-mode and M-x compile alter this variable. 1169 1170mode-line-modified 1171 This variable is responsible for displaying the indication 1172 of whether the current buffer is modified or read-only. 1173 By default its value is `("--%*%*-")'. 1174 1175minor-mode-alist 1176 This variable is responsible for displaying text for those 1177 minor modes that are currently enabled. Its value 1178 is a list of elements of the form (VARIABLE STRING), 1179 where STRING is to be displayed if VARIABLE's value 1180 (in the buffer whose mode line is being displayed) 1181 is non-nil. This variable is not made local to particular 1182 buffers, but loading some libraries may add elements to it. 1183 1184global-mode-string 1185 This variable is used to display the time, if you ask 1186 for that. 1187 1188The idea of these variables is to eliminate the need for major modes 1189to alter mode-line-format itself. 1190 1191** `window-point' valid for selected window. 1192 1193The value returned by `window-point' used to be incorrect when its 1194argument was the selected window. Now the value is correct. 1195 1196** Window configurations may be saved as Lisp objects. 1197 1198The function `current-window-configuration' returns a special type of 1199Lisp object that represents the current layout of windows: the 1200sizes and positions of windows, which buffers appear in them, and 1201which parts of the buffers appear on the screen. 1202 1203The function `set-window-configuration' takes one argument, which must 1204be a window configuration object, and restores that configuration. 1205 1206** New hook `temp-output-buffer-show-hook'. 1207 1208This hook allows you to control how help buffers are displayed. 1209Whenever `with-output-to-temp-buffer' has executed its body and wants 1210to display the temp buffer, if this variable is bound and non-`nil' 1211then its value is called with one argument, the temp buffer. 1212The hook function is solely responsible for displaying the buffer. 1213The standard manner of display--making the buffer appear in a window--is 1214used only if there is no hook function. 1215 1216** New function `minibuffer-window'. 1217 1218This function returns the window used (sometimes) for displaying 1219the minibuffer. It can be used even when the minibuffer is not active. 1220 1221** New feature to `next-window'. 1222 1223If the optional second argument is neither `nil' nor `t', the minibuffer 1224window is omitted from consideration even when active; if the starting 1225window was the last non-minibuffer window, the value will be the first 1226non-minibuffer window. 1227 1228** New variable `minibuffer-scroll-window'. 1229 1230When this variable is non-`nil', the command `scroll-other-window' 1231uses it as the window to be scrolled. Displays of completion-lists 1232set this variable to the window containing the display. 1233 1234** New argument to `sit-for'. 1235 1236A non-nil second argument to `sit-for' means do not redisplay; 1237just wait for the specified time or until input is available. 1238 1239** Deleted function `set-minor-mode'; minor modes must be changed. 1240 1241The function `set-minor-mode' has been eliminated. The display 1242of minor mode names in the mode line is now controlled by the 1243variable `minor-mode-alist'. To specify display of a new minor 1244mode, it is sufficient to add an element to this list. Once that 1245is done, you can turn the mode on and off just by setting a variable, 1246and the display will show its status automatically. 1247 1248** New variable `cursor-in-echo-area'. 1249 1250If this variable is non-nil, the screen cursor appears on the 1251last line of the screen, at the end of the text displayed there. 1252 1253Binding this variable to t is useful at times when reading single 1254characters of input with `read-char'. 1255 1256** New per-buffer variable `selective-display-ellipses'. 1257 1258If this variable is non-nil, an ellipsis (`...') appears on the screen 1259at the end of each text line that is followed by invisible text. 1260 1261If this variable is nil, no ellipses appear. Then there is no sign 1262on the screen that invisible text is present. 1263 1264Text is made invisible under the control of the variable 1265`selective-display'; this is how Outline mode and C-x $ work. 1266 1267** New variable `no-redraw-on-reenter'. 1268 1269If you set this variable non-nil, Emacs will not clear the screen when 1270you resume it after suspending it. This is for the sake of terminals 1271with multiple screens of memory, where the termcap entry has been set 1272up to switch between screens when Emacs is suspended and resumed. 1273 1274** New argument to `set-screen-height' or `set-screen-width'. 1275 1276These functions now take an optional second argument which says 1277what significance the newly specified height or width has. 1278 1279If the argument is nil, or absent, it means that Emacs should 1280believe that the terminal height or width really is as just specified. 1281 1282If the argument is t, it means Emacs should not believe that the 1283terminal really is this high or wide, but it should use the 1284specific height or width as the number of lines or columns to display. 1285Thus, you could display only 24 lines on a screen known to have 48 lines. 1286 1287What practical difference is there between using only 24 lines for display 1288and really believing that the terminal has 24 lines? 1289 12901. The ``real'' height of the terminal says what the terminal command 1291to move the cursor to the last line will do. 1292 12932. The ``real'' height of the terminal determines how much padding is 1294needed. 1295 1296* File-related changes. 1297 1298** New parameter `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch'. 1299 1300If this variable is non-`nil', then when Emacs is about to save a 1301file, it will create the backup file by copying if that would avoid 1302changing the file's uid or gid. 1303 1304The default value of this variable is `nil', because usually it is 1305useful to have the uid of a file change according to who edited it 1306last. I recommend thet this variable be left normally `nil' and 1307changed with a local variables list in those particular files where 1308the uid needs to be preserved. 1309 1310** New parameter `file-precious-flag'. 1311 1312If this variable is non-`nil', saving the buffer tries to avoid 1313leaving an incomplete file due to disk full or other I/O errors. 1314It renames the old file before saving. If saving is successful, 1315the renamed file is deleted; if saving gets an error, the renamed 1316file is renamed back to the name you visited. 1317 1318Backups are always made by copying for such files. 1319 1320** New variable `buffer-offer-save'. 1321 1322If the value of this variable is non-`nil' in a buffer then exiting 1323Emacs will offer to save the buffer (if it is modified and nonempty) 1324even if the buffer is not visiting a file. This variable is 1325automatically made local to the current buffer whenever it is set. 1326 1327** `rename-file', `copy-file', `add-name-to-file' and `make-symbolic-link'. 1328 1329The third argument to these functions used to be `t' or `nil'; `t' 1330meaning go ahead even if the specified new file name already has a file, 1331and `nil' meaning to get an error. 1332 1333Now if the third argument is a number it means to ask the user for 1334confirmation in this case. 1335 1336** New optional argument to `copy-file'. 1337 1338If `copy-file' receives a non-nil fourth argument, it attempts 1339to give the new copy the same time-of-last-modification that the 1340original file has. 1341 1342** New function `file-newer-than-file-p'. 1343 1344(file-newer-than-file-p FILE1 FILE2) returns non-nil if FILE1 has been 1345modified more recently than FILE2. If FILE1 does not exist, the value 1346is always nil; otherwise, if FILE2 does not exist, the value is t. 1347This is meant for use when FILE2 depends on FILE1, to see if changes 1348in FILE1 make it necessary to recompute FILE2 from it. 1349 1350** Changed function `file-exists-p'. 1351 1352This function is no longer the same as `file-readable-p'. 1353`file-exists-p' can now return t for a file that exists but which 1354the fascists won't allow you to read. 1355 1356** New function `file-locked-p'. 1357 1358This function receives a file name as argument and returns `nil' 1359if the file is not locked, `t' if locked by this Emacs, or a 1360string giving the name of the user who has locked it. 1361 1362** New function `file-name-sans-versions'. 1363 1364(file-name-sans-versions NAME) returns a substring of NAME, with any 1365version numbers or other backup suffixes deleted from the end. 1366 1367** New functions for directory names. 1368 1369Although a directory is really a kind of file, specifying a directory 1370uses a somewhat different syntax from specifying a file. 1371In Emacs, a directory name is used as part of a file name. 1372 1373On Unix, the difference is small: a directory name ends in a slash, 1374while a file name does not: thus, `/usr/rms/' to name a directory, 1375while `/usr/rms' names the file which holds that directory. 1376 1377On VMS, the difference is considerable: `du:[rms.foo]' specifies a 1378directory, but the name of the file that holds that directory is 1379`du:[rms]foo.dir'. 1380 1381There are two new functions for converting between directory names 1382and file names. `directory-file-name' takes a directory name and 1383returns the name of the file in which that directory's data is stored. 1384`file-name-as-directory' takes the name of a file and returns 1385the corresponding directory name. These always understand Unix file name 1386syntax; on VMS, they understand VMS syntax as well. 1387 1388For example, (file-name-as-directory "/usr/rms") returns "/usr/rms/" 1389and (directory-file-name "/usr/rms/") returns "/usr/rms". 1390On VMS, (file-name-as-directory "du:[rms]foo.dir") returns "du:[rms.foo]" 1391and (directory-file-name "du:[rms.foo]") returns "du:[rms]foo.dir". 1392 1393** Value of `file-attributes' changed. 1394 1395The function file-attributes returns a list containing many kinds of 1396information about a file. Now the list has eleven elements. 1397 1398The tenth element is `t' if deleting the file and creating another 1399file of the same name would result in a change in the file's group; 1400`nil' if there would be no change. You can also think of this as 1401comparing the file's group with the default group for files created in 1402the same directory by you. 1403 1404The eleventh element is the inode number of the file. 1405 1406** VMS-only function `file-name-all-versions'. 1407 1408This function returns a list of all the completions, including version 1409number, of a specified version-number-less file name. This is like 1410`file-name-all-completions', except that the latter returns values 1411that do not include version numbers. 1412 1413** VMS-only variable `vms-stmlf-recfm'. 1414 1415On a VMS system, if this variable is non-nil, Emacs will give newly 1416created files the record format `stmlf'. This is necessary for files 1417that must contain lines of arbitrary length, such as compiled Emacs 1418Lisp. 1419 1420When writing a new version of an existing file, Emacs always keeps 1421the same record format as the previous version; so this variable has 1422no effect. 1423 1424This variable has no effect on Unix systems. 1425 1426** `insert-file-contents' on an empty file. 1427 1428This no longer sets the buffer's "modified" flag. 1429 1430** New function (VMS only) `define-logical-name': 1431 1432(define-logical-name LOGICAL TRANSLATION) defines a VMS logical name 1433LOGICAL whose translation is TRANSLATION. The new name applies to 1434the current process only. 1435 1436** Deleted variable `ask-about-buffer-names'. 1437 1438If you want buffer names for files to be generated in a special way, 1439you must redefine `create-file-buffer'. 1440 1441* Subprocess-related changes. 1442 1443** New function `process-list'. 1444 1445This function takes no arguments and returns a list of all 1446of Emacs's asynchronous subprocesses. 1447 1448** New function `process-exit-status'. 1449 1450This function, given a process, process name or buffer as argument, 1451returns the exit status code or signal number of the process. 1452If the process has not yet exited or died, this function returns 0. 1453 1454** Process output ignores `buffer-read-only'. 1455 1456Output from a process will go into the process's buffer even if the 1457buffer is read only. 1458 1459** Switching buffers in filter functions and sentinels. 1460 1461Emacs no longer saves and restore the current buffer around calling 1462the filter and sentinel functions, so these functions can now 1463permanently alter the selected buffer in a straightforward manner. 1464 1465** Specifying environment variables for subprocesses. 1466 1467When a subprocess is started with `start-process' or `call-process', 1468the value of the variable `process-environment' is taken to 1469specify the environment variables to give the subprocess. The 1470value should be a list of strings, each of the form "VAR=VALUE". 1471 1472`process-environment' is initialized when Emacs starts up 1473based on Emacs's environment. 1474 1475** New variable `process-connection-type'. 1476 1477If this variable is `nil', when a subprocess is created, Emacs uses 1478a pipe rather than a pty to communicate with it. Normally this 1479variable is `t', telling Emacs to use a pty if ptys are supported 1480and one is available. 1481 1482** New function `waiting-for-user-input-p'. 1483 1484This function, given a subprocess as argument, returns `t' if that 1485subprocess appears to be waiting for input sent from Emacs, 1486or `nil' otherwise. 1487 1488** New hook `shell-set-directory-error-hook'. 1489 1490The value of this variable is called, with no arguments, whenever 1491Shell mode gets an error trying to keep track of directory-setting 1492commands (such as `cd' and `pushd') used in the shell buffer. 1493 1494* New functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid'. 1495 1496These functions take no arguments and return, respectively, 1497the effective uid and the real uid of the Emacs process. 1498The value in each case is an integer. 1499 1500* New variable `print-escape-newlines' controls string printing. 1501 1502If this variable is non-`nil', then when a Lisp string is printed 1503by the Lisp printing function `prin1' or `print', newline characters 1504are printed as `\n' rather than as a literal newline. 1505 1506* New function `sysnetunam' on HPUX. 1507 1508This function takes two arguments, a network address PATH and a 1509login string LOGIN, and executes the system call `netunam'. 1510It returns `t' if the call succeeds, otherwise `nil'. 1511 1512News regarding installation: 1513 1514* Many `s-...' file names changed. 1515 1516Many `s-...' files have been renamed. All periods in such names, 1517except the ones just before the final `h', have been changed to 1518hyphens. Thus, `s-bsd4.2.h' has been renamed to `s-bsd4-2.h'. 1519 1520This is so a Unix distribution can be moved mechanically to VMS. 1521 1522* `DOCSTR...' file now called `DOC-...'. 1523 1524The file of on-line documentation strings, that used to be 1525`DOCSTR.mm.nn.oo' in this directory, is now called `DOC-mm.nn.oo'. 1526This is so that it can port to VMS using the standard conventions 1527for translating filenames for VMS. 1528 1529This file also now contains the doc strings for variables as 1530well as functions. 1531 1532* Emacs no longer uses floating point arithmetic. 1533 1534This may make it easier to port to some machines. 1535 1536* Macros `XPNTR' and `XSETPNTR'; flag `DATA_SEG_BITS'. 1537 1538These macros exclusively are used to unpack a pointer from a Lisp_Object 1539and to insert a pointer into a Lisp_Object. Redefining them may help 1540port Emacs to machines in which all pointers to data objects have 1541certain high bits set. 1542 1543If `DATA_SEG_BITS' is defined, it should be a number which contains 1544the high bits to be inclusive or'ed with pointers that are unpacked. 1545 1546* New flag `HAVE_X_MENU'. 1547 1548Define this flag in `config.h' in addition to `HAVE_X_WINDOWS' 1549to enable use of the Emacs interface to X Menus. On some operating 1550systems, the rest of the X interface works properly but X Menus 1551do not work; hence this separate flag. See the file `src/xmenu.c' 1552for more information. 1553 1554* Macros `ARRAY_MARK_FLAG' and `DONT_COPY_FLAG'. 1555 1556* `HAVE_ALLOCA' prevents assembly of `alloca.s'. 1557 1558* `SYSTEM_MALLOC' prevents use of GNU `malloc.c'. 1559 1560SYSTEM_MALLOC, if defined, means use the system's own `malloc' routines 1561rather than those that come with Emacs. 1562 1563Use this only if absolutely necessary, because if it is used you do 1564not get warnings when space is getting low. 1565 1566* New flags to control unexec. 1567 1568See the file `unexec.c' for a long comment on the compilation 1569switches that suffice to make it work on many machines. 1570 1571* `PNTR_COMPARISON_TYPE' 1572 1573Pointers that need to be compared for ordering are converted to this type 1574first. Normally this is `unsigned int'. 1575 1576* `HAVE_VFORK', `HAVE_DUP2' and `HAVE_GETTIMEOFDAY'. 1577 1578These flags just say whether certain system calls are available. 1579 1580* New macros control compiler switches, linker switches and libraries. 1581 1582The m- and s- files can now control in a modular fashion the precise 1583arguments passed to `cc' and `ld'. 1584 1585LIBS_STANDARD defines the standard C libraries. Default is `-lc'. 1586LIBS_DEBUG defines the extra libraries to use when debugging. Default `-lg'. 1587LIBS_SYSTEM can be defined by the s- file to specify extra libraries. 1588LIBS_MACHINE can be defined by the m- file to specify extra libraries. 1589LIBS_TERMCAP defines the libraries for Termcap or Terminfo. 1590 It is defined by default in a complicated fashion but the m- or s- file 1591 can override it. 1592 1593LD_SWITCH_SYSTEM can be defined by the s- file to specify extra `ld' switches. 1594 The default is `-X' on BSD systems except those few that use COFF object files. 1595LD_SWITCH_MACHINE can be defined by the m- file to specify extra `ld' switches. 1596 1597C_DEBUG_SWITCH defines the switches to give `cc' when debugging. Default `-g'. 1598C_OPTIMIZE_SWITCH defines the switches to give `cc' to optimize. Default `-O'. 1599C_SWITCH_MACHINE can be defined by the m- file to specify extra `cc' switches. 1600 1601 1602 1603---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1604This file is part of GNU Emacs. 1605 1606GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify 1607it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by 1608the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) 1609any later version. 1610 1611GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 1612but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 1613MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the 1614GNU General Public License for more details. 1615 1616You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License 1617along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the 1618Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, 1619Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. 1620 1621 1622Local variables: 1623mode: text 1624end: 1625 1626arch-tag: 8fed393b-c9c5-47d1-afbb-c0e7a135094a 1627