1 \input texinfo.tex @c -*- mode: texinfo; coding: iso-2022-8 -*-
3 @setfilename ../info/xemacs-faq.info
4 @settitle Frequently asked questions about XEmacs
10 @subtitle Frequently asked questions about XEmacs @* Last Modified: $Date: 2005/10/14 02:11:49 $
12 @author Ben Wing <ben@@xemacs.org>
13 @author Tony Rossini <rossini@@u.washington.edu>
14 @author Chuck Thompson <cthomp@@xemacs.org>
15 @author Steve Baur <steve@@xemacs.org>
16 @author Andreas Kaempf <andreas@@sccon.com>
17 @author Christian Nyb@o{} <chr@@mediascience.no>
18 @author Sandra Wambold <wambold@@xemacs.org>
23 @dircategory XEmacs Editor
25 * FAQ: (xemacs-faq). XEmacs FAQ.
30 *****************************************
31 ***** To update the menus and nodes *****
32 *****************************************
34 First, the first argument to @node (the name itself) needs to be correct.
35 Use a macro if necessary to update the @node names from the
36 @unnumberedsubsec commands. Also note that the command we're about to
37 run will not correctly fix up the part of the menu to the right of a ::.
38 It will leave existing text in place but not change anything. If you
39 make a lot of changes and want to update this semi-automatically, use
40 M-x occur to pick out all @unnumberedsubsec lines then do some editing
41 magic to coerce them into the right format and cut and paste as necessary:
43 1. M-x occur @unnumberedsubsec
44 2. <select a rectangle including all text before the Q#.#.#>
46 4. go to the top and use the following macro to get the indentation right.
48 (setq last-kbd-macro (read-kbd-macro
49 "C-s : RET : <right> M-x indent- to- column RET 14 RET <home> <down>"))
51 5. Cut and paste the menus into the detailmenu at the top and
52 individual menus at the top of the appropriate chapters. (#### I
53 wonder, does texinfo-master-menu generate the detailmenu from the
54 individual menus or vice-versa or neither?)
58 6. C-u C-c C-u m (C-u M-x texinfo-master-menu) will update the menus
59 and nodes. However, it appears that even though it tries to
60 preserve the existing menu structure as much as possible, it
61 doesn't do a perfect job. It messes up in at least two ways: The
62 indentation in the part of the main menu above the detailmenu will
63 be screwed up, and the #.0 titles will be removed from both the
64 detailmenu and the individual chapter menus. In addition,
65 sometimes random things get screwed up in individual parts of the
68 1. Use the Lisp line below to get the spacing correct for the Q#.#.#
71 (set (make-local-variable 'texinfo-column-for-description) 14)
73 2. Copy the whole detailmenu beforehand.
74 3. Run C-u C-c C-u m to fix up the nodes.
75 4. Run `fix-main-menu' and `fix-omitted-menu-lines'.
76 5. Check the new detailmenu carefully to see if anything is screwed up
77 compared to the old detailmenu you copied.
78 6. If so, paste back the appropriate sections and fix up the corresponding
79 part of the chapter-specific menu.
81 (defun fix-main-menu ()
85 (goto-char (point-min))
86 (re-search-forward "^@menu")
87 (setq p (match-beginning 0))
88 (re-search-forward "^$")
89 (setq q (match-end 0))
90 (narrow-to-region p q)
92 (while (search-forward ":: " nil t)
93 (indent-to-column 26)))))
95 (defun fix-omitted-menu-lines ()
98 (loop for x from 1 to 10 do
99 (goto-char (point-min))
100 (re-search-forward (format "@unnumberedsec \\(%d.0: .*\\)" x))
101 (let ((line (match-string 1)))
102 (re-search-backward "^@menu")
104 (unless (looking-at "[0-9]+.0:")
107 (goto-char (point-min))
108 (re-search-forward "^@menu")
109 (search-forward (format "Q%d.0.1:" x))
111 (unless (looking-at "[0-9]+.0:")
115 *****************************************
116 ***** Other work *****
117 *****************************************
119 When you've rearranged and renumbered a bunch of nodes, you can get
120 the numbers agreeing again. The macro below assumes that the
121 unnumberedsubsec number is correct, and fixes up the node to agree.
122 Only the first part of the node is fixed and the other parts may still
123 be wrong; but they will be fixed as part of
124 @code{texinfo-master-menu}.
126 (setq last-kbd-macro (read-kbd-macro
127 "<f1> unnumberedsubsec SPC RET C-s : RET <left> C-x C-x <f3> <home> <up> <C-right> <right> C-s , RET <left> C-x C-x <f4> <home> 2*<down>"))
131 @node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir)
134 This is the guide to the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list---a
135 compendium of questions and answers pertaining to one of the finest
136 programs ever written. XEmacs is much more than just a Text Editor.
138 This FAQ is freely redistributable. This FAQ is distributed in the hope
139 that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
140 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
142 If you have a Web browser, the official hypertext version is at
146 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/FAQ/xemacs-faq.html}
150 This document is available in several different formats:
153 @uref{xemacs-faq.txt, As a single ASCII file}, produced by
154 @code{makeinfo --no-headers}
156 @uref{xemacs-faq.dvi, As a .dvi file}, as used with
157 @uref{http://www.tug.org, TeX.}
159 As a PostScript file @uref{xemacs-faq-a4.ps, in A4 format},
160 as well as in @uref{xemacs-faq-letter.ps, letter format}
162 In html format, @uref{xemacs-faq_1.html, split by chapter}, or in
163 @uref{xemacs-faq.html, one monolithic} document.
165 The canonical version of the FAQ is the texinfo document
166 @uref{xemacs-faq.texi, man/xemacs-faq.texi}.
168 If you do not have makeinfo installed, you may @uref{xemacs-faq.info,
169 download the faq} in info format, and install it in @file{<XEmacs
170 library directory>/info/}. For example in
171 @file{/usr/local/lib/xemacs-21.4/info/}.
179 @c end ifset points to CANONICAL
182 * Introduction:: Introduction, Policy, Credits.
183 * Installation:: Installation and Troubleshooting.
184 * Editing:: Editing Functions.
185 * Display:: Display Functions.
186 * External Subsystems:: Interfacing with the OS and External Devices.
187 * Internet:: Connecting to the Internet.
188 * Advanced:: Advanced Customization Using XEmacs Lisp.
189 * Other Packages:: Other External Packages.
190 * Current Events:: What the Future Holds.
191 * Legacy Versions:: New information about old XEmacsen.
194 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
196 1 Introduction, Policy, Credits
199 * Q1.0.1:: What is XEmacs?
200 * Q1.0.2:: What is the current version of XEmacs?
201 * Q1.0.3:: How do you pronounce XEmacs?
202 * Q1.0.4:: What does XEmacs look like?
203 * Q1.0.5:: Who wrote XEmacs?
204 * Q1.0.6:: Who wrote the FAQ?
207 * Q1.1.1:: Where can I find XEmacs?
208 * Q1.1.2:: Are binaries available?
209 * Q1.1.3:: How do I get the bleeding-edge sources?
210 * Q1.1.4:: Where can I obtain a printed copy of the XEmacs User's Manual?
212 1.2: Versions for Different Operating Systems
213 * Q1.2.1:: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs?
214 * Q1.2.2:: What versions of Unix does XEmacs run on?
215 * Q1.2.3:: Is there a port of XEmacs to Microsoft Windows?
216 * Q1.2.4:: Can I build XEmacs on MS Windows with X support? Do I need to?
217 * Q1.2.5:: What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?
218 * Q1.2.6:: What are the differences between the various MS Windows emacsen?
219 * Q1.2.7:: How does the port cope with differences in the Windows user interface?
220 * Q1.2.8:: Is there a port of XEmacs to the Macintosh?
221 * Q1.2.9:: Is there a port of XEmacs to MS-DOS?
222 * Q1.2.10:: Is there a port of XEmacs to OS/2?
223 * Q1.2.11:: Is there a port of XEmacs to NextStep?
224 * Q1.2.12:: Is there a port of XEmacs to VMS?
227 * Q1.3.1:: What is an @file{init.el} or @file{.emacs} and is there a sample one?
228 * Q1.3.2:: Where do I put my @file{init.el} file?
229 * Q1.3.3:: Can I use the same @file{init.el} with the other Emacs?
230 * Q1.3.4:: Any good XEmacs tutorials around?
231 * Q1.3.5:: May I see an example of a useful XEmacs Lisp function?
232 * Q1.3.6:: And how do I bind it to a key?
233 * Q1.3.7:: What's the difference between a macro and a function?
234 * Q1.3.8:: What is @code{Custom}?
237 * Q1.4.1:: Where can I get help?
238 * Q1.4.2:: Which mailing lists are there?
239 * Q1.4.3:: Where are the mailing lists archived?
240 * Q1.4.4:: How can I get two instances of info?
241 * Q1.4.5:: How do I add new Info directories?
243 1.5: Contributing to XEmacs
244 * Q1.5.1:: How do I submit changes to the FAQ?
245 * Q1.5.2:: How do I become a beta tester?
246 * Q1.5.3:: How do I contribute to XEmacs itself?
247 * Q1.5.4:: How do I get started developing XEmacs?
248 * Q1.5.5:: What's the basic layout of the code?
250 1.6: Politics (XEmacs vs. GNU Emacs)
251 * Q1.6.1:: What is GNU Emacs?
252 * Q1.6.2:: How does XEmacs differ from GNU Emacs?
253 * Q1.6.3:: How much does XEmacs differ?
254 * Q1.6.4:: Is XEmacs "GNU"?
255 * Q1.6.5:: What is the correct way to refer to XEmacs and GNU Emacs?
256 * Q1.6.6:: Why haven't XEmacs and GNU Emacs merged?
258 1.7: External Packages
259 * Q1.7.1:: What is the package system?
260 * Q1.7.2:: Which external packages are there?
261 * Q1.7.3:: Do I need to have the packages to run XEmacs?
262 * Q1.7.4:: Is there a way to find which package has particular functionality?
264 1.8: Internationalization
265 * Q1.8.1:: What is the status of internationalization support aka MULE (including Asian language support)?
266 * Q1.8.2:: How can I help with internationalization?
267 * Q1.8.3:: How do I type non-ASCII characters?
268 * Q1.8.4:: Can XEmacs messages come out in a different language?
269 * Q1.8.5:: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/XEmacs
270 * Q1.8.6:: How do I portably code for MULE/XEmacs?
271 * Q1.8.7:: How about Cyrillic modes?
272 * Q1.8.8:: Does XEmacs support Unicode?
273 * Q1.8.9:: How does XEmacs display Unicode?
275 2 Installation and Troubleshooting
277 2.0: Installation (General)
278 * Q2.0.1:: How do I build and install XEmacs?
279 * Q2.0.2:: Where do I find external libraries?
280 * Q2.0.3:: How do I specify the paths that XEmacs uses for finding files?
281 * Q2.0.4:: Running XEmacs without installing
282 * Q2.0.5:: XEmacs is too big
284 2.1: Package Installation
285 * Q2.1.1:: How do I install the packages?
286 * Q2.1.2:: Can I install the packages individually?
287 * Q2.1.3:: Can I install the packages automatically?
288 * Q2.1.4:: Can I upgrade or remove packages?
289 * Q2.1.5:: Which packages to install?
290 * Q2.1.6:: Can you describe the package location process in more detail?
291 * Q2.1.7:: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood"
293 2.2: Unix/Mac OS X Installation (Also Relevant to Cygwin, MinGW)
294 * Q2.2.1:: Libraries in non-standard locations
295 * Q2.2.2:: Why can't I strip XEmacs?
296 * Q2.2.3:: X11/bitmaps/gray (or other X11-related file) not found.
298 2.3: Windows Installation (Windows, Cygwin, MinGW)
299 * Q2.3.1:: What exactly are all the different ways to build XEmacs under Windows?
300 * Q2.3.2:: What compiler/libraries do I need to compile XEmacs?
301 * Q2.3.3:: How do I compile the native port?
302 * Q2.3.4:: What do I need for Cygwin?
303 * Q2.3.5:: How do I compile under Cygwin?
304 * Q2.3.6:: How do I compile using MinGW (aka @samp{the -mno-cygwin flag to gcc})?
305 * Q2.3.7:: How do I compile with X support?
306 * Q2.3.8:: Cygwin XEmacs won't start -- cygXpm-noX4.dll was not found (NEW)
308 2.4: General Troubleshooting
309 * Q2.4.1:: How do I deal with bugs or with problems building, installing, or running?
310 * Q2.4.2:: Help! XEmacs just crashed on me!
311 * Q2.4.3:: XEmacs crashes and I compiled it myself.
312 * Q2.4.4:: How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger
313 * Q2.4.5:: I get a cryptic error message when trying to do something.
314 * Q2.4.6:: XEmacs hangs when I try to do something.
315 * Q2.4.7:: I get an error message when XEmacs is running in batch mode.
316 * Q2.4.8:: The keyboard or mouse is not working properly, or I have some other event-related problem.
317 * Q2.4.9:: @kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
318 * Q2.4.10:: How do I debug process-related problems?
319 * Q2.4.11:: XEmacs is outputting lots of X errors.
320 * Q2.4.12:: After upgrading, XEmacs won't do `foo' any more!
322 2.5: Startup-Related Problems
323 * Q2.5.1:: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal!
324 * Q2.5.2:: Startup problems related to paths or package locations.
325 * Q2.5.3:: XEmacs won't start without network.
326 * Q2.5.4:: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
327 * Q2.5.5:: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
328 * Q2.5.6:: XEmacs 21.1 on Windows used to spawn an ugly console window on every startup. Has that been fixed?
333 * Q3.0.1:: How can I customize the keyboard?
334 * Q3.0.2:: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys?
335 * Q3.0.3:: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down?
336 * Q3.0.4:: Globally binding @kbd{Delete}?
337 * Q3.0.5:: How to map @kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard?
338 * Q3.0.6:: How can you type in special characters in XEmacs?
339 * Q3.0.7:: Can I turn on @dfn{sticky} modifier keys?
340 * Q3.0.8:: How do I map the arrow keys?
341 * Q3.0.9:: HP Alt key as Meta.
342 * Q3.0.10:: Why does edt emulation not work?
343 * Q3.0.11:: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode?
346 * Q3.1.1:: How can I turn off Mouse pasting?
347 * Q3.1.2:: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons?
348 * Q3.1.3:: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list.
349 * Q3.1.4:: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3?
350 * Q3.1.5:: How can I set XEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is?
352 3.2: Buffers, Text Editing
353 * Q3.2.1:: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way?
354 * Q3.2.2:: How do I insert today's date into a buffer?
355 * Q3.2.3:: How do I get a single minibuffer frame?
356 * Q3.2.4:: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt?
357 * Q3.2.5:: How can I get XEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default?
360 * Q3.3.1:: How do I select a rectangular region?
361 * Q3.3.2:: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections?
362 * Q3.3.3:: How do I cause typing on an active region to remove it?
363 * Q3.3.4:: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch?
364 * Q3.3.5:: Why is killing so slow?
365 * Q3.3.6:: Why does @kbd{M-w} take so long?
367 3.4: Editing Source Code
368 * Q3.4.1:: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode?
369 * Q3.4.2:: How do you make XEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly?
373 4.0: Textual Fonts and Colors
374 * Q4.0.1:: How do I specify a font?
375 * Q4.0.2:: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts?
376 * Q4.0.3:: How can I set color options from @file{init.el}?
377 * Q4.0.4:: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region?
378 * Q4.0.5:: How can I limit color map usage?
379 * Q4.0.6:: My tty supports color, but XEmacs doesn't use them.
380 * Q4.0.7:: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in XEmacs?
381 * Q4.0.8:: How do I display non-ASCII characters?
382 * Q4.0.9:: Font selections in don't get saved after @code{Save Options}.
384 4.1: Syntax Highlighting (Font Lock)
385 * Q4.1.1:: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock?
386 * Q4.1.2:: How do I get @samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default?
389 * Q4.2.1:: How can I make the modeline go away?
390 * Q4.2.2:: How do you have XEmacs display the line number in the modeline?
391 * Q4.2.3:: How do I get XEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline?
392 * Q4.2.4:: How can I change the modeline color based on the mode used?
395 * Q4.3.1:: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker?
396 * Q4.3.2:: Is there a way to get back the block cursor?
397 * Q4.3.3:: Can I make the cursor blink?
400 * Q4.4.1:: How do I get rid of the menubar?
401 * Q4.4.2:: How can I customize the menubar?
402 * Q4.4.3:: How do I enable use of the keyboard (@kbd{Alt}) to access menu items?
403 * Q4.4.4:: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu @code{Buffers List}?
404 * Q4.4.5:: Resources like @code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working?
407 * Q4.5.1:: How do I get rid of the toolbar?
408 * Q4.5.2:: How can I customize the toolbar?
409 * Q4.5.3:: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar?
410 * Q4.5.4:: @samp{Can't instantiate image error...} in toolbar
412 4.6: Scrollbars and Scrolling
413 * Q4.6.1:: How can I disable the scrollbar?
414 * Q4.6.2:: How can I change the scrollbar width?
415 * Q4.6.3:: How can I use resources to change scrollbar colors?
416 * Q4.6.4:: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this?
417 * Q4.6.5:: Scrolling one line at a time.
418 * Q4.6.6:: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes?
419 * Q4.6.7:: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off?
421 4.7: The Gutter Tabs, The Progress Bar, Widgets
422 * Q4.7.1:: How can I disable the gutter tabs?
423 * Q4.7.2:: How can I disable the progress bar?
424 * Q4.7.3:: There are bugs in the gutter or widgets.
425 * Q4.7.4:: How can I customize the gutter or gutter tabs?
427 5 Interfacing with the Operating System and External Devices
429 5.0: X Window System and Resources
430 * Q5.0.1:: Where is a list of X resources?
431 * Q5.0.2:: How can I detect a color display?
432 * Q5.0.3:: How can I get the icon to just say @samp{XEmacs}?
433 * Q5.0.4:: How can I have the window title area display the full path?
434 * Q5.0.5:: @samp{xemacs -name junk} doesn't work?
435 * Q5.0.6:: @samp{-iconic} doesn't work.
437 5.1: Microsoft Windows
438 * Q5.1.1:: Does XEmacs rename all the @samp{win32-*} symbols to @samp{w32-*}?
439 * Q5.1.2:: How do I get Windows Explorer to associate a file type with XEmacs?
442 * Q5.2.1:: What do I need to change to make printing work?
443 * Q5.2.2:: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer?
444 * Q5.2.3:: Getting @kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer.
445 * Q5.2.4:: Can you print under MS Windows?
448 * Q5.3.1:: How do I turn off the sound?
449 * Q5.3.2:: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep?
450 * Q5.3.3:: What are NAS and ESD (EsounD)?
451 * Q5.3.4:: Sunsite sounds don't play.
453 5.4: Running an Interior Shell, Invoking Subprocesses
454 * Q5.4.1:: What is an interior shell?
455 * Q5.4.2:: How do I start up a second shell buffer?
456 * Q5.4.3:: Telnet from shell filters too much
457 * Q5.4.4:: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode.
458 * Q5.4.5:: XEmacs complains "No such file or directory, diff"
459 * Q5.4.6:: Cygwin error "fork_copy: linked dll/bss pass 0 failed"
461 5.5: Multiple Device Support
462 * Q5.5.1:: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display?
463 * Q5.5.2:: Can I really connect to a running XEmacs after calling up over a modem? How?
464 * Q5.5.3:: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame?
465 * Q5.5.4:: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent XEmacs is a client?
466 * Q5.5.5:: Is there a way to start a new XEmacs if there's no gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient?
468 6 Connecting to the Internet
470 6.0: General Mail and News
471 * Q6.0.1:: What are the various packages for reading mail?
472 * Q6.0.2:: How can I send mail?
473 * Q6.0.3:: How do I get my outgoing mail archived?
474 * Q6.0.4:: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages?
475 * Q6.0.5:: How do I customize the From line?
476 * Q6.0.6:: How do I get my MUA to filter mail for me?
477 * Q6.0.7:: Remote mail reading with an MUA.
478 * Q6.0.8:: An MUA gets an error incorporating new mail.
479 * Q6.0.9:: Why isn't @file{movemail} working?
480 * Q6.0.10:: How do I make my MUA display graphical smilies?
481 * Q6.0.11:: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines?
483 6.1: Reading Mail with VM
484 * Q6.1.1:: How do I set up VM to retrieve mail from a remote site using POP?
485 * Q6.1.2:: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail?
486 * Q6.1.3:: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How can I tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"?
487 * Q6.1.4:: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM?
488 * Q6.1.5:: How do I make VM stay in a single frame?
489 * Q6.1.6:: Customization of VM not covered in the manual, or here.
491 6.2: Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus
492 * Q6.2.1:: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus, Quassia Gnus, argh!
493 * Q6.2.2:: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame?
496 * Q6.3.1:: Can I edit files on other hosts?
497 * Q6.3.2:: What is EFS?
499 6.4: Web Browsing with W3
500 * Q6.4.1:: What is W3?
501 * Q6.4.2:: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall?
502 * Q6.4.3:: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables?
504 7 Advanced Customization Using XEmacs Lisp
506 7.0: Emacs Lisp and @file{init.el}
507 * Q7.0.1:: What version of Emacs am I running?
508 * Q7.0.2:: How can I evaluate Emacs-Lisp expressions?
509 * Q7.0.3:: @code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly.
510 * Q7.0.4:: How can I add directories to the @code{load-path}?
511 * Q7.0.5:: How to check if a lisp function is defined?
512 * Q7.0.6:: Can I force the output of @code{(face-list)} to a buffer?
514 7.1: Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques
515 * Q7.1.1:: What is the difference in key sequences between XEmacs and GNU Emacs?
516 * Q7.1.2:: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events?
517 * Q7.1.3:: Could you explain @code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail?
518 * Q7.1.4:: What is the performance hit of @code{let}?
519 * Q7.1.5:: What is the recommended use of @code{setq}?
520 * Q7.1.6:: What is the typical misuse of @code{setq}?
521 * Q7.1.7:: I like the @code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down?
522 * Q7.1.8:: I like recursion, does it slow things down?
523 * Q7.1.9:: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer?
524 * Q7.1.10:: @code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents!
525 * Q7.1.11:: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there an easy way to find out where it spends time?
528 * Q7.2.1:: What are bignums, ratios, and bigfloats in Lisp?
529 * Q7.2.2:: XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers!
530 * Q7.2.3:: Bignums are really slow!
531 * Q7.2.4:: Equal bignums don't compare as equal! What gives?
533 8 Other External Packages
536 * Q8.0.1:: Is there something better than LaTeX mode?
537 * Q8.0.2:: What is AUCTeX? Where do you get it?
538 * Q8.0.3:: Problems installing AUCTeX.
539 * Q8.0.4:: How do I turn off current chapter from AUCTeX modeline?
541 8.1: Other Unbundled Packages
542 * Q8.1.1:: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in XEmacs?
543 * Q8.1.2:: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets?
544 * Q8.1.3:: Is there a MatLab mode?
546 8.2: Environments Built Around XEmacs
547 * Q8.2.1:: What are SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop?
548 * Q8.2.2:: How do I start the Sun Workshop support in XEmacs 21?
549 * Q8.2.3:: What is/was Energize?
550 * Q8.2.4:: What is Infodock?
552 9 What the Future Holds
555 * Q9.0.1:: What new features will be in XEmacs soon?
556 * Q9.0.2:: What's new in XEmacs 21.4?
557 * Q9.0.3:: What's new in XEmacs 21.1?
558 * Q9.0.4:: What's new in XEmacs 20.4?
559 * Q9.0.5:: What's new in XEmacs 20.3?
560 * Q9.0.6:: What's new in XEmacs 20.2?
562 10 New information about old XEmacsen
565 * Q10.0.1:: Gnus 5.10 won't display smileys in XEmacs 21.1.
566 * Q10.0.2:: XEmacs won't start on Windows in XEmacs 21.1.
571 @node Introduction, Installation, Top, Top
572 @unnumbered 1 Introduction, Policy, Credits
574 Learning XEmacs is a lifelong activity. Even people who have used Emacs
575 for years keep discovering new features. Therefore this document cannot
576 be complete. Instead it is aimed at the person who is either
577 considering XEmacs for their own use, or has just obtained it and is
578 wondering what to do next. It is also useful as a reference to
581 The previous maintainer of the FAQ was
582 @email{rossini@@biostat.washington.edu, Anthony Rossini}, who started
583 it, after getting tired of hearing JWZ complain about repeatedly
584 having to answer questions. @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing} then
585 took over and did a massive update reorganizing the whole thing. At
586 this point Anthony took back over, but then had to give it up again.
587 Some of the other contributors to this FAQ are listed later in this
590 The previous version was converted to hypertext format, and edited by
591 @email{steve@@xemacs.org, Steven L. Baur}. It was converted back to
592 texinfo by @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic}. The FAQ was then
593 maintained by @email{andreas@@sccon.com, Andreas Kaempf}, who passed it
594 on to ChristianNyb@o{}, and then to @email{wambold@@xemacs.org,Sandra Wambold}.
596 The current version of the FAQ has been heavily redone by
597 @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing}.
599 If you notice any errors or items which should be added or amended to
600 this FAQ please send email to @email{xemacs-beta@@xemacs.org}.
601 Include @samp{XEmacs FAQ} on the Subject: line.
605 * Q1.0.1:: What is XEmacs?
606 * Q1.0.2:: What is the current version of XEmacs?
607 * Q1.0.3:: How do you pronounce XEmacs?
608 * Q1.0.4:: What does XEmacs look like?
609 * Q1.0.5:: Who wrote XEmacs?
610 * Q1.0.6:: Who wrote the FAQ?
613 * Q1.1.1:: Where can I find XEmacs?
614 * Q1.1.2:: Are binaries available?
615 * Q1.1.3:: How do I get the bleeding-edge sources?
616 * Q1.1.4:: Where can I obtain a printed copy of the XEmacs User's Manual?
618 1.2: Versions for Different Operating Systems
619 * Q1.2.1:: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs?
620 * Q1.2.2:: What versions of Unix does XEmacs run on?
621 * Q1.2.3:: Is there a port of XEmacs to Microsoft Windows?
622 * Q1.2.4:: Can I build XEmacs on MS Windows with X support? Do I need to?
623 * Q1.2.5:: What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?
624 * Q1.2.6:: What are the differences between the various MS Windows emacsen?
625 * Q1.2.7:: How does the port cope with differences in the Windows user interface?
626 * Q1.2.8:: Is there a port of XEmacs to the Macintosh?
627 * Q1.2.9:: Is there a port of XEmacs to MS-DOS?
628 * Q1.2.10:: Is there a port of XEmacs to OS/2?
629 * Q1.2.11:: Is there a port of XEmacs to NextStep?
630 * Q1.2.12:: Is there a port of XEmacs to VMS?
633 * Q1.3.1:: What is an @file{init.el} or @file{.emacs} and is there a sample one?
634 * Q1.3.2:: Where do I put my @file{init.el} file?
635 * Q1.3.3:: Can I use the same @file{init.el} with the other Emacs?
636 * Q1.3.4:: Any good XEmacs tutorials around?
637 * Q1.3.5:: May I see an example of a useful XEmacs Lisp function?
638 * Q1.3.6:: And how do I bind it to a key?
639 * Q1.3.7:: What's the difference between a macro and a function?
640 * Q1.3.8:: What is @code{Custom}?
643 * Q1.4.1:: Where can I get help?
644 * Q1.4.2:: Which mailing lists are there?
645 * Q1.4.3:: Where are the mailing lists archived?
646 * Q1.4.4:: How can I get two instances of info?
647 * Q1.4.5:: How do I add new Info directories?
649 1.5: Contributing to XEmacs
650 * Q1.5.1:: How do I submit changes to the FAQ?
651 * Q1.5.2:: How do I become a beta tester?
652 * Q1.5.3:: How do I contribute to XEmacs itself?
653 * Q1.5.4:: How do I get started developing XEmacs?
654 * Q1.5.5:: What's the basic layout of the code?
656 1.6: Politics (XEmacs vs. GNU Emacs)
657 * Q1.6.1:: What is GNU Emacs?
658 * Q1.6.2:: How does XEmacs differ from GNU Emacs?
659 * Q1.6.3:: How much does XEmacs differ?
660 * Q1.6.4:: Is XEmacs "GNU"?
661 * Q1.6.5:: What is the correct way to refer to XEmacs and GNU Emacs?
662 * Q1.6.6:: Why haven't XEmacs and GNU Emacs merged?
664 1.7: External Packages
665 * Q1.7.1:: What is the package system?
666 * Q1.7.2:: Which external packages are there?
667 * Q1.7.3:: Do I need to have the packages to run XEmacs?
668 * Q1.7.4:: Is there a way to find which package has particular functionality?
670 1.8: Internationalization
671 * Q1.8.1:: What is the status of internationalization support aka MULE (including Asian language support)?
672 * Q1.8.2:: How can I help with internationalization?
673 * Q1.8.3:: How do I type non-ASCII characters?
674 * Q1.8.4:: Can XEmacs messages come out in a different language?
675 * Q1.8.5:: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/XEmacs
676 * Q1.8.6:: How do I portably code for MULE/XEmacs?
677 * Q1.8.7:: How about Cyrillic modes?
678 * Q1.8.8:: Does XEmacs support Unicode?
679 * Q1.8.9:: How does XEmacs display Unicode?
682 @unnumberedsec 1.0: What is XEmacs?
684 @node Q1.0.1, Q1.0.2, Introduction, Introduction
685 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.1: What is XEmacs?
687 XEmacs is a powerful, highly customizable open source text editor and
688 application development system, with full GUI support. It is
689 protected under the GNU Public License and related to other versions
690 of Emacs, in particular GNU Emacs. Its emphasis is on modern
691 graphical user interface support and an open software development
692 model, similar to Linux. XEmacs has an active development community
693 numbering in the hundreds (and thousands of active beta testers on top
694 of this), and runs on all versions of MS Windows, on Mac OS X, on
695 Linux, and on nearly every other version of Unix in existence.
696 Support for XEmacs has been supplied by Sun Microsystems, University
697 of Illinois, Lucid, ETL/Electrotechnical Laboratory, Amdahl
698 Corporation, BeOpen, and others, as well as the unpaid time of a great
699 number of individual developers.
701 @node Q1.0.2, Q1.0.3, Q1.0.1, Introduction
702 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.2: What is the current version of XEmacs?
704 XEmacs versions 21.4.* are releases made from the current stable
705 sources. XEmacs versions 21.5.* (which will be released as 22.0) are
706 releases made from the development sources. Check at
707 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org} for the current minor version. XEmacs
708 versions 21.1.* were the previous stable releases, now retired.
710 XEmacs 20.4, released in February 1998, was the last release of v20.
712 XEmacs 19.16, released in November, 1997. was the last release of v19,
713 and was also the last version without international language support.
715 @node Q1.0.3, Q1.0.4, Q1.0.2, Introduction
716 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.3: How do you pronounce XEmacs?
718 The most common pronounciation is @samp{Eks eemax}.
720 @node Q1.0.4, Q1.0.5, Q1.0.3, Introduction
721 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.4: What does XEmacs look like?
723 Screen snapshots are available at
724 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/About/Screenshots/index.html}
725 as part of the XEmacs website.
727 @node Q1.0.5, Q1.0.6, Q1.0.4, Introduction
728 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.5: Who wrote XEmacs?
730 XEmacs is the result of the time and effort of many people, and the
731 active developers have changed over time. There are two major
732 components of the XEmacs effort -- writing the code itself and providing
733 all the support work (testing the code, releasing beta and final
734 versions, handling patches, reading bug reports, maintaining the web
735 site, managing the mailing lists, etc. etc.). Neither component would
736 work without the other.
740 The primary code contributor over the years has been Ben Wing (active
741 since late 1992). Between 1991 and 1995, large amounts of coding was
742 contributed by Jamie Zawinski and Chuck Thompson. Many other people
743 have authored major subsystems or otherwise contributed large amounts of
744 code, including Andy Piper, Hrvoje Niksic, Jerry James, Jonathan Harris,
745 Kyle Jones, Martin Buchholz, Michael Sperber, Olivier Galibert, Richard
746 Mlynarik, Stig, William Perry and plenty of others.
748 Primary XEmacs-specific subsystems and their authors:
754 Conversion from 26-bit to 28-bit pointers and integers, lrecords, lcrecords: Richard Mlynarik, 1994
756 Conversion to 32-bit pointers and 31-bit integers: Kyle Jones, Martin Buchholz
758 Portable dumper, object descriptions: Olivier Galibert
760 KKCC (new garbage collector), ephemerons, weak boxes: Michael Sperber and students
762 Random object work (object equal and hash methods, weak lists, lcrecord lists, bit vectors, dynarr, blocktype, opaque, string resizing): Ben Wing
766 Some byte-compilation and hash-table improvements: Martin Buchholz
771 @item Internationalization/Mule
774 mostly Ben Wing; many ideas for future work, Stephen Turnbull
780 Basic event/event-stream implementation: Jamie Zawinski
782 Most event work since 1994: Ben Wing
784 Asynchronous stuff (async timeouts, signals, quit-checking): Ben Wing
786 Process method abstraction, Windows process work: Kirill Katsnelson
788 Misc-user events, async timeouts, most quit-checking and signal code, most other work since 1994: Ben Wing
796 Redisplay mechanism: implementation, Chuck Thompson; additional work, lots of people
798 Glyphs: mostly Ben Wing
802 Extents: initial implementation, someone at Lucid; rewrite, 1994, Ben Wing
806 JPEG/PNG/TIFF image converters: Ben Wing, William Perry, Jareth Hein, others (see comment in @file{glyphs-eimage.c})
808 Menus: Jamie Zawinski, someone at Lucid (Lucid menus)
810 Scrollbars: Chuck Thompson, ??? (Lucid scrollbar)
812 Multi-device/device-independence work (console/device/etc methods): Ben Wing, prototype by chuck thompson
814 Faces: first implementation, Jamie Zawinski; second, chuck; third, Ben Wing
816 Fonts/colors: first implementation, Jamie Zawinski; further work, Ben Wing
818 Toolbars: implementation, chuck, much interface work, Ben Wing
820 Gutters, tabs: andy piper
823 @item Device subsystems
826 X Windows: Jamie Zawinksi, Ben Wing, others
828 GTK: William Perry, Malcolm Purvis
830 MS Windows: initial implementation, Jonathan Harris; some more work, Andy Piper, Ben Wing
832 TTY: Chuck Thompson, Ben Wing
840 Configure: initial porting from fsf, Chuck Thompson; conversion to autoconf 2, much rewriting, Martin Buchholz
842 Most initialization-related code: Ben Wing
844 Internals manual, much of Lisp manual: Ben Wing
846 FSF synching: initial sync with FSF 19, Richard Mlynarik, further work, Ben Wing
852 Currently, support duties are handled by many different people.
854 Release managers have been
858 Stephen Turnbull (April 2001 - January 2003, March 2004 - present, 21.2.47 - 21.4.12, 21.5.2 - 21.5.7, 21.5.17 - present)
860 Vin Shelton (Mar 1997 - Jan 2001, May 2003 - present, 19.16, 21.1.3 -
861 21.1.14, 21.4.13 - present)
863 Steve Youngs (July 2002 - September 2003, 21.5.8 - 21.5.16)
865 Martin Buchholz (December 1998, November 1999 - May 2001, 21.2.7 - 21.2.8, 21.2.21 - 21.2.46, 21.5.0 - 21.5.1)
867 Steve Baur (early 1997 - December 1998, February 1999 - November 1999, 19.15 - 21.2.5, 21.2.9 - 21.2.20)
869 Andy Piper (December 1998, 21.2.6)
871 Chuck Thompson (June 1994 - September 1996, 19.11 - 19.14)
873 Jamie Zawinski (April 1991 - June 1994, 19.0 - 19.10)
876 The recent overlapping dates are intentional, since two or three trees
877 are maintained simultaneously at any point.
879 Other major support work:
883 Adrian Aichner wrote and maintains the web site.
885 Stephen Turnbull has produced many of the beta and semi-stable releases
886 and has attempted to be the "face" of XEmacs on the newsgroups and
889 Steve Youngs currently produces the beta releases (???).
891 Steve Youngs, Ville Skytta, and now Norbert Koch have taken turns
892 maintaining the packages.
894 Vin Shelton maintains the stable releases.
896 Testing - #### Norbert, Adrian, ???
899 Portraits and email of some of the major developers:
902 @item @email{andy@@xemacs.org, Andy Piper}
904 <br><img src="piper.png" alt="Portrait of Andy Piper"><br>
907 @item @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing}
909 <br><img src="ben.png" alt="Portrait of Ben Wing"><br>
912 @item @email{cthomp@@xemacs.org, Chuck Thompson}
914 <br><img src="cthomp.png" alt="Portrait of Chuck Thompson"><br>
917 @item @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic}
920 <br><img src="hniksic.png" alt="Portrait of Hrvoje Niksic"><br>
923 @item @email{jwz@@jwz.org, Jamie Zawinski}
925 <br><img src="jwz.png" alt="Portrait of Jamie Zawinski"><br>
928 @item @email{martin@@xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz}
930 <br><img src="martin.png" alt="Portrait of Martin Buchholz"><br>
933 @item @email{mly@@adoc.xerox.com, Richard Mlynarik}
935 <br><img src="mly.png" alt="Portrait of Richard Mlynarik"><br>
938 @item @email{stephen@@xemacs.org, Stephen Turnbull}
940 @item @email{steve@@xemacs.org, Steve Baur}
942 <br><img src="slb.png" alt="Portrait of Steve Baur"><br>
946 Many other people have contributed to XEmacs; this is partially
947 enumerated in the @samp{About XEmacs} option in the Help menu.
949 @node Q1.0.6, Q1.1.1, Q1.0.5, Introduction
950 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.6: Who wrote the FAQ?
952 The current version of this FAQ was created by @email{ben@@xemacs.org,
955 Previous contributors to the FAQ include
958 @item @email{steve@@xemacs.org, SL Baur}
960 @item @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic}
962 @item @email{binge@@aloft.att.com, Curtis.N.Bingham}
964 @item @email{bruncott@@dormeur.inria.fr, Georges Brun-Cottan}
966 @item @email{rjc@@cogsci.ed.ac.uk, Richard Caley}
968 @item @email{cognot@@ensg.u-nancy.fr, Richard Cognot}
970 @item @email{daku@@nortel.ca, Mark Daku}
972 @item @email{wgd@@martigny.ai.mit.edu, William G. Dubuque}
974 @item @email{eeide@@cs.utah.edu, Eric Eide}
976 @item @email{af@@biomath.jussieu.fr, Alain Fauconnet}
978 @item @email{cflatter@@nrao.edu, Chris Flatters}
980 @item @email{ginsparg@@adra.com, Evelyn Ginsparg}
982 @item @email{hall@@aplcenmp.apl.jhu.edu, Marty Hall}
984 @item @email{dkindred@@cmu.edu, Darrell Kindred}
986 @item @email{dmoore@@ucsd.edu, David Moore}
988 @item @email{arup+@@cmu.edu, Arup Mukherjee}
990 @item @email{nickel@@prz.tu-berlin.de, Juergen Nickelsen}
992 @item @email{powell@@csl.ncsa.uiuc.edu, Kevin R. Powell}
994 @item @email{dworkin@@ccs.neu.edu, Justin Sheehy}
996 @item @email{stig@@hackvan.com, Stig}
998 @item @email{Aki.Vehtari@@hut.fi, Aki Vehtari}
1001 @unnumberedsec 1.1: Getting XEmacs
1003 @node Q1.1.1, Q1.1.2, Q1.0.6, Introduction
1004 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.1: Where can I find XEmacs?
1006 To download XEmacs, visit the XEmacs WWW page at
1007 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Download/}. The most up-to-date list of
1008 distribution sites can always be found there. Try to pick a site that
1009 is networkologically close to you. If you know of other mirrors of
1010 the XEmacs archives, please send e-mail to
1011 @uref{mailto:webmaster@@xemacs.org} and we will list them here as well.
1013 The canonical distribution point is ftp.xemacs.org, available either
1014 through HTTP (@uref{http://ftp.xemacs.org/}) or anonymous FTP
1015 (@uref{ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/}).
1017 @node Q1.1.2, Q1.1.3, Q1.1.1, Introduction
1018 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.2: Are binaries available?
1020 MS Windows binaries are available at
1021 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Download/win32/} for the native versions
1022 of 21.4 and 21.1. Cygwin binaries are now available as part of the
1023 standard Cygwin installation process. XEmacs also comes pre-built as
1024 part of many Linux distributions, such as Red Hat and SuSE.
1026 Otherwise, you will need to build XEmacs yourself or get your system
1027 administrator to do it. Generally, this is not a difficult process
1028 under Unix and Mac OS X, as XEmacs has been tested under all of the
1029 common Unix versions and under Mac OS X and comes with an extensive
1030 configure script that is able to automatically detect most aspects of
1031 the configuration of your particular system.
1033 @node Q1.1.3, Q1.1.4, Q1.1.2, Introduction
1034 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.3: How do I get the bleeding-edge sources?
1036 If you are interested in developing XEmacs, or getting the absolutely most
1037 recent, up-to-the-moment, bleeding-edge source code, you can directly
1038 access the master CVS source tree (read-only, of course, until you ask for
1039 and are granted permission to directly modify portions of the source tree)
1040 at cvs.xemacs.org. Directions on how to access the source tree are located
1041 at @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Develop/cvsaccess.html}.
1043 Nightly CVS snapshots are available at
1044 @uref{http://www.dk.xemacs.org/Download/CVS-snapshots/}.
1046 @node Q1.1.4, Q1.2.1, Q1.1.3, Introduction
1047 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.4: Where can I obtain a printed copy of the XEmacs User's Manual?
1049 Pre-printed manuals are not available. If you are familiar with
1050 TeX, you can generate your own manual from the XEmacs sources.
1052 HTML and Postscript versions of XEmacs manuals are available from the
1054 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/index.html}.
1056 @unnumberedsec 1.2: Versions for Different Operating Systems
1058 @node Q1.2.1, Q1.2.2, Q1.1.4, Introduction
1059 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.1: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs?
1061 No. The name @dfn{XEmacs} is unfortunate in the sense that it is
1062 @strong{not} an X Window System-only version of Emacs. XEmacs has
1063 full color support on a color-capable character terminal.
1065 @node Q1.2.2, Q1.2.3, Q1.2.1, Introduction
1066 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.2: What versions of Unix does XEmacs run on?
1068 XEmacs is regularly tested on Linux, Solaris, SunOS, HP/UX, FreeBSD,
1069 OpenBSD, BSD/OS aka BSDI, Tru64 aka DEC/OSF, SCO5, and probably
1070 others. It should work on all versions of Unix created in the last 10
1071 years or so, perhaps with a bit of work on more obscure platforms to
1072 correct bit-rot. It uses a sophisticated configuration system to
1073 auto-detect zillions of features that are implemented differently in
1074 different versions of Unix, so it will probably work on your vendor's
1075 version, possibly with a bit of tweaking, even if we've never heard of
1078 For problems with particular machines and versions of Unix, see the
1079 @file{PROBLEMS} file.
1081 Much effort has gone into making XEmacs work on as many different
1082 machines, configurations, and compilers as possible.
1084 Much effort has gone into making XEmacs 64-bit clean.
1086 Much effort has gone into removing system-specific code, and replacing
1087 such code with autodetection at configure time.
1089 The XEmacs core should build "out of the box" on most Unix-like systems.
1091 XEmacs 21.2 was tested and @samp{make check} succeeded on these Unix
1092 configurations as of 2001-02-10:
1095 alphaev56-dec-osf4.0e (both Compaq C and gcc)
1096 i386-unknown-freebsd4.2
1097 i386-unknown-netbsdelf1.5
1098 i586-sco-sysv5uw7.0.1 (both SCO's cc and gcc)
1100 hppa2.0-hp-hpux10.20 (both HP's ANSI cc and gcc)
1101 mips-sgi-irix6.5 (both MIPSpro cc and gcc)
1102 rs6000-ibm-aix4.3.0.0 (both IBM's xlc and gcc)
1103 sparc-sun-solaris2.6 (both Sun's Forte C and gcc)
1104 sparc-sun-solaris2.7 (both Sun's Forte C and gcc)
1105 sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4 (gcc)
1108 Some systems have a dual mode 32-bit/64-bit compiler. On most of these,
1109 XEmacs requires the @samp{--pdump} (in XEmacs 21.5,
1110 @samp{--enable-pdump}) configure option to build correctly with the
1111 64-bit version of the compiler.
1114 mips-sgi-irix6.5, CC="gcc -mabi=64"
1115 mips-sgi-irix6.5, CC="cc -64"
1116 rs6000-ibm-aix4.3.0.0, CC="cc -q64"
1119 On most of these systems, XEmacs also builds with a C++ compiler,
1120 but not "out of the box". This feature is only for use by the
1123 XEmacs 21.2 is known @emph{not} to work on any machines with m680x0
1124 processors. Sorry, all you sun3 and Unix PC nostalgia buffs out there.
1126 VMS has never been supported by XEmacs. In fact, all the old VMS code
1127 inherited from Emacs has been removed. Sorry, all you VMS fans out there.
1129 @node Q1.2.3, Q1.2.4, Q1.2.2, Introduction
1130 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.3: Is there a port of XEmacs to Microsoft Windows?
1132 Yes. Beginning with release 21.0, XEmacs has worked under MS Windows
1133 and is fully-featured and actively developed. A group of dedicated
1134 developers actively maintains and improves the Windows-specific
1135 portions of the code. Some of the core developers, in fact, use
1136 Windows as their only development environment, and some features, such
1137 as printing, actually work better on Windows than native Unix and Mac
1138 OS X. The mailing list at @email{xemacs-winnt@@xemacs.org} is dedicated
1139 to that effort (please use the -request address to
1140 subscribe). (Despite its name, XEmacs actually works on all versions
1143 The list name is misleading, as XEmacs supports and has been compiled on
1144 Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows
1145 XP, and all newer versions of Windows. The MS Windows-specific code is
1146 based on Microsoft Win32 API, and will not work on MS Windows 3.x or on
1149 XEmacs also supports the Cygwin and MinGW development and runtime
1150 environments, where it also uses native Windows code for graphical
1151 features. In addition, under Cygwin it is possible to compile XEmacs
1152 to use an X server (and XFree86 is available as part of the standard
1153 Cygwin installation).
1155 @node Q1.2.4, Q1.2.5, Q1.2.3, Introduction
1156 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.4: Can I build XEmacs on MS Windows with X support? Do I need to?
1158 Yes, you can, but no you do not need to. In fact, we recommend that you
1159 use a native-GUI version unless you have a specific need for an X
1162 @node Q1.2.5, Q1.2.6, Q1.2.4, Introduction
1163 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.5: What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?
1165 To answer the second part of the question: No, you, you don't need
1166 Cygwin or MinGW to build or to run XEmacs. But if you have them and
1167 want to use them, XEmacs supports these environments.
1169 (One important reason to support Cygwin is that it lets the MS Windows
1170 developers test out their code in a Unix environment without actually
1171 having to have a Unix machine around. For this reason alone, Cygwin
1172 support is likely to remain supported for a long time in XEmacs. Same
1173 goes for the X support under Cygwin, for the same reasons. MinGW
1174 support, on the other hand, depends on volunteers to keep it up to date;
1175 but this is generally not hard.)
1177 Cygwin is a set of tools providing Unix-like API on top of Win32.
1178 It makes it easy to port large Unix programs without significant
1179 changes to their source code. It is a development environment as well
1180 as a runtime environment.
1182 When built with Cygwin, XEmacs supports all display types -- TTY, X &
1183 Win32 GUI, and can be built with support for all three simultaneously.
1184 If you build with Win32 GUI support then the Cygwin version uses the
1185 majority of the Windows-specific code, which is mostly related to
1186 display. If you want to build with X support you need X libraries (and
1187 an X server to display XEmacs on); see @ref{Q2.3.7}. TTY and Win32 GUI
1188 require no additional libraries beyond what comes standard with Cygwin.
1190 The advantages of the Cygwin version are that it integrates well with
1191 the Cygwin environment for existing Cygwin users; uses configure so
1192 building with different features is very easy; and actively supports X &
1193 TTY. Furthermore, the entire Cygwin environment and compiler are free,
1194 whereas Visual C++ costs money.
1196 The disadvantage is that it requires the whole Cygwin environment,
1197 whereas the native port requires only a suitable MS Windows compiler.
1198 Also, it follows the Unix filesystem and process model very closely
1199 (some will undoubtedly view this as an advantage).
1201 See @uref{http://www.cygwin.com/} for more information on
1204 MinGW is a collection of header files and import libraries that allow
1205 one to use GCC under the Cygwin environment to compile and produce
1206 exactly the same native Win32 programs that you can using Visual C++.
1207 Programs compiled with MinGW make use of the standard Microsoft runtime
1208 library @file{MSVCRT.DLL}, present on all Windows systems, and look,
1209 feel, and act like a standard Visual-C-produced application. (The only
1210 difference is the compiler.) This means that, unlike a
1211 standardly-compiled Cygwin application, no extra runtime support
1212 (e.g. Cygwin's @file{cygwin1.dll}) is required. This, along with the
1213 fact that GCC is free (and works in a nice Unix-y way in a nice Unix-y
1214 environment, for those die-hard Unix hackers out there), is the main
1215 advantage of MinGW. It is also potentially faster than Cygwin because
1216 it has less overhead when calling Windows, but you lose the POSIX
1217 emulation layer, which makes Unix programs harder to port. (But this is
1218 irrelevant for XEmacs since it's already ported to Win32.)
1220 See @uref{http://www.mingw.org/} for more information on MinGW.
1222 @node Q1.2.6, Q1.2.7, Q1.2.5, Introduction
1223 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.6: What are the differences between the various MS Windows emacsen?
1225 XEmacs, Win-Emacs, DOS Emacs, NT Emacs, this is all very confusing.
1226 Could you briefly explain the differences between them?
1228 Here is a recount of various Emacs versions running on MS Windows:
1238 Beginning with XEmacs 19.12, XEmacs' architecture was redesigned
1239 in such a way to allow clean support of multiple window systems. At
1240 this time the TTY support was added, making X and TTY the first two
1241 "window systems" supported by XEmacs. The 19.12 design is the basis for
1242 the current native MS Windows code.
1245 Some time during 1997, David Hobley (soon joined by Marc Paquette)
1246 imported some of the NT-specific portions of GNU Emacs, making XEmacs
1247 with X support compile under Windows NT, and creating the "X" port.
1250 Several months later, Jonathan Harris sent out initial patches to use
1251 the Win32 API, thus creating the native port. Since then, various
1252 people have contributed, including Kirill M. Katsnelson (contributed
1253 support for menubars, subprocesses and network, as well as loads of
1254 other code), Andy Piper (ported XEmacs to Cygwin environment,
1255 contributed Windows unexec, Windows-specific glyphs and toolbars code,
1256 and more), Ben Wing (loads of improvements; primary MS Windows developer
1257 since 2000), Jeff Sparkes (contributed scrollbars support) and many
1267 NT Emacs was an early version of GNU Emacs 19 modified to compile and
1268 run under MS Windows 95 and NT using the native Win32 API. It was
1269 written by Geoff Voelker, and has long since been incorporated into
1270 the mainline GNU Emacs distribution.
1279 Win-Emacs was a port of Lucid Emacs 19.6 to MS Windows using X
1280 compatibility libraries. Win-Emacs was written by Ben Wing. The MS
1281 Windows code never made it back to Lucid Emacs, and its creator (Pearl
1282 Software) has long since gone out of business.
1291 GNU Emacs features support for MS-DOS and DJGPP (D.J. Delorie's DOS
1292 port of GCC). Such an Emacs is heavily underfeatured, because it does
1293 not support long file names, lacks proper subprocesses support, and
1294 is far too big compared with typical DOS editors.
1298 GNU Emacs compiled with Win32
1303 Starting with GNU Emacs 19.30, it has been possible to compile GNU Emacs
1304 under MS Windows using the DJGPP compiler and X libraries. The result
1305 is very similar to GNU Emacs compiled under MS DOS, only it works
1306 somewhat better because it runs in 32-bit mode, makes use of all the
1307 system memory, supports long file names, etc.
1312 @node Q1.2.7, Q1.2.8, Q1.2.6, Introduction
1313 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.7: How does the port cope with differences in the Windows user interface?
1315 The XEmacs (and Emacs in general) user interface is pretty different
1316 from what is expected of a typical MS Windows program. How does the MS
1317 Windows port cope with it?
1319 As a general rule, we follow native MS Windows conventions as much as
1320 possible. 21.4 is a fairly complete Windows application, supporting
1321 native printing, system file dialog boxes, tool tips, etc. In cases
1322 where there's a clear UI conflict, we currently use normal Unix XEmacs
1323 behavior by default, but make sure the MS Windows "look and feel" (mark
1324 via shift-arrow, self-inserting deletes region, Alt selects menu items,
1325 etc.) is easily configurable (respectively: using the variable
1326 @code{shifted-motion-keys-select-region} in 21.4 and above [it's in fact
1327 the default in these versions], or the @file{pc-select} package; using
1328 the @file{pending-del} package; and setting the variable
1329 @code{menu-accelerator-enabled} to @code{menu-force} in 21.4 and above).
1330 In fact, if you use the sample @file{init.el} file as your init file,
1331 you will get all these behaviors automatically turned on.
1333 In future versions, some of these features might be turned on by
1334 default in the MS Windows environment.
1336 @node Q1.2.8, Q1.2.9, Q1.2.7, Introduction
1337 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.8: Is there a port of XEmacs to the Macintosh?
1341 XEmacs 21.5 (perhaps 21.4 also?) works on MacOS X, although it certainly
1342 will not feel very much like a Mac application as it has no Mac-specific
1345 There is also a port of XEmacs 19.14 that works on all recent versions
1346 of MacOS, from 8.1 through MacOS X, by @email{pjarvis@@ispchannel.com,
1347 Pitts Jarvis} (recently deceased). It runs in an equivalent of TTY
1348 mode only (one single Macintosh window, 25 colors), but has a large
1349 number of Mac-specific additions. It's available at
1350 @uref{http://homepage.mac.com/pjarvis/xemacs.html}.
1352 @node Q1.2.9, Q1.2.10, Q1.2.8, Introduction
1353 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.9: Is there a port of XEmacs to MS-DOS?
1355 No. We have never supported running on MS-DOS or Windows 3.1, and in
1356 fact have long since deleted all MS-DOS-related code. We're not
1357 particularly interested in patches for these platforms, as they would
1358 introduce huge amounts of code clutter due to the woefully
1359 underfeatured nature of these systems. (See GNU Emacs for a port to
1362 @node Q1.2.10, Q1.2.11, Q1.2.9, Introduction
1363 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.10: Is there a port of XEmacs to OS/2?
1365 No, but Alexander Nikolaev <avn_1251@@mail.ru> was at one point
1368 @node Q1.2.11, Q1.2.12, Q1.2.10, Introduction
1369 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.11: Is there a port of XEmacs to NextStep?
1371 Carl Edman, apparently no longer at @email{cedman@@princeton.edu}, did
1372 the port of GNU Emacs to NeXTstep and expressed interest in doing the
1373 XEmacs port, but never went any farther.
1375 @node Q1.2.12, Q1.3.1, Q1.2.11, Introduction
1376 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.12: Is there a port of XEmacs to VMS?
1378 VMS has never been supported by XEmacs. In fact, all the old VMS code
1379 inherited from GNU Emacs has been removed. Sorry, all you VMS fans
1382 @unnumberedsec 1.3: Getting Started
1384 @node Q1.3.1, Q1.3.2, Q1.2.12, Introduction
1385 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.1: What is an @file{init.el} or @file{.emacs} and is there a sample one?
1387 The @file{init.el} or @file{.emacs} file is used to customize XEmacs to
1388 your tastes. Starting in 21.4, the preferred location for the init file
1389 is @file{~/.xemacs/init.el}; in previous versions, it was
1390 @file{~/.emacs}. 21.4 still accepts the old location, but the first
1391 time you run it, it will ask to migrate your file to the new location.
1392 If you answer yes, the file will be moved, and a "compatibility"
1393 @file{.emacs} file will be placed in the old location so that you can
1394 still run older versions of XEmacs, and versions of GNU Emacs, which
1395 expect the old location. The @file{.emacs} file present is just a stub
1396 that loads the real file in @file{~/.xemacs/init.el}.
1398 No two init files are alike, nor are they expected to be alike, but
1399 that's the point. The XEmacs distribution contains an excellent starter
1400 example in the @file{etc/} directory called @file{sample.init.el}
1401 (starting in 21.4) or @file{sample.emacs} in older versions. Copy this
1402 file from there to @file{~/.xemacs/init.el} (starting in 21.4) or
1403 @file{~/.emacs} in older versions, where @samp{~} means your home
1404 directory, of course. Then edit it to suit.
1406 You may bring the @file{sample.init.el} or @file{sample.emacs} file into
1407 an XEmacs buffer from the menubar. (The menu entry for it is always
1408 under the @samp{Help} menu, but its location under that has changed in
1409 various versions. Recently, look under the @samp{Samples} submenu.) To
1410 determine the location of the @file{etc/} directory type the command
1411 @kbd{C-h v data-directory @key{RET}}.
1413 @node Q1.3.2, Q1.3.3, Q1.3.1, Introduction
1414 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.2: Where do I put my @file{init.el} file?
1416 @file{init.el} is the name of the init file starting with 21.4, and is
1417 located in the subdirectory @file{.xemacs/} of your home directory. In
1418 prior versions, the init file is called @file{.emacs} and is located in
1419 your home directory.
1421 Your home directory under Windows is determined by the @samp{HOME}
1422 environment variable. If this is not set, it defaults to @samp{C:\}.
1423 To set this variable, modify @file{AUTOEXEC.BAT} under Windows 95/98, or
1424 select @samp{Control Panel->System->Advanced->Environment Variables...}
1425 under Windows NT/2000.
1427 @node Q1.3.3, Q1.3.4, Q1.3.2, Introduction
1428 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.3: Can I use the same @file{init.el} with the other Emacs?
1430 Yes. The sample @file{init.el} included in the XEmacs
1431 distribution will show you how to handle different versions and flavors
1434 @node Q1.3.4, Q1.3.5, Q1.3.3, Introduction
1435 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.4: Any good XEmacs tutorials around?
1437 There's the XEmacs tutorial available from the Help Menu under
1438 @samp{Help->Tutorials}, or by typing @kbd{C-h t}. To check whether
1439 it's available in a non-english language, type @kbd{C-u C-h t TAB}, type
1440 the first letters of your preferred language, then type @key{RET}.
1442 @comment There's an Emacs Lisp tutorial at
1445 @comment @uref{ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/emacs-lisp-intro-1.04.tar.gz}.
1446 @comment @end example
1448 @comment @email{erik@@petaxp.rug.ac.be, Erik Sundermann} has made a tutorial web
1453 @comment @uref{http://petaxp.rug.ac.be/~erik/xemacs/}.
1455 @node Q1.3.5, Q1.3.6, Q1.3.4, Introduction
1456 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.5: May I see an example of a useful XEmacs Lisp function?
1458 The following function does a little bit of everything useful. It does
1459 something with the prefix argument, it examines the text around the
1460 cursor, and it's interactive so it may be bound to a key. It inserts
1461 copies of the current word the cursor is sitting on at the cursor. If
1462 you give it a prefix argument: @kbd{C-u 3 M-x double-word} then it will
1466 (defun double-word (count)
1467 "Insert a copy of the current word underneath the cursor"
1469 (let (here there string)
1474 (setq there (point))
1475 (setq string (buffer-substring here there)))
1481 The best way to see what is going on here is to let XEmacs tell you.
1482 Put the code into an XEmacs buffer, and do a @kbd{C-h f} with the cursor
1483 sitting just to the right of the function you want explained. Eg. move
1484 the cursor to the SPACE between @code{interactive} and @samp{"*p"} and
1485 hit @kbd{C-h f} to see what the function @code{interactive} does. Doing
1486 this will tell you that the @code{*} requires a writable buffer, and
1487 @code{p} converts the prefix argument to a number, and
1488 @code{interactive} allows you to execute the command with @kbd{M-x}.
1490 @node Q1.3.6, Q1.3.7, Q1.3.5, Introduction
1491 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.6: And how do I bind it to a key?
1493 To bind to a key do:
1496 (global-set-key "\C-cd" 'double-word)
1499 Or interactively, @kbd{M-x global-set-key} and follow the prompts.
1501 @node Q1.3.7, Q1.3.8, Q1.3.6, Introduction
1502 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.7: What's the difference between a macro and a function?
1504 Quoting from the Lisp Reference (a.k.a @dfn{Lispref}) Manual:
1506 @dfn{Macros} enable you to define new control constructs and other
1507 language features. A macro is defined much like a function, but instead
1508 of telling how to compute a value, it tells how to compute another Lisp
1509 expression which will in turn compute the value. We call this
1510 expression the @dfn{expansion} of the macro.
1512 Macros can do this because they operate on the unevaluated expressions
1513 for the arguments, not on the argument values as functions do. They can
1514 therefore construct an expansion containing these argument expressions
1517 Do not confuse the two terms with @dfn{keyboard macros}, which are
1518 another matter, entirely. A keyboard macro is a key bound to several
1519 other keys. Refer to manual for details.
1521 @node Q1.3.8, Q1.4.1, Q1.3.7, Introduction
1522 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.8: What is @code{Custom}?
1524 @code{Custom} is a system for customizing XEmacs options.
1526 You can access @code{Advanced (Customize)} from the @code{Options} menu
1527 or invoking one of customize commands by typing eg.
1528 @kbd{M-x customize}, @kbd{M-x customize-face},
1529 @kbd{M-x customize-variable} or @kbd{M-x customize-apropos}.
1531 There is also new @samp{browser} mode for Customize.
1532 Try it out with @kbd{M-x customize-browse}
1534 @unnumberedsec 1.4: Getting Help
1536 @node Q1.4.1, Q1.4.2, Q1.3.8, Introduction
1537 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.1: Where can I get help?
1539 Probably the easiest way, if everything is installed, is to use Info, by
1540 pressing @kbd{C-h i}, or looking for an Info item on the
1541 Help Menu. @kbd{M-x apropos} can be used to look for particular commands.
1543 For items not found in the manual, try reading this FAQ
1544 and reading the Usenet group comp.emacs.xemacs.
1546 If you choose to post to a newsgroup, @strong{please use
1547 comp.emacs.xemacs}. Please do not post XEmacs related questions to
1550 If you cannot post or read Usenet news, there is a corresponding mailing
1551 list @email{xemacs-news@@xemacs.org} which is available. It can be
1552 subscribed to via the Mailman Web interface or by sending mail to to
1553 @email{xemacs-news-request@@xemacs.org} with @samp{subscribe} in the
1554 body of the message. See also
1555 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Lists/#xemacs-news}. To cancel a
1556 subscription, you may use the @email{xemacs-news-request@@xemacs.org}
1557 address or the Web interface. Send a message with a subject of
1558 @samp{unsubscribe} to be removed.
1560 @node Q1.4.2, Q1.4.3, Q1.4.1, Introduction
1561 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.2: Which mailing lists are there?
1563 For complete, up-to-date info on the lists and how to subscribe, see
1564 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Lists/}.
1568 @item comp.emacs.xemacs
1569 is a Usenet newsgroup
1570 for XEmacs users to discuss problems and issues that arise
1571 for them. It's not generally an appropriate place to ask
1572 about apparent bugs (use @samp{xemacs-beta}), or future plans
1573 (use @samp{xemacs-design}).
1575 @item xemacs-announce
1577 volume list for announcements concerning the XEmacs project
1578 and new releases of the XEmacs software.
1581 is an open list for bug reports about beta versions of XEmacs. This
1582 includes the bug reports themselves, by both users and developers, as
1583 well as queries, follow-ups, and discussions further determining their
1584 nature and status. This is the primary channel for this kind of
1585 discussion; related code changes will usually not be applied until
1586 they have been discussed here. When such discussions touch on
1587 significant changes to the code (in particular, structural changes),
1588 or on changes to API's or external functionality, they should be moved
1589 to @samp{xemacs-design}. Requests and proposals for non-bug-related
1590 changes do not belong on @samp{xemacs-beta}, and should be sent to
1591 @samp{xemacs-design} instead.
1593 @item xemacs-beta-ja
1594 is an open list for bug
1595 reports and design discussion related to Mule features,
1596 including Japanese handling, in beta versions of XEmacs.
1597 Japanese is the preferred language of discussion. For most
1598 timely presentation to reviewers, please consider sending
1599 appropriate discussion to @samp{xemacs-mule} or
1600 @samp{xemacs-design} in English when convenient for
1601 the participants in discussion. When possible, bug reports
1602 not related to Mule (including Japanese) should be reported on
1603 @samp{xemacs-beta} in English.
1605 @item xemacs-buildreports
1607 submission of build-reports on beta versions of XEmacs. For
1608 information on what the build-reports should contain, please
1609 see the `etc/BETA' file which is included in each beta
1613 is a read-only list for notices
1614 and information on what has been committed to the XEmacs CVS
1615 trees, by whom, and for what.
1619 discussing the design of XEmacs. This includes discussion
1620 about planned and ongoing changes to functionality and API
1621 changes and additions as well as requests for them. This is
1622 the primary channel for this kind of discussion; related code
1623 changes will usually not be applied until they have been
1624 discussed here. This does not include bug reports, which go
1625 to @samp{xemacs-beta}.
1628 is an open mailing list for
1629 discussion of International extensions to XEmacs including
1630 Mule, XIM, I18n issues, etc, and is not confined to
1631 developmental issues. This list is not restricted to
1632 English, postings in all languages are welcome.
1635 is an open list for discussion
1636 and bug reporting for XEmacs. This mailing list is
1637 bi-directionally gatewayed with the USENET newsgroup
1641 is a developers-only mailing
1642 list and is intended for people who wish to work actively on
1643 the porting of XEmacs to Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft
1646 @item xemacs-patches
1647 is an open, moderated
1648 list for submission of patches to the XEmacs distribution
1649 and its packages. Anyone may subscribe or submit to
1650 xemacs-patches, but all submissions are reviewed by the list
1651 moderator before they are distributed to the
1652 list. Discussion is not appropriate on xemacs-patches.
1654 @item xemacs-users-ja
1656 discussion and bug reporting for XEmacs. Japanese is the
1657 preferred language of discussion. It is not gated to
1658 comp.emacs.xemacs or the @samp{xemacs} list. For
1659 fastest response, bugs not specifically related to Japanese
1660 or Mule features should be reported on
1661 @samp{xemacs-beta} (in English).
1663 @item xemacs-users-ru
1665 discussion and bug reporting for XEmacs. Russian is the
1666 preferred language of discussion. It is not gated to
1667 comp.emacs.xemacs or the @samp{xemacs} list. For
1668 fastest response, bugs not specifically related to Russian
1669 or Mule features should be reported on
1670 @samp{xemacs-beta} (in English).
1673 @node Q1.4.3, Q1.4.4, Q1.4.2, Introduction
1674 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.3: Where are the mailing lists archived?
1676 The archives can be found at @uref{http://list-archive.xemacs.org}
1678 @node Q1.4.4, Q1.4.5, Q1.4.3, Introduction
1679 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.4: How can I get two instances of info?
1681 Before 21.4, you can't. The @code{info} package does not provide for
1682 multiple info buffers. In 21.4, this should be fixed. #### how?
1684 @node Q1.4.5, Q1.5.1, Q1.4.4, Introduction
1685 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.5: How do I add new Info directories?
1687 You use something like:
1690 (setq Info-directory-list (cons
1691 (expand-file-name "~/info")
1692 Info-default-directory-list))
1695 @email{davidm@@prism.kla.com, David Masterson} writes:
1698 Emacs Info and XEmacs Info do many things differently. If you're trying to
1699 support a number of versions of Emacs, here are some notes to remember:
1703 Emacs Info scans @code{Info-directory-list} from right-to-left while
1704 XEmacs Info reads it from left-to-right, so append to the @emph{correct}
1708 Use @code{Info-default-directory-list} to initialize
1709 @code{Info-directory-list} @emph{if} it is available at startup, but not
1710 all Emacsen define it.
1713 Emacs Info looks for a standard @file{dir} file in each of the
1714 directories scanned from #1 and magically concatenates them together.
1717 XEmacs Info looks for a @file{localdir} file (which consists of just the
1718 menu entries from a @file{dir} file) in each of the directories scanned
1719 from #1 (except the first), does a simple concatenation of them, and
1720 magically attaches the resulting list to the end of the menu in the
1721 @file{dir} file in the first directory.
1724 Another alternative is to convert the documentation to HTML with
1725 texi2html and read it from a web browser like Lynx or W3.
1728 @unnumberedsec 1.5: Contributing to XEmacs
1730 @node Q1.5.1, Q1.5.2, Q1.4.5, Introduction
1731 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.1: How do I submit changes to the FAQ?
1733 The FAQ is actively maintained and modified regularly. All links should
1734 be up to date. Unfortunately, some of the information is out of date --
1735 a situation which the FAQ maintainer is working on. All submissions are
1736 welcome, please e-mail submissions to @email{faq@@xemacs.org, XEmacs FAQ
1739 Please make sure that @samp{XEmacs FAQ} appears on the Subject: line.
1740 If you think you have a better way of answering a question, or think a
1741 question should be included, we'd like to hear about it. Questions and
1742 answers included into the FAQ will be edited for spelling and grammar
1743 and will be attributed. Answers appearing without attribution are
1744 either from versions of the FAQ dated before May 1996 or are from
1745 previous FAQ maintainers. Answers quoted from Usenet news articles will
1746 always be attributed, regardless of the author.
1748 @node Q1.5.2, Q1.5.3, Q1.5.1, Introduction
1749 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.2: How do I become a beta tester?
1751 Send an email message to @email{xemacs-beta-request@@xemacs.org} with
1752 the line @samp{subscribe} in the body of the message.
1754 Be prepared to get your hands dirty, as beta testers are expected to
1755 identify problems as best they can.
1757 @node Q1.5.3, Q1.5.4, Q1.5.2, Introduction
1758 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.3: How do I contribute to XEmacs itself?
1760 It depends on the knowledge and time you possess. If you are able, by
1761 all means become a beta tester (@pxref{Q1.5.2}). If you are a
1762 programmer, try to build XEmacs and see if you can improve it.
1764 Otherwise, you can still help by using XEmacs as your everyday editor
1765 (for pre-built binary versions, @pxref{Q1.1.2}) and reporting bugs you
1766 find to the mailing list.
1768 Another area where we need help is the documentation: We need good
1769 documentation for building XEmacs and for using it. This FAQ is a
1770 small step in that direction.
1772 Ben Wing @email{ben@@xemacs.org} writes:
1775 BTW if you have a wish list of things that you want added, you have to
1776 speak up about it! More specifically, you can do the following if you
1777 want a feature added (in increasing order of usefulness):
1781 Make a posting about a feature you want added.
1784 Become a beta tester and make more postings about those same features.
1787 Convince us that you're going to use the features in some cool and
1791 Come up with a clear and well-thought-out API concerning the features.
1794 Write the code to implement a feature and send us a patch.
1797 (not that we're necessarily requiring you to write the code, but we can
1801 @node Q1.5.4, Q1.5.5, Q1.5.3, Introduction
1802 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.4: How do I get started developing XEmacs?
1804 First, get yourself set up under CVS so that you can access the CVS
1805 repositories containing the XEmacs sources and the XEmacs packages.
1807 Next, set up your layout. This is important, as a good layout will
1808 facilitate getting things done efficiently, while a bad layout will could
1809 lead to disaster, as you can't figure out which code is the most recent,
1810 which can be thrown away, etc. We suggest the following layout: (feel free
1815 Everything goes under @file{/src/xemacs} (use a different directory if
1816 you want). From now, instead of saying @file{/src/xemacs}, we use
1817 @file{<xsrc-top>}, to make it easier in case someone picked a
1818 different directory.
1821 Package source is in @file{<xsrc-top>/package-src}.
1824 Installed packages go under @file{<xsrc-top>/xemacs-packages}, and
1825 @file{<xsrc-top>/mule-packages}.
1828 A "workspace" is a complete copy of the sources, in which you do work of
1829 a particular kind. Workspaces can be differentiated by which branch of
1830 the source tree they extend off of -- usually either the stable or
1831 experimental, unless other branches have been created (for example, Ben
1832 created a branch for his Mule work because (1) the project was long-term
1833 and involved an enormous number of changes, (2) people wanted to be able
1834 to look at what his work in progress, and (3) he wanted to be able to
1835 check things in and in general use source-code control, since it was a
1836 long-term project). Workspaces are also differentiated in what their
1837 purpose is -- general working workspace, workspace for particular
1838 projects, workspace keeping the latest copy of the code in one of the
1839 branches without mods, etc.
1842 Various workspaces are subdirectories under @file{<xsrc-top>}, e.g.:
1846 @file{<xsrc-top>/working} (the workspace you're actively working on,
1847 periodically synched up with the latest trunk)
1850 @file{<xsrc-top>/stable} (for making changes to the stable version of
1851 XEmacs, which sits on a branch)
1854 @file{<xsrc-top>/unsigned-removal} (a workspace for a specific, difficult
1855 task that's going to affect lots of source and take a long time, and
1856 so best done in its own workspace without the interference of other
1857 work you're doing. Also, you can commit just this one large change,
1858 separate from all the other changes).
1861 @file{<xsrc-top>/latest} (a copy of the latest sources on the trunk,
1862 i.e. the experimental version of XEmacs, with no patches in it;
1863 either update it periodically, by hand, or set up a cron job to do it
1864 automatically). Set it up so it can be built, and build it so you
1865 have a working XEmacs. (Building it might also go into the cron job.)
1867 This workspace serves a number of purposes:
1870 You always have a recent version of XEmacs you can compare
1871 against when something you're working on breaks. It's true
1872 that you can do this with cvs diff, but when you need to do
1873 some serious investigation, this method just fails.
1875 You (almost) always have a working, up-to-date executable that
1876 can be used when your executable is crashing and you need to
1877 keep developing it, or when you need an `xemacs' to build
1880 When creating new workspaces, you can just copy the `latest'
1881 workspace using GNU @code{cp -a}. You have all the .elc's built,
1882 everything else probably configured, any spare files in place
1883 (e.g. some annoying xpm.dll under Windows, etc.).
1887 @file{<xsrc-top>/latest-stable/} (equivalent to @file{<xsrc-top>/latest/}, but
1888 for the Stable branch of XEmacs, rather than the Experimental branch
1889 of XEmacs). This may or may not be necessary depending on how much
1890 development you do of the stable branch.
1894 @file{<xsrc-top>/xemacsweb} is a workspace for working on the XEmacs
1898 @file{<xsrc-top>/in-patches} for patches received from email and saved
1902 @file{<xsrc-top>/out-patches} for locally-generated patches to be sent
1903 to @email{xemacs-patches@@xemacs.org}. Less useful now that the
1904 patcher util has been developed.
1907 @file{<xsrc-top>/build}, for build trees when compiling and testing XEmacs with
1908 various configuration options turned off and on. The scripts in
1909 xemacs-builds/ben (see below) can be used to automate building XEmacs
1910 workspaces with many different configuration options and automatically
1911 filtering out the normal output so that you see only the abnormal
1915 @file{<xsrc-top>/xemacs-builds}, for the xemacs-builds module, which you need
1916 to check out separately in CVS. This contains scripts used for building
1917 XEmacs, automating and simplifying using CVS, etc. Under various
1918 people's directories are their own build and other scripts. The
1919 currently most-maintained scripts are under ben/, where there are easily
1920 configurable scripts that can be used to easily build any workspace
1921 (esp. if you've more or less followed the layout presented above)
1922 unattended, with one or more configuration states (there's a
1923 pre-determined list of the most useful, but it's easy to change). The
1924 output is filtered and split up in various ways so that you can identify
1925 which output came from where, and you can see the output either full or
1926 with all "normal" output except occasional status messages filtered so
1927 that you only see the abnormal ones.
1930 @node Q1.5.5, Q1.6.1, Q1.5.4, Introduction
1931 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.5: What's the basic layout of the code?
1933 The file @file{configure} is a shell script to acclimate XEmacs to the
1934 oddities of your processor and operating system. It will create a
1935 file named @file{Makefile} (a script for the @file{make} program), which helps
1936 automate the process of building and installing emacs. See INSTALL
1937 for more detailed information.
1939 The file @file{configure.in} is the input used by the autoconf program to
1940 construct the @file{configure} script. Since XEmacs has configuration
1941 requirements that autoconf can't meet, @file{configure.in} uses an unholy
1942 marriage of custom-baked configuration code and autoconf macros; it
1943 may be wise to avoid rebuilding @file{configure} from @file{configure.in} when
1946 The file @file{Makefile.in} is a template used by @file{configure} to create
1949 There are several subdirectories:
1953 @file{src} holds the C code for XEmacs (the XEmacs Lisp interpreter and its
1954 primitives, the redisplay code, and some basic editing functions).
1956 @file{lisp} holds the XEmacs Lisp code for XEmacs (most everything else).
1958 @file{lib-src} holds the source code for some utility programs for use by
1959 or with XEmacs, like movemail and etags.
1961 @file{etc} holds miscellaneous architecture-independent data files
1962 XEmacs uses, like the tutorial text. The contents of the @file{lisp},
1963 @file{info} and @file{man} subdirectories are architecture-independent too.
1965 @file{lwlib} holds the C code for the X toolkit objects used by XEmacs.
1967 @file{info} holds the Info documentation tree for XEmacs.
1969 @file{man} holds the source code for the XEmacs online documentation.
1971 @file{nt} holds files used compiling XEmacs under Microsoft Windows.
1974 @unnumberedsec 1.6: Politics (XEmacs vs. GNU Emacs)
1976 @node Q1.6.1, Q1.6.2, Q1.5.5, Introduction
1977 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.6.1: What is GNU Emacs?
1979 GNU Emacs and XEmacs are related open-source text editors. Both
1980 derive from GNU Emacs version 18; the split between the two happened
1981 in 1991 (for comparison, the oldest versions of GNU Emacs date from
1982 1984). For information on GNU Emacs, see
1983 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html}.
1985 @node Q1.6.2, Q1.6.3, Q1.6.1, Introduction
1986 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.6.2: How does XEmacs differ from GNU Emacs?
1988 For a detailed description of the differences between GNU Emacs and
1989 XEmacs and a detailed history of XEmacs, check out the
1991 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/About/XEmacsVsGNUemacs.html, NEWS file}
1995 @item User-Visible Editing Features
1996 XEmacs in general tries hard to conform to exist user-interface
1997 standards, and to work "out-of-the-box" without the need for obscure
1998 customization changes. GNU Emacs, particularly version 21, has gotten
1999 better about this (in many cases by copying the XEmacs behavior!), but
2000 still has some weirdnesses. For example, the standard method of
2001 selecting text using the Shift key works out-of-the-box in XEmacs.
2003 XEmacs has a built-in toolbar. Four toolbars can actually be configured
2004 simultaneously: top, bottom, left, and right toolbars.
2006 XEmacs has vertical and horizontal scrollbars. Unlike in GNU Emacs 19
2007 (which provides a primitive form of vertical scrollbar), these are true
2008 toolkit scrollbars. A look-alike Motif scrollbar is provided for those
2009 who don't have Motif. (Even for those who do, the look-alike may be
2010 preferable as it is faster.)
2012 XEmacs has buffer tabs along the top of the frame (although the
2013 position can be changed) that make it very easy to switch buffers.
2015 The menubar under XEmacs is better-designed, with more thought put into
2018 XEmacs can ask questions using popup dialog boxes. Any command executed
2019 from a menu will ask yes/no questions with dialog boxes, while commands
2020 executed via the keyboard will use the minibuffer.
2022 XEmacs under MS Windows provides uses the standard file-dialog box for
2023 opening and saving files. Standard menu-accelerator behavior can easily
2024 be enabled using the Options menu, and integrates well into the existing
2027 XEmacs has (still experimental) support for widgets of various sorts --
2028 buttons, text boxes, sliders, progress bars, etc. A progress bar is
2029 used in font lock to show the progress.
2031 Experimental support for drag-and-drop protocols is provided from
2034 @item General Platform Support
2035 If you're running on a machine with audio hardware, you can specify
2036 sound files for XEmacs to play instead of the default X beep. See the
2037 documentation of the function load-sound-file and the variable
2038 sound-alist. XEmacs also supports the network sound protocols NAS and
2041 XEmacs 21 supports database protocols with LISP bindings, currently
2042 including Berkeley DB, LDAP, and PostgreSQL (21.2 only).
2044 XEmacs 20 and 21 support the Canna, Wnn, and SJ3 Japanese input method
2045 servers directly, as well as through the X Input Method (XIM)
2046 protocol. GNU Emacs 20 supports only the XIM protocol. Both Emacsen
2047 support the Quail family of input methods (implemented in LISP) for many
2050 XEmacs provides support for ToolTalk on systems that have
2053 @item Packaged LISP Libraries
2054 Many more packages are provided standard with XEmacs than with GNU Emacs
2057 XEmacs 21 supports an integrated package management system which uses
2058 EFS to download, then automatically install prebuilt LISP
2059 libraries. This allows XEmacs users much more straightforward access to
2060 the "latest and greatest" version of any given library.
2062 We are working on a standard method for enabling, disabling and
2063 otherwise controlling packages, which should make them very easy to use.
2065 @item LISP Programming
2066 From XEmacs 20 on, characters are a separate type. Characters can be
2067 converted to integers (and many integers can be converted to
2068 characters), but characters are not integers. GNU Emacs 19, XEmacs 19,
2069 Mule 2.3 (an extensive patch to GNU Emacs 18.55 and 19.x), and GNU Emacs
2070 20 (incorporating Mule 3 and later Mule 4) represent them as integers.
2072 From XEmacs 20 on, the buffer is treated as an array of characters, and
2073 the representation of buffer text is not exposed to LISP. The GNU Emacs
2074 20 functions like buffer-as-multibyte are not supported.
2076 In XEmacs, events are first-class objects. GNU Emacs 19 represents them
2077 as integers, which obscures the differences between a key gesture and
2078 the ancient ASCII code used to represent a particular overlapping subset
2081 In XEmacs, keymaps are first-class opaque objects. GNU Emacs 19
2082 represents them as complicated combinations of association lists and
2083 vectors. If you use the advertised functional interface to manipulation
2084 of keymaps, the same code will work in XEmacs, GNU Emacs 18, and GNU
2085 Emacs 19; if your code depends on the underlying implementation of
2086 keymaps, it will not.
2088 XEmacs uses "extents" to represent all non-textual aspects of buffers;
2089 GNU Emacs 19 uses two distinct objects, "text properties" and
2090 "overlays", which divide up the functionality between them. Extents are
2091 a superset of the union of the functionality of the two GNU Emacs data
2092 types. The full GNU Emacs 19 interface to text properties and overlays
2093 is supported in XEmacs (with extents being the underlying
2096 Extents can be made to be copied into strings, and then restored, by
2097 kill and yank. Thus, one can specify this behavior on either "extents"
2098 or "text properties", whereas in GNU Emacs 19 text properties always
2099 have this behavior and overlays never do.
2101 @item Window System Programming Interface
2102 XEmacs uses the MIT "Xt" toolkit instead of raw Xlib calls, which makes
2103 it be a more well-behaved X citizen (and also improves portability). A
2104 result of this is that it is possible to include other Xt "Widgets" in
2105 the XEmacs window. Also, XEmacs understands the standard Xt command-line
2108 XEmacs supports Motif applications, generic Xt (e.g. Athena)
2109 applications, and raw Xlib applications. An XEmacs variant which
2110 supports GTK+ is available (integration as an option in the XEmacs
2111 mainline is planned for XEmacs 22), although code to take advantage of
2112 the support is as yet scarce.
2114 An XEmacs frame can be placed within an "external client widget" managed
2115 by another application. This allows an application to use an XEmacs
2116 frame as its text pane rather than the standard Text widget that is
2117 provided with Motif or Athena.
2119 @item Community Participation
2120 Joining the XEmacs development team is simple. Mail to
2121 @email{xemacs-beta@@xemacs.org, XEmacs Developers}, and you're in! (If
2122 you want to be, of course. You're also welcome to just post
2123 development-related questions and bug reports.) The GNU Emacs
2124 development team and internal mailing lists are still by invitation
2127 The "bleeding edge" of mainline XEmacs development is available by
2128 anonymous CVS as are some subsidiary branches (check out the xemacs-gtk
2129 module for the latest in GUI features!)
2131 Development and maintenance of Lisp libraries is separated from the core
2132 editor development at a fairly low level. This provides better
2133 modularization and a better division of responsibility between external
2134 library maintainers and the XEmacs core development team. Even for
2135 packages the size of Gnus, XEmacs users normally have access to a
2136 pre-built version within a few weeks of a major release, and minor
2137 updates often within days.
2139 CVS commit authority is broadly dispersed. Recognized maintainers of
2140 LISP libraries who are willing to maintain XEmacs packaged versions
2141 automatically qualify for CVS accounts for their packages.
2144 @node Q1.6.3, Q1.6.4, Q1.6.2, Introduction
2145 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.6.3: How much does XEmacs differ?
2147 RMS has asserted at times that XEmacs is merely a "patch" on top of
2148 GNU Emacs (@pxref{Q1.6.4}). In fact, probably not more than 5% of the
2149 code, if that, remains unchanged, and nearly 14 years of work has gone
2150 into XEmacs at this point. (GNU Emacs itself is only than 20 years
2151 old, and thus XEmacs has existed as a separate product for over 2/3 of
2152 the lifespan of GNU Emacs.) As a point of comparison, XEmacs 21.5 has
2153 perhaps 65,000 more lines of C code than GNU Emacs 21.2.
2155 However, the XEmacs developers strive to keep their code compatible with
2156 GNU Emacs, especially on the Lisp level. Much effort goes into
2157 "synching" the XEmacs Elisp code with recent GNU Emacs releases so as to
2158 benefit from GNU Emacs development work. (In contrast, almost no code
2159 from XEmacs has made it into GNU Emacs, and in fact the GNU Emacs
2160 developers are instructed by RMS not to even look at XEmacs source code!
2161 This stems from self-imposed licensing restrictions on the part of GNU
2162 Emacs -- and almost certainly out of hostility, as well.)
2164 @node Q1.6.4, Q1.6.5, Q1.6.3, Introduction
2165 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.6.4: Is XEmacs "GNU"?
2167 RMS insists on the term "GNU XEmacs" and maintains that
2170 XEmacs is GNU software because it's a modified version of a
2171 GNU program. And it is GNU software because the FSF is the copyright
2172 holder for most of it, and therefore the legal responsibility for
2173 protecting its free status falls on us whether we want it or not. This
2174 is why the term "GNU XEmacs" is legitimate.
2177 In fact, FSF is @emph{not} the copyright holder for most of the code,
2178 as very little unmodified FSF code remains (@pxref{Q1.6.3}).
2180 Furthermore, RMS's assertion that XEmacs is "GNU" seems rather bizarre
2181 to the XEmacs developers given RMS's hostility and general lack of
2182 interest in cooperation. "GNU" software in general is part of the GNU
2183 Project, is distributed by it on their FTP site, and receives support
2184 (or at least cooperation), as well as implicit endorsement, from it.
2185 The GNU Project, however, has never supported XEmacs and never
2186 distributed XEmacs, and RMS's hostility is the farthest thing possible
2187 from an endorsement. In fact, the GNU Project distributes a number of
2188 non-GNU software projects on the FSF web site, but again XEmacs is not
2191 @node Q1.6.5, Q1.6.6, Q1.6.4, Introduction
2192 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.6.5: What is the correct way to refer to XEmacs and GNU Emacs?
2194 Unfortunately even the naming of these two applications has become
2195 politicized. Much of this stems from RMS, who has a history of
2196 politicizing similar issues. (Compare the controversy over "Lignux"
2197 and "GNU/Linux".) We would prefer that the terms "XEmacs" and "GNU
2198 Emacs" be used, which are neutral and acceptable to most people. RMS,
2199 however, is not willing to accept these terms. He insists that, if
2200 his product is called "GNU Emacs", then ours must be called "GNU
2201 XEmacs". (For our opinion of this term, @xref{Q1.6.4}.) On the other
2202 hand, if our product is to be called "XEmacs", as we prefer, then his
2203 product must simply be called "Emacs". The intent of this seems
2204 clear: RMS wants to make sure the names reflect his view that his
2205 version is the "real" Emacs and ours is merely a derivative,
2206 second-class product (@pxref{Q1.6.3}).
2208 The XEmacs developers hope that you will use the neutral terms
2209 "XEmacs" and "GNU Emacs" for these two specific products. "Emacs", on
2210 the other hand, is a generic term for a class of programmable text
2211 editors with a similar look-and-feel, and usually a Lisp-based
2212 extension language. These trace themselves back to early editors such
2213 as EINE, ZWEI, ZMACS and Multics Emacs. @xref{A History of Emacs,,,
2214 internals, XEmacs Internals Manual}.
2216 We also call upon RMS, in the spirit of furthering cooperation, to
2217 stop politicizing this issue and use the neutral terms "XEmacs" and
2218 "GNU Emacs". We have already acceded to RMS' wishes in this respect,
2219 and we expect him to do the same. (In the past, the XEmacs developers
2220 often used the terms "FSF Emacs" or "FSFmacs" or "RMSmacs" in
2221 reference to GNU Emacs; these terms were apparently modeled after RMS'
2222 own usage of "Gosmacs" and "Gosling Emacs" in reference to Unipress
2223 Emacs, produced by James Gosling. RMS, however, considers such terms
2224 to be insulting, so we refrain from using them as much as possible in
2225 preference to GNU Emacs.)
2227 @node Q1.6.6, Q1.7.1, Q1.6.5, Introduction
2228 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.6.6: Why haven't XEmacs and GNU Emacs merged?
2230 There are currently irreconcilable differences in the views about
2231 technical, programming, design, organizational and legal matters
2232 between Richard Stallman (RMS), the author and leader of the GNU Emacs
2233 project, and the XEmacs development team which provide little hope for
2234 a merge to take place in the short-term future. There have been
2235 repeated attempts at merging by all of the major XEmacs developers,
2236 starting from the early days of Lucid Emacs (in 1991), but they have
2237 all failed. RMS has very strong views about how GNU Emacs should be
2238 structured and how his project should be run, and during the repeated
2239 merge efforts has never demonstrated any realistic interest in
2240 sufficiently compromising or ceding control to allow a middle ground
2241 to be found. The basic problem seems to be the very different goals
2242 of RMS and the XEmacs project. The primary goals of the XEmacs
2243 project are technical and organizational -- we want to create the best
2244 editor possible, and to make it as easy as possible for people around
2245 the world to contribute. The primary goals of RMS, on the other hand,
2246 are political, and GNU Emacs, and any potential merge efforts with
2247 XEmacs, are strictly subservient to these goals. In fact, in many
2248 ways RMS sees GNU Emacs as the "poster child" of his aims, the one
2249 program in the GNU project that above all others must set an example
2250 to the world. (This has to do with the fact that GNU Emacs was the
2251 first program in the GNU project, and the only one that he is still
2252 personally involved with on a day-to-day basis.) Given his goals, his
2253 position is completely reasonable -- but unfortunately, makes any
2256 From the XEmacs perspective, the most intractable issues appear to be
2257 legal and organizational, specifically:
2261 RMS requires "legal papers" to be signed for all contributions of code
2262 to GNU Emacs over 10 lines or so, transferring the copyright and all
2263 legal rights to the code to the Free Software Foundation. XEmacs does
2264 not and has never required this, since it has the practical effect of
2265 discouraging individual and in particular corporate contributions --
2266 corporations will almost never sign away their legal rights to code
2267 since it makes it impossible to reuse the code in any product that
2268 whose license is not compatible with the GNU General Public License.
2269 Since RMS has shown no inclination to compromise on this issue, a
2270 merge would require that most of the existing XEmacs code would need
2271 to be thrown away and rewritten -- something the XEmacs developers are
2272 understandably reluctant to do.
2275 A repeated stumbling block in the merge talks has been the issue of
2276 organizational control over the resulting product. RMS has made it
2277 clear that he intends to have final say over design issues in a merged
2278 Emacs. Unfortunately, RMS and the XEmacs developers have repeatedly
2279 clashed over design decisions, and RMS' insistence on getting his way
2280 in such disagreements was the very reason for the split in the first
2281 place. This same issue has come up again and again in merge talks and
2282 we have never been able to come to a satisfactory resolution. To the
2283 extent that RMS is willing to compromise at all, it appears to be of a
2284 purely political rather than technical nature -- "If we support this
2285 feature of yours, we also get to support this other feature of mine."
2286 The XEmacs developers cannot see how such a process would lead to
2287 anything but a mess of incompatible things hodgepodged together.
2290 Because of the years of separate development, distinct and
2291 incompatible interfaces have developed and merging would be extremely
2292 difficult even with the above non-technical issues resolved. The
2293 problem has been exacerbated by the issue of legal papers -- because
2294 XEmacs code is not "kosher" from RMS' perspective, he discourages
2295 developers from even looking at it out of legal concerns. Although it
2296 is still possible to read the XEmacs documentation and run the
2297 program, the practical effect of this prohibition has been to strongly
2298 discourage code-sharing and cooperative development -- although a
2299 great deal of GNU Emacs code has been incorporated into XEmacs,
2300 practically none has gone the other direction.
2303 If you have a comment to add regarding the merge, it is a good idea to
2304 avoid posting to the newsgroups, because of the very heated flamewars
2305 that often result. Mail your questions to
2306 @email{xemacs-beta@@xemacs.org} and @email{emacs-devel@@gnu.org}.
2308 @unnumberedsec 1.7: External Packages
2310 @node Q1.7.1, Q1.7.2, Q1.6.6, Introduction
2311 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.7.1: What is the package system?
2313 In order to reduce the size and increase the maintainability of
2314 XEmacs, the majority of the Elisp packages that came with previous
2315 releases have been unbundled. They have been replaced by the package
2316 system. Each elisp add-on (or groups of them when they are small) now
2317 comes in its own tarball that contains a small search hierarchy.
2319 You select just the ones you need. Install them by untarring them into
2320 the right place. On startup XEmacs will find them, set up the load
2321 path correctly, install autoloads, etc, etc.
2323 @xref{Q2.1.1}, for more info on how to download and install the packages.
2325 @node Q1.7.2, Q1.7.3, Q1.7.1, Introduction
2326 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.7.2: Which external packages are there?
2328 @subheading Normal Packages
2330 A very broad collection of elisp packages.
2334 Support for Sparcworks.
2337 Ada language support.
2340 A Portable Emacs Library. Used by XEmacs MIME support.
2343 Basic TeX/LaTeX support.
2346 The Big Brother Data Base: a rolodex-like database program.
2349 Build XEmacs from within (UNIX, Windows).
2352 Basic single-file add-ons for editing C code.
2358 Calendar and diary support.
2361 C, C++, Objective-C, Java, CORBA IDL, Pike and AWK language support.
2364 New Clearcase Version Control for XEmacs (UNIX, Windows).
2367 Support for the Clearcase version control system.
2370 "Fortune cookie"-style messages. Includes Spook (suspicious phrases)
2371 and Yow (Zippy quotes).
2374 Crisp/Brief emulation.
2377 GUD, gdb, dbx debugging support.
2380 Interface to RFC2229 dictionary servers.
2383 The DIRectory EDitor is for manipulating, and running commands on
2384 files in a directory.
2387 DocBook editing support.
2390 Emacs source code browser.
2393 Crypto functionality in Emacs Lisp.
2396 An Emacs Lisp debugger.
2399 Interface over GNU patch.
2402 Miscellaneous editor extensions, you probably need this.
2405 DEC EDIT/EDT emulation.
2408 Treat files on remote systems the same as local files.
2411 Enhanced Implementation of Emacs Interpreted Objects.
2414 Portable Emacs Lisp utilities library.
2417 Another interface over GNU patch.
2420 ERC is an Emacs InternetRelayChat client.
2423 Multiple editing sessions withing a single frame (like screen).
2426 Command shell implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp.
2429 ESS: Emacs Speaks Statistics.
2435 Emacs Unified Directory Client (LDAP, PH).
2438 Footnoting in mail message editing modes.
2441 Forms editing support (obsolete, use Widget instead).
2447 Fortran language support.
2450 Set up mode-specific icons for each frame under XEmacs.
2453 GNU Emacs compatibility files.
2456 Tetris, Sokoban, and Snake.
2459 General documentation. Presently, empty.
2465 The Gnus Newsreader and Mailreader.
2468 Haskell editing support.
2470 @item hm--html-menus
2474 Hyperbole: The Everyday Info Manager.
2477 Advanced replacement for buffer-menu.
2480 Editing and Shell mode for the Interactive Data Language.
2483 Enhanced front-end for Grep.
2486 Front-end for interacting with Inferior Lisp (external lisps).
2489 Spell-checking with GNU ispell.
2492 Integrated Development Environment for Java.
2495 IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client for Emacs. Note, this package is
2496 deprecated and will be removed, use riece instead.
2499 Fundamental lisp files for providing email support.
2502 Support for messaging encryption with PGP.
2505 Messaging in an Emacs World; a MIME-based email program.
2508 The XEmacs Interface to the MH Mail System.
2511 Elisp implementation of the game 'Minehunt'.
2514 Other amusements and diversions.
2517 Support for Multiple Major Modes within a single buffer.
2520 Miscellaneous Networking Utilities.
2523 Objective Caml editing support.
2526 OO-Browser: The Multi-Language Object-Oriented Code Browser.
2529 Objective Caml editing support.
2532 Miscellaneous single-file O/S utilities, for printing, archiving,
2533 compression, remote shells, etc.
2536 PC style interface emulation.
2542 Provides programmatic completion.
2548 Emacs interface to various PGP implementations.
2551 Support for various programming languages.
2554 Printing functions and utilities.
2557 Validated HTML/SGML editing.
2560 A collection of DTDs for psgml. Note that this package is deprecated
2561 and will be removed in the future, most likely Q2/2003. Instead of using
2562 this, you should install needed DTDs yourself.
2565 Python language support.
2568 Emacs support for LaTeX cross-references, citations.
2571 IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client for Emacs.
2574 An obsolete Emacs mailer. If you do not already use it don't start.
2580 Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) library.
2583 Front-end support for Inferior Scheme.
2586 Semantic bovinator (Yacc/Lex for XEmacs). Includes Senator.
2589 SGML/Linuxdoc-SGML editing.
2592 Support for editing shell scripts.
2595 Manage Sieve email filtering scripts.
2598 User interface tool.
2601 SML editing support.
2604 XEmacs Sun sound files.
2607 XEmacs Microsoft sound files.
2610 Provides a separate frame with convenient references.
2613 Mouse enhancement utility.
2616 An Emacs citation tool for News & Mail messages.
2619 XEmacs TeXinfo support.
2622 Miscellaneous support for editing text files.
2625 Miscellaneous TeX support.
2628 Display time & date on the modeline.
2631 Emacs MIME support. Not needed for gnus >= 5.8.0.
2634 Support for building with Tooltalk.
2637 DEC EDIT/TPU support.
2640 Remote shell-based file editing. This is similar to EFS or Ange-FTP,
2641 but works with rsh/ssh and rcp/scp.
2644 Version Control for Free systems.
2647 Version Control for ClearCase (UnFree) systems.
2653 A Unix process browsing tool.
2656 VI emulation support.
2665 Semi WYSIWYG for LaTeX, HTML, etc, using additional fonts.
2668 Fundamental XEmacs support, you almost certainly need this.
2671 XEmacs Lisp developer support. This package contains utilities for
2672 supporting Lisp development. It is a single-file package so it may be
2676 Emacs interface to X server.
2679 XSL editing support.
2682 A minor mode for (X)Emacs which allows running an XSLT processor on a
2686 X Emacs Window Manager.
2692 @subheading Mule Support (mule)
2694 MULti-lingual Enhancement. Support for world scripts such as
2695 Latin, Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Hebrew etc.
2696 To use these packages your XEmacs must be compiled with Mule
2701 MULE: Lisp Interface to EDICT, Kanji Dictionary.
2704 MULE: Wnn (4.2 and 6) support. SJ3 support.
2707 MULE: find single ISO 8859 character set to encode a buffer.
2710 Unify character sets in a buffer. When characters belong to disjoint
2711 character sets, this attempts to translate the characters so
2712 that they belong to one character set. If the buffer coding system is
2713 not sufficient, this suggests different coding systems.
2716 MULE: Quail. All non-English and non-Japanese language support.
2719 MULE: Localized menubars and localized splash screens.
2722 Dictionary support. (This isn't an English dictionary program)
2725 MULE: Basic Mule support, required for building with Mule.
2728 MULE: Extended coding systems (including Unicode) for XEmacs.
2731 Extended coding systems (including Unicode) for XEmacs.
2734 Another Japanese Language Input Method. Can be used without a
2735 separate process running as a dictionary server.
2738 @node Q1.7.3, Q1.7.4, Q1.7.2, Introduction
2739 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.7.3: Do I need to have the packages to run XEmacs?
2741 Strictly speaking, no. XEmacs will build and install just fine without
2742 any packages installed. However, only the most basic editing functions
2743 will be available with no packages installed, so installing packages is
2744 an essential part of making your installed XEmacs _useful_.
2746 @node Q1.7.4, Q1.8.1, Q1.7.3, Introduction
2747 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.7.4: Is there a way to find which package has particular functionality?
2749 If you want to find out which package contains the functionality you
2750 are looking for, use @kbd{M-x package-get-package-provider}, and give it a
2751 symbol that is likely to be in that package.
2753 For example, if some code you want to use has a @code{(require 'thingatpt)}
2757 M-x package-get-package-provider RET thingatpt RET
2760 which will return something like: @samp{(fsf-compat "1.08").}
2762 @unnumberedsec 1.8: Internationalization
2764 @node Q1.8.1, Q1.8.2, Q1.7.4, Introduction
2765 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.1: What is the status of internationalization support aka MULE (including Asian language support)?
2767 Both the stable and development versions of XEmacs include
2768 internationalization support (aka MULE). MULE currently (21.4) works on
2769 UNIX and Linux systems. It is possible to build with MULE on Windows
2770 systems, but if you really need MULE on Windows, it is recommended that
2771 you build and use the development (21.5) version, and deal with the
2772 instability of the development tree. Binaries compiled without MULE
2773 support run faster than MULE capable XEmacsen.
2775 @node Q1.8.2, Q1.8.3, Q1.8.1, Introduction
2776 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.2: How can I help with internationalization?
2778 If you would like to help, you may want to join the
2779 @email{xemacs-mule@@xemacs.org} mailing list. Especially needed are
2780 people who speak/write languages other than English, who are willing to
2781 use XEmacs/MULE regularly, and have some experience with Elisp.
2783 Translations of the TUTORIAL and man page are welcome, and XEmacs does
2784 support multilingual menus, but we have few current translations.
2786 @xref{Q1.5.2, How do I become a Beta Tester?}.
2788 @node Q1.8.3, Q1.8.4, Q1.8.2, Introduction
2789 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.3: How do I type non-ASCII characters?
2791 @xref{Q3.0.6, How can you type in special characters in XEmacs?}, in
2792 part 3 of this FAQ, for some simple methods that also work in non-MULE
2793 builds of XEmacs (but only for one-octet coded character sets, and
2794 mostly for ISO 8859/1). Many of the methods available for Cyrillic
2795 (@pxref{Q1.8.7, How about Cyrillic modes?}) work without MULE. MULE
2796 has more general capabilities. @xref{Q1.8.5, Please explain the
2797 various input methods in MULE/XEmacs}.
2799 @xref{Q4.0.8, How do I display non-ASCII characters?}, which covers
2800 display of non-ASCII characters.
2802 @node Q1.8.4, Q1.8.5, Q1.8.3, Introduction
2803 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.4: Can XEmacs messages come out in a different language?
2805 The message-catalog support was written but is badly bit-rotted. XEmacs
2806 20 and 21 did @emph{not} support it, and early releases of XEmacs 22
2809 However, menubar localization @emph{does} work. To enable it, add to
2810 your @file{Emacs} file entries like this:
2813 Emacs*XlwMenu.resourceLabels: True
2814 Emacs*XlwMenu.file.labelString: Fichier
2815 Emacs*XlwMenu.openInOtherWindow.labelString: In anderem Fenster oeffnen
2818 The name of the resource is derived from the non-localized entry by
2819 removing punctuation and capitalizing as above.
2821 @node Q1.8.5, Q1.8.6, Q1.8.4, Introduction
2822 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.5: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/XEmacs
2824 Mule supports a wide variety of input methods. There are three basic
2825 classes: Lisp implementations, generic platform support, and library
2828 @emph{Lisp implementations} include Quail, which provides table-driven input
2829 methods for almost all the character sets that Mule supports (including
2830 all of the ISO 8859 family, the Indic languages, Thai, and so on), and
2831 SKK, for Japanese. (SKK also supports an interface to an external
2832 "dictionary server" process.) Quail supports both typical "dead-key"
2833 methods (eg, in the "latin-1-prefix" method, @kbd{" a} produces ä, LATIN
2834 SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS), and the complex dictionary-based phonetic
2835 methods used for Asian ideographic languages like Chinese.
2837 Lisp implementations can be less powerful (but they are not perceptibly
2838 inefficient), and of course are not portable to non-Emacs applications.
2839 The incompatibility can be very annoying. On the other hand, they
2840 require no special platform support or external libraries, so if you can
2841 display the characters, Mule can input them for you and you can edit,
2844 @emph{Generic platform support} is currently limited to the X Input
2845 Method (XIM) framework, although support for MSIME (for MS Windows) is
2846 planned, and IIIMF (Sun's Internet-Intranet Input Method Framework)
2847 support is extremely desirable. XIM is enabled at build time by use of
2848 the @samp{--with-xim} flag to @code{configure}. For use of XIM, see
2849 your platform documentation. However, normally the input method you use
2850 is specified via the @samp{LANG} and @samp{XMODIFIERS} environment
2853 Of course, input skills are portable across most applications. However,
2854 especially in modern GUI systems the habit of using bucky bits has
2855 fallen into sad disuse, and many XIM systems are poorly configured for
2856 use with Emacs. For example, the kinput2 input manager (a separate
2857 process providing an interface between Japanese dictionary servers such
2858 as Canna and Wnn, and the application) tends to gobble up keystrokes
2859 generating Meta characters. This means that to edit while using an XIM
2860 input method, you must toggle the input method off every time you want
2861 to use @kbd{M-f}. Your mileage may vary.
2863 @emph{Library interfaces} are most common for Japanese, although Wnn
2864 supports Chinese (traditional and simplified) and Korean. There are
2865 Chinese and Korean input servers available, but we do not know of any
2866 patches for XEmacs to use them directly. You can use them via
2867 IM-enabled terminals, by manipulating the terminal coding systems. We
2868 describe only the Japanese-oriented systems here. The advantage of
2869 these systems is that they are very powerful, and on platforms where
2870 they are available there is typically a wide range of applications that
2871 support them. Thus your input skills are portable across applications.
2873 Mule provides built-in interfaces to the following input methods: Wnn4,
2874 Wnn6, Canna, and SJ3. These can be configured at build time. There are
2875 patches available (no URL, sorry) to support the SKK server, as well.
2876 Wnn and SJ3 use the @code{egg} user interface. The interface for Canna
2877 is specialized to Canna.
2879 Wnn supports Japanese, Chinese and Korean. It is made by OMRON and Kyôto
2880 University. It is a powerful and complex system. Wnn4 is free and Wnn6
2881 is not. Wnn uses grammatical hints and probability of word association,
2882 so in principle Wnn can be cleverer than other methods.
2884 Canna, made by NEC, supports only Japanese. It is a simple and powerful
2885 system. Canna uses only grammar, but its grammar and dictionary are
2886 quite sophisticated. So for standard modern Japanese, Canna seems
2887 cleverer than Wnn4. In addition, the UNIX version of Canna is free (now
2888 there is a Microsoft Windows version).
2890 SJ3, by Sony, supports only Japanese.
2892 Egg consists of following parts:
2896 Input character Translation System (ITS) layer.
2897 It translates ASCII inputs to Kana/PinYin/Hangul characters.
2900 Kana/PinYin/Hangul to Kanji transfer layer.
2901 The interface layer to network Kana-Kanji server (Wnn and Sj3).
2904 These input methods are modal. They have a raw (alphabet) mode, a
2905 phonetic input mode, and Kana-Kanji transfer mode. However there are
2906 mode-less input methods for Egg and Canna. @samp{boiled-egg} is a
2907 mode-less input method running on Egg. For Canna, @samp{canna.el} has a
2908 tiny boiled-egg-like command, @code{(canna-boil)}, and there are some
2909 boiled-egg-like utilities.
2911 Much of this information was provided by @email{morioka@@jaist.ac.jp,
2914 @node Q1.8.6, Q1.8.7, Q1.8.5, Introduction
2915 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.6: How do I portably code for MULE/XEmacs?
2917 MULE has evolved rapidly over the last few years, and the original third
2918 party patch (for GNU Emacs 19), GNU Emacs 20+, and XEmacs 20+ have quite
2919 different implementations. The APIs also vary although recent versions
2920 of XEmacs have tended to converge to the GNU Emacs standard.
2922 MULE implementations are going to continue to evolve. Both GNU Emacs
2923 and XEmacs are working hard on Unicode support, which will involve new
2924 APIs and probably variations on old ones. For XEmacs 22, the old ISO
2925 2022-based system for recognizing encodings will be replaced by a much
2926 more flexible system, which should improve accuracy of automatic coding
2927 detections, but will also involve new APIs.
2929 @email{morioka@@jaist.ac.jp, MORIOKA Tomohiko} writes:
2932 The application implementor must write separate code for these mule
2933 variants. [Please don't hesitate to report these variants to us; they
2934 are not, strictly speaking, bugs, but they give third-party developers
2935 the same kind of creepy-crawly feeling. We'll do what we can. -- Ed.]
2937 MULE and the next version of Emacs are similar but the symbols are very
2938 different---requiring separate code as well.
2940 Namely we must support 3 kinds of mule variants and 4 or 5 or 6 kinds of
2941 emacs variants... (;_;) I'm shocked, so I wrote a wrapper package called
2942 @code{emu} to provide a common interface. [There is an XEmacs package
2943 of APEL which provides much more comprehensive coverage. Be careful,
2944 however; APEL has problems of its own. -- Ed.]
2946 I have the following suggestions about dealing with mule variants:
2950 @code{(featurep 'mule)} @code{t} on all mule variants
2953 @code{(boundp 'MULE)} is @code{t} on only MULE. Maybe the next version
2954 of Emacs will not have this symbol.
2957 MULE has a variable @code{mule-version}. Perhaps the next version of
2958 Emacs will have this variable as well.
2961 Following is a sample to distinguish mule variants:
2964 (if (featurep 'mule)
2965 (cond ((boundp 'MULE)
2966 ;; for original Mule
2968 ((string-match "XEmacs" emacs-version)
2969 ;; for XEmacs with Mule
2972 ;; for next version of Emacs
2974 ;; for old emacs variants
2979 @node Q1.8.7, Q1.8.8, Q1.8.6, Introduction
2980 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.7: How about Cyrillic modes?
2982 @email{ilya@@math.ohio-state.edu, Ilya Zakharevich} writes:
2985 There is a cyrillic mode in the file @file{mysetup.zip} in
2989 @uref{ftp://ftp.math.ohio-state.edu/pub/users/ilya/emacs/}. This is a
2990 modification to @email{ava@@math.jhu.ed, Valery Alexeev's} @file{russian.el}
2991 which can be obtained from
2994 @uref{http://www.math.uga.edu/~valery/russian.el}.
2996 @email{d.barsky@@ee.surrey.ac.uk, Dima Barsky} writes:
2999 There is another cyrillic mode for both GNU Emacs and XEmacs by
3000 @email{manin@@camelot.mssm.edu, Dmitrii
3005 @uref{http://kulichki-lat.rambler.ru/centrolit/manin/cyr.el}.
3006 @c Link above, <URL:http://camelot.mssm.edu/~manin/cyr.el> was dead.
3007 @c Changed to russian host instead
3010 @email{rebecca.ore@@op.net, Rebecca Ore} writes:
3013 The fullest resource I found on Russian language use (in and out of
3014 XEmacs) is @uref{http://www.ibiblio.org/sergei/Software/Software.html}
3017 @node Q1.8.8, Q1.8.9, Q1.8.7, Introduction
3018 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.8: Does XEmacs support Unicode?
3020 To get Unicode support, you need a Mule-enabled XEmacs.
3022 21.5 has internal support for Unicode and supports it fully, although we
3023 don't yet use it as the internal encoding.
3025 21.4 supports Unicode partially -- as an external encoding for files,
3026 processes, and terminals, but without font support. @xref{Q1.8.9, How
3027 does XEmacs display Unicode?}. To get Unicode support in 21.4,
3028 install Mule-UCS from packages in the usual way, and put
3031 (require 'un-define)
3032 (set-coding-priority-list '(utf-8))
3033 (set-coding-category-system 'utf-8 'utf-8)
3036 in your init file to enable the UTF-8 coding system. You may wish to
3037 view the documentation of @code{set-coding-priority-list} if you find
3038 that files that are not UTF-8 are being mis-recognized as UTF-8.
3040 Install standard national fonts (not Unicode fonts) for all character
3041 sets you use. @xref{Q1.8.9, How does XEmacs display Unicode??}.
3043 Mule-UCS also supports 16-bit forms of Unicode (UTF-16). It does not
3044 support 31-bit forms of Unicode (UTF-32 or UCS-4).
3046 @node Q1.8.9, , Q1.8.8, Introduction
3047 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.8.9: How does XEmacs display Unicode?
3049 Mule doesn't have a Unicode charset internally, so there's nothing to
3050 bind a Unicode registry to. It would not be straightforward to create,
3051 either, because Unicode is not ISO 2022-compatible. You'd have to
3052 translate it to multiple 96x96 pages.
3054 This means that Mule-UCS uses ordinary national fonts for display. This
3055 is not really a problem, except for those languages that use the Unified
3056 Han characters. The problem here is that Mule-UCS maps from Unicode
3057 code points to national character sets in a deterministic way. By
3058 default, this means that Japanese fonts are tried first, then Chinese,
3059 then Korean. To change the priority ordering, use the command
3060 `un-define-change-charset-order'.
3062 It also means you can't use Unicode fonts directly, at least not without
3063 extreme hackery. You can run -nw with (set-terminal-coding-system
3064 'utf-8) if you really want a Unicode font for some reason.
3066 Real Unicode support will be introduced in XEmacs 22.0.
3068 @node Installation, Editing, Introduction, Top
3069 @unnumbered 2 Installation and Troubleshooting
3071 This is part 2 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
3072 section is devoted to Installation, Maintenance and Troubleshooting.
3075 2.0: Installation (General)
3076 * Q2.0.1:: How do I build and install XEmacs?
3077 * Q2.0.2:: Where do I find external libraries?
3078 * Q2.0.3:: How do I specify the paths that XEmacs uses for finding files?
3079 * Q2.0.4:: Running XEmacs without installing
3080 * Q2.0.5:: XEmacs is too big
3082 2.1: Package Installation
3083 * Q2.1.1:: How do I install the packages?
3084 * Q2.1.2:: Can I install the packages individually?
3085 * Q2.1.3:: Can I install the packages automatically?
3086 * Q2.1.4:: Can I upgrade or remove packages?
3087 * Q2.1.5:: Which packages to install?
3088 * Q2.1.6:: Can you describe the package location process in more detail?
3089 * Q2.1.7:: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood"
3091 2.2: Unix/Mac OS X Installation (Also Relevant to Cygwin, MinGW)
3092 * Q2.2.1:: Libraries in non-standard locations
3093 * Q2.2.2:: Why can't I strip XEmacs?
3094 * Q2.2.3:: X11/bitmaps/gray (or other X11-related file) not found.
3096 2.3: Windows Installation (Windows, Cygwin, MinGW)
3097 * Q2.3.1:: What exactly are all the different ways to build XEmacs under Windows?
3098 * Q2.3.2:: What compiler/libraries do I need to compile XEmacs?
3099 * Q2.3.3:: How do I compile the native port?
3100 * Q2.3.4:: What do I need for Cygwin?
3101 * Q2.3.5:: How do I compile under Cygwin?
3102 * Q2.3.6:: How do I compile using MinGW (aka @samp{the -mno-cygwin flag to gcc})?
3103 * Q2.3.7:: How do I compile with X support?
3104 * Q2.3.8:: Cygwin XEmacs won't start -- cygXpm-noX4.dll was not found (NEW)
3106 2.4: General Troubleshooting
3107 * Q2.4.1:: How do I deal with bugs or with problems building, installing, or running?
3108 * Q2.4.2:: Help! XEmacs just crashed on me!
3109 * Q2.4.3:: XEmacs crashes and I compiled it myself.
3110 * Q2.4.4:: How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger
3111 * Q2.4.5:: I get a cryptic error message when trying to do something.
3112 * Q2.4.6:: XEmacs hangs when I try to do something.
3113 * Q2.4.7:: I get an error message when XEmacs is running in batch mode.
3114 * Q2.4.8:: The keyboard or mouse is not working properly, or I have some other event-related problem.
3115 * Q2.4.9:: @kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
3116 * Q2.4.10:: How do I debug process-related problems?
3117 * Q2.4.11:: XEmacs is outputting lots of X errors.
3118 * Q2.4.12:: After upgrading, XEmacs won't do `foo' any more!
3120 2.5: Startup-Related Problems
3121 * Q2.5.1:: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal!
3122 * Q2.5.2:: Startup problems related to paths or package locations.
3123 * Q2.5.3:: XEmacs won't start without network.
3124 * Q2.5.4:: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
3125 * Q2.5.5:: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
3126 * Q2.5.6:: XEmacs 21.1 on Windows used to spawn an ugly console window on every startup. Has that been fixed?
3129 @unnumberedsec 2.0: Installation (General)
3131 @node Q2.0.1, Q2.0.2, Installation, Installation
3132 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.1: How do I build and install XEmacs?
3134 See the file @file{etc/NEWS} for information on new features and other
3135 user-visible changes since the last version of XEmacs.
3137 The file @file{INSTALL} in the top-level directory says how to bring
3138 up XEmacs on Unix and Cygwin, once you have loaded the entire subtree
3141 See the file @file{nt/README} for instructions on building XEmacs for
3144 @xref{Q2.1.1}, for the installation of (essential) add on packages.
3146 @node Q2.0.2, Q2.0.3, Q2.0.1, Installation
3147 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.2: Where do I find external libraries?
3149 All external libraries used by XEmacs can be found on the XEmacs web
3154 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Download/optLibs.html}.
3156 The library versions available here are known to work with XEmacs.
3157 (Newer versions will probably work as well but we can't guarantee it.)
3158 We try to keep the libraries up-to-date but may not always succeed.
3159 Check the above page for the canonical locations of the external libraries,
3160 allowing you to download the latest, bleeding-edge versions.
3162 @node Q2.0.3, Q2.0.4, Q2.0.2, Installation
3163 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.3: How do I specify the paths that XEmacs uses for finding files?
3165 You can specify what paths to use by using a number of different flags
3166 when running configure. See the section MAKE VARIABLES in the top-level
3167 file INSTALL in the XEmacs distribution for a listing of those flags.
3169 Most of the time, however, the simplest fix is: @strong{do not} specify
3170 paths as you might for GNU Emacs. XEmacs can generally determine the
3171 necessary paths dynamically at run time. The only path that generally
3172 needs to be specified is the root directory to install into. That can
3173 be specified by passing the @code{--prefix} flag to configure. For a
3174 description of the XEmacs install tree, please consult the @file{NEWS}
3177 @node Q2.0.4, Q2.0.5, Q2.0.3, Installation
3178 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.4: Running XEmacs without installing
3180 How can I just try XEmacs without installing it?
3182 XEmacs will run in place without requiring installation and copying of
3183 the Lisp directories, and without having to specify a special build-time
3184 flag. It's the copying of the Lisp directories that requires so much
3185 space. XEmacs is largely written in Lisp.
3187 A good method is to make a shell alias for xemacs:
3190 alias xemacs=/src/xemacs-21.5/src/xemacs
3193 (You will obviously use whatever directory you downloaded the source
3194 tree to instead of @file{/src/xemacs-21.5}).
3196 This will let you run XEmacs without massive copying.
3198 @node Q2.0.5, Q2.1.1, Q2.0.4, Installation
3199 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.5: XEmacs is too big
3201 The space required by the installation directories can be
3202 reduced dramatically if desired. Gzip all the .el files. Remove all
3203 the packages you'll never want to use. Remove the TexInfo manuals.
3204 Remove the Info (and use just hardcopy versions of the manual). Remove
3205 most of the stuff in etc. Remove or gzip all the source code. Gzip or
3206 remove the C source code. Configure it so that copies are not made of
3209 These are all Emacs Lisp source code and bytecompiled object code. You
3210 may safely gzip everything named *.el here. You may remove any package
3211 you don't use. @emph{Nothing bad will happen if you delete a package
3212 that you do not use}. You must be sure you do not use it though, so be
3213 conservative at first.
3215 Any package with the possible exceptions of xemacs-base, and EFS are
3216 candidates for removal. Ask yourself, @emph{Do I ever want to use this
3217 package?} If the answer is no, then it is a candidate for removal.
3219 First, gzip all the .el files. Then go about package by package and
3220 start gzipping the .elc files. Then run XEmacs and do whatever it is
3221 you normally do. If nothing bad happens, then remove the package. You
3222 can remove a package via the PUI interface
3223 (@code{M-x pui-list-packages}, then press @kbd{d} to mark the packages
3224 you wish to delete, and then @kbd{x} to delete them.
3226 Another method is to do @code{M-x package-get-delete-package}.
3228 @unnumberedsec 2.1: Package Installation
3230 @node Q2.1.1, Q2.1.2, Q2.0.5, Installation
3231 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.1: How do I install the packages?
3233 There are three ways to install the packages.
3237 Manually, all at once, using the 'Sumo Tarball'.
3239 Manually, using individual package tarballs.
3241 Automatically, using the package tools from XEmacs.
3244 If you don't want to mess with the packages, it is easiest to just
3245 grab them manually, all at once. (For the other two ways,
3246 @xref{Q2.1.2}, and @xref{Q2.1.3}.) Download the file
3248 @file{xemacs-sumo.tar.gz}
3250 For an XEmacs compiled with Mule you also need
3252 @file{xemacs-mule-sumo.tar.gz}
3254 These are in the @file{packages} directory on your XEmacs mirror
3255 archive: @uref{ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/packages} or its
3256 mirrors. N.B. They are called 'Sumo Tarballs' for good reason. They
3257 are currently about 19MB and 4.5MB (gzipped) respectively.
3259 Install them on Unix and Mac OS X using the shell/Terminal command
3261 @code{cd $prefix/lib/xemacs ; gunzip -c <tarballname> | tar xf -}
3263 Where @samp{$prefix} is what you gave to the @samp{--prefix} flag to
3264 @file{configure}, and defaults to @file{/usr/local}.
3266 If you have GNU tar you can use:
3268 @code{cd $prefix/lib/xemacs ; tar zxvf <tarballname>}
3270 If you have the packages somewhere nonstandard and don't want to bother
3271 with @samp{$prefix} (for example, you're a developer and are compiling
3272 the packages yourself, and want your own private copy of everything),
3273 you can also directly specify this using @file{configure}. To do this
3274 with 21.5 and above use the @samp{--with-package-prefix} parameter to
3275 specify the directory under which you untarred the above tarballs.
3276 Under 21.4 and previous you need to use @samp{--package-path}. Using
3277 these options looks something like this:
3280 configure --package-path="~/.xemacs::/src/xemacs/site-packages:/src/xemacs/xemacs-packages:/src/xemacs/mule-packages" ...
3283 Under Windows, you need to place the above @samp{tar.gz} files in the
3284 directory specified using the @samp{PACKAGE_PREFIX} value in
3285 @file{nt/config.inc} and by default is @file{\Program Files\XEmacs}.
3286 (To untar a @samp{tar.gz} file you will need to use a utility such as
3287 WinZip, unless you have Cygwin or a similar environment installed, in
3288 which case the above Unix shell command should work fine.) If you want
3289 the packages somewhere else, just change @samp{PACKAGE_PREFIX}.
3291 Note that XEmacs finds the packages automatically anywhere underneath
3292 the directory tree where it expects to find the packages. All you
3293 need to do is put stuff there; you don't need to run any program to
3294 tell XEmacs to find the packges, or do anything of that sort.
3296 However, XEmacs will only notice newly installed packages when it
3297 starts up, so you will have to restart if you are already running
3300 For more details, @xref{Startup Paths,,,xemacs, the XEmacs User's
3301 Manual}, and @xref{Packages,,,xemacs, the XEmacs User's Manual}.
3303 As the Sumo tarballs are not regenerated as often as the individual
3304 packages, it is recommended that you use the automatic package tools
3305 afterwards to pick up any recent updates.
3307 @emph{NOTE}: For detailed information about how the package
3308 hierarchies work, @xref{Package Overview,,,lispref, the XEmacs Lisp
3311 @node Q2.1.2, Q2.1.3, Q2.1.1, Installation
3312 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.2: Can I install the packages individually?
3314 Yes, you can download individual packages from the FTP site (@pxref{Q2.1.1}). Since packages are automatically noticed at startup, you just have to put them in the right place.
3316 Note: If you are upgrading packages already installed, it's best to
3317 remove the old package first (@pxref{Q2.1.4}).
3319 For example if we are installing the @samp{xemacs-base}
3320 package (version 1.48):
3323 mkdir $prefix/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages RET # if it does not exist yet
3324 cd $prefix/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages RET
3325 gunzip -c /path/to/xemacs-base-1.48-pkg.tar.gz | tar xvf - RET
3328 Or if you have GNU tar, the last step can be:
3331 tar zxvf /path/to/xemacs-base-1.48-pkg.tar.gz RET
3334 For MULE related packages, it is best to untar into the @samp{mule-packages}
3335 hierarchy, i.e. for the @samp{mule-base} package, version 1.37:
3338 mkdir $prefix/lib/xemacs/mule-packages RET # if it does not exist yet
3339 cd $prefix/lib/xemacs/mule-packages RET
3340 gunzip -c /path/to/mule-base-1.37-pkg.tar.gz | tar xvf - RET
3343 Or if you have GNU tar, the last step can be:
3346 tar zxvf /path/to/mule-base-1.37-pkg.tar.gz RET
3349 @node Q2.1.3, Q2.1.4, Q2.1.2, Installation
3350 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.3: Can I install the packages automatically?
3352 XEmacs comes with some tools to make the periodic updating and
3353 installing easier. It will notice if new packages or versions are
3354 available and will fetch them from the FTP site.
3356 Unfortunately this requires that a few packages are already in place.
3357 You will have to install them by hand as above or use a SUMO tarball.
3358 This requirement will hopefully go away in the future. The packages
3362 efs - To fetch the files from the FTP site or mirrors.
3363 xemacs-base - Needed by efs.
3369 mailcrypt - For PGP verification of the package-index file.
3372 After installing these by hand, fire up XEmacs and follow these
3377 Choose a download site.
3380 via menu: Tools -> Packages -> Set Download Site
3382 via keyb: M-x customize-variable RET package-get-remote RET
3383 (put in the details of remote host and directory)
3386 If the package tarballs _AND_ the package-index file are in a
3387 local directory, you can: M-x pui-set-local-package-get-directory RET
3390 Obtain a list of packages and display the list in a buffer named
3394 menu: Tools -> Packages -> List & Install
3396 keyb: M-x pui-list-packages RET
3399 XEmacs will now connect to the remote site and download the
3400 latest package-index file.
3402 The resulting buffer, "*Packages*" has brief instructions at the
3406 Choose the packages you wish to install.
3409 mouse: Click button 2 on the package name.
3411 keyb: RET on the package name
3415 Make sure you have everything you need.
3418 menu: Packages -> Add Required
3423 XEmacs will now search for packages that are required by the
3424 ones that you have chosen to install and offer to select
3425 those packages also.
3427 For novices and gurus alike, this step can save your bacon.
3428 It's easy to forget to install a critical package.
3431 Download and install the packages.
3434 menu: Packages -> Install/Remove Selected
3440 @node Q2.1.4, Q2.1.5, Q2.1.3, Installation
3441 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.4: Can I upgrade or remove packages?
3443 As the exact files and their locations contained in a package may
3444 change it is recommended to remove a package first before installing a
3445 new version. In order to facilitate removal each package contains an
3446 pgkinfo/MANIFEST.pkgname file which list all the files belong to the
3447 package. M-x package-admin-delete-binary-package RET can be used to
3448 remove a package using this file.
3450 Note that the interactive package tools included with XEmacs already do
3453 @node Q2.1.5, Q2.1.6, Q2.1.4, Installation
3454 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.5: Which packages to install?
3456 Unless you are an advanced user, just install everything.
3458 If you really want to install only what's absolutely needed, a good
3459 minimal set of packages for XEmacs-latin1 would be
3462 xemacs-base, xemacs-devel, c-support, cc-mode, debug, dired, efs,
3463 edit-utils, fsf-compat, mail-lib, net-utils, os-utils, prog-modes,
3464 text-modes, time, mailcrypt
3467 If you are using the XEmacs package tools, don't forget to do:
3470 Packages -> Add Required
3473 To make sure you have everything that the packages you have chosen to
3476 @xref{Q1.7.2}, for a description of the various packages.
3478 @node Q2.1.6, Q2.1.7, Q2.1.5, Installation
3479 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.6: Can you describe the package location process in more detail?
3481 On startup XEmacs looks for packages in so-called package hierarchies.
3482 Normally, there are three system wide hierarchies, like this:
3485 $prefix/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/
3486 Normal packages go here.
3488 $prefix/lib/xemacs/mule-packages/
3489 Mule packages go here and are only searched by MULE-enabled XEmacsen.
3491 $prefix/lib/xemacs/site-packages/
3492 Local and 3rd party packages go here.
3495 This is what you get when you untar the SUMO tarballs under
3496 @file{$prefix/lib/xemacs}.
3498 @file{$prefix} is specified using the @samp{--prefix} parameter to
3499 @file{configure}, and defaults to @file{usr/local}.
3501 If the package path is not explicitly specified, XEmacs looks for the
3502 package directory @file{xemacs-packages} (and @file{mule-packages} and
3503 @file{site-packages}) first under @samp{~/.xemacs}, then for a sister
3504 directory @file{lib/xemacs-VERSION} of the directory in which the
3505 XEmacs executable is located, then for a sister directory
3506 @file{lib/xemacs}. The XEmacs executable (under Unix at least) is
3507 installed by default in @file{/usr/local/bin}; this explains why
3508 XEmacs in its default installation will find packages that you put
3509 under @file{/usr/local/lib/xemacs}.
3511 You can specify where exactly XEmacs looks for packages by using the
3512 @samp{--with-package-prefix} or @samp{--with-package-path} parameters to
3513 @file{configure} (or the equivalent settings in @file{config.inc}, under
3514 Windows), or setting the @samp{EMACSPACKAGEPATH} environment variable
3515 (which has the same format as @samp{--with-package-path}). @xref{Q2.1.1}.
3517 See @file{configure.usage} for more info about the format of these
3518 @file{configure} parameters.
3520 In addition to the system wide packages, each user can have his own
3521 packages installed under @file{~/.xemacs/}. If you want to install
3522 packages there using the interactive tools, you need to set
3523 @code{package-get-install-to-user-init-directory} to @code{t}.
3525 The site-packages hierarchy replaces the old @file{site-lisp}
3526 directory. XEmacs no longer looks into a @file{site-lisp} directly by
3527 default. A good place to put @file{site-start.el} would be in
3528 @file{$prefix/lib/xemacs/site-packages/lisp/}.
3530 @node Q2.1.7, Q2.2.1, Q2.1.6, Installation
3531 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.7: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood" (NEW)
3533 A typical error: FTP Error: USER request failed; 500 AUTH not understood.
3535 Thanks to giacomo boffi @email{giacomo.boffi@@polimi.it} who recommends
3536 on comp.emacs.xemacs:
3538 tell your ftp client to not attempt AUTH authentication (or do not
3539 use FTP servers that don't understand AUTH)
3541 and notes that you need to add an element (often "-u") to
3542 `efs-ftp-program-args'. Use M-x customize-variable, and verify the
3543 needed flag with `man ftp' or other local documentation.
3545 @unnumberedsec 2.2: Unix/Mac OS X Installation (Also Relevant to Cygwin, MinGW)
3547 @node Q2.2.1, Q2.2.2, Q2.1.7, Installation
3548 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.1: Libraries in non-standard locations
3550 If your libraries are in a non-standard location, you can specify the location
3551 using the following flags to @file{configure}. Under 21.4 or earlier:
3554 --site-libraries=WHATEVER
3555 --site-includes=WHATEVER
3558 Under 21.5 or later:
3561 --with-site-libraries=WHATEVER
3562 --with-site-includes=WHATEVER
3565 If you have multiple paths to specify, use the following syntax:
3568 --site-libraries='/path/one /path/two /path/etc'
3571 If the libraries and headers reside in the directories @samp{lib} and
3572 @samp{include} of a common root (say @samp{/sw}) then both can be
3573 specified with a single option:
3576 --site-prefixes=WHATEVER
3582 --with-site-prefixes=WHATEVER
3585 @node Q2.2.2, Q2.2.3, Q2.2.1, Installation
3586 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.2: Why can't I strip XEmacs?
3588 @email{cognot@@fronsac.ensg.u-nancy.fr, Richard Cognot} writes:
3591 Because of the way XEmacs (and every other Emacsen, AFAIK) is built. The
3592 link gives you a bare-boned emacs (called temacs). temacs is then run,
3593 preloading some of the lisp files. The result is then dumped into a new
3594 executable, named xemacs, which will contain all of the preloaded lisp
3597 Now, during the dump itself, the executable (code+data+symbols) is
3598 written on disk using a special unexec() function. This function is
3599 obviously heavily system dependent. And on some systems, it leads to an
3600 executable which, although valid, cannot be stripped without damage. If
3601 memory serves, this is especially the case for AIX binaries. On other
3602 architectures it might work OK.
3604 The Right Way to strip the emacs binary is to strip temacs prior to
3605 dumping xemacs. This will always work, although you can do that only if
3606 you install from sources (as temacs is @file{not} part of the binary
3610 @email{nat@@nataa.fr.eu.org, Nat Makarevitch} writes:
3617 [ ./configure; make ]
3629 cp src/xemacs /usr/local/bin/xemacs
3632 cp lib-src/DOC-19.16-XEmacs
3636 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.16/i586-unknown-linuxaout
3640 @node Q2.2.3, Q2.3.1, Q2.2.2, Installation
3641 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.3: X11/bitmaps/gray (or other X11-related file) not found.
3643 The X11R6 distribution was monolithic, but the X11R7 distribution is
3644 much more modular. Many OS distributions omit these bitmaps (assuming
3645 nobody uses them, evidently). Your OS distribution should have a
3646 developer's package containing these files, probably with a name
3647 containing the string "bitmap". Known package names (you may need to
3648 add an extension such as .deb or .rpm) include x11/xbitmaps (Ubuntu)
3649 and xorg-x11-xbitmaps (Fedora Core 5).
3651 @unnumberedsec 2.3: Windows Installation (Windows, Cygwin, MinGW)
3653 @node Q2.3.1, Q2.3.2, Q2.2.3, Installation
3654 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.1: What exactly are all the different ways to build XEmacs under Windows?
3656 XEmacs can be built in several ways in the MS Windows environment.
3658 The standard way is what we call the "native" port. It uses the Win32
3659 API and has no connection with X whatsoever -- it does not require X
3660 libraries to build, nor does it require an X server to run. The native
3661 port is the most reliable version and provides the best graphical
3662 support. Almost all development is geared towards this version, and
3663 there is little reason not to use it.
3665 The second way to build is the Cygwin port. It takes advantage of
3666 Cygnus emulation library under Win32. @xref{Q1.2.5, What are Cygwin
3667 and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?}, for more information.
3669 A third way is the MinGW port. It uses the Cygwin environment to
3670 build but does not require it at runtime. @xref{Q1.2.5, What are
3671 Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?}, for more
3674 Finally, you might also be able to build the non-Cygwin, non-MinGW "X"
3675 port. This was actually the first version of XEmacs that ran under MS
3676 Windows, and although the code is still in XEmacs, it's essentially
3677 orphaned and it's unlikely it will compile without a lot of work. If
3678 you want an MS Windows versin of XEmacs that supports X, use the Cygwin
3679 version. (The X support there is actively maintained, so that Windows
3680 developers can test the X support in XEmacs.)
3682 @node Q2.3.2, Q2.3.3, Q2.3.1, Installation
3683 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.2: What compiler/libraries do I need to compile XEmacs?
3685 You need Visual C++ 4.2, 5.0, or 6.0 for the native version. (We have
3686 some beta testers currently trying to compile with VC.NET, aka version
3687 7.0, but we can't yet report complete success.) For the Cygwin and
3688 MinGW versions, you need the Cygwin environment, which comes with GCC,
3689 the compiler used for those versions. @xref{Q1.2.5, What are Cygwin
3690 and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?}, for more information on
3693 @node Q2.3.3, Q2.3.4, Q2.3.2, Installation
3694 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.3: How do I compile the native port?
3696 Please read the file @file{nt/README} in the XEmacs distribution, which
3697 contains the full description.
3699 @node Q2.3.4, Q2.3.5, Q2.3.3, Installation
3700 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.4: What do I need for Cygwin?
3702 You can find the Cygwin tools and compiler at:
3704 @uref{http://www.cygwin.com/}
3706 Click on the @samp{Install or update now!} link, which will download a
3707 file @file{setup.exe}, which you can use to download everything
3708 else. (You will need to pick a mirror site; @samp{mirrors.rcn.net} is
3709 probably the best.) You should go ahead and install everything --
3710 you'll get various ancillary libraries that XEmacs needs or likes,
3711 e.g. XPM, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, etc. You can also get X Windows here, if you
3712 want to compile under X.
3714 If you want to compile without X, you will need the @file{xpm-nox}
3715 library, which must be specifically selected in the Cygwin netinstaller;
3716 it is not selected by default. The package has had various names.
3717 Currently it is called @file{cygXpm-noX4.dll}.
3719 @node Q2.3.5, Q2.3.6, Q2.3.4, Installation
3720 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.5: How do I compile under Cygwin?
3722 Similar as on Unix; use the usual `configure' and `make' process.
3723 Some problems to watch out for:
3727 make sure HOME is set. This controls where you
3728 @file{init.el} file comes from;
3731 @samp{CYGWIN} needs to be set to @samp{tty} for process support to work;
3734 picking up some other grep or other UNIX-like tools can kill configure;
3737 static heap too small, adjust @file{src/sheap-adjust.h} to a more positive
3741 (Unconfirmed) The Cygwin version doesn't understand
3742 @file{//machine/path} type paths so you will need to manually mount a
3743 directory of this form under a unix style directory for a build to work
3747 If you're building @strong{WITHOUT} X11, don't forget to change symlinks
3748 @file{/usr/lib/libXpm.a} and @file{/usr/lib/libXpm.dll.a} to point to
3749 the non-X versions of these libraries. By default they point to the X
3753 /usr/lib/libXpm.a -> /usr/lib/libXpm-noX.a
3754 /usr/lib/libXpm.dll.a -> /usr/lib/libXpm-noX.dll.a
3757 (This advice may now be obsolete because of the availability of the
3758 cygXpm-noX4.dll package from Cygwin. Send confirmation to
3759 @email{faq@@xemacs.org}.)
3762 Other problems are listed in the @file{PROBLEMS} file, in the top-level
3763 directory of the XEmacs sources.
3768 @node Q2.3.6, Q2.3.7, Q2.3.5, Installation
3769 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.6: How do I compile using MinGW (aka @samp{the -mno-cygwin flag to gcc})?
3771 Similar to the method for Unix. Things to remember:
3775 Specify the target host on the command line for @file{./configure}, e.g.
3776 @samp{./configure i586-pc-mingw32}.
3779 Be sure that your build directory is mounted such that it has the
3780 same path either as a cygwin path (@file{/build/xemacs}) or as a Windows
3781 path (@file{c:\build\xemacs}).
3784 Build @samp{gcc -mno-cygwin} versions of the extra libs, i.e. @file{libpng},
3785 @file{compface}, etc.
3788 Specify the target location of the extra libs on the command line
3789 to @file{configure}, e.g.for 21.4 or earlier
3790 @samp{./configure --site-prefixes=/build/libs i586-pc-mingw32} and for
3792 @samp{./configure --with-site-prefixes=/build/libs i586-pc-mingw32}.
3795 @node Q2.3.7, Q2.3.8, Q2.3.6, Installation
3796 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.7: How do I compile with X support?
3798 To compile under Cygwin, all you need to do is install XFree86, which
3799 is available as part of the standard Cygwin installation.
3800 @uref{http://www.cygwin.com/}. Once installed, @file{configure}
3801 should automatically find the X libraries and compile with X support.
3803 As noted above, the non-Cygwin X support is basically orphaned, and
3804 probably won't work. But if it want to try, it's described in
3805 @file{nt/README} in some detail. Basically, you need to get X11
3806 libraries from @uref{http://ftp.x.org}, and compile them. If the
3807 precompiled versions are available somewhere, we don't know of it.
3809 @node Q2.3.8, Q2.4.1, Q2.3.7, Installation
3810 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.8: Cygwin XEmacs won't start -- cygXpm-noX4.dll was not found (NEW)
3812 The Cygwin binary distributed with the netinstaller uses an external DLL
3813 to handle XPM images (such as toolbar buttons). You may get an error like
3816 This application has failed to start because cygXpm-noX4.dll was not found.
3817 Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
3820 Andy Piper <andy@@xemacs.org> sez:
3823 cygXpm-noX4 is part of the cygwin distribution under libraries or
3824 graphics, but is not installed by default. You need to run the
3825 cygwin setup again and select this package.
3828 Ie, reinstalling XEmacs won't help because it is not part of the XEmacs
3831 @unnumberedsec 2.4: General Troubleshooting
3833 @node Q2.4.1, Q2.4.2, Q2.3.8, Installation
3834 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.1: How do I deal with bugs or with problems building, installing, or running?
3836 The file @file{PROBLEMS} contains information on many common problems that
3837 occur in building, installing and running XEmacs.
3839 Reports of bugs in XEmacs should be sent to
3840 @email{xemacs-beta@@xemacs.org}. You can also post to the newsgroup
3841 comp.emacs.xemacs (or equivalentlt, send to the mailing list
3842 @email{xemacs@@xemacs.org}), but it is less likely that the developers
3843 will see it in a timely fashion. @xref{Bugs,,, xemacs, the XEmacs
3844 User's Manual}, for more information on how to report bugs.
3845 @xref{Q1.4.2}, for more information on mailing lists relating to
3848 There are three ways to read the Bugs section.
3852 In a printed copy of the XEmacs manual.
3855 With Info. First, start XEmacs. From the menu, select
3856 @samp{Help->Info (Online Docs)->Info Contents} to enter Info, then
3857 click on @samp{XEmacs}, then on @samp{Bugs}. Or, use the keyboard: do
3858 @kbd{C-h i} to enter Info, then @kbd{m XEmacs RET} to get to the Emacs
3859 manual, then @kbd{m Bugs RET} to get to the section on bugs. Or use
3860 standalone Info in a like manner. (Standalone Info is part of the
3861 Texinfo distribution, not part of the XEmacs distribution.)
3866 cat info/xemacs* | more "+/^File: xemacs.info, Node: Bugs,"
3870 @node Q2.4.2, Q2.4.3, Q2.4.1, Installation
3871 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.2: Help! XEmacs just crashed on me!
3873 First of all, don't panic. Whenever XEmacs crashes, it tries extremely
3874 hard to auto-save all of your files before dying. (The main time that
3875 this will not happen is if the machine physically lost power or if you
3876 killed the XEmacs process using @code{kill -9}). The next time you try
3877 to edit those files, you will be informed that a more recent auto-save
3878 file exists. You can use @kbd{M-x recover-file} to retrieve the
3879 auto-saved version of the file.
3881 You can use the command @kbd{M-x recover-session} after a crash to pick
3882 up where you left off.
3884 Now, XEmacs is not perfect, and there may occasionally be times, or
3885 particular sequences of actions, that cause it to crash. If you can
3886 come up with a reproducible way of doing this (or even if you have a
3887 pretty good memory of exactly what you were doing at the time), the
3888 maintainers would be very interested in knowing about it. The best
3889 way to report a bug is using @kbd{M-x report-emacs-bug} (or by
3890 selecting @samp{Send Bug Report...} from the Help menu). If that
3891 won't work (e.g. you can't get XEmacs working at all), send ordinary
3892 mail to @email{xemacs-beta@@xemacs.org}. @emph{MAKE SURE} to include
3893 the output from the crash, especially including the Lisp backtrace, as
3894 well as the XEmacs configuration from @kbd{M-x describe-installation}
3895 (or equivalently, the file @file{Installation} in the top of the build
3896 tree). Note that the developers do @emph{not} usually follow
3897 @samp{comp.emacs.xemacs} on a regular basis; thus, this is better for
3898 general questions about XEmacs than bug reports.
3900 If at all possible, include a C stack backtrace of the core dump that
3901 was produced. This shows where exactly things went wrong, and makes
3902 it much easier to diagnose problems. To do this under Unix and Mac OS
3903 X, you need to locate the core file (it's called @file{core}, and is
3904 usually sitting in the directory that you started XEmacs from, or your
3905 home directory if that other directory was not writable). Then, go to
3906 that directory and execute a command like:
3909 gdb `which xemacs` core
3912 and then issue the command @samp{where} to get the stack backtrace. You
3913 might have to use @code{dbx} or some similar debugger in place of
3914 @code{gdb}. If you don't have any such debugger available, complain to
3915 your system administrator.
3917 It's possible that a core file didn't get produced or the stack trace
3918 from gdb is garbage, in which case you're out of luck unless you can
3919 reproduce the bug. A nonexistent core file can happen in some
3920 circumstances on some operating systems, depending on what exactly
3921 triggered the crash. It's also possible, however, that your limits
3922 are set to turn them off. You may be able to reenable them using a
3923 command like @samp{unlimit coredumpsize} or @samp{ulimit -c}. (To find
3924 out how your limits are set, use the command @samp{limit}.) However, if
3925 you didn't explicitly set your limits this way, go complain to your
3926 system administrator and tell him not to disable core files by
3929 A garbaged stack trace can happen for various reasons. Some versions
3930 of gdb are broken on certain operating systems and aren't able to read
3931 the core file. It's also possible that the stack got overwritten
3932 during the crash. A very simple reason, however, is that your version
3933 of XEmacs was compiled without debugging information or had the
3934 debugging information stripped. A compilation with optimization can
3935 also result in partly or completely garbaged stack trace. In such
3936 cases, you will need to recompile XEmacs with debugging information
3937 and without optimization; @xref{Q2.4.4, How to debug an XEmacs problem
3938 with a debugger}. Note also that core files currently don't work at
3939 all under Cygwin, and the only way to get a backtrace is to run XEmacs
3942 If you cannot get a backtrace from the core dump, but can reproduce
3943 the problem, try running XEmacs under gdb. The goal is to get clean C
3944 and Lisp backtraces and submit a bug report including full
3945 configuration information as described above, as this will greatly
3946 assist in the process of tracking down the bug. However, even partial
3947 information is better than none. The process of getting backtraces
3948 from gdb is described in detail in @ref{Q2.4.4, How to debug an XEmacs
3949 problem with a debugger}.
3951 If you're under Microsoft Windows, you're out of luck unless you happen
3952 to have a debugging aid installed on your system, for example Visual
3953 C++. In this case, the crash will result in a message giving you the
3954 option to enter a debugger (for example, by pressing @samp{Cancel}). Do
3955 this and locate the stack-trace window. (If your XEmacs was built
3956 without debugging information, the stack trace may not be very useful.)
3958 When making a problem report make sure that:
3962 Report @strong{all} of the information output by XEmacs during the
3966 You mention what O/S and Hardware you are running XEmacs on.
3969 What version of XEmacs you are running.
3972 What build options you are using.
3975 If the problem is related to graphics and you are running Unix or Mac
3976 OS X, we will also need to know what version of the X Window System
3977 you are running, and what window manager you are using.
3980 If the problem happened on a TTY, please include the terminal type.
3983 Try very hard to get both C and Lisp backtraces, as described above.
3986 Much of the information above is automatically generated by @kbd{M-x
3987 report-emacs-bug}. Even more, and often useful, information can be
3988 generated by redirecting the output of @code{make} and @code{make check}
3989 to a file (@file{beta.err} is the default used by @code{build-report}),
3990 and executing @kbd{M-x build-report}.
3993 @node Q2.4.3, Q2.4.4, Q2.4.2, Installation
3994 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.3: XEmacs crashes and I compiled it myself.
3996 There have been a variety of reports of crashes due to compilers with
3997 buggy optimizers. If you are compiling with optimization, consider
3998 turning it off (@pxref{Q2.4.4, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a
3999 debugger}) and recompiling.
4001 Please see the @file{PROBLEMS} file that comes with XEmacs (it's in
4002 the top-level source directory) to read what it says about your
4005 If you compiled XEmacs 21.4 or ealier using @samp{--use-union-type}, or
4006 21.5 or later using @samp{--enable-union-type} (or in either case used
4007 the option @samp{USE_UNION_TYPE} in @file{config.inc} under Windows),
4008 try recompiling again without it. The union type has been known to
4009 trigger compiler errors in a number of cases.
4011 @node Q2.4.4, Q2.4.5, Q2.4.3, Installation
4012 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.4: How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger
4014 If XEmacs does crash on you, one of the most productive things you can
4015 do to help get the bug fixed is to poke around a bit with the debugger.
4016 Here are some hints:
4020 First of all, if the crash is at all reproducible, consider very
4021 strongly recompiling your XEmacs with debugging symbols and with no
4022 optimization (e.g. with GCC use the compiler flags @samp{-g -O0} --
4023 that's an "oh" followed by a zero), and with the configure options
4024 @samp{--debug=yes} and @samp{--error-checking=all}
4025 (@samp{--enable-debug=yes} and @samp{--enable-error-checking=all} on
4026 XEmacs 21.5 or later). This will make your XEmacs run somewhat slower,
4027 but you are a lot more likely to catch the problem earlier (closer to
4028 its source). It makes it a lot easier to determine what's going on with
4029 a debugger. The way to control the compiler flags is with the
4030 configuration option @samp{--cflags} (@samp{--with-cflags} in 21.5). If
4031 you have a recent version of 21.5, you should use
4032 @samp{--without-optimization} in preference to directly setting
4036 If it's not a true crash (@emph{i.e.}, XEmacs is hung, or a zombie
4037 process), or it's inconvenient to run XEmacs again because XEmacs is
4038 already running or is running in batch mode as part of a bunch of
4039 scripts, you may be able to attach to the existing process with your
4040 debugger. Under Unix and Mac OS X, the typical way to do this is to
4041 first use some variant of the @samp{ps} command to figure out the
4042 process ID of XEmacs, for example @samp{ps -auxww | grep xemacs} under
4043 a BSD variant, @samp{ps -elf | grep xemacs} under Linux or System V,
4044 or @samp{ps -aW | grep xemacs} under Cygwin. Then run
4047 gdb /path/to/xemacs/xemacs ####
4050 Where @code{####} is the process id of your XEmacs. (If you're not
4051 sure, try using @samp{which xemacs}.) When gdb attaches, the xemacs
4052 will stop and you can type @samp{where} in gdb to get a stack trace as
4053 usual. To get things moving again, you can just type @samp{quit} in
4054 gdb. It'll tell you the program is running and ask if you want to
4055 quit anyways. Say @samp{y} and it'll quit and have your emacs
4056 continue from where it was at.
4058 If you're running another debugger, a similar method may work, or you
4059 may have to run the debugger first and then use the @code{attach}
4060 command or something similar.
4062 Under Microsoft Windows, use the menu item @samp{Build->Start
4063 Debug->Attach to Process...} and select the XEmacs process from the list
4067 If you're able to run XEmacs under a debugger and reproduce the crash,
4068 here are some things you can do:
4071 If XEmacs is hitting an assertion failure, put a breakpoint on
4072 @code{assert_failed()}.
4075 If XEmacs is hitting some weird Lisp error that's causing it to crash
4076 (e.g. during startup), put a breakpoint on @code{signal_1()}---this is
4077 declared static in @file{eval.c}.
4080 If XEmacs is outputting lots of X errors, put a breakpoint on
4081 @code{x_error_handler()}; that will tell you which call is causing
4082 them. Note that the result may not be very useful by default because
4083 X Windows normally operates asynchronously: A bunch of commands are
4084 buffered up and then sent to the server all at once. This greatly
4085 improves performance over a network but means that an error may not be
4086 reported until the server receives the commands, which can be long
4087 after XEmacs made the erroneous calls. For best results, you need to
4088 make the X server synchronous before getting the backtrace. This can
4089 be done by starting XEmacs with the @samp{-sync} option or executing
4090 the Lisp code @code{(x-debug-mode t)}.
4093 Internally, you will probably see lots of variables that hold objects of
4094 type @code{Lisp_Object}. These are references to Lisp objects.
4095 Printing them out with the debugger probably won't be too
4096 useful---you'll likely just see a number. To decode them, do this:
4099 call debug_print (OBJECT)
4102 where @var{OBJECT} is whatever you want to decode (it can be a variable,
4103 a function call, etc.). This uses the Lisp printing routines to out a
4104 readable representation on the TTY from which the xemacs process was
4107 Under 21.5 and later, @code{dp} is defined as an easier-to-type equivalent
4108 of @code{debug_print}. You can also try @code{dpa} if you can't see
4109 the output from @code{debug_print} (this will return a string containing
4110 the output), or use @code{debug_p3} if @code{debug_print} itself triggers
4111 a crash (this is a less comprehensive but super-safe way to print out
4115 If you want to get a Lisp backtrace showing the Lisp call
4119 call debug_backtrace ()
4122 Under 21.5 and later, @code{db} is defined as an easier-to-type equivalent
4123 of @code{debug_backtrace}.
4126 Using @code{debug_print} and @code{debug_backtrace} has two
4127 disadvantages - they can only be used with a running (including hung
4128 or zombie) xemacs process, and they do not display the internal C
4129 structure of a Lisp Object. Even if all you've got is a core dump,
4132 If you're using GDB, there are some macros in the file
4133 @file{src/.gdbinit} in the XEmacs source distribution that should make
4134 it easier for you to decode Lisp objects. This file is automatically
4135 read by gdb if gdb is run in the directory where xemacs was built, and
4136 contains these useful macros to inspect the state of xemacs:
4140 Usage: pobj lisp_object @*
4141 Print the internal C representation of a lisp object.
4144 Usage: xtype lisp_object @*
4145 Print the Lisp type of a lisp object.
4149 Print the current Lisp stack trace.
4150 Requires a running xemacs process. (It works by calling the db
4151 routine described above.)
4154 Usage: ldp lisp_object @*
4155 Print a Lisp Object value using the Lisp printer.
4156 Requires a running xemacs process. (It works by calling the dp
4157 routine described above.)
4160 Usage: run-temacs @*
4161 Run temacs interactively, like xemacs.
4162 Use this with debugging tools (like purify) that cannot deal with dumping,
4163 or when temacs builds successfully, but xemacs does not.
4166 Usage: dump-temacs @*
4167 Run the dumping part of the build procedure.
4168 Use when debugging temacs, not xemacs!
4169 Use this when temacs builds successfully, but xemacs does not.
4172 Usage: check-xemacs @*
4173 Run the test suite. Equivalent to 'make check'.
4176 Usage: check-temacs @*
4177 Run the test suite on temacs. Equivalent to 'make check-temacs'.
4178 Use this with debugging tools (like purify) that cannot deal with dumping,
4179 or when temacs builds successfully, but xemacs does not.
4182 If you are using Sun's @file{dbx} debugger, there is an equivalent file
4183 @file{src/.dbxrc}, which defines the same commands for dbx.
4186 If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're seeing
4187 stack traces with some of the innermost frames mangled, it may be due to
4188 dynamic linking. (This happens especially under Linux.) Consider
4189 reconfiguring with @samp{--dynamic=no} (@samp{--with-dynamic=no} in 21.5
4190 or later). Also, sometimes (again under Linux), stack backtraces of
4191 core dumps will have the frame where the fatal signal occurred mangled;
4192 if you can obtain a stack trace while running the XEmacs process under a
4193 debugger, the stack trace should be clean.
4195 @email{1CMC3466@@ibm.mtsac.edu, Curtiss} suggests upgrading to ld.so
4196 version 1.8 if dynamic linking and debugging is a problem on Linux.
4199 If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're
4200 getting a completely mangled and bogus stack trace, it's probably due to
4201 one of the following:
4205 Your executable has been stripped. Bad news. Tell your sysadmin not to
4206 do this---it doesn't accomplish anything except to save a bit of disk
4207 space, and makes debugging much much harder.
4210 Your stack is getting trashed. Debugging this is hard; you have to do a
4211 binary-search type of narrowing down where the crash occurs, until you
4212 figure out exactly which line is causing the problem. Of course, this
4213 only works if the bug is highly reproducible. Also, in many cases if
4214 you run XEmacs from the debugger, the debugger can protect the stack
4215 somewhat. However, if the stack is being smashed, it is typically the
4216 case that there is a wild pointer somewhere in the program, often quite
4217 far from where the crash occurs.
4220 If your stack trace has exactly one frame in it, with address 0x0, this
4221 could simply mean that XEmacs attempted to execute code at that address,
4222 e.g. through jumping to a null function pointer. Unfortunately, under
4223 those circumstances, GDB under Linux doesn't know how to get a stack
4224 trace. (Yes, this is the fourth Linux-related problem I've mentioned. I
4225 have no idea why GDB under Linux is so bogus. Complain to the GDB
4226 authors, or to comp.os.linux.development.system.) Again, you'll have to
4227 use the narrowing-down process described above.
4230 You will get a Lisp backtrace output when XEmacs crashes, so you'll have
4236 If you compile with the newer gcc variants gcc-2.8 or egcs, you will
4237 also need gdb 4.17 or above. Earlier releases of gdb can't handle the
4238 debug information generated by the newer compilers.
4241 In versions of XEmacs before 21.2.27, @file{src/.gdbinit} was named
4242 @file{src/gdbinit}. This had the disadvantage of not being sourced
4243 automatically by gdb, so you had to set that up yourself.
4246 If you are running Microsoft Windows, the the file @file{nt/README} for
4247 further information about debugging XEmacs.
4251 @node Q2.4.5, Q2.4.6, Q2.4.4, Installation
4252 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.5: I get a cryptic error message when trying to do something.
4254 When I try to use some particular option of some particular package, I
4255 get a cryptic error message in the minibuffer.
4257 If the message went by too quickly, use @samp{Help->Recent Messages}
4258 from the menubar (or type @kbd{C-h l}) to see recent messages.
4260 If you can't figure out what's going on, select
4261 @samp{Options->Troubleshooting->Debug on Error} from the menubar (or
4262 type @kbd{M-:} then @kbd{(setq debug-on-error t)}) then try and make
4263 the error happen again. This will put in the debugger (you can get
4264 out of this and continue what you were doing before by typing @kbd{c})
4265 and give you a backtrace that may be enlightening. If not, try
4266 reading through this FAQ; if that fails, you could try posting to
4267 @samp{comp.emacs.xemacs} (making sure to include the backtrace) and
4268 someone may be able to help. If you can identify which XEmacs Lisp
4269 source file the error is coming from you can get a more detailed stack
4270 backtrace by doing the following:
4274 Visit the .el file in an XEmacs buffer.
4277 Issue the command @kbd{M-x eval-current-buffer}.
4280 Reproduce the error.
4283 For more information on debugging Lisp code, @xref{Debugging,,,
4284 lispref, XEmacs Lisp Reference Manual}.
4286 @node Q2.4.6, Q2.4.7, Q2.4.5, Installation
4287 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.6: XEmacs hangs when I try to do something.
4289 XEmacs might just be slow; some operations take a long time. XEmacs
4290 may also be waiting on a response from the network, for example when
4291 you are trying to send mail.
4293 You can usually interrupt XEmacs by typing @kbd{C-g}. If not (for
4294 example, Lisp code explicitly disabled this by setting
4295 @code{inhibit-quit}), you can use the "critical quit" mechanism by
4296 typing @kbd{Control-Shift-G}. This should also pop you into the
4297 debugger and give you a backtrace, which can tell you where the
4298 problem is (@pxref{Q2.4.4, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a
4299 debugger}). (Note that setting @code{debug-on-quit} or selecting
4300 @samp{Options->Troubleshooting->Debug on Quit} will also cause regular
4301 @kbd{C-g} to enter the debugger and give you a backtrace.)
4303 If you can't interrupt XEmacs this way, or for some reason XEmacs is
4304 not talking to the keyboard, you can try sending the @samp{SIGINT}
4305 signal using the @samp{kill} command.
4307 If the Lisp backtrace isn't enlightening, or if XEmacs is so hung that
4308 you can't interrupt it at all, you could try attaching to the process
4309 and getting a C stack backtrace. @xref{Q2.4.4, How to debug an XEmacs
4310 problem with a debugger}.
4312 @node Q2.4.7, Q2.4.8, Q2.4.6, Installation
4313 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.7: I get an error message when XEmacs is running in batch mode.
4315 Typically this happens when you are trying to compile some Elisp code.
4316 If you are doing this as part of XEmacs or the XEmacs packages, you
4317 should automatically get a backtrace, which can help you determine the
4318 source of the problem. In other cases, you can get equivalent results
4319 by setting the environment variable @samp{XEMACSDEBUG} to @samp{(setq
4320 stack-trace-on-error t load-always-display-messages t
4321 load-ignore-out-of-date-elc-files t load-show-full-path-in-messages
4322 t)} (this needs to be all on one line; to set an environment variable,
4323 use @samp{export XEMACSDEBUG='FOO'} under @samp{bash}, @samp{zsh},
4324 etc. or @samp{setenv XEMACSDEBUG 'FOO'} under @samp{csh} and
4325 @samp{tcsh}). @samp{XEMACSDEBUG} specifies Lisp code that will be
4326 executed at startup time.
4328 If the backtrace is not sufficiently useful in helping you diagnose
4329 the problem, you should consider using a debugger such as GDB.
4330 @xref{Q2.4.4, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger}. You
4331 probably want to set a breakpoint on @code{signal_1}. Since such
4332 errors often occur during compiling, which is often triggered by a
4333 complex command run from a make suite, it may be easier to attach to
4334 the process once it's running.
4336 Under Microsoft Windows (and perhaps other operating systems), there is
4337 another useful trick you can do if you have configured with debugging
4338 support (configure option @samp{--debug} (@samp{--with-debug} in 21.5)
4339 or setting @samp{DEBUG_XEMACS} in @file{nt/config.inc}). Set the
4340 environment variable @samp{XEMACSDEBUG} (as described above) to
4341 @samp{(setq debug-on-error t)}. Then, when an error occurs
4342 noninteractively, instead of trying to invoke the Lisp debugger (which
4343 obviously won't work), XEmacs will break out to a C debugger using
4344 @code{(force-debugging-signal t)}. @emph{NOTE}: This runs
4345 @code{abort()}!!! (As well as and after executing INT 3 under MS
4346 Windows, which should invoke a debugger if it's active.) This is
4347 guaranteed to kill XEmacs! (But in this situation, XEmacs is about to
4348 die anyway, and if no debugger is present, this will usefully dump
4351 @node Q2.4.8, Q2.4.9, Q2.4.7, Installation
4352 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.8: The keyboard or mouse is not working properly, or I have some other event-related problem.
4354 XEmacs has various facilities for debugging event handling.
4356 First, try setting the variable @code{debug-emacs-events} to non-zero.
4357 This will output various information showing which events are being
4358 received and how they are being translated. This may show you, for
4359 example, that a key command is getting intercepted using
4360 @code{key-translation-map}; this problem can otherwise be very tricky
4363 Under X, you can see exactly which events are being received from the
4364 window system by setting @code{x-debug-events} to non-zero. (The value
4365 @samp{1} gives you regular output, and @samp{2} gives you verbose
4366 output, including all parameters.)
4368 A similar facility exists under MS Windows: Set
4369 @code{debug-mswindows-events} to non-zero. (The value @samp{1} gives
4370 you regular output. The value @samp{2} gives you verbose output,
4371 including all parameters. The value @samp{3} gives you
4372 super-gorily-detailed output.)
4374 @node Q2.4.9, Q2.4.10, Q2.4.8, Installation
4375 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.9: @kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
4377 @kbd{C-g} does work for most people in most circumstances. If it
4378 doesn't, there are two possible explanations:
4382 XEmacs is hung in a way that prevents @kbd{C-g} from working. This
4383 can happen when code is wrapped with a binding of @code{inhibit-quit}
4384 to @code{t}; you should still be able interrupt XEmacs using "critical
4385 quit". On the other hand, XEmacs may be seriously wedged. (If you're
4386 lucky, sending @samp{SIGINT} to the XEmacs process will interrupt it.)
4387 @xref{Q2.4.6, XEmacs hangs when I try to do something.}.
4390 @kbd{C-g} is indeed broken on your system. To test, try executing
4391 @code{(while t)} from the @samp{*scratch*} buffer. If @kbd{C-g}
4392 doesn't interrupt, then it's broken. This used to happen with systems
4393 where @samp{SIGIO} was broken, but @samp{BROKEN_SIGIO} wasn't defined.
4394 However, there may not be very many such systems nowadays.
4397 @node Q2.4.10, Q2.4.11, Q2.4.9, Installation
4398 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.10: How do I debug process-related problems?
4400 Under MS Windows, you can set the variable
4401 @code{debug-mswindows-process-command-lines} to non-@samp{nil} to get
4402 information on exactly what is getting passed to a process. This can
4403 be useful in determining problems with quoting. (Under Unix, a process
4404 receives each argument separately, but under MS Windows a single
4405 command line is received, and arguments with spaces or other special
4406 characters in them must be quoted. Unfortunately this means that each
4407 process, potentially at least, has its own quoting conventions, and
4408 the code to process quoting conventions in @file{cmd.exe}, the Visual
4409 C++ startup code and the like is baroque and poorly documented.
4410 XEmacs uses the variable
4411 @code{mswindows-construct-process-command-line-alist} to construct a
4412 command line from a list of arguments based on the command to be run,
4413 but it is (and cannot be) a perfect solution.)
4415 @node Q2.4.11, Q2.4.12, Q2.4.10, Installation
4416 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.11: XEmacs is outputting lots of X errors.
4418 If this is happening, we would very much like to know what's causing
4419 them. To find this out, see @ref{Q2.4.4, How to debug an XEmacs
4420 problem with a debugger}. Try to get both a C and Lisp backtrace, and
4421 send them along with the full error output to
4422 @email{xemacs-beta@@xemacs.org}.
4424 @node Q2.4.12, Q2.5.1, Q2.4.11, Installation
4425 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.12: After upgrading, XEmacs won't do `foo' any more!
4427 You have been used to doing `foo', but now when you invoke it (or
4428 click the toolbar button or select the menu item), nothing (or an
4429 error) happens. The simplest explanation is that you are missing a
4430 package that is essential to you. You can either track it down and
4431 install it (there is a list of packages and brief descriptions of
4432 their contents in @file{etc/PACKAGES}), or install the `Sumo Tarball'
4433 (@pxref{Q2.1.2, How do I figure out which packages to install?}).
4435 @c #### should xref to XEmacs manual here
4437 @unnumberedsec 2.5: Startup-Related Problems
4439 @node Q2.5.1, Q2.5.2, Q2.4.12, Installation
4440 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.5.1: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal!
4442 Help! I can not get XEmacs to display on my Envizex X-terminal!
4444 Try setting the @code{DISPLAY} variable using the numeric IP address of
4445 the host you are running XEmacs from.
4447 @node Q2.5.2, Q2.5.3, Q2.5.1, Installation
4448 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.5.2 Startup problems related to paths or package locations.
4450 First of all, if XEmacs can't find the packages, check to make sure
4451 that you put the packages in the right place, or that you told XEmacs
4452 where to look for the packages when you compiled it. @xref{Q2.1.1}.
4454 If something is still going wrong, or you get a startup warning about
4455 not being able to deduce some paths, you can get detailed information
4456 on the path-searching process at startup by setting the environment
4457 variable @samp{EMACSDEBUGPATHS} to a non-null value. One thing to
4458 look for if you're having package problems is the value of
4459 @samp{configure-package-path}. This corresponds to what was compiled
4460 into XEmacs using the @samp{--package-prefix} or @samp{--package-path}
4461 parameter (@pxref{Q2.1.1}). If this has the value of @samp{nil},
4462 this means that no value was compiled into XEmacs using these parameters.
4464 @node Q2.5.3, Q2.5.4, Q2.5.2, Installation
4465 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.5.3: XEmacs won't start without network.
4467 If XEmacs starts when you're on the network, but fails when you're not
4468 on the network, you may be missing a "localhost" entry in your
4469 @file{/etc/hosts} file. The file should contain an entry like:
4475 Add that line, and XEmacs will be happy.
4477 @node Q2.5.4, Q2.5.5, Q2.5.3, Installation
4478 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.5.4: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
4480 How can I avoid the startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
4482 This is highly dependent on your installation, but try with the
4483 following font as your base font for XEmacs and see what it does:
4486 -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
4489 More precisely, do the following in your resource file:
4492 Emacs.default.attributeFont: \
4493 -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
4496 If you just don't want to see the @samp{*Warnings*} buffer at startup
4497 time, you can set this:
4500 (setq display-warning-minimum-level 'error)
4503 The buffer still exists; it just isn't in your face.
4505 @node Q2.5.5, Q2.5.6, Q2.5.4, Installation
4506 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.5.5: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
4508 The following information comes from the @file{PROBLEMS} file that comes
4511 If you're having troubles with HP/UX it is because HP/UX defines the
4512 modifiers wrong in X. Here is a shell script to fix the problem; be
4513 sure that it is run after VUE configures the X server.
4517 xmodmap 2> /dev/null - << EOF
4518 keysym Alt_L = Meta_L
4519 keysym Alt_R = Meta_R
4524 keysym Mode_switch = NoSymbol
4526 keysym Meta_R = Mode_switch
4527 add mod2 = Mode_switch
4531 @node Q2.5.6, , Q2.5.5, Installation
4532 @unnumberedsubsec Q2.5.6: XEmacs 21.1 on Windows used to spawn an ugly console window on every startup. Has that been fixed?
4536 The console was there because @file{temacs} (and in turn, @file{xemacs})
4537 was a console application, and Windows typically creates a new
4538 console for a console process unless the creating process requests that
4539 one isn't created. This used to be fixed with @file{runemacs}, a small
4540 Windows application that existed merely to start @file{xemacs}, stating
4541 that it didn't want a console.
4543 XEmacs 21.4 fixes this cleanly by the virtue of being a true "GUI"
4544 application. The explanation of what that means is included for
4547 When building an application to be run in a Win32 environment, you must
4548 state which sub-system it is to run in. Valid subsystems include
4549 "console" and "gui". The subsystem you use affects the run time
4550 libraries linked into your application, the start up function that is
4551 run before control is handed over to your application, the entry point
4552 to your program, and how Windows normally invokes your program. (Console
4553 programs automatically get a console created for them at startup if
4554 their stdin/stdout don't point anywhere useful, which is the case when
4555 run from the GUI. This is a stupid design, of course -- instead, the
4556 console should get created only when the first I/O actually occurs!
4557 GUI programs have an equally stupid design: When called from
4558 @file{CMD.EXE}/@file{COMMAND.COM}, their stdin/stdout will be set to
4559 point nowhere useful, even though the command shell has its own
4560 stdin/stdout. It's as if someone who had learned a bit about stdio but
4561 had no actual knowledge of interprocess communication designed the
4562 scheme; unfortunately, the whole process-communication aspect of the
4563 Win32 API is equally badly designed.) For example, the entry point for a
4564 console app is "main" (which is what you'd expect for a C/C++ program),
4565 but the entry point for a "gui" app is "WinMain". This confuses and
4566 annoys a lot of programmers who've grown up on Unix systems, where the
4567 kernel doesn't really care whether your application is a gui program or
4570 For reasons not altogether clear, and are lost in the mists of time and
4571 tradition, XEmacs on Win32 started out as a console application, and
4572 therefore a console was automatically created for it. (It may have been
4573 made a console application partly because a console is needed in some
4574 circumstances, especially under Win95, to interrupt, terminate, or send
4575 signals to a child process, and because of the bogosity mentioned above
4576 with GUI programs and the standard command shell. Currently, XEmacs
4577 just creates and immediately hides a console when necessary, and
4578 works around the "no useful stdio" problem by creating its own console
4579 window as necessary to display messages in.)
4581 @node Editing, Display, Installation, Top
4582 @unnumbered 3 Editing Functions
4584 This is part 3 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
4585 section is devoted to the editing-related capabilities of XEmacs (the
4586 keyboard, mouse, buffers, text selections, etc.) and how to customize
4591 * Q3.0.1:: How can I customize the keyboard?
4592 * Q3.0.2:: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys?
4593 * Q3.0.3:: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down?
4594 * Q3.0.4:: Globally binding @kbd{Delete}?
4595 * Q3.0.5:: How to map @kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard?
4596 * Q3.0.6:: How can you type in special characters in XEmacs?
4597 * Q3.0.7:: Can I turn on @dfn{sticky} modifier keys?
4598 * Q3.0.8:: How do I map the arrow keys?
4599 * Q3.0.9:: HP Alt key as Meta.
4600 * Q3.0.10:: Why does edt emulation not work?
4601 * Q3.0.11:: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode?
4604 * Q3.1.1:: How can I turn off Mouse pasting?
4605 * Q3.1.2:: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons?
4606 * Q3.1.3:: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list.
4607 * Q3.1.4:: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3?
4608 * Q3.1.5:: How can I set XEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is?
4610 3.2: Buffers, Text Editing
4611 * Q3.2.1:: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way?
4612 * Q3.2.2:: How do I insert today's date into a buffer?
4613 * Q3.2.3:: How do I get a single minibuffer frame?
4614 * Q3.2.4:: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt?
4615 * Q3.2.5:: How can I get XEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default?
4617 3.3: Text Selections
4618 * Q3.3.1:: How do I select a rectangular region?
4619 * Q3.3.2:: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections?
4620 * Q3.3.3:: How do I cause typing on an active region to remove it?
4621 * Q3.3.4:: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch?
4622 * Q3.3.5:: Why is killing so slow?
4623 * Q3.3.6:: Why does @kbd{M-w} take so long?
4625 3.4: Editing Source Code
4626 * Q3.4.1:: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode?
4627 * Q3.4.2:: How do you make XEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly?
4630 @unnumberedsec 3.0: The Keyboard
4632 @node Q3.0.1, Q3.0.2, Editing, Editing
4633 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.1: How can I customize the keyboard?
4637 @node Q3.0.2, Q3.0.3, Q3.0.1, Editing
4638 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.2: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys?
4640 As an example, say you want the @kbd{paste} key on a Sun keyboard to
4641 insert the current Primary X selection at point. You can accomplish this
4645 (define-key global-map [f18] 'x-insert-selection)
4648 However, this only works if there is a current X selection (the
4649 selection will be highlighted). The functionality I like is for the
4650 @kbd{paste} key to insert the current X selection if there is one,
4651 otherwise insert the contents of the clipboard. To do this you need to
4652 pass arguments to @code{x-insert-selection}. This is done by wrapping
4653 the call in a 'lambda form:
4656 (global-set-key [f18]
4657 (lambda () (interactive) (x-insert-selection t nil)))
4660 This binds the f18 key to a @dfn{generic} functional object. The
4661 interactive spec is required because only interactive functions can be
4664 For the FAQ example you could use:
4667 (global-set-key [(control ?.)]
4668 (lambda () (interactive) (scroll-up 1)))
4669 (global-set-key [(control ?;)]
4670 (lambda () (interactive) (scroll-up -1)))
4673 This is fine if you only need a few functions within the lambda body.
4674 If you're doing more it's cleaner to define a separate function.
4675 @xref{Q3.0.3, How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and
4678 @node Q3.0.3, Q3.0.4, Q3.0.2, Editing
4679 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.3: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down?
4681 Add the following (Thanks to @email{mly@@adoc.xerox.com, Richard Mlynarik} and
4682 @email{wayne@@zen.cac.stratus.com, Wayne Newberry}) to @file{.emacs}:
4685 (defun scroll-up-one-line ()
4689 (defun scroll-down-one-line ()
4693 (global-set-key [(control ?.)] 'scroll-up-one-line) ; C-.
4694 (global-set-key [(control ?;)] 'scroll-down-one-line) ; C-;
4697 The key point is that you can only bind simple functions to keys; you
4698 can not bind a key to a function that you're also passing arguments
4699 to. (@pxref{Q3.0.2, How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to
4700 keys?} for a better answer).
4702 @node Q3.0.4, Q3.0.5, Q3.0.3, Editing
4703 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.4: Globally binding @kbd{Delete}?
4705 I cannot manage to globally bind my @kbd{Delete} key to something other
4706 than the default. How does one do this?
4708 Answer: The problem is that many modes explicitly bind @kbd{Delete}. To
4709 get around this, try the following:
4714 (message "You hit DELETE"))
4716 (define-key key-translation-map 'delete 'redirected-delete)
4717 (global-set-key 'redirected-delete 'foo)
4720 @node Q3.0.5, Q3.0.6, Q3.0.4, Editing
4721 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.5: How to map @kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard?
4723 The following works in GNU Emacs 19:
4726 (global-set-key [help] 'help-command);; Help
4729 The following works in XEmacs with the addition of shift:
4732 (global-set-key [(shift help)] 'help-command);; Help
4735 But it doesn't work alone. This is in the file @file{PROBLEMS} which
4736 should have come with your XEmacs installation: @emph{Emacs ignores the
4737 @kbd{help} key when running OLWM}.
4739 OLWM grabs the @kbd{help} key, and retransmits it to the appropriate
4744 @code{XSendEvent}. Allowing Emacs to react to synthetic
4745 events is a security hole, so this is turned off by default. You can
4746 enable it by setting the variable @code{x-allow-sendevents} to t. You
4747 can also cause fix this by telling OLWM to not grab the help key, with
4748 the null binding @code{OpenWindows.KeyboardCommand.Help:}.
4750 @node Q3.0.6, Q3.0.7, Q3.0.5, Editing
4751 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.6: How can you type in special characters in XEmacs?
4752 One way is to use the package @code{x-compose}. Then you can use
4753 sequences like @kbd{Compose " a} to get ä, etc.
4755 Another way is to use the @code{iso-insert} package. Then you can use
4756 sequences like @kbd{C-x 8 " a} to get ä, etc.
4758 @email{glynn@@sensei.co.uk, Glynn Clements} writes:
4761 It depends upon your X server.
4763 Generally, the simplest way is to define a key as Multi_key with
4765 @c hey, show some respect, willya -- there's xkeycaps, isn't there? --
4768 xmodmap -e 'keycode 0xff20 = Multi_key'
4771 You will need to pick an appropriate keycode. Use xev to find out the
4772 keycodes for each key.
4774 [NB: On a `Windows' keyboard, recent versions of XFree86 automatically
4775 define the right `Windows' key as Multi_key'.]
4777 Once you have Multi_key defined, you can use e.g.
4786 Also, recent versions of XFree86 define various AltGr-<key>
4787 combinations as dead keys, i.e.
4789 AltGr [ => dead_diaeresis
4790 AltGr ] => dead_tilde
4791 AltGr ; => dead_acute
4795 Running @samp{xmodmap -pk} will list all of the defined keysyms.
4798 For the related problem of @emph{displaying} non-ASCII characters in a
4799 non-Mule XEmacs, @xref{Q4.0.8, How do I display non-ASCII characters?}.
4801 @node Q3.0.7, Q3.0.8, Q3.0.6, Editing
4802 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.7: Can I turn on @dfn{sticky} modifier keys?
4804 Yes, with @code{(setq modifier-keys-are-sticky t)}. This will give the
4805 effect of being able to press and release Shift and have the next
4806 character typed come out in upper case. This will affect all the other
4807 modifier keys like Control and Meta as well.
4809 @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes:
4812 One thing about the sticky modifiers is that if you move the mouse out
4813 of the frame and back in, it cancels all currently ``stuck'' modifiers.
4816 @node Q3.0.8, Q3.0.9, Q3.0.7, Editing
4817 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.8: How do I map the arrow keys?
4819 Say you want to map @kbd{C-@key{right}} to forward-word:
4821 @email{sds@@usa.net, Sam Steingold} writes:
4825 ; both XEmacs and Emacs
4826 (define-key global-map [(control right)] 'forward-word)
4831 (define-key global-map [C-right] 'forward-word)
4836 (define-key global-map (kbd "C-<right>") 'forward-word)
4840 @node Q3.0.9, Q3.0.10, Q3.0.8, Editing
4841 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.9: HP Alt key as Meta.
4843 How can I make XEmacs recognize the Alt key of my HP workstation as a
4846 Put the following line into a file and load it with xmodmap(1) before
4850 remove Mod1 = Mode_switch
4853 @node Q3.0.10, Q3.0.11, Q3.0.9, Editing
4854 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.10: Why does edt emulation not work?
4856 We don't know, but you can use tpu-edt emulation instead, which works
4857 fine and is a little fancier than the standard edt emulation. To do
4858 this, add the following line to your @file{init.el}:
4864 If you don't want it to replace @kbd{C-h} with an edt-style help menu
4868 (global-set-key [(control h)] 'help-for-help)
4871 @node Q3.0.11, Q3.1.1, Q3.0.10, Editing
4872 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.11: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode?
4874 Our recommended VI emulator is viper. To make viper-mode the default,
4875 add this to your @file{init.el}:
4881 @email{kifer@@CS.SunySB.EDU, Michael Kifer} writes:
4884 This should be added as close to the top of @file{init.el} as you can get
4885 it, otherwise some minor modes may not get viper-ized.
4888 @unnumberedsec 3.1: The Mouse
4890 @node Q3.1.1, Q3.1.2, Q3.0.11, Editing
4891 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.1: How can I turn off Mouse pasting?
4893 I keep hitting the middle mouse button by accident and getting stuff
4894 pasted into my buffer so how can I turn this off?
4896 Here is an alternative binding, whereby the middle mouse button selects
4897 (but does not cut) the expression under the mouse. Clicking middle on a
4898 left or right paren will select to the matching one. Note that you can
4899 use @code{define-key} or @code{global-set-key}.
4902 (defun mouse-set-point-and-select (event)
4903 "Sets the point at the mouse location, then marks following form"
4905 (mouse-set-point event)
4907 (define-key global-map [button2] 'mouse-set-point-and-select)
4910 @node Q3.1.2, Q3.1.3, Q3.1.1, Editing
4911 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.2: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons?
4913 Use, for instance, @code{[(meta button1)]}. For example, here is a common
4914 setting for Common Lisp programmers who use the bundled @code{ilisp}
4915 package, whereby meta-button1 on a function name will find the file where
4916 the function name was defined, and put you at that location in the source
4919 [Inside a function that gets called by the lisp-mode-hook and
4923 (local-set-key [(meta button1)] 'edit-definitions-lisp)
4926 @node Q3.1.3, Q3.1.4, Q3.1.2, Editing
4927 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.3: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list.
4929 I do @kbd{C-x C-b} to get a list of buffers and the entries get
4930 highlighted when I move the mouse over them but clicking the left mouse
4931 does not do anything.
4933 Use the middle mouse button.
4935 @node Q3.1.4, Q3.1.5, Q3.1.3, Editing
4936 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.4: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3?
4938 The following code will replace the default popup on button3:
4941 (global-set-key [button3] 'popup-buffer-menu)
4944 @node Q3.1.5, Q3.2.1, Q3.1.4, Editing
4945 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.5: How can I set XEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is?
4947 By default XEmacs pastes X selections where the mouse pointer is. How
4950 Examine the function @code{mouse-yank}, by typing @kbd{C-h f mouse-yank
4953 To get XEmacs to paste at the text cursor, add this your @file{init.el}:
4956 (setq mouse-yank-at-point t)
4959 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
4960 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
4961 (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Mouse->Yank At Point...} or type @kbd{M-x
4962 customize @key{RET} mouse @key{RET}}.
4964 @unnumberedsec 3.2: Buffers, Text Editing
4966 @node Q3.2.1, Q3.2.2, Q3.1.5, Editing
4967 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.1: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way?
4969 Say, with: @samp{[END]}?
4974 (let ((ext (make-extent (point-min) (point-max))))
4975 (set-extent-property ext 'start-closed t)
4976 (set-extent-property ext 'end-closed t)
4977 (set-extent-property ext 'detachable nil)
4978 (set-extent-end-glyph ext (make-glyph [string :data "[END]"])))
4981 Since this is XEmacs, you can specify an icon to be shown on
4982 window-system devices. To do so, change the @code{make-glyph} call to
4983 something like this:
4986 (make-glyph '([xpm :file "~/something.xpm"]
4987 [string :data "[END]"]))
4990 You can inline the @sc{xpm} definition yourself by specifying
4991 @code{:data} instead of @code{:file}. Here is such a full-featured
4992 version that works on both X and TTY devices:
4995 (let ((ext (make-extent (point-min) (point-max))))
4996 (set-extent-property ext 'start-closed t)
4997 (set-extent-property ext 'end-closed t)
4998 (set-extent-property ext 'detachable nil)
4999 (set-extent-end-glyph ext (make-glyph '([xpm :data "\
5001 static char* eye = @{
5010 \"___________`_`_`___b_b_b_b_________`____\",
5011 \"_________`_`_`___b_c_c_c_b_b____________\",
5012 \"_____`_`_`_e___b_b_c_c_c___b___b_______`\",
5013 \"___`_`_e_a___b_b_d___b___b___b___b______\",
5014 \"_`_`_e_a_e___b_b_d_b___b___b___b___b____\",
5015 \"_`_`_a_e_a___b_b_d___b___b___b___b___b__\",
5016 \"_`_`_e_a_e___b_b_d_b___b___b___b___b_b__\",
5017 \"___`_`_e_a___b_b_b_d_c___b___b___d_b____\",
5018 \"_____`_`_e_e___b_b_b_d_c___b_b_d_b______\",
5019 \"_`_____`_`_`_`___b_b_b_d_d_d_d_b________\",
5020 \"___`_____`_`_`_`___b_b_b_b_b_b__________\",
5022 [string :data "[END]"]))))
5025 Note that you might want to make this a function, and put it to a hook.
5026 We leave that as an exercise for the reader.
5028 @node Q3.2.2, Q3.2.3, Q3.2.1, Editing
5029 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.2: How do I insert today's date into a buffer?
5034 (insert (current-time-string))
5037 @node Q3.2.3, Q3.2.4, Q3.2.2, Editing
5038 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.3: How do I get a single minibuffer frame?
5040 @email{acs@@acm.org, Vin Shelton} writes:
5043 (setq initial-frame-plist '(minibuffer nil))
5044 (setq default-frame-plist '(minibuffer nil))
5045 (setq default-minibuffer-frame
5050 menubar-visible-p nil
5051 default-toolbar-visible-p nil
5055 has-modeline-p nil)))
5056 (frame-notice-user-settings)
5059 @strong{Please note:} The single minibuffer frame may not be to everyone's
5060 taste, and there any number of other XEmacs options settings that may
5061 make it difficult or inconvenient to use.
5063 @node Q3.2.4, Q3.2.5, Q3.2.3, Editing
5064 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.4: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt?
5066 Put the following line in your @file{init.el}:
5069 (setq indent-line-function 'indent-relative-maybe)
5072 If you want to get fancy, try the @code{filladapt} package available
5073 standard with XEmacs. Put this into your @file{init.el}:
5076 (require 'filladapt)
5077 (setq-default filladapt-mode t)
5078 (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-off-filladapt-mode)
5081 This will enable Filladapt for all modes except C mode, where it doesn't
5082 work well. To turn Filladapt on only in particular major modes, remove
5083 the @code{(setq-default ...)} line and use
5084 @code{turn-on-filladapt-mode}, like this:
5087 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-filladapt-mode)
5090 You can customize filling and adaptive filling with Customize.
5091 Select from the @code{Options} menu
5092 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Fill->Fill...}
5093 or type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} fill @key{RET}}.
5095 Note that well-behaving text-lookalike modes will run
5096 @code{text-mode-hook} by default (e.g. that's what Message does). For
5097 the nasty ones, you'll have to provide the @code{add-hook}s yourself.
5099 Please note that the @code{fa-extras} package is no longer useful.
5101 @node Q3.2.5, Q3.3.1, Q3.2.4, Editing
5102 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.5: How can I get XEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default?
5104 Try the following lisp in your @file{init.el}:
5107 (setq default-major-mode 'text-mode)
5108 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)
5111 @strong{WARNING}: note that changing the value of
5112 @code{default-major-mode} from @code{fundamental-mode} can break a large
5113 amount of built-in code that expects newly created buffers to be in
5114 @code{fundamental-mode}. (Changing from @code{fundamental-mode} to
5115 @code{text-mode} might not wreak too much havoc, but changing to
5116 something more exotic like a lisp-mode would break many Emacs packages).
5118 Note that Emacs by default starts up in buffer @code{*scratch*} in
5119 @code{initial-major-mode}, which defaults to
5120 @code{lisp-interaction-mode}. Thus adding the following form to your
5121 Emacs init file will cause the initial @code{*scratch*} buffer to be put
5122 into auto-fill'ed @code{text-mode}:
5125 (setq initial-major-mode
5128 (turn-on-auto-fill)))
5131 Note that after your init file is loaded, if
5132 @code{inhibit-startup-message} is @code{nil} (the default) and the
5133 startup buffer is @code{*scratch*} then the startup message will be
5134 inserted into @code{*scratch*}; it will be removed after a timeout by
5135 erasing the entire @code{*scratch*} buffer. Keep in mind this default
5136 usage of @code{*scratch*} if you desire any prior manipulation of
5137 @code{*scratch*} from within your Emacs init file. In particular,
5138 anything you insert into @code{*scratch*} from your init file will be
5139 later erased. Also, if you change the mode of the @code{*scratch*}
5140 buffer, be sure that this will not interfere with possible later
5141 insertion of the startup message (e.g. if you put @code{*scratch*} into
5142 a nonstandard mode that has automatic font lock rules, then the startup
5143 message might get fontified in a strange foreign manner, e.g. as code in
5144 some programming language).
5146 @unnumberedsec 3.3: Text Selections
5148 @node Q3.3.1, Q3.3.2, Q3.2.5, Editing
5149 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.1: How do I select a rectangular region?
5151 Just select the region normally, then use the rectangle commands (e.g.
5152 @code{kill-rectangle} on it. The region does not highlight as a
5153 rectangle, but the commands work just fine.
5155 To actually sweep out rectangular regions with the mouse you can use
5156 @code{mouse-track-do-rectangle} which is assigned to @kbd{M-button1}.
5157 Then use rectangle commands.
5159 You can also do the following to change default behavior to sweep out
5160 rectangular regions:
5163 (setq mouse-track-rectangle-p t)
5166 You can also change this with Customize.
5167 Select from the @code{Options} menu
5168 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Mouse->Track Rectangle...} or type
5169 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} mouse @key{RET}}.
5173 mouse-track-do-rectangle: (event)
5174 -- an interactive compiled Lisp function.
5175 Like `mouse-track' but selects rectangles instead of regions.
5178 @node Q3.3.2, Q3.3.3, Q3.3.1, Editing
5179 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.2: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections?
5181 The @code{zmacs} mode allows for what some might call gratuitous
5182 highlighting for selected regions (either by setting mark or by using
5183 the mouse). This is the default behavior. To turn off, add the
5184 following line to your @file{init.el} file:
5187 (setq zmacs-regions nil)
5190 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
5192 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Zmacs Regions}
5193 or type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} editing-basics @key{RET}}.
5195 To change the face for selection, look at @code{Options->Advanced (Customize)}
5198 @node Q3.3.3, Q3.3.4, Q3.3.2, Editing
5199 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.3: How do I cause typing on an active region to remove it?
5201 I want to change things so that if I select some text and start typing,
5202 the typed text replaces the selected text, similar to Motif.
5204 You want to use something called @dfn{pending delete}. Pending delete
5205 is what happens when you select a region (with the mouse or keyboard)
5206 and you press a key to replace the selected region by the key you typed.
5207 Usually backspace kills the selected region.
5209 To get this behavior, ensure that you have the @file{pc} package
5210 installed, and add the following lines to your
5215 ((fboundp 'turn-on-pending-delete)
5216 (turn-on-pending-delete))
5217 ((fboundp 'pending-delete-on)
5218 (pending-delete-on t)))
5221 Note that this will work with both Backspace and Delete. This code is a
5222 tad more complicated than it has to be for XEmacs in order to make it
5225 @node Q3.3.4, Q3.3.5, Q3.3.3, Editing
5226 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.4: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch?
5228 I do not like my text highlighted while I am doing isearch as I am not
5229 able to see what's underneath. How do I turn it off?
5231 Put the following in your @file{init.el}:
5234 (setq isearch-highlight nil)
5237 You can also change this with Customize. Type
5238 @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET} isearch-highlight @key{RET}}.
5240 Note also that isearch-highlight affects query-replace and ispell.
5241 Instead of disabling isearch-highlight you may find that a better
5242 solution consists of customizing the @code{isearch} face.
5244 @node Q3.3.5, Q3.3.6, Q3.3.4, Editing
5245 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.5: Why is killing so slow?
5247 This actually is an X Windows question, although you'll notice it with
5248 keyboard operations as well as while using the GUI. Basically, there
5249 are four ways to communicate interprogram via the X server:
5252 @item Primary selection
5253 a transient selection that gets replaced every time a new selection is made
5255 @item Secondary selection
5256 for "exchanging" with the primary selection
5259 a clipboard internal to the X server (deprecated)
5261 @item Clipboard selection
5262 a selection with a notification protocol that allows a separate app to
5263 manage the clipboard
5266 The cut buffers are deprecated because managing them is even more
5267 inefficient than the clipboard notification protocol. The primary
5268 selection works fine for many users and applications, but is not very
5269 robust under intensive or sophisticated use.
5271 In Motif and MS Windows, a clipboard has become the primary means for
5272 managing cut and paste. These means that "modern" applications tend to
5273 be oriented toward a true clipboard, rather than the primary selection.
5274 (On Windows, there is nothing equivalent to the primary selection.)
5275 It's not that XEmacs doesn't support the simple primary selection
5276 method, it's that more and more other applications don't.
5278 So the slowdown occurs because XEmacs now engages in the clipboard
5279 notification protocol on @emph{every} kill. This is especially slow on
5282 With most people running most clients and server on the same host, and
5283 many of the rest working over very fast communication, you may expect
5284 that the situation is not going to improve.
5286 There are a number of workarounds. The most effective is to use a
5287 special command to do selection ownership only when you intend to paste
5288 to another application. Useful commands are @code{kill-primary-selection}
5289 and @code{copy-primary-selection}. These work only on text selected
5290 with the mouse (probably; experiment), and are bound by default to the
5291 @kbd{Cut} and @kbd{Copy}, respectively, buttons on the toolbar.
5292 @code{copy-primary-selection} is also bound to @kbd{C-Insert}. You can
5293 yank the clipboard contents with @code{yank-primary-selection}, bound to
5294 the @kbd{Paste} toolbar button and @kbd{Sh-Insert}.
5296 If you are communicating by cut and paste with applications that use the
5297 primary selection, then you can customize
5298 @code{interprogram-cut-function} to @code{nil}, restoring the XEmacs
5299 version 20 behavior. How can you tell if a program will support this?
5300 Motifly-correct programs require the clipboard; you lose. For others,
5301 only by trying it. You also need to customize the complementary
5302 @code{interprogram-paste-function} to @code{nil}. (Otherwise
5303 XEmacs-to-XEmacs pastes will not work correctly.)
5305 You may get some relief on Motif by setting
5306 @code{x-selection-strict-motif-ownership} to nil, but this means you will
5307 only intermittently be able to paste XEmacs kills to Motif applications.
5309 Thanks to Jeff Mincy and Glynn Clements for corrections.
5311 @node Q3.3.6, Q3.4.1, Q3.3.5, Editing
5312 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.6: Why does @kbd{M-w} take so long?
5314 It actually doesn't. It leaves the region visible for a second so that
5315 you can see what area is being yanked. If you start working, though, it
5316 will immediately complete its operation. In other words, it will only
5317 delay for a second if you let it.
5319 @unnumberedsec 3.4: Editing Source Code
5321 @node Q3.4.1, Q3.4.2, Q3.3.6, Editing
5322 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.4.1: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode?
5324 Well, first off, consider if you really want to do this. cc-mode is
5325 much more powerful than the old c-mode. If you're having trouble
5326 getting your old offsets to work, try using @code{c-set-offset} instead.
5327 You might also consider using the package @code{cc-compat}.
5329 But, if you still insist, add the following lines to your @file{init.el}:
5332 (fmakunbound 'c-mode)
5333 (makunbound 'c-mode-map)
5334 (fmakunbound 'c++-mode)
5335 (makunbound 'c++-mode-map)
5336 (makunbound 'c-style-alist)
5337 (load-library "old-c-mode")
5338 (load-library "old-c++-mode")
5341 This must be done before any other reference is made to either c-mode or
5344 @node Q3.4.2, , Q3.4.1, Editing
5345 @unnumberedsubsec Q3.4.2: How do you make XEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly?
5347 I'd like XEmacs to indent all the clauses of a Common Lisp @code{if} the
5348 same amount instead of indenting the 3rd clause differently from the
5351 The package @code{cl-indent} that comes with XEmacs sets up this kind
5352 of indentation by default. @code{cl-indent} also knows about many
5353 other CL-specific forms. To use @code{cl-indent}, one can do this:
5356 (setq lisp-indent-function 'common-lisp-indent-function)
5359 One can also customize @file{cl-indent.el} so it mimics the default
5360 @code{if} indentation @code{then} indented more than the @code{else}.
5364 (put 'if 'common-lisp-indent-function '(nil nil &body))
5367 @node Display, External Subsystems, Editing, Top
5368 @unnumbered 4 Display Functions
5370 This is part 4 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
5371 section is devoted to the display-related capabilities of XEmacs
5372 (fonts, colors, modeline, menubar, toolbar, scrollbar, etc.) and how
5376 4.0: Textual Fonts and Colors
5377 * Q4.0.1:: How do I specify a font?
5378 * Q4.0.2:: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts?
5379 * Q4.0.3:: How can I set color options from @file{init.el}?
5380 * Q4.0.4:: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region?
5381 * Q4.0.5:: How can I limit color map usage?
5382 * Q4.0.6:: My tty supports color, but XEmacs doesn't use them.
5383 * Q4.0.7:: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in XEmacs?
5384 * Q4.0.8:: How do I display non-ASCII characters?
5385 * Q4.0.9:: Font selections in don't get saved after @code{Save Options}.
5387 4.1: Syntax Highlighting (Font Lock)
5388 * Q4.1.1:: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock?
5389 * Q4.1.2:: How do I get @samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default?
5392 * Q4.2.1:: How can I make the modeline go away?
5393 * Q4.2.2:: How do you have XEmacs display the line number in the modeline?
5394 * Q4.2.3:: How do I get XEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline?
5395 * Q4.2.4:: How can I change the modeline color based on the mode used?
5398 * Q4.3.1:: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker?
5399 * Q4.3.2:: Is there a way to get back the block cursor?
5400 * Q4.3.3:: Can I make the cursor blink?
5403 * Q4.4.1:: How do I get rid of the menubar?
5404 * Q4.4.2:: How can I customize the menubar?
5405 * Q4.4.3:: How do I enable use of the keyboard (@kbd{Alt}) to access menu items?
5406 * Q4.4.4:: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu @code{Buffers List}?
5407 * Q4.4.5:: Resources like @code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working?
5410 * Q4.5.1:: How do I get rid of the toolbar?
5411 * Q4.5.2:: How can I customize the toolbar?
5412 * Q4.5.3:: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar?
5413 * Q4.5.4:: @samp{Can't instantiate image error...} in toolbar
5415 4.6: Scrollbars and Scrolling
5416 * Q4.6.1:: How can I disable the scrollbar?
5417 * Q4.6.2:: How can I change the scrollbar width?
5418 * Q4.6.3:: How can I use resources to change scrollbar colors?
5419 * Q4.6.4:: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this?
5420 * Q4.6.5:: Scrolling one line at a time.
5421 * Q4.6.6:: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes?
5422 * Q4.6.7:: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off?
5424 4.7: The Gutter Tabs, The Progress Bar, Widgets
5425 * Q4.7.1:: How can I disable the gutter tabs?
5426 * Q4.7.2:: How can I disable the progress bar?
5427 * Q4.7.3:: There are bugs in the gutter or widgets.
5428 * Q4.7.4:: How can I customize the gutter or gutter tabs?
5431 @unnumberedsec 4.0: Textual Fonts and Colors
5433 @node Q4.0.1, Q4.0.2, Display, Display
5434 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.1: How do I specify a font?
5438 In 21.4 and above, you can use the @samp{Options} menu to change the font.
5439 You can also do it in your init file, e.g. like this (for MS Windows):
5442 (set-face-font 'default "Lucida Console:Regular:10")
5443 (set-face-font 'modeline "MS Sans Serif:Regular:10")
5446 @node Q4.0.2, Q4.0.3, Q4.0.1, Display
5447 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.2: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts?
5451 Note that you should use @samp{Emacs.} and not @samp{Emacs*} when
5452 setting face values.
5454 In @file{.Xresources}:
5457 Emacs.default.attributeFont: -*-*-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-m-*-*-*
5458 Emacs*menubar*font: fixed
5459 Emacs.modeline.attributeFont: fixed
5462 This is confusing because @samp{default} and @samp{modeline} are face
5463 names, and can be found listed with all faces in the current mode by
5464 using @kbd{M-x set-face-font (enter) ?}. They use the face-specific
5465 resource @samp{attributeFont}.
5467 On the other hand, @samp{menubar} is a normal X thing that uses the
5468 resource @samp{font}. With Motif it @emph{may be} necessary to use
5469 @samp{fontList} @emph{instead of} @samp{font}. In @emph{non-Motif}
5470 configurations with Mule it @emph{is} necessary to use @samp{fontSet}
5471 instead of @samp{font}. (Sorry, there just is no simple recipe here.)
5473 @node Q4.0.3, Q4.0.4, Q4.0.2, Display
5474 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.3: How can I set color options from @file{init.el}?
5476 How can I set the most commonly used color options from my
5477 @file{init.el} instead of from my @file{.Xresources}?
5482 (set-face-background 'default "bisque") ; frame background
5483 (set-face-foreground 'default "black") ; normal text
5484 (set-face-background 'zmacs-region "red") ; When selecting w/
5486 (set-face-foreground 'zmacs-region "yellow")
5487 (set-face-font 'default "*courier-bold-r*120-100-100*")
5488 (set-face-background 'highlight "blue") ; Ie when selecting
5490 (set-face-foreground 'highlight "yellow")
5491 (set-face-background 'modeline "blue") ; Line at bottom
5493 (set-face-foreground 'modeline "white")
5494 (set-face-font 'modeline "*bold-r-normal*140-100-100*")
5495 (set-face-background 'isearch "yellow") ; When highlighting
5497 (set-face-foreground 'isearch "red")
5498 (setq x-pointer-foreground-color "black") ; Adds to bg color,
5500 (setq x-pointer-background-color "blue") ; This is color
5505 @node Q4.0.4, Q4.0.5, Q4.0.3, Display
5506 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.4: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region?
5508 How can I set the background/foreground colors when highlighting a
5511 You can change the face @code{zmacs-region} either in your
5515 Emacs.zmacs-region.attributeForeground: firebrick
5516 Emacs.zmacs-region.attributeBackground: lightseagreen
5519 or in your @file{init.el}:
5522 (set-face-background 'zmacs-region "red")
5523 (set-face-foreground 'zmacs-region "yellow")
5526 @node Q4.0.5, Q4.0.6, Q4.0.4, Display
5527 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.5: How can I limit color map usage?
5529 I'm using Netscape (or another color grabber like XEmacs);
5530 is there any way to limit the number of available colors in the color map?
5532 Answer: No, but you can start Netscape before XEmacs, and it will use
5533 the closest available color if the colormap is full. You can also limit
5534 the number of colors Netscape uses, using the flags -mono, -ncols <#> or
5535 -install (for mono, limiting to <#> colors, or for using a private color
5538 If you have the money, another solution would be to use a truecolor or
5541 @node Q4.0.6, Q4.0.7, Q4.0.5, Display
5542 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.6: My tty supports color, but XEmacs doesn't use them.
5544 XEmacs tries to automatically determine whether your tty supports color,
5545 but sometimes guesses wrong. In that case, you can make XEmacs Do The
5546 Right Thing using this Lisp code:
5549 (if (eq 'tty (device-type))
5550 (set-device-class nil 'color))
5553 @node Q4.0.7, Q4.0.8, Q4.0.6, Display
5554 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.7: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in XEmacs?
5556 @email{jvillaci@@wahnsinnig.extreme.indiana.edu, Juan Villacis} writes:
5559 There are several ways to do it. For example, you could specify a
5560 default pixmap image to use in your @file{~/.Xresources}, e.g.,
5564 Emacs*EmacsFrame.default.attributeBackgroundPixmap: /path/to/image.xpm
5568 and then reload ~/.Xresources and restart XEmacs. Alternatively,
5569 since each face can have its own pixmap background, a better way
5570 would be to set a face's pixmap within your XEmacs init file, e.g.,
5573 (set-face-background-pixmap 'default "/path/to/image.xpm")
5574 (set-face-background-pixmap 'bold "/path/to/another_image.xpm")
5577 and so on. You can also do this interactively via @kbd{M-x edit-faces}.
5581 @node Q4.0.8, Q4.0.9, Q4.0.7, Display
5582 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.8: How do I display non-ASCII characters?
5585 If you're using a Mule-enabled XEmacs, then display is automatic. If
5586 you're not seeing the characters you expect, either (1) you don't have
5587 appropriate fonts available or (2) XEmacs did not correctly detect the
5588 coding system (@pxref{Recognize Coding, , , xemacs}). In case (1),
5589 install fonts as is customary for your platform. In case (2), you
5590 need to tell XEmacs explicitly what coding systems you're using.
5591 @ref{Specify Coding, , , xemacs}.
5593 If your XEmacs is not Mule-enabled, and for some reason getting a
5594 Mule-enabled XEmacs seems like the wrong thing to do, all is not lost.
5595 You can arrange it by brute force. In @file{event-Xt.c} (suppress the
5596 urge to look in this file---play Doom instead, because you'll survive
5597 longer), it is written:
5600 In a non-Mule world, a user can still have a multi-lingual editor, by
5601 doing @code{(set-face-font "-*-iso8859-2" (current-buffer))} for all
5602 their Latin-2 buffers, etc.
5605 For the related problem of @emph{inputting} non-ASCII characters in a
5606 non-Mule XEmacs, @xref{Q3.0.6, How can you type in special characters
5609 @node Q4.0.9, Q4.1.1, Q4.0.8, Display
5610 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.9: Font selections in don't get saved after @code{Save Options}.
5612 @email{mannj@@ll.mit.edu, John Mann} writes:
5615 You have to go to @samp{Options->Menubars} and unselect
5616 @samp{Frame-Local Font Menu}. If this option is selected, font changes
5617 are only applied to the @emph{current} frame and do @emph{not} get saved
5618 when you save options.
5621 Also, set the following in your @file{init.el}:
5624 (setq options-save-faces t)
5627 @unnumberedsec 4.1: Syntax Highlighting (Font Lock)
5629 @node Q4.1.1, Q4.1.2, Q4.0.9, Display
5630 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.1.1: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock?
5632 For most modes, font-lock is already set up and just needs to be turned
5633 on. This can be done by adding the line:
5636 (require 'font-lock)
5639 to your @file{init.el}. (You can turn it on for the
5640 current buffer and session only by @kbd{M-x font-lock-mode}.) See the
5641 file @file{etc/sample.init.el} (@file{etc/sample.emacs} in XEmacs
5642 versions prior to 21.4) for more information.
5645 @c (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
5646 @c (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
5648 See also @code{Syntax Highlighting} from the @code{Options} menu.
5649 Remember to save options.
5651 @node Q4.1.2, Q4.2.1, Q4.1.1, Display
5652 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.1.2: How do I get @samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default?
5654 Use the following code in your @file{init.el}:
5657 (setq-default font-lock-maximum-decoration t)
5660 See also @code{Syntax Highlighting} from the @code{Options} menu.
5661 Remember to save options.
5663 @unnumberedsec 4.2: The Modeline
5665 @node Q4.2.1, Q4.2.2, Q4.1.2, Display
5666 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.2.1: How can I make the modeline go away?
5669 (set-specifier has-modeline-p nil)
5672 @node Q4.2.2, Q4.2.3, Q4.2.1, Display
5673 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.2.2: How do you have XEmacs display the line number in the modeline?
5675 Add the following line to your @file{init.el} file to
5676 display the line number:
5679 (line-number-mode 1)
5682 Use the following to display the column number:
5685 (column-number-mode 1)
5688 Or select from the @code{Options} menu
5692 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Line Number Mode}
5697 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Column Number Mode}
5699 Or type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} editing-basics @key{RET}}.
5701 @node Q4.2.3, Q4.2.4, Q4.2.2, Display
5702 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.2.3: How do I get XEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline?
5704 Add the following line to your @file{init.el} file to
5711 See @code{Customize} from the @code{Options} menu for customization.
5713 @node Q4.2.4, Q4.3.1, Q4.2.3, Display
5714 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.2.4: How can I change the modeline color based on the mode used?
5716 You can use something like the following:
5719 (add-hook 'lisp-mode-hook
5721 (set-face-background 'modeline "red" (current-buffer))))
5724 Then, when editing a Lisp file (i.e. when in Lisp mode), the modeline
5725 colors change from the default set in your @file{init.el}.
5726 The change will only be made in the buffer you just entered (which
5727 contains the Lisp file you are editing) and will not affect the modeline
5728 colors anywhere else.
5734 @item The hook is the mode name plus @code{-hook}. eg. c-mode-hook,
5735 c++-mode-hook, emacs-lisp-mode-hook (used for your
5736 @file{init.el} or a @file{xx.el} file),
5737 lisp-interaction-mode-hook (the @samp{*scratch*} buffer),
5738 text-mode-hook, etc.
5741 Be sure to use @code{add-hook}, not @code{(setq c-mode-hook xxxx)},
5742 otherwise you will erase anything that anybody has already put on the
5746 You can also do @code{(set-face-font 'modeline @var{font})},
5747 eg. @code{(set-face-font 'modeline "*bold-r-normal*140-100-100*"
5748 (current-buffer))} if you wish the modeline font to vary based on the
5752 There are additional modeline faces, @code{modeline-buffer-id},
5753 @code{modeline-mousable}, and @code{modeline-mousable-minor-mode}, which
5754 you may want to customize.
5756 @unnumberedsec 4.3: The Cursor
5758 @node Q4.3.1, Q4.3.2, Q4.2.4, Display
5759 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.3.1: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker?
5761 I'd like to have the bar cursor a little thicker, as I tend to "lose" it
5764 For a 1 pixel bar cursor, use:
5770 For a 2 pixel bar cursor, use:
5773 (setq bar-cursor 'anything-else)
5776 You can also change these with Customize.
5777 Select from the @code{Options} menu
5778 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Display->Bar Cursor...} or type
5779 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} display @key{RET}}.
5781 You can use a color to make it stand out better:
5784 Emacs*cursorColor: Red
5787 @node Q4.3.2, Q4.3.3, Q4.3.1, Display
5788 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.3.2: Is there a way to get back the block cursor?
5791 (setq bar-cursor nil)
5794 You can also change this with Customize.
5795 Select from the @code{Options} menu
5796 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Display->Bar Cursor...} or type
5797 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} display @key{RET}}.
5799 @node Q4.3.3, Q4.4.1, Q4.3.2, Display
5800 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.3.3: Can I make the cursor blink?
5808 This function toggles between a steady cursor and a blinking cursor.
5809 You may also set this mode from the menu bar by selecting
5810 @samp{Options->Display->Blinking Cursor}. Remember to save options.
5812 @unnumberedsec 4.4: The Menubar
5814 @node Q4.4.1, Q4.4.2, Q4.3.3, Display
5815 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.1: How do I get rid of the menubar?
5818 (set-specifier menubar-visible-p nil)
5821 @node Q4.4.2, Q4.4.3, Q4.4.1, Display
5822 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.2: How can I customize the menubar?
5824 For an extensive menubar, add this line to your @file{init.el}:
5827 (load "big-menubar")
5830 If you'd like to write your own, this file provides as good a set of
5831 examples as any to start from. The file is located in edit-utils
5834 @node Q4.4.3, Q4.4.4, Q4.4.2, Display
5835 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.3: How do I enable use of the keyboard (@kbd{Alt}) to access menu items?
5839 @node Q4.4.4, Q4.4.5, Q4.4.3, Display
5840 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.4: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu @code{Buffers List}?
5842 Add the following to your @file{init.el} (suit to fit):
5845 (setq buffers-menu-max-size 20)
5848 For no limit, use an argument of @samp{nil}.
5850 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
5852 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Menu->Buffers Menu->Max Size...}
5853 or type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} buffers-menu @key{RET}}.
5855 @node Q4.4.5, Q4.5.1, Q4.4.4, Display
5856 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.5: Resources like @code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working?
5858 I am trying to use a resource like @code{Emacs*menubar*font} to set the
5859 font of the menubar but it's not working.
5861 In Motif, the use of @samp{font} resources is obsoleted in order to
5862 support internationalization. If you are using the real Motif menubar,
5863 this resource is not recognized at all; you have to say:
5866 Emacs*menubar*fontList: FONT
5869 If you are using the Lucid menubar, for backward compatibility with
5870 existing user configurations, the @samp{font} resource is recognized.
5871 Since this is not supported by Motif itself, the code is a kludge and
5872 the @samp{font} resource will be recognized only if the @samp{fontList}
5873 resource resource is unset. This means that the resource
5882 Emacs*menubar*font: FONT
5885 even though the latter is more specific.
5887 In non-Motif configurations using @samp{--with-mule} and
5888 @samp{--with-xfs} it @emph{is} necessary to use the @code{fontSet}
5889 resource @emph{instead of} the @code{font} resource. The backward
5890 compatibility kludge was never implemented for non-Motif builds.
5897 @unnumberedsec 4.5: The Toolbar
5899 @node Q4.5.1, Q4.5.2, Q4.4.5, Display
5900 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.1: How do I get rid of the toolbar?
5904 @node Q4.5.2, Q4.5.3, Q4.5.1, Display
5905 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.2: How can I customize the toolbar?
5909 @node Q4.5.3, Q4.5.4, Q4.5.2, Display
5910 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.3: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar?
5915 (defun my-toggle-toolbar ()
5917 (set-specifier default-toolbar-visible-p
5918 (not (specifier-instance default-toolbar-visible-p))))
5919 (global-set-key "\C-xT" 'my-toggle-toolbar)
5923 @c Probably not relevant any more
5924 There are redisplay bugs in 19.14 that may make the preceding result in
5925 a messed-up display, especially for frames with multiple windows. You
5926 may need to resize the frame before XEmacs completely realizes the
5927 toolbar is really gone.
5930 Thanks to @email{martin@@xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz} for the correct
5933 @node Q4.5.4, Q4.6.1, Q4.5.3, Display
5934 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.4: @samp{Can't instantiate image error...} in toolbar
5936 @email{expt@@alanine.ram.org, Dr. Ram Samudrala} writes:
5938 I just installed the XEmacs (20.4-2) RPMS that I downloaded from
5939 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/}. Everything works fine, except that when
5940 I place my mouse over the toolbar, it beeps and gives me this message:
5943 Can't instantiate image (probably cached):
5944 [xbm :mask-file "/usr/include/X11/bitmaps/leftptrmsk :mask-data
5945 (16 16 <strange control characters> ...
5948 @email{kyle_jones@@wonderworks.com, Kyle Jones} writes:
5950 This is problem specific to some Chips and Technologies video
5951 chips, when running XFree86. Putting
5953 @code{Option "sw_cursor"}
5955 in @file{XF86Config} gets rid of the problem.
5958 @unnumberedsec 4.6: Scrollbars and Scrolling
5960 @node Q4.6.1, Q4.6.2, Q4.5.4, Display
5961 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.1: How can I disable the scrollbar?
5963 To disable them for all frames, add the following line to
5964 your @file{.Xresources}:
5967 Emacs.scrollBarWidth: 0
5970 Or select @samp{Options->Display->Scrollbars}.
5971 Remember to save options.
5973 To turn the scrollbar off on a per-frame basis, use the following
5977 (set-specifier scrollbar-width 0 (selected-frame))
5980 You can actually turn the scrollbars on at any level you want by
5981 substituting for (selected-frame) in the above command. For example, to
5982 turn the scrollbars off only in a single buffer:
5985 (set-specifier scrollbar-width 0 (current-buffer))
5988 @node Q4.6.2, Q4.6.3, Q4.6.1, Display
5989 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.2: How can I change the scrollbar width?
5993 @node Q4.6.3, Q4.6.4, Q4.6.2, Display
5994 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.3: How can I use resources to change scrollbar colors?
5996 Here's a recap of how to use resources to change your scrollbar colors:
6001 Emacs*XmScrollBar.Background: skyblue
6002 Emacs*XmScrollBar.troughColor: lightgray
6006 Emacs*Scrollbar.Foreground: skyblue
6007 Emacs*Scrollbar.Background: lightgray
6010 Note the capitalization of @code{Scrollbar} for the Athena widget.
6012 @node Q4.6.4, Q4.6.5, Q4.6.3, Display
6013 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.4: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this?
6015 When I move the scrollbar in an XEmacs window, it moves the point as
6016 well, which should not be the default behavior. Is this a bug or a
6017 feature? Can I disable it?
6019 The current behavior is a feature, not a bug. Point remains at the same
6020 buffer position as long as that position does not scroll off the screen.
6021 In that event, point will end up in either the upper-left or lower-left
6024 This cannot be changed.
6026 @node Q4.6.5, Q4.6.6, Q4.6.4, Display
6027 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.5: Scrolling one line at a time.
6029 Can the cursor keys scroll the screen a line at a time, rather than the
6030 default half page jump? I tend it to find it disorienting.
6035 (setq scroll-step 1)
6038 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
6040 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Windows->Scroll Step...}
6041 or type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} windows @key{RET}}.
6043 @node Q4.6.6, Q4.6.7, Q4.6.5, Display
6044 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.6: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes?
6046 Do @code{(setq truncate-lines t)} in the mode-hooks for any modes
6047 in which you want lines truncated.
6049 More precisely: If @code{truncate-lines} is nil, horizontal scrollbars
6050 will never appear. Otherwise, they will appear only if the value of
6051 @code{scrollbar-height} for that buffer/window/etc. is non-zero. If you
6055 (set-specifier scrollbar-height 0)
6058 then horizontal scrollbars will not appear in truncated buffers unless
6059 the package specifically asked for them.
6061 @node Q4.6.7, Q4.7.1, Q4.6.6, Display
6062 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.7: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off?
6064 @code{auto-show-mode} controls whether or not a horizontal scrollbar
6065 magically appears when a line is too long to be displayed. This is
6066 enabled by default. To turn it off, put the following in your
6070 (setq auto-show-mode nil)
6071 (setq-default auto-show-mode nil)
6074 @unnumberedsec 4.7: The Gutter Tabs, The Progress Bar, Widgets
6076 @node Q4.7.1, Q4.7.2, Q4.6.7, Display
6077 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.7.1: How can I disable the gutter tabs?
6081 @node Q4.7.2, Q4.7.3, Q4.7.1, Display
6082 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.7.2: How can I disable the progress bar?
6086 @node Q4.7.3, Q4.7.4, Q4.7.2, Display
6087 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.7.3: There are bugs in the gutter or widgets.
6091 @node Q4.7.4, , Q4.7.3, Display
6092 @unnumberedsubsec Q4.7.4: How can I customize the gutter or gutter tabs?
6096 @node External Subsystems, Internet, Display, Top
6097 @unnumbered 5 Interfacing with the Operating System and External Devices
6099 This is part 5 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
6100 section is devoted to the various ways that XEmacs interfaces with the
6101 operating system, with other processes and with external devices such
6102 as speakers and the printer.
6105 5.0: X Window System and Resources
6106 * Q5.0.1:: Where is a list of X resources?
6107 * Q5.0.2:: How can I detect a color display?
6108 * Q5.0.3:: How can I get the icon to just say @samp{XEmacs}?
6109 * Q5.0.4:: How can I have the window title area display the full path?
6110 * Q5.0.5:: @samp{xemacs -name junk} doesn't work?
6111 * Q5.0.6:: @samp{-iconic} doesn't work.
6113 5.1: Microsoft Windows
6114 * Q5.1.1:: Does XEmacs rename all the @samp{win32-*} symbols to @samp{w32-*}?
6115 * Q5.1.2:: How do I get Windows Explorer to associate a file type with XEmacs?
6118 * Q5.2.1:: What do I need to change to make printing work?
6119 * Q5.2.2:: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer?
6120 * Q5.2.3:: Getting @kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer.
6121 * Q5.2.4:: Can you print under MS Windows?
6124 * Q5.3.1:: How do I turn off the sound?
6125 * Q5.3.2:: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep?
6126 * Q5.3.3:: What are NAS and ESD (EsounD)?
6127 * Q5.3.4:: Sunsite sounds don't play.
6129 5.4: Running an Interior Shell, Invoking Subprocesses
6130 * Q5.4.1:: What is an interior shell?
6131 * Q5.4.2:: How do I start up a second shell buffer?
6132 * Q5.4.3:: Telnet from shell filters too much
6133 * Q5.4.4:: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode.
6134 * Q5.4.5:: XEmacs complains "No such file or directory, diff"
6135 * Q5.4.6:: Cygwin error "fork_copy: linked dll/bss pass 0 failed"
6137 5.5: Multiple Device Support
6138 * Q5.5.1:: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display?
6139 * Q5.5.2:: Can I really connect to a running XEmacs after calling up over a modem? How?
6140 * Q5.5.3:: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame?
6141 * Q5.5.4:: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent XEmacs is a client?
6142 * Q5.5.5:: Is there a way to start a new XEmacs if there's no gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient?
6145 @unnumberedsec 5.0: X Window System and Resources
6147 @node Q5.0.1, Q5.0.2, External Subsystems, External Subsystems
6148 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.1: Where is a list of X resources?
6150 Search through the @file{NEWS} file for @samp{X Resources}. A fairly
6151 comprehensive list is given after it.
6153 In addition, an @file{app-defaults} file @file{etc/Emacs.ad} is
6154 supplied, listing the defaults. The file @file{etc/sample.Xresources}
6155 gives a different set of defaults that you might consider for
6156 installation in your @file{~/.Xresources} file. It is nearly the same
6157 as @file{etc/Emacs.ad}, but a few entries are altered. Be careful about
6158 installing the contents of this file into your @file{.Xresources} (or
6159 legacy @file{.Xdefaults}) file if you use GNU Emacs under X11 as well.
6161 @node Q5.0.2, Q5.0.3, Q5.0.1, External Subsystems
6162 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.2: How can I detect a color display?
6164 You can test the return value of the function @code{(device-class)}, as
6168 (when (eq (device-class) 'color)
6169 (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-comment-face "Grey")
6170 (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-string-face "Red")
6175 @node Q5.0.3, Q5.0.4, Q5.0.2, External Subsystems
6176 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.3: How can I get the icon to just say @samp{XEmacs}?
6178 I'd like the icon to just say @samp{XEmacs}, and not include the name of
6179 the current file in it.
6181 Add the following line to your @file{init.el}:
6184 (setq frame-icon-title-format "XEmacs")
6187 @node Q5.0.4, Q5.0.5, Q5.0.3, External Subsystems
6188 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.4: How can I have the window title area display the full path?
6190 I'd like to have the window title area display the full directory/name
6191 of the current buffer file and not just the name.
6193 Add the following line to your @file{init.el}:
6196 (setq frame-title-format "%S: %f")
6199 A more sophisticated title might be:
6202 (setq frame-title-format
6203 '("%S: " (buffer-file-name "%f"
6204 (dired-directory dired-directory "%b"))))
6207 That is, use the file name, or the dired-directory, or the buffer name.
6209 @node Q5.0.5, Q5.0.6, Q5.0.4, External Subsystems
6210 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.5: @samp{xemacs -name junk} doesn't work?
6212 When I run @samp{xterm -name junk}, I get an xterm whose class name
6213 according to xprop, is @samp{junk}. This is the way it's supposed to
6214 work, I think. When I run @samp{xemacs -name junk} the class name is
6215 not set to @samp{junk}. It's still @samp{emacs}. What does
6216 @samp{xemacs -name} really do? The reason I ask is that my window
6217 manager (fvwm) will make a window sticky and I use XEmacs to read my
6218 mail. I want that XEmacs window to be sticky, without having to use the
6219 window manager's function to set the window sticky. What gives?
6221 @samp{xemacs -name} sets the application name for the program (that is,
6222 the thing which normally comes from @samp{argv[0]}). Using @samp{-name}
6223 is the same as making a copy of the executable with that new name. The
6224 @code{WM_CLASS} property on each frame is set to the frame-name, and the
6225 application-class. So, if you did @samp{xemacs -name FOO} and then
6226 created a frame named @var{BAR}, you'd get an X window with WM_CLASS =
6227 @code{( "BAR", "Emacs")}. However, the resource hierarchy for this
6231 Name: FOO .shell .container .BAR
6232 Class: Emacs .TopLevelEmacsShell.EmacsManager.EmacsFrame
6235 instead of the default
6238 Name: xemacs.shell .container .emacs
6239 Class: Emacs .TopLevelEmacsShell.EmacsManager.EmacsFrame
6243 It is arguable that the first element of WM_CLASS should be set to the
6244 application-name instead of the frame-name, but I think that's less
6245 flexible, since it does not give you the ability to have multiple frames
6246 with different WM_CLASS properties. Another possibility would be for
6247 the default frame name to come from the application name instead of
6248 simply being @samp{emacs}. However, at this point, making that change
6249 would be troublesome: it would mean that many users would have to make
6250 yet another change to their resource files (since the default frame name
6251 would suddenly change from @samp{emacs} to @samp{xemacs}, or whatever
6252 the executable happened to be named), so we'd rather avoid it.
6254 To make a frame with a particular name use:
6257 (make-frame '((name . "the-name")))
6260 @node Q5.0.6, Q5.1.1, Q5.0.5, External Subsystems
6261 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.6: @samp{-iconic} doesn't work.
6263 When I start up XEmacs using @samp{-iconic} it doesn't work right.
6264 Using @samp{-unmapped} on the command line, and setting the
6265 @code{initiallyUnmapped} X Resource don't seem to help much either...
6267 @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes:
6270 Ugh, this stuff is such an incredible mess that I've about given up
6271 getting it to work. The principal problem is numerous window-manager
6275 @unnumberedsec 5.1: Microsoft Windows
6277 @node Q5.1.1, Q5.1.2, Q5.0.6, External Subsystems
6278 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.1.1: Does XEmacs rename all the @samp{win32-*} symbols to @samp{w32-*}?
6280 In his flavor of Emacs 20, Richard Stallman has renamed all the @samp{win32-*}
6281 symbols to @samp{w32-*}. Does XEmacs do the same?
6283 We consider such a move counter-productive, thus we do not use the
6284 @samp{w32} prefix. (His rather questionable justification was that he
6285 did not consider Windows to be a "winning" platform.) However, the name
6286 @samp{Win32} is not particularly descriptive outside the Windows world,
6287 and using just @samp{windows-} would be too generic. So we chose a
6288 compromise, the prefix @samp{mswindows-} for Windows-related variables
6291 Thus all the XEmacs variables and functions directly related to either
6292 the Windows GUI or OS are prefixed @samp{mswindows-} (except for a
6293 couple of debugging variables, prefixed @samp{debug-mswindows-}). From
6294 an architectural perspective, however, we believe that this is mostly a
6295 non-issue because there should be a very small number of
6296 window-systems-specific variables anyway. Whenever possible, we try to
6297 provide generic interfaces that apply to all window systems.
6300 @c The user variables
6301 @c that share functionality with existing NT Emacs variables are be named
6302 @c with our convention, but we provide the GNU Emacs names as
6303 @c compatibility aliases.
6305 @node Q5.1.2, Q5.2.1, Q5.1.1, External Subsystems
6306 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.1.2: How do I get Windows Explorer to associate a file type with XEmacs?
6308 @unnumberedsubsubsec Associating a new file type with XEmacs.
6310 In Explorer select @samp{View->Options->File Types}, press @samp{[New
6311 Type...]} and fill in the dialog box, e.g.:
6314 Description of type: Emacs Lisp source
6315 Associated extension: el
6316 Content Type (MIME): text/plain
6319 then press @samp{[New...]} and fill in the @samp{Action} dialog box as
6326 Application used to perform action:
6327 D:\Full\path\for\xemacs.exe "%1"
6337 DDE Application Not Running:
6344 @unnumberedsubsubsec Associating an existing file type with XEmacs.
6346 In Explorer select @samp{View->Options->File Types}. Click on the file
6347 type in the list and press @samp{[Edit...]}. If the file type already
6348 has an @samp{Open} action, double click on it and fill in the
6349 @samp{Action} dialog box as described above; otherwise create a new
6352 If the file type has more than one action listed, you probably want to
6353 make the @samp{Open} action that you just edited the default by clicking on
6354 it and pressing @samp{Set Default}.
6356 Note for Windows 2000 users: Under Windows 2000, get to @samp{File Types}
6357 using @samp{Control Panel->Folder Options->File Types}.
6359 @unnumberedsec 5.2: Printing
6361 @node Q5.2.1, Q5.2.2, Q5.1.2, External Subsystems
6362 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.1: What do I need to change to make printing work?
6364 For regular printing there are two variables that can be customized.
6368 This should be set to a command that takes standard input and sends
6369 it to a printer. Something like:
6372 (setq lpr-command "lp")
6376 This should be set to a list that contains whatever the print command
6377 requires to do its job. Something like:
6380 (setq lpr-switches '("-depson"))
6384 For postscript printing there are three analogous variables to
6388 @item ps-lpr-command
6389 This should be set to a command that takes postscript on standard input
6390 and directs it to a postscript printer.
6392 @item ps-lpr-switches
6393 This should be set to a list of switches required for
6394 @code{ps-lpr-command} to do its job.
6396 @item ps-print-color-p
6397 This boolean variable should be set @code{t} if printing will be done in
6398 color, otherwise it should be set to @code{nil}.
6401 NOTE: It is an undocumented limitation in XEmacs that postscript
6402 printing (the @code{Pretty Print Buffer} menu item) @strong{requires} a
6403 window system environment. It cannot be used outside of X11.
6405 @node Q5.2.2, Q5.2.3, Q5.2.1, External Subsystems
6406 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.2: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer?
6408 Font-lock looks nice. How can I print (WYSIWYG) the highlighted
6411 The package @code{ps-print}, which is now included with XEmacs, provides
6412 the ability to do this. The source code contains complete instructions
6414 @file{$prefix/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/lisp/ps-print/ps-print.el},
6415 being the default location of an installed ps-print package.
6417 @node Q5.2.3, Q5.2.4, Q5.2.2, External Subsystems
6418 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.3: Getting @kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer.
6420 My printer is a Postscript printer and @code{lpr} only works for
6421 Postscript files, so how do I get @kbd{M-x lpr-region} and @kbd{M-x
6422 lpr-buffer} to work?
6424 Put something like this in your @file{init.el}:
6427 (setq lpr-command "a2ps")
6428 (setq lpr-switches '("-p" "-1"))
6431 If you don't use a2ps to convert ASCII to postscript (why not, it's
6432 free?), replace with the command you do use. Note also that some
6433 versions of a2ps require a @samp{-Pprinter} to ensure spooling.
6435 @node Q5.2.4, Q5.3.1, Q5.2.3, External Subsystems
6436 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.4: Can you print under MS Windows?
6438 As of 21.4, printing works on Windows, using simply
6439 @samp{File->Print BUFFER...}, and can be configured with
6440 @samp{File->Page Setup...}.
6442 Prior to 21.4, there is no built-in support, but there are some clever
6443 hacks out there. If you know how, please let us know and we'll put it
6446 @unnumberedsec 5.3: Sound
6448 @node Q5.3.1, Q5.3.2, Q5.2.4, External Subsystems
6449 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.3.1: How do I turn off the sound?
6451 Add the following line to your @file{init.el}:
6454 (setq bell-volume 0)
6455 (setq sound-alist nil)
6458 That will make your XEmacs totally silent---even the default ding sound
6459 (TTY beep on TTY-s) will be gone.
6461 You can also change these with Customize. Select from the
6462 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
6463 (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Sound->Sound...} or type @kbd{M-x
6464 customize @key{RET} sound @key{RET}}.
6467 @node Q5.3.2, Q5.3.3, Q5.3.1, External Subsystems
6468 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.3.2: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep?
6470 Make sure your XEmacs was compiled with sound support, and then put this
6471 in your @file{init.el}:
6474 (load-default-sounds)
6477 @node Q5.3.3, Q5.3.4, Q5.3.2, External Subsystems
6478 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.3.3: What are NAS and ESD (EsounD)?
6480 @dfn{Network Audio System} (NAS) is a client-server sound library for X.
6482 @uref{http://radscan.com/nas.html}.
6484 To build XEmacs with it, use the @file{configure} flag
6485 @samp{--with-sound=nas} (@samp{--enable-sound=nas} in 21.5 or later).
6487 @dfn{Enlightened Sound Daemon} (ESD or EsounD) is yet another sound system.
6489 @uref{http://www.tux.org/~ricdude/EsounD.html}.
6491 To build XEmacs with it, use the @file{configure} flag
6492 @samp{--with-sound=esd} (@samp{--enable-sound=esd} in 21.5 or later).
6494 You can specify support for both with a flag like
6495 @samp{--with-sound=nas,esd} (@samp{--enable-sound=nas,esd} in 21.5 or
6498 @node Q5.3.4, Q5.4.1, Q5.3.3, External Subsystems
6499 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.3.4: Sunsite sounds don't play.
6501 I'm having some trouble with sounds I've downloaded from sunsite. They
6502 play when I run them through @code{showaudio} or cat them directly to
6503 @file{/dev/audio}, but XEmacs refuses to play them.
6505 @email{gutschk@@uni-muenster.de, Markus Gutschke} writes:
6508 [Many of] These files have an (erroneous) 24byte header that tells about
6509 the format that they have been recorded in. If you cat them to
6510 @file{/dev/audio}, the header will be ignored and the default behavior
6511 for /dev/audio will be used. This happens to be 8kHz uLaw. It is
6512 probably possible to fix the header by piping through @code{sox} and
6513 passing explicit parameters for specifying the sampling format; you then
6514 need to perform a 'null' conversion from SunAudio to SunAudio.
6517 @unnumberedsec 5.4: Running an Interior Shell, Invoking Subprocesses
6519 @node Q5.4.1, Q5.4.2, Q5.3.4, External Subsystems
6520 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.1: What is an interior shell?
6524 @node Q5.4.2, Q5.4.3, Q5.4.1, External Subsystems
6525 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.2: How do I start up a second shell buffer?
6527 In the @code{*shell*} buffer:
6530 M-x rename-buffer @key{RET} *shell-1* @key{RET}
6534 This will then start a second shell. The key is that no buffer named
6535 @samp{*shell*} can exist. It might be preferable to use @kbd{M-x
6536 rename-uniquely} to rename the @code{*shell*} buffer instead of @kbd{M-x
6539 Alternately, you can set the variable @code{shell-multiple-shells}.
6540 If the value of this variable is non-nil, each time shell mode is invoked,
6543 @node Q5.4.3, Q5.4.4, Q5.4.2, External Subsystems
6544 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.3: Telnet from shell filters too much
6546 I'm using the Emacs @kbd{M-x shell} function, and I would like to invoke
6547 and use a telnet session within it. Everything works fine except that
6548 now all @samp{^M}'s are filtered out by Emacs. Fixes?
6550 Use @kbd{M-x rsh} or @kbd{M-x telnet} to open remote sessions rather
6551 than doing rsh or telnet within the local shell buffer. You can also
6552 use @kbd{M-x ssh} to open secure remote session if you have @code{ssh}
6555 @node Q5.4.4, Q5.4.5, Q5.4.3, External Subsystems
6556 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.4: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode.
6558 Sometimes (i.e. it's not repeatable, and I can't work out why it
6559 happens) when I'm typing into shell mode, I hit return and only a
6560 portion of the command is given to the shell, and a blank prompt is
6561 returned. If I hit return again, the rest of the previous command is
6564 @email{martin@@xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz} writes:
6567 There is a known problem with interaction between @code{csh} and the
6568 @code{filec} option and XEmacs. You should add the following to your
6572 if ( "$TERM" == emacs || "$TERM" == unknown ) unset filec
6576 @node Q5.4.5, Q5.4.6, Q5.4.4, External Subsystems
6577 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.5: XEmacs complains "No such file or directory, diff"
6579 or "ispell" or other commands that seem related to whatever you just
6580 tried to do (M-x ediff or M-$, for example).
6582 There are a large number of common (in the sense that "everyone has
6583 these, they really do") Unix utilities that are not provided with
6584 XEmacs. The GNU Project's implementations are available for Windows in
6585 the the Cygwin distribution (@uref{http://www.cygwin.com/}), which also
6586 provides a complete Unix emulation environment (and thus makes ports of
6587 Unix utilities nearly trivial). Another implementation is that from
6588 MinGW (@uref{http://www.mingw.org/msys.shtml}). If you know of others,
6591 @node Q5.4.6, Q5.5.1, Q5.4.5, External Subsystems
6592 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.6: Cygwin error "fork_copy: linked dll/bss pass 0 failed"
6594 If you are getting an error like
6597 17797832 [main] bash 3468 fork_copy: linked dll/bss pass 0 failed,
6598 0x675000..0x6756A0, done 0, windows pid 2708, Win 32 error 487
6599 bash: fork: resource temporarily unavailable
6602 when trying to run bash using @kbd{M-x shell}, then you need to rebase
6603 your Cygwin DLL's. This is a known problem with Cygwin. To fix:
6607 Download the @file{rebase} utility from Cygwin setup (it's under
6610 Kill @strong{all} of your Cygwin processes, including all of your
6611 shells and all background processes. Use @code{ps -a} to list all the
6612 processes you need to kill.
6614 From a DOS prompt, run @file{ash} (@strong{not} @file{bash},
6615 @file{tcsh} or @file{zsh}). Do not try to be clever and @code{exec
6616 /bin/ash} from your last shell; it won't work.
6618 Type @code{/bin/rebaseall -v}.
6621 The problem should now be fixed -- at least, until you install another
6622 Cygwin package with DLL's, in which case you may have to repeat the
6625 @unnumberedsec 5.5: Multiple Device Support
6627 @node Q5.5.1, Q5.5.2, Q5.4.6, External Subsystems
6628 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.5.1: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display?
6630 Use the command @kbd{M-x make-frame-on-display}. This command is also
6631 on the File menu in the menubar.
6633 The command @code{make-frame-on-tty} also exists, which will establish a
6634 connection to any tty-like device. Opening the TTY devices should be
6635 left to @code{gnuclient}, though.
6637 @node Q5.5.2, Q5.5.3, Q5.5.1, External Subsystems
6638 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.5.2: Can I really connect to a running XEmacs after calling up over a modem? How?
6640 Yes. Use @code{gnuclient -nw}.
6642 Also see @ref{Q5.5.3, How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame?}.
6644 @node Q5.5.3, Q5.5.4, Q5.5.2, External Subsystems
6645 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.5.3: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame?
6647 If you set the @code{gnuserv-frame} variable to the frame that should be
6648 used to display buffers that are pulled up, a new frame will not be
6649 created. For example, you could put
6652 (setq gnuserv-frame (selected-frame))
6655 early on in your @file{init.el}, to ensure that the first frame created
6656 is the one used for your gnuserv buffers.
6658 There is an option to set the gnuserv target to the current frame. See
6659 @code{Options->Display->"Other Window" Location->Make Current Frame Gnuserv Target}
6661 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
6662 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
6663 (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Gnuserv->Gnuserv Frame...} or type
6664 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} gnuserv @key{RET}}.
6667 @node Q5.5.4, Q5.5.5, Q5.5.3, External Subsystems
6668 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.5.4: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent XEmacs is a client?
6670 Put the following in your @file{init.el} file to start the server:
6676 Start your first XEmacs as usual. After that, you can do:
6679 gnuclient randomfilename
6682 from the command line to get your existing XEmacs process to open a new
6683 frame and visit randomfilename in that window. When you're done editing
6684 randomfilename, hit @kbd{C-x #} to kill the buffer and get rid of the
6687 See also man page of gnuclient.
6689 @node Q5.5.5, , Q5.5.4, External Subsystems
6690 @unnumberedsubsec Q5.5.5: Is there a way to start a new XEmacs if there's no gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient?
6692 @email{vroonhof@@math.ethz.ch, Jan Vroonhof} writes:
6694 Here is one of the solutions, we have this in a script called
6695 @file{etc/editclient.sh}.
6698 if gnuclient -batch -eval t >/dev/null 2>&1
6700 exec gnuclient $@{1+"$@@"@}
6702 xemacs -unmapped -f gnuserv-start &
6703 until gnuclient -batch -eval t >/dev/null 2>&1
6707 exec gnuclient $@{1+"$@@"@}
6711 Note that there is a known problem when running XEmacs and 'gnuclient
6712 -nw' on the same TTY.
6715 @node Internet, Advanced, External Subsystems, Top
6716 @unnumbered 6 Connecting to the Internet
6718 This is part 6 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
6719 section is devoted connecting to the Internet.
6722 6.0: General Mail and News
6723 * Q6.0.1:: What are the various packages for reading mail?
6724 * Q6.0.2:: How can I send mail?
6725 * Q6.0.3:: How do I get my outgoing mail archived?
6726 * Q6.0.4:: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages?
6727 * Q6.0.5:: How do I customize the From line?
6728 * Q6.0.6:: How do I get my MUA to filter mail for me?
6729 * Q6.0.7:: Remote mail reading with an MUA.
6730 * Q6.0.8:: An MUA gets an error incorporating new mail.
6731 * Q6.0.9:: Why isn't @file{movemail} working?
6732 * Q6.0.10:: How do I make my MUA display graphical smilies?
6733 * Q6.0.11:: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines?
6735 6.1: Reading Mail with VM
6736 * Q6.1.1:: How do I set up VM to retrieve mail from a remote site using POP?
6737 * Q6.1.2:: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail?
6738 * Q6.1.3:: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How can I tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"?
6739 * Q6.1.4:: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM?
6740 * Q6.1.5:: How do I make VM stay in a single frame?
6741 * Q6.1.6:: Customization of VM not covered in the manual, or here.
6743 6.2: Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus
6744 * Q6.2.1:: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus, Quassia Gnus, argh!
6745 * Q6.2.2:: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame?
6748 * Q6.3.1:: Can I edit files on other hosts?
6749 * Q6.3.2:: What is EFS?
6751 6.4: Web Browsing with W3
6752 * Q6.4.1:: What is W3?
6753 * Q6.4.2:: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall?
6754 * Q6.4.3:: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables?
6757 @unnumberedsec 6.0: General Mail and News
6759 @node Q6.0.1, Q6.0.2, Internet, Internet
6760 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.1: What are the various packages for reading mail?
6764 @node Q6.0.2, Q6.0.3, Q6.0.1, Internet
6765 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.2: How can I send mail?
6767 Under Unix and Mac OS X, the @samp{sendmail} package is normally used
6771 Under Windows, you need to use @samp{smtpmail}, which communicates
6772 directly with the mail server, as there is no @file{sendmail} program
6773 running. To get it working, use code like the following in your
6774 @file{init.el} file:
6777 ;; Get mail working under Windows.
6778 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it) ; for message/Gnus
6779 (setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it) ; for C-x m, etc.
6780 ;; the following ensures that mail problems can be debugged: it logs a trace
6781 ;; of the SMTP conversation to *trace of SMTP session to <somewhere>*.
6782 (setq smtpmail-debug-info t)
6783 ;; Substitute your info here.
6784 ;(setq user-mail-address "ben@@xemacs.org")
6785 ;(setq user-full-name "Ben Wing")
6786 ;(setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtp.myserver.myisp.com")
6787 ;; The following two aren't completely necessary but may help.
6788 ;(setq smtpmail-local-domain "666.com")
6789 ;(setq smtpmail-sendto-domain "666.com")
6790 ;; If your SMTP server requires a username/password to authenticate, as
6791 ;; many do nowadays, set them like this:
6792 ;(setq smtpmail-auth-credentials ; or use ~/.authinfo
6793 ; '(("smtp.myserver.myisp.com" 25 "USER@@SOMEWHERE" "PASSWORD")))
6795 ;; Other possibilities for getting smtpmail to work:
6797 ;; If for some reason you need to authenticate using the STARTTLS protocol
6798 ;; (don't look into this unless you know what it is), use
6799 ;; (setq smtpmail-starttls-credentials
6800 ;; '(("YOUR SMTP HOST" 25 "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert")))
6801 ;; Requires external program
6802 ;; ftp://ftp.opaopa.org/pub/elisp/starttls-*.tar.gz.
6803 ;; See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2246.txt,
6804 ;; http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2487.txt
6807 The lines you need to care about are those that set
6808 @code{user-mail-address}, @code{user-full-name},
6809 @code{smtpmail-default-smtp-server}, and
6810 @code{smtpmail-auth-credentials}. You need to set these with,
6811 respectively, your email address, your full name, the SMTP server you
6812 use for outgoing mail, and the username and password you need to log
6813 in to your SMTP server. (If for some reason your SMTP server doesn't
6814 require logging in to send mail, don't uncomment this last line.)
6816 The other settings may be useful in specific cases, but you should know what
6817 you're doing before enabling them.
6819 @node Q6.0.3, Q6.0.4, Q6.0.2, Internet
6820 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.3: How do I get my outgoing mail archived?
6823 (setq mail-archive-file-name "~/outbox")
6826 @node Q6.0.4, Q6.0.5, Q6.0.3, Internet
6827 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.4: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages?
6829 VM, MH-E and GNUS support MIME natively. Other MUAs may or may not
6830 have MIME support; refer to their documentation and other resources,
6831 such as web pages and mailing lists. Packages like SEMI/WEMI may be
6832 useful in connection with MUAs like mew and Wanderlust.
6834 @node Q6.0.5, Q6.0.6, Q6.0.4, Internet
6835 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.5: How do I customize the From line?
6837 How do I change the @samp{From:} line? I have set gnus-user-from-line
6840 Gail Gurman <gail.gurman@@sybase.com>
6842 @noindent , but XEmacs Gnus doesn't use
6843 it. [This should apply to all MUA's. --ed] Instead it uses
6845 Gail Mara Gurman @email{gailg@@deall}
6847 @noindent and then complains
6848 that it's incorrect. Also, as you perhaps can see, my Message-ID is
6849 screwy. How can I change that?
6851 @email{larsi@@ifi.uio.no, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen} writes:
6854 Set @code{user-mail-address} to @samp{gail.gurman@@sybase.com} or
6855 @code{mail-host-address} to @samp{sybase.com}.
6858 @node Q6.0.6, Q6.0.7, Q6.0.5, Internet
6859 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.6: How do I get my MUA to filter mail for me?
6861 One possibility is to use procmail to split your mail before it gets to
6862 the MUA. I prefer this personally, since there are many strange and
6863 wonderful things one can do with procmail. Procmail may be found at
6864 @uref{http://www.procmail.org/}.
6866 Also see the Mail Filtering FAQ at:
6870 @uref{http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/filtering-faq/}.
6872 @node Q6.0.7, Q6.0.8, Q6.0.6, Internet
6873 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.7: Remote mail reading with an MUA.
6875 My mailbox lives at the office on a big honkin server. My regular INBOX
6876 lives on my honkin desktop machine. I now can PPP to the office from
6877 home which is far from honking... I'd like to be able to read mail at
6878 home without storing it here and I'd like to use xemacs and the MUA at
6879 home... Is there a recommended setup?
6881 @email{nuspl@@nvwls.cc.purdue.edu, Joseph J. Nuspl Jr.} writes:
6884 There are several ways to do this.
6888 Set your display to your home machine and run dxpc or one of the other X
6892 NFS mount your desktop machine on your home machine and modify your pop
6893 command on your home machine to rsh to your desktop machine and actually
6897 Run a POP server on your desktop machine as well and do a sort of two
6902 @email{wmperry@@monolith.spry.com, William Perry} adds:
6905 Or you could run a pop script periodically on your desktop machine, and
6906 just use ange-ftp or NFS to get to your mailbox. I used to do this all
6907 the time back at IU.
6910 @node Q6.0.8, Q6.0.9, Q6.0.7, Internet
6911 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.8: An MUA gets an error incorporating new mail.
6913 rmail and VM, and probably other MUA's as well, get new mail from
6914 your mailbox (called @file{/var/mail/$USER} or @file{/var/spool/mail/$USER}
6915 or something similar) using a program called @code{movemail}.
6916 This program interlocks with @code{/bin/mail} using the protocol
6917 defined by @code{/bin/mail}.
6919 There are various different protocols in general use, which you need to
6920 specify using the @samp{--mail-locking} option
6921 (@samp{--with-mail-locking} in 21.5 or later) to @file{configure}:
6925 POSIX file locking with @code{lockf()}
6927 BSD file locking with @code{flock()}
6929 To manipulate mail file @file{foo}, first create file @file{foo.lock}
6931 Use @code{locking()}, Microsoft's renamed @code{flock()}
6933 Use @code{lk_open()} and @code{lk_close()} as defined by the Multi-channel
6934 Memo Distribution Facility
6936 Retrieve mail using POP (the Post Office Protocol). This is the
6937 default for Cygwin/MinGW.
6940 @strong{IF YOU DON'T USE THE FORM OF INTERLOCKING THAT IS NORMAL ON YOUR
6941 SYSTEM, YOU CAN LOSE MAIL!}
6943 Usually the value is correctly determined automatically:
6944 @file{configure} tries to detect the method in use, and defaults exist
6945 on systems for which this doesn't work.
6947 However, if you run into problems incorporating new mail, it may be
6948 because an incorrect method is being used.
6950 If your system uses the lock file protocol, and permissions are set
6951 so that ordinary users cannot write lock files in the mail spool
6952 directory, you may need to make @file{movemail} setgid to a
6953 suitable group such as @samp{mail}. You can use these commands (as
6961 If you are using the @samp{pop} locking method, @file{movemail} must
6964 Installation normally copies movemail from the build directory to an
6965 installation directory which is usually under @file{/usr/local/lib}.
6966 The installed copy of @file{movemail} is usually in the directory
6967 @file{/usr/local/lib/xemacs-VERSION/TARGET} (for example,
6968 @file{/usr/local/lib/xemacs-21.4.15/i686-pc-cygwin}). You must change
6969 the group and mode of the installed copy; changing the group and mode
6970 of the build directory copy is ineffective.
6972 @node Q6.0.9, Q6.0.10, Q6.0.8, Internet
6973 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.9: Why isn't @file{movemail} working?
6977 Note also that older versions of Mozilla came with a @file{movemail}
6978 program that is @strong{not} compatible with XEmacs. Do not use it.
6979 Always use the @file{movemail} installed with your XEmacs. Failure to
6980 do so can result in lost mail.
6982 @node Q6.0.10, Q6.0.11, Q6.0.9, Internet
6983 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.10: How do I make my MUA display graphical smilies?
6984 For mh-e use the following:
6987 (add-hook 'mh-show-mode-hook '(lambda ()
6988 (smiley-region (point-min)
6992 @email{bill@@carpenter.ORG, WJCarpenter} writes:
6993 For VM use the following:
6995 (autoload 'smiley-region "smiley" nil t)
6996 (add-hook 'vm-select-message-hook
6998 (smiley-region (point-min)
7002 For tm use the following:
7004 (autoload 'smiley-buffer "smiley" nil t)
7005 (add-hook 'mime-viewer/plain-text-preview-hook 'smiley-buffer)
7008 @node Q6.0.11, Q6.1.1, Q6.0.10, Internet
7009 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.11: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines?
7011 Firstly there is an ftp site which describes X-faces and has the
7012 associated tools mentioned below, at
7013 @uref{http://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/faces/}.
7019 Create 48x48x1 bitmap with your favorite tool
7022 Convert to "icon" format using one of xbm2ikon, pbmtoicon, etc.,
7023 and then compile the face.
7027 cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon |compface > file.face
7031 Then be sure to quote things that are necessary for emacs strings:
7034 cat ./file.face | sed 's/\\/\\\\/g'
7038 | sed 's/\"/\\\"/g' > ./file.face.quoted
7042 Then set up emacs to include the file as a mail header - there were a
7043 couple of suggestions here---either something like:
7046 (setq mail-default-headers
7047 "X-Face: @email{Ugly looking text string here}")
7050 Or, alternatively, as:
7053 (defun mail-insert-x-face ()
7055 (goto-char (point-min))
7056 (search-forward mail-header-separator)
7059 (insert-file-contents "~/.face")))
7061 (add-hook 'mail-setup-hook 'mail-insert-x-face)
7065 However, 2 things might be wrong:
7067 Some versions of pbmtoicon produces some header lines that is not
7068 expected by the version of compface that I grabbed. So I found I had to
7069 include a @code{tail +3} in the pipeline like this:
7072 cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon | tail +3 |compface > file.face
7075 Some people have also found that if one uses the @code{(insert-file)}
7076 method, one should NOT quote the face string using the sed script .
7078 It might also be helpful to use @email{stig@@hackvan.com, Stig's} script
7079 xbm2face (included in the compface distribution at XEmacs.org) to do the
7082 Contributors for this item:
7093 @unnumberedsec 6.1: Reading Mail with VM
7095 @node Q6.1.1, Q6.1.2, Q6.0.11, Internet
7096 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.1: How do I set up VM to retrieve mail from a remote site using POP?
7098 Use @code{vm-spool-files}, like this for example:
7101 (setq vm-spool-files '("/var/spool/mail/wing"
7102 "netcom23.netcom.com:110:pass:wing:MYPASS"))
7105 Of course substitute your actual password for MYPASS.
7107 @node Q6.1.2, Q6.1.3, Q6.1.1, Internet
7108 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.2: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail?
7110 @email{turner@@lanl.gov, John Turner} writes:
7116 (setq vm-auto-get-new-mail 60)
7120 @node Q6.1.3, Q6.1.4, Q6.1.2, Internet
7121 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.3: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How can I tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"?
7123 Set @code{vm-reply-ignored-addresses} to a list, like
7126 (setq vm-reply-ignored-addresses
7127 '("wing@@nuspl@@nvwls.cc.purdue.edu,netcom[0-9]*.netcom.com"
7128 "wing@@netcom.com" "wing@@xemacs.org"))
7131 Note that each string is a regular expression.
7133 @node Q6.1.4, Q6.1.5, Q6.1.3, Internet
7134 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.4: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM?
7136 A FAQ for VM exists at @uref{http://www.wonderworks.com/vm/FAQ.html}.
7138 VM has its own newsgroups gnu.emacs.vm.info and gnu.emacs.vm.bug.
7140 @node Q6.1.5, Q6.1.6, Q6.1.4, Internet
7141 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.5: How do I make VM stay in a single frame?
7143 John.@email{Cooper@@Eng.Sun.COM, John S Cooper} writes:
7147 ; Don't use multiple frames
7148 (setq vm-frame-per-composition nil)
7149 (setq vm-frame-per-folder nil)
7150 (setq vm-frame-per-edit nil)
7151 (setq vm-frame-per-summary nil)
7155 @node Q6.1.6, Q6.2.1, Q6.1.5, Internet
7156 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.6: Customization of VM not covered in the manual, or here.
7158 @email{boffi@@hp735.stru.polimi.it, giacomo boffi} writes:
7161 The meta-answer is to look into the file @file{vm-vars.el}, in the vm
7162 directory of the lisp library.
7164 @file{vm-vars.el} contains, initializes and carefully describes, with
7165 examples of usage, the plethora of user options that @emph{fully}
7166 control VM's behavior.
7168 Enter vm-vars, @code{forward-search} for toolbar, find the variables
7169 that control the toolbar placement, appearance, existence, copy to your
7170 @file{init.el} or @file{.vm} and modify according to the
7171 detailed instructions.
7173 The above also applies to all the various features of VM: search for
7174 some keywords, maybe the first you conjure isn't appropriate, find the
7175 appropriate variables, copy and experiment.
7178 @unnumberedsec 6.2: Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus
7180 @node Q6.2.1, Q6.2.2, Q6.1.6, Internet
7181 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.1: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus, Quassia Gnus, argh!
7183 The Gnus numbering issues are not meant for mere mortals to know them.
7184 If you feel you @emph{must} enter the muddy waters of Gnus, visit the
7185 excellent FAQ, maintained by Justin Sheehy, at:
7188 @uref{http://my.gnus.org/FAQ/}
7191 See also Gnus home page
7193 @uref{http://www.gnus.org/}
7196 @node Q6.2.2, Q6.3.1, Q6.2.1, Internet
7197 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.2: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame?
7199 The toolbar code to start Gnus opens the new frame---and it's a feature
7200 rather than a bug. If you don't like it, but would still like to click
7201 on the seemly icon, use the following code:
7204 (defun toolbar-news ()
7208 It will redefine the callback function of the icon to just call
7209 @code{gnus}, without all the fancy frame stuff.
7211 @unnumberedsec 6.3: FTP Access
7213 @node Q6.3.1, Q6.3.2, Q6.2.2, Internet
7214 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.3.1: Can I edit files on other hosts?
7216 Yes. Of course XEmacs can use any network file system (such as NFS or
7217 Windows file sharing) you have available, and includes some
7218 optimizations and safety features appropriate to those environments.
7220 It is also possible to transparently edit files via FTP, ssh, or rsh. That
7221 is, XEmacs makes a local copy using the transport in the background, and
7222 automatically refreshes the remote original from that copy when you save
7223 it. XEmacs also is capable of doing file system manipulations like
7224 creating and removing directories and files. The FTP interface is
7225 provided by the standard @samp{efs} package @ref{Top, EFS, , efs}. The
7226 ssh/rsh interface is provided by the optional @samp{tramp} package
7227 @ref{Top, TRAMP, , tramp}.
7229 @node Q6.3.2, Q6.4.1, Q6.3.1, Internet
7230 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.3.2: What is EFS?
7234 @unnumberedsec 6.4: Web Browsing with W3
7236 @node Q6.4.1, Q6.4.2, Q6.3.2, Internet
7237 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.4.1: What is W3?
7239 W3 is an advanced graphical browser written in Emacs lisp that runs on
7240 XEmacs. It has full support for cascaded style sheets, and more...
7242 It has a home web page at
7243 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/elisp/w3/docs.html}.
7245 @node Q6.4.2, Q6.4.3, Q6.4.1, Internet
7246 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.4.2: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall?
7248 There is a long, well-written, detailed section in the W3 manual that
7249 describes how to do this. Look in the section entitled "Firewalls".
7251 @node Q6.4.3, , Q6.4.2, Internet
7252 @unnumberedsubsec Q6.4.3: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables?
7254 Yes, and much more. W3, as distributed with the latest XEmacs is a
7255 full-featured web browser.
7257 @node Advanced, Other Packages, Internet, Top
7258 @unnumbered 7 Advanced Customization Using XEmacs Lisp
7260 This is part 7 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
7261 section is devoted to advanced customization using XEmacs Lisp.
7264 7.0: Emacs Lisp and @file{init.el}
7265 * Q7.0.1:: What version of Emacs am I running?
7266 * Q7.0.2:: How can I evaluate Emacs-Lisp expressions?
7267 * Q7.0.3:: @code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly.
7268 * Q7.0.4:: How can I add directories to the @code{load-path}?
7269 * Q7.0.5:: How to check if a lisp function is defined?
7270 * Q7.0.6:: Can I force the output of @code{(face-list)} to a buffer?
7272 7.1: Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques
7273 * Q7.1.1:: What is the difference in key sequences between XEmacs and GNU Emacs?
7274 * Q7.1.2:: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events?
7275 * Q7.1.3:: Could you explain @code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail?
7276 * Q7.1.4:: What is the performance hit of @code{let}?
7277 * Q7.1.5:: What is the recommended use of @code{setq}?
7278 * Q7.1.6:: What is the typical misuse of @code{setq}?
7279 * Q7.1.7:: I like the @code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down?
7280 * Q7.1.8:: I like recursion, does it slow things down?
7281 * Q7.1.9:: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer?
7282 * Q7.1.10:: @code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents!
7283 * Q7.1.11:: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there an easy way to find out where it spends time?
7286 * Q7.2.1:: What are bignums, ratios, and bigfloats in Lisp?
7287 * Q7.2.2:: XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers!
7288 * Q7.2.3:: Bignums are really slow!
7289 * Q7.2.4:: Equal bignums don't compare as equal! What gives?
7292 @unnumberedsec 7.0: Emacs Lisp and @file{init.el}
7294 @node Q7.0.1, Q7.0.2, Advanced, Advanced
7295 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.1: What version of Emacs am I running?
7297 How can @file{init.el} determine which of the family of
7300 To determine if you are currently running GNU Emacs 18, GNU Emacs 19,
7301 XEmacs 19, XEmacs 20, or Epoch, and use appropriate code, check out the
7302 example given in @file{etc/sample.init.el} (@file{etc/sample.emacs} in
7303 XEmacs versions prior to 21.4). There are other nifty things in there
7306 For all new code, all you really need to do is:
7309 (defvar running-xemacs (string-match "XEmacs\\|Lucid" emacs-version))
7312 @node Q7.0.2, Q7.0.3, Q7.0.1, Advanced
7313 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.2: How can I evaluate Emacs-Lisp expressions?
7315 I know I can evaluate Elisp expressions from @code{*scratch*} buffer
7316 with @kbd{C-j} after the expression. How do I do it from another
7319 Press @kbd{M-:} (the default binding of @code{eval-expression}), and
7320 enter the expression to the minibuffer.
7322 @node Q7.0.3, Q7.0.4, Q7.0.2, Advanced
7323 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.3: @code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly.
7325 If you put @code{(setq tab-width 6)} in your
7326 @file{init.el} file it does not work! Is there a reason
7327 for this? If you do it at the EVAL prompt it works fine!! How strange.
7329 Use @code{setq-default} instead, since @code{tab-width} is
7332 @node Q7.0.4, Q7.0.5, Q7.0.3, Advanced
7333 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.4: How can I add directories to the @code{load-path}?
7335 Here are two ways to do that, one that puts your directories at the
7336 front of the load-path, the other at the end:
7339 ;;; Add things at the beginning of the load-path, do not add
7340 ;;; duplicate directories:
7341 (pushnew "bar" load-path :test 'equal)
7343 (pushnew "foo" load-path :test 'equal)
7345 ;;; Add things at the end, unconditionally
7346 (setq load-path (nconc load-path '("foo" "bar")))
7349 @email{keithh@@nortel.ca, keith (k.p.) hanlan} writes:
7352 To add directories using Unix shell metacharacters use
7353 @file{expand-file-name} like this:
7356 (push (expand-file-name "~keithh/.emacsdir") load-path)
7360 @node Q7.0.5, Q7.0.6, Q7.0.4, Advanced
7361 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.5: How to check if a lisp function is defined?
7363 Use the following elisp:
7369 It's almost always a mistake to test @code{emacs-version} or any similar
7372 Instead, use feature-tests, such as @code{featurep}, @code{boundp},
7373 @code{fboundp}, or even simple behavioral tests, eg.:
7376 (defvar foo-old-losing-code-p
7377 (condition-case nil (progn (losing-code t) nil)
7378 (wrong-number-of-arguments t)))
7381 There is an incredible amount of broken code out there which could work
7382 much better more often in more places if it did the above instead of
7383 trying to divine its environment from the value of one variable.
7385 @node Q7.0.6, Q7.1.1, Q7.0.5, Advanced
7386 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.6: Can I force the output of @code{(face-list)} to a buffer?
7388 It would be good having it in a buffer, as the output of
7389 @code{(face-list)} is too wide to fit to a minibuffer.
7391 Evaluate the expression in the @samp{*scratch*} buffer with point after
7392 the rightmost paren and typing @kbd{C-j}.
7394 If the minibuffer smallness is the only problem you encounter, you can
7395 simply press @kbd{C-h l} to get the former minibuffer contents in a
7398 @unnumberedsec 7.1: Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques
7400 @node Q7.1.1, Q7.1.2, Q7.0.6, Advanced
7401 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.1: What is the difference in key sequences between XEmacs and GNU Emacs?
7403 @email{clerik@@naggum.no, Erik Naggum} writes;
7406 Emacs has a legacy of keyboards that produced characters with modifier
7407 bits, and therefore map a variety of input systems into this scheme even
7408 today. XEmacs is instead optimized for X events. This causes an
7409 incompatibility in the way key sequences are specified, but both Emacs
7410 and XEmacs will accept a key sequence as a vector of lists of modifiers
7411 that ends with a key, e.g., to bind @kbd{M-C-a}, you would say
7412 @code{[(meta control a)]} in both Emacsen. XEmacs has an abbreviated
7413 form for a single key, just (meta control a). Emacs has an abbreviated
7414 form for the Control and the Meta modifiers to string-characters (the
7415 ASCII characters), as in @samp{\M-\C-a}. XEmacs users need to be aware
7416 that the abbreviated form works only for one-character key sequences,
7417 while Emacs users need to be aware that the string-character is rather
7418 limited. Specifically, the string-character can accommodate only 256
7419 different values, 128 of which have the Meta modifier and 128 of which
7420 have not. In each of these blocks, only 32 characters have the Control
7421 modifier. Whereas @code{[(meta control A)]} differs from @code{[(meta
7422 control a)]} because the case differs, @samp{\M-\C-a} and @samp{\M-\C-A}
7423 do not. Programmers are advised to use the full common form, both
7424 because it is more readable and less error-prone, and because it is
7425 supported by both Emacsen.
7428 Another (even safer) way to be sure of the key-sequences is to use the
7429 @code{read-kbd-macro} function, which takes a string like @samp{C-c
7430 <up>}, and converts it to the internal key representation of the Emacs
7431 you use. The function is available both on XEmacs and GNU Emacs.
7433 @node Q7.1.2, Q7.1.3, Q7.1.1, Advanced
7434 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.2: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events?
7436 I wonder if there is an interactive function that can generate
7437 @dfn{fake} keyboard events. This way, I could simply map them inside
7443 (defun cg--generate-char-event (ch)
7444 "Generate an event, as if ch has been typed"
7445 (dispatch-event (character-to-event ch)))
7447 ;; Backspace and Delete stuff
7448 (global-set-key [backspace]
7449 (lambda () (interactive) (cg--generate-char-event 127)))
7450 (global-set-key [unknown_keysym_0x4]
7451 (lambda () (interactive) (cg--generate-char-event 4)))
7454 @node Q7.1.3, Q7.1.4, Q7.1.2, Advanced
7455 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.3: Could you explain @code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail?
7457 The @code{read-kbd-macro} function returns the internal Emacs
7458 representation of a human-readable string (which is its argument).
7462 (read-kbd-macro "C-c C-a")
7463 @result{} [(control ?c) (control ?a)]
7465 (read-kbd-macro "C-c C-. <up>")
7466 @result{} [(control ?c) (control ?.) up]
7469 In GNU Emacs the same forms will be evaluated to what GNU Emacs
7470 understands internally---the sequences @code{"\C-x\C-c"} and @code{[3
7471 67108910 up]}, respectively.
7473 The exact @dfn{human-readable} syntax is defined in the docstring of
7474 @code{edmacro-mode}. I'll repeat it here, for completeness.
7477 Format of keyboard macros during editing:
7479 Text is divided into @dfn{words} separated by whitespace. Except for
7480 the words described below, the characters of each word go directly as
7481 characters of the macro. The whitespace that separates words is
7482 ignored. Whitespace in the macro must be written explicitly, as in
7483 @kbd{foo @key{SPC} bar @key{RET}}.
7487 The special words @kbd{RET}, @kbd{SPC}, @kbd{TAB}, @kbd{DEL}, @kbd{LFD},
7488 @kbd{ESC}, and @kbd{NUL} represent special control characters. The
7489 words must be written in uppercase.
7492 A word in angle brackets, e.g., @code{<return>}, @code{<down>}, or
7493 @code{<f1>}, represents a function key. (Note that in the standard
7494 configuration, the function key @code{<return>} and the control key
7495 @key{RET} are synonymous.) You can use angle brackets on the words
7496 @key{RET}, @key{SPC}, etc., but they are not required there.
7499 Keys can be written by their @sc{ascii} code, using a backslash followed
7500 by up to six octal digits. This is the only way to represent keys with
7504 One or more prefixes @kbd{M-} (meta), @kbd{C-} (control), @kbd{S-}
7505 (shift), @kbd{A-} (alt), @kbd{H-} (hyper), and @kbd{s-} (super) may
7506 precede a character or key notation. For function keys, the prefixes
7507 may go inside or outside of the brackets: @code{C-<down>} @equiv{}
7508 @code{<C-down>}. The prefixes may be written in any order: @kbd{M-C-x}
7509 @equiv{} @kbd{C-M-x}.
7511 Prefixes are not allowed on multi-key words, e.g., @kbd{C-abc}, except
7512 that the Meta prefix is allowed on a sequence of digits and optional
7513 minus sign: @kbd{M--123} @equiv{} @kbd{M-- M-1 M-2 M-3}.
7516 The @code{^} notation for control characters also works: @kbd{^M}
7520 Double angle brackets enclose command names: @code{<<next-line>>} is
7521 shorthand for @kbd{M-x next-line @key{RET}}.
7524 Finally, @code{REM} or @code{;;} causes the rest of the line to be
7525 ignored as a comment.
7528 Any word may be prefixed by a multiplier in the form of a decimal number
7529 and @code{*}: @code{3*<right>} @equiv{} @code{<right> <right> <right>},
7530 and @code{10*foo} @equiv{}
7534 @code{foofoofoofoofoofoofoofoofoofoo}.
7536 Multiple text keys can normally be strung together to form a word, but
7537 you may need to add whitespace if the word would look like one of the
7538 above notations: @code{; ; ;} is a keyboard macro with three semicolons,
7539 but @code{;;;} is a comment. Likewise, @code{\ 1 2 3} is four keys but
7540 @code{\123} is a single key written in octal, and @code{< right >} is
7541 seven keys but @code{<right>} is a single function key. When in doubt,
7545 @node Q7.1.4, Q7.1.5, Q7.1.3, Advanced
7546 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.4: What is the performance hit of @code{let}?
7548 In most cases, not noticeable. Besides, there's no avoiding
7549 @code{let}---you have to bind your local variables, after all. Some
7550 pose a question whether to nest @code{let}s, or use one @code{let} per
7551 function. I think because of clarity and maintenance (and possible
7552 future implementation), @code{let}-s should be used (nested) in a way to
7553 provide the clearest code.
7555 @node Q7.1.5, Q7.1.6, Q7.1.4, Advanced
7556 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.5: What is the recommended use of @code{setq}?
7559 @item Global variables
7561 You will typically @code{defvar} your global variable to a default
7562 value, and use @code{setq} to set it later.
7564 It is never a good practice to @code{setq} user variables (like
7565 @code{case-fold-search}, etc.), as it ignores the user's choice
7566 unconditionally. Note that @code{defvar} doesn't change the value of a
7567 variable if it was bound previously. If you wish to change a
7568 user-variable temporarily, use @code{let}:
7571 (let ((case-fold-search nil))
7572 ... ; code with searches that must be case-sensitive
7576 You will notice the user-variables by their docstrings beginning with an
7577 asterisk (a convention).
7579 @item Local variables
7581 Bind them with @code{let}, which will unbind them (or restore their
7582 previous value, if they were bound) after exiting from the @code{let}
7583 form. Change the value of local variables with @code{setq} or whatever
7584 you like (e.g. @code{incf}, @code{setf} and such). The @code{let} form
7585 can even return one of its local variables.
7590 ;; iterate through the elements of the list returned by
7591 ;; `hairy-function-that-returns-list'
7592 (let ((l (hairy-function-that-returns-list)))
7594 ... do something with (car l) ...
7598 Another typical usage includes building a value simply to work with it.
7601 ;; Build the mode keymap out of the key-translation-alist
7602 (let ((inbox (file-truename (expand-file-name box)))
7604 ... code dealing with inbox ...
7608 This piece of code uses the local variable @code{inbox}, which becomes
7609 unbound (or regains old value) after exiting the form. The form also
7610 returns the value of @code{inbox}, which can be reused, for instance:
7613 (setq foo-processed-inbox
7618 @node Q7.1.6, Q7.1.7, Q7.1.5, Advanced
7619 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.6: What is the typical misuse of @code{setq}?
7621 A typical misuse is probably @code{setq}ing a variable that was meant to
7622 be local. Such a variable will remain bound forever, never to be
7623 garbage-collected. For example, the code doing:
7626 (defun my-function (whatever)
7628 ... build a large list ...
7632 does a bad thing, as @code{a} will keep consuming memory, never to be
7633 unbound. The correct thing is to do it like this:
7636 (defun my-function (whatever)
7637 (let (a) ; default initialization is to nil
7638 ... build a large list ...
7639 ... and exit, unbinding `a' in the process ...)
7642 Not only is this prettier syntactically, but it makes it possible for
7643 Emacs to garbage-collect the objects which @code{a} used to reference.
7645 Note that even global variables should not be @code{setq}ed without
7646 @code{defvar}ing them first, because the byte-compiler issues warnings.
7647 The reason for the warning is the following:
7650 (defun flurgoze nil) ; ok, global internal variable
7653 (setq flurghoze t) ; ops! a typo, but semantically correct.
7654 ; however, the byte-compiler warns.
7656 While compiling toplevel forms:
7657 ** assignment to free variable flurghoze
7660 @node Q7.1.7, Q7.1.8, Q7.1.6, Advanced
7661 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.7: I like the @code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down?
7663 It shouldn't. Here is what Dave Gillespie has to say about cl.el
7667 Many of the advanced features of this package, such as @code{defun*},
7668 @code{loop}, and @code{setf}, are implemented as Lisp macros. In
7669 byte-compiled code, these complex notations will be expanded into
7670 equivalent Lisp code which is simple and efficient. For example, the
7678 are expanded at compile-time to the Lisp forms
7682 (setcar p (cons x (car p)))
7685 which are the most efficient ways of doing these respective operations
7686 in Lisp. Thus, there is no performance penalty for using the more
7687 readable @code{incf} and @code{push} forms in your compiled code.
7689 @emph{Interpreted} code, on the other hand, must expand these macros
7690 every time they are executed. For this reason it is strongly
7691 recommended that code making heavy use of macros be compiled. (The
7692 features labelled @dfn{Special Form} instead of @dfn{Function} in this
7693 manual are macros.) A loop using @code{incf} a hundred times will
7694 execute considerably faster if compiled, and will also garbage-collect
7695 less because the macro expansion will not have to be generated, used,
7696 and thrown away a hundred times.
7698 You can find out how a macro expands by using the @code{cl-prettyexpand}
7702 @node Q7.1.8, Q7.1.9, Q7.1.7, Advanced
7703 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.8: I like recursion, does it slow things down?
7705 Yes. The Emacs byte-compiler cannot do much to optimize recursion. But
7706 think well whether this is a real concern in Emacs. Much of the Emacs
7707 slowness comes from internal mechanisms such as redisplay, or from the
7708 fact that it is an interpreter.
7710 Please try not to make your code much uglier to gain a very small speed
7711 gain. It's not usually worth it.
7713 @node Q7.1.9, Q7.1.10, Q7.1.8, Advanced
7714 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.9: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer?
7716 Here is a solution that will insert the glyph annotation at the
7717 beginning of buffer:
7720 (make-annotation (make-glyph '([FORMAT :file FILE]
7721 [string :data "fallback-text"]))
7727 Replace @samp{FORMAT} with an unquoted symbol representing the format of
7728 the image (e.g. @code{xpm}, @code{xbm}, @code{gif}, @code{jpeg}, etc.)
7729 Instead of @samp{FILE}, use the image file name
7734 @file{/usr/local/lib/xemacs-21.4/etc/recycle.xpm}).
7736 You can turn this to a function (that optionally prompts you for a file
7737 name), and inserts the glyph at @code{(point)} instead of
7740 @node Q7.1.10, Q7.1.11, Q7.1.9, Advanced
7741 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.10: @code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents!
7743 I tried to use @code{map-extents} to do an operation on all the extents
7744 in a region. However, it seems to quit after processing a random number
7745 of extents. Is it buggy?
7747 No. The documentation of @code{map-extents} states that it will iterate
7748 across the extents as long as @var{function} returns @code{nil}.
7749 Unexperienced programmers often forget to return @code{nil} explicitly,
7750 which results in buggy code. For instance, the following code is
7751 supposed to delete all the extents in a buffer, and issue as many
7752 @samp{fubar!} messages.
7755 (map-extents (lambda (ext ignore)
7757 (message "fubar!")))
7760 Instead, it will delete only the first extent, and stop right there --
7761 because @code{message} will return a non-nil value. The correct code
7765 (map-extents (lambda (ext ignore)
7771 @node Q7.1.11, Q7.2.1, Q7.1.10, Advanced
7772 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.1.11: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there an easy way to find out where it spends time?
7775 @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic} writes:
7777 Under XEmacs 20.4 and later you can use @kbd{M-x profile-key-sequence},
7778 press a key (say @key{RET} in the Gnus Group buffer), and get the
7779 results using @kbd{M-x profile-results}. It should give you an idea of
7780 where the time is being spent.
7783 @unnumberedsec 7.2: Mathematics
7785 @node Q7.2.1, Q7.2.2, Q7.1.11, Advanced
7786 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.2.1: What are bignums, ratios, and bigfloats in Lisp?
7788 Thanks to @email{james@@xemacs.org, Jerry James}, XEmacs 21.5.18 and
7789 later can use the capabilities of multiple-precision libraries that may
7790 be available for your platform. The GNU Multiple Precision (GMP) and
7791 BSD Multiple Precision (MP) libraries are partially supported. GMP
7792 gives you @dfn{bignums} (arbitrary precision integers), @dfn{ratios}
7793 (arbitrary precision fractions), and @dfn{bigfloats} (arbitrary
7794 precision floating point numbers). GNU MP is better-supported by XEmacs
7795 at the time of writing (2004-04-06). BSD MP support does not include
7796 ratios or bigfloats, and it throws errors that aren't understood.
7798 In most cases, bignum support should be transparent to users and Lisp
7799 programmers. A bignum-enabled XEmacs will automatically convert from
7800 fixnums to bignums and back in pure integer arithmetic, and for GNU MP,
7801 from floats to bigfloats. (Bigfloats must be explicitly coerced to
7802 other types, even if they are exactly representable by less precise
7803 types.) The Lisp reader and printer have been enhanced to handle
7804 bignums, as have the mathematical functions. Rationals (fixnums,
7805 bignums, and ratios) are printed using the @samp{%d}, @samp{%o},
7806 @samp{%x}, and @samp{%u} format conversions. The read syntax for ratios
7809 User-visible changes in behavior include (in probable order of annoyance)
7813 Arithmetic can cause a segfault, depending on your MP library
7814 @ref{Q7.2.2, XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers!}.
7817 Terminology is not Common-Lisp-conforming. For example, ``integer'' for
7818 Emacs Lisp means what Common Lisp calls ``fixnum''. This issue is being
7819 investigated, but the use of ``integer'' for fixnum is pervasive and may
7820 cause backward-compatibility and GNU-Emacs-compatibility problems.
7823 Many operations that used to cause a range error now succeed, with
7824 intermediate results and return values coerced to bignums as needed.
7827 An atom with ratio read syntax now returns a number, not a symbol.
7830 The @samp{%u} format conversion will now give an error if its argument
7831 is negative. (Without MP, it prints a number which Lisp can't read.)
7834 @emph{Surgeon General's Warning}: The automatic conversions cannot be
7835 disabled at runtime. New functions have been added which produce
7836 ratios, so there should be few surprises with type conflicts, but they
7837 can't be ruled out. ``Arbitrary'' precision means precisely what it
7838 says. If you work with extremely large numbers, your machine may
7839 arbitrarily decide to hand you an unpleasant surprise rather than a
7840 bignum @ref{Q7.2.2, XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers!}.
7842 To configure with GNU MP, add @samp{--use-number-lib=gmp}
7843 (@samp{--enable-bignum=gmp} in 21.5 or later) to your invocation of
7844 @file{configure}. For BSD MP, use @samp{--use-number-lib=mp}
7845 (@samp{--enable-bignum=mp} for 21.5).
7847 If you would like to help with bignum support, especially on BSD MP,
7848 please subscribe to the @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Lists/#xemacs-beta,
7849 XEmacs Beta mailing list}, and book up on @file{number-gmp.h} and
7850 @file{number-mp.h}. Jerry has promised to write internals documentation
7851 eventually, but if your skills run more to analysis and documentation
7852 than to writing new code, feel free to fill in the gap!
7855 @node Q7.2.2, Q7.2.3, Q7.2.1, Advanced
7856 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.2.2: XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers!
7858 GMP by default allocates temporaries on the stack. If you run out of
7859 stack space, you're dead; there is no way that we know of to reliably
7860 detect this condition, because @samp{alloca} is typically implemented to
7861 be @emph{fast} rather than robust. If you just need a little more
7862 oomph, use a bigger stack (@emph{e.g.}, the @file{ulimit -s} command in
7863 bash(1)). If you want robustness at the cost of speed, configure GMP
7864 with @samp{--disable-alloca} and rebuild the GMP library.
7866 We do not know whether BSD MP uses @samp{alloca} or not. Please send
7867 any information you have as a bug report (@kbd{M-x report-xemacs-bug
7868 @key{RET}}), which will give us platform information. (We do know that
7869 BSD MP implementations vary across vendors, but how much, we do not know
7873 @node Q7.2.3, Q7.2.4, Q7.2.2, Advanced
7874 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.2.3: Bignums are really slow!
7876 Many Linux distributions compile all their packages for the i386, and
7877 this is costly. An optimized version can give you two or three orders
7878 of magnitude better performance for a Pentium III or IV. (Yes, really.
7879 See @uref{http://www.swox.com/gmp/gmp-speed.html}.)
7882 @node Q7.2.4, , Q7.2.3, Advanced
7883 @unnumberedsubsec Q7.2.4: Equal bignums don't compare as equal! What gives?
7885 Ah, Grasshopper, I see you are using @code{(eq x y)}. The Bodhisattva
7886 CLTL2 warned of the illusion that equal numbers would be @samp{eq}!
7887 Meditate on the deeper truths of @samp{eql}, in which numbers of the same
7888 type which have equal values compare equal, and @samp{=}, which does any
7889 necessary type coercions before comparing for equality.
7891 Yeah, yeah, it has always worked for integer types, because fixnums and
7892 characters have an immediate representation. Sorry about that;
7893 arbitrary precision obviously requires consing new objects because the
7894 objects are ``large'' and of variable size, and the definition of
7895 @samp{eq} does not permit different objects to compare as equal.
7897 @node Other Packages, Current Events, Advanced, Top
7898 @unnumbered 8 Other External Packages
7900 This is part 8 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
7901 section is devoted to miscellaneous external packages not covered
7902 elsewhere in XEmacs.
7906 * Q8.0.1:: Is there something better than LaTeX mode?
7907 * Q8.0.2:: What is AUCTeX? Where do you get it?
7908 * Q8.0.3:: Problems installing AUCTeX.
7909 * Q8.0.4:: How do I turn off current chapter from AUCTeX modeline?
7911 8.1: Other Unbundled Packages
7912 * Q8.1.1:: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in XEmacs?
7913 * Q8.1.2:: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets?
7914 * Q8.1.3:: Is there a MatLab mode?
7916 8.2: Environments Built Around XEmacs
7917 * Q8.2.1:: What are SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop?
7918 * Q8.2.2:: How do I start the Sun Workshop support in XEmacs 21?
7919 * Q8.2.3:: What is/was Energize?
7920 * Q8.2.4:: What is Infodock?
7923 @unnumberedsec 8.0: TeX
7925 @node Q8.0.1, Q8.0.2, Other Packages, Other Packages
7926 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.0.1: Is there something better than LaTeX mode?
7928 @email{dak@@fsnif.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de, David Kastrup} writes:
7931 The standard TeX modes leave much to be desired, and are somewhat
7932 leniently maintained. Serious TeX users use AUCTeX (@pxref{Q8.0.2,
7933 What is AUCTeX? Where do you get it?}).
7936 @node Q8.0.2, Q8.0.3, Q8.0.1, Other Packages
7937 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.0.2: What is AUCTeX? Where do you get it?
7939 AUCTeX is a complex and sophisticated editing package dedicated to TeX
7940 and related text formatting languages, including LaTeX and Texinfo.
7941 It provides support for running TeX on a file or part of a file,
7942 include files, and of course shortcuts for entering common TeX macros,
7943 LaTeX environments, etc, and for fontlock.
7945 AUCTeX is a standard package provided by XEmacs. You can get it as
7946 usual through the @kbd{M-x list-packages} interface. It is also
7947 included in the (non-Mule) SUMO package. The AUCTeX XEmacs package is
7948 maintained by Uwe Brauer <GET MAIL ADDRESS>.
7950 AUCTeX is extremely complicated, and its developers primarily
7951 use GNU Emacs. Not all features of the bleeding edge version
7952 of AUCTeX are immediately ported to XEmacs; if you need
7953 these, you may be better off getting the most recent versions
7954 from the GNU AUCTeX project on @uref{http://savannah.gnu.org}.
7956 @node Q8.0.3, Q8.0.4, Q8.0.2, Other Packages
7957 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.0.3: Problems installing AUCTeX.
7959 @email{vroonhof@@math.ethz.ch, Jan Vroonhof} writes:
7962 AUCTeX works fine on both stock Emacs and XEmacs has been doing so for
7963 a very very long time. This is mostly due to the work of
7964 @email{abraham@@dina.kvl.dk, Per Abrahamsen} (clap clap) in particular his @file{easymenu}
7965 package. Which leads to what is probably the problem...
7968 Most problems with AUCTeX are one of two things:
7972 The TeX-lisp-directory in @file{tex-site.el} and the makefile don't
7975 Fix: make sure you configure AUCTeX properly @strong{before} installing.
7978 You have an old version of easymenu.el in your path.
7980 Fix: use @code{locate-library} and remove old versions to make sure it
7981 @strong{only} finds the one that came with XEmacs.
7984 @node Q8.0.4, Q8.1.1, Q8.0.3, Other Packages
7985 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.0.4: How do I turn off current chapter from AUCTeX modeline?
7987 With AUCTeX, fast typing is hard because the current chapter, section
7988 etc. are given in the modeline. How can I turn this off?
7990 It's not AUCTeX, it comes from @code{func-menu} in @file{func-menu.el}.
7992 @c Add this code to your @file{init.el} to turn it off:
7995 @c (setq fume-display-in-modeline-p nil)
7998 @c Or just add a hook to @code{TeX-mode-hook} to turn it off only for TeX
8002 @c (add-hook 'TeX-mode-hook
8003 @c '(lambda () (setq fume-display-in-modeline-p nil)))
8006 @email{dhughes@@origin-at.co.uk, David Hughes} writes:
8009 Try this; you'll still get the function name displayed in the modeline,
8010 but it won't attempt to keep track when you modify the file. To refresh
8011 when it gets out of synch, you simply need click on the @samp{Rescan
8012 Buffer} option in the function-menu.
8015 (setq-default fume-auto-rescan-buffer-p nil)
8019 @unnumberedsec 8.1: Other Unbundled Packages
8021 @node Q8.1.1, Q8.1.2, Q8.0.4, Other Packages
8022 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.1.1: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in XEmacs?
8024 The reason for an Emacs package not to be included in XEmacs is
8025 usually one or more of the following:
8029 The package has not been ported to XEmacs. This will typically happen
8030 when it uses GNU-Emacs-specific features, which make it fail under
8033 Porting a package to XEmacs can range from a trivial amount of change to
8034 a partial or full rewrite. Fortunately, the authors of modern packages
8035 usually choose to support both Emacsen themselves.
8038 The package has been decided not to be appropriate for XEmacs. It may
8039 have an equivalent or better replacement within XEmacs, in which case
8040 the developers may choose not to burden themselves with supporting an
8043 Each package bundled with XEmacs means more work for the maintainers,
8044 whether they want it or not. If you are ready to take over the
8045 maintenance responsibilities for the package you port, be sure to say
8046 so---we will more likely include it.
8049 The package simply hasn't been noted by the XEmacs development. If
8050 that's the case, the messages like yours are very useful for attracting
8054 The package was noted by the developers, but they simply haven't yet
8055 gotten around to including/porting it. Wait for the next release or,
8056 even better, offer your help. It will be gladly accepted and
8060 @node Q8.1.2, Q8.1.3, Q8.1.1, Other Packages
8061 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.1.2: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets?
8063 Yes. Check out @dfn{dismal} (which stands for Dis' Mode Ain't Lotus) at
8067 @uref{http://acs.ist.psu.edu/dismal/dismal.html}.
8069 @node Q8.1.3, Q8.2.1, Q8.1.2, Other Packages
8070 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.1.3: Is there a MatLab mode?
8072 Yes, a matlab mode and other items are available at the
8073 @uref{http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/files/104/matlab.el}.
8075 @unnumberedsec 8.2: Environments Built Around XEmacs
8077 @node Q8.2.1, Q8.2.2, Q8.1.3, Other Packages
8078 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.2.1: What are SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop?
8080 SPARCworks was a development environment from Sun (circa 1993-1996)
8081 and consisted of compilers (C, C++, FORTRAN 77, Fortran 90, Ada, and
8082 Pascal), a debugger, and other tools such as TeamWare (for
8083 configuration management), MakeTool, etc.
8085 EOS is the integration of XEmacs with the SPARCworks debugger. It
8086 allows one to use an XEmacs frame to view code (complete with
8087 fontification, etc.), set breakpoints, print variables, etc., while
8088 using the SPARCworks debugger.
8090 EOS stands for "Era on SPARCworks"; Era stood for "Emacs Rewritten
8091 Again" and was the name used by Sun for its modified version of Lucid
8092 Emacs (later XEmacs) in the early-mid 90's. This is documented in
8093 more detail in the history section of the XEmacs About page.
8095 EOS was replaced around 1996 with a newer graphical development
8096 environment called Sun WorkShop. The current status of this is
8099 @node Q8.2.2, Q8.2.3, Q8.2.1, Other Packages
8100 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.2.2: How do I start the Sun Workshop support in XEmacs 21?
8102 Add the switch ---with-workshop to the configure command when building
8103 XEmacs and put the following in one of your startup files
8104 (e.g. site-start.el or .emacs):
8107 (when (featurep 'tooltalk)
8108 (load "tooltalk-macros")
8109 (load "tooltalk-util")
8110 (load "tooltalk-init"))
8111 (when (featurep 'sparcworks)
8112 (load "sunpro-init")
8115 (load "annotations")
8119 If you are not using the latest Workshop (5.0) you have to apply the
8123 --- /opt/SUNWspro/lib/eserve.el.ORIG Fri May 14 15:23:26 1999
8124 +++ /opt/SUNWspro/lib/eserve.el Fri May 14 15:24:54 1999
8125 @@@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@@@
8126 (defvar running-xemacs nil "t if we're running XEmacs")
8127 (defvar running-emacs nil "t if we're running GNU Emacs 19")
8129 -(if (string-match "^\\(19\\|20\\)\..*\\(XEmacs\\|Lucid\\)" emacs-version)
8130 +(if (string-match "\\(XEmacs\\|Lucid\\)" emacs-version)
8131 (setq running-xemacs t)
8132 (setq running-emacs t))
8135 @node Q8.2.3, Q8.2.4, Q8.2.2, Other Packages
8136 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.2.3: What is/was Energize?
8138 The "Energize Programming System" was a C and C++ development environment
8139 sold by Lucid, Inc. It was the reason why Lucid Emacs, now XEmacs, was
8140 created in the first place. Unfortunately, Lucid went out of business in
8141 1994. The rights to sell it in Japan were purchased by INS
8142 Engineering (which briefly employed Stig Hackvan aka Jonathan
8143 Stigelman to work on Japanese support for XEmacs, in late 1994 and
8144 early 1995) and Tartan bought the rights to sell it in the rest of the
8145 world. However, INS is not selling Energize at this point and may or
8146 may not have ever done so; Tartan certainly never did.
8148 @node Q8.2.4, , Q8.2.3, Other Packages
8149 @unnumberedsubsec Q8.2.4: What is Infodock?
8151 @uref{http://sourceforge.net/projects/infodock/, InfoDock} is an
8152 integrated productivity toolset, mainly aimed at technical people,
8153 hosted at SourceForge.
8155 InfoDock is built atop the XEmacs variant of GNU Emacs and so has all of
8156 the power of Emacs, but with an easier to use and more comprehensive
8157 menu-based user interface. The bottom portion of this text describes
8158 how it differs from XEmacs and GNU Emacs from the Free Software
8161 InfoDock is aimed at people who want a free, turn-key productivity
8162 environment. Although InfoDock is customizable, it is not intended for
8163 people who like basic versions of Emacs which need to be customized
8164 extensively for local use; standard Emacs distributions are better for
8165 such uses. InfoDock is for those people who want a complete,
8166 pre-customized environment in one package, which they need not touch
8167 more than once or twice a year to update to new revisions.
8169 InfoDock is pre-built for SPARC SunOS/Solaris systems, PA-RISC HP-UX,
8170 and Intel Linux systems. It is intended for use on a color display,
8171 although most features will work on monochrome monitors. Simply unpack
8172 InfoDock according to the instructions in the ID-INSTALL file and you
8175 The InfoDock Manual is concise, yet sufficient as a user guide for users
8176 who have never used an Emacs-type editor before. For users who are
8177 already familiar with Emacs, it supplements the information in the GNU
8180 InfoDock menus are much more extensive and more mature than standard
8181 Emacs menus. Each menu offers a @samp{Manual} item which displays
8182 documentation associated with the menu's functions.
8185 Four types of menubars are provided:
8188 An extensive menubar providing access to global InfoDock commands.
8190 Mode-specific menubars tailored to the current major mode.
8192 A simple menubar for basic editing to help novices get started with InfoDock.
8194 The standard XEmacs menubar.
8197 Most modes also include mode-specific popup menus. Additionally, region and
8198 rectangle popup menus are included.
8200 @samp{Hyperbole}, the everyday information manager, is a core part of
8201 InfoDock. This provides context-sensitive mouse keys, a rolodex-type
8202 contact manager, programmable hypertext buttons, and an autonumbered
8203 outliner with embedded hyperlink anchors.
8205 The @samp{OO-Browser}, a multi-language object-oriented code browser, is a
8206 standard part of InfoDock.
8208 InfoDock saves a more extensive set of user options than other Emacs
8211 InfoDock inserts a useful file header in many file types, showing the
8212 author, summary, and last modification time of each file. A summary
8213 program can then be used to summarize all of the files in a directory,
8214 for easy MANIFEST file creation.
8216 Your working set of buffers is automatically saved and restored (if you
8217 answer yes to a prompt) between InfoDock sessions.
8219 Refined color choices for code highlighting are provided for both dark and
8220 light background display frames.
8222 The @kbd{C-z} key prefix performs frame-based commands which parallel the
8223 @kbd{C-x} key prefix for window-based commands.
8225 The Smart Menu system is included for producing command menus on dumb
8228 Lisp libraries are better categorized according to function.
8230 Extensions and improvements to many areas of Emacs are included, such as:
8231 paragraph filling, mail reading with Rmail, shell handling, outlining, code
8232 highlighting and browsing, and man page browsing.
8234 InfoDock questions, answers and discussion should go to the mail list
8238 @email{infodock@@infodock.com}. Use
8239 @email{infodock-request@@infodock.com} to be added or removed from the
8240 list. Always include your InfoDock version number when sending help
8243 @node Current Events, Legacy Versions, Other Packages, Top
8244 @unnumbered 9 What the Future Holds
8246 This is part 9 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
8247 section will change frequently, and (in theory) should contain any
8248 interesting items that have transpired recently. (But in practice it's
8249 not getting updated like this.)
8251 This section also contains descriptions of the new features in all the
8252 recent releases of XEmacs. For the most part, the information below is
8253 a synopsis of the more complete information that can be found in the
8254 file @file{NEWS} in the @file{etc} directory of the XEmacs distribution.
8255 You can view this file in XEmacs using @kbd{C-h n} or the @samp{Help}
8258 Information on older versions of XEmacs can be find in @file{ONEWS} in
8259 the same directory, or @file{OONEWS} for really old versions.
8263 * Q9.0.1:: What new features will be in XEmacs soon?
8264 * Q9.0.2:: What's new in XEmacs 21.4?
8265 * Q9.0.3:: What's new in XEmacs 21.1?
8266 * Q9.0.4:: What's new in XEmacs 20.4?
8267 * Q9.0.5:: What's new in XEmacs 20.3?
8268 * Q9.0.6:: What's new in XEmacs 20.2?
8271 @unnumberedsec 9.0: Changes
8273 @node Q9.0.1, Q9.0.2, Current Events, Current Events
8274 @unnumberedsubsec Q9.0.1: What new features will be in XEmacs soon?
8278 @node Q9.0.2, Q9.0.3, Q9.0.1, Current Events
8279 @unnumberedsubsec Q9.0.2: What's new in XEmacs 21.4?
8281 21.4 was the "stable" version of the 21.2 series, which was considered
8282 "experimental" throughout its life; thus there were no "official"
8283 releases at all. In essence, XEmacs is now following the "alternating"
8284 scheme of Linux, where at any point there are at least two different
8285 development branches, one "stable" and one "experimental". Periodic
8286 releases happen in both branches, but those in the experimental branch
8287 are not tested as well, and there's no guarantee they will work at all.
8288 The experiemental branch is open to any and all code that's acceptable
8289 to the developers; the stable branch, however, is in general limited
8290 only to bug fixes, and all contributions are carefully reviewed to make
8291 sure they will increase and not decrease stability.
8293 21.3 never existed at all; it was decided to follow the Linux scheme
8294 exactly, where odd-numbered series are experimental and even-numbered
8297 The following lists summarizes the essential changes made in this
8298 version. For a fuller list, see the @file{NEWS} in the @file{etc}
8299 directory of the XEmacs distribution, or use @kbd{C-h n} or the
8300 @samp{Help} menu to view this file inside of XEmacs.
8302 @unnumberedsubsubsec User-visible changes in XEmacs 21.4
8307 The delete key now deletes forward by default.
8309 Shifted motion keys now select text by default.
8311 You can now build XEmacs with support for GTK+ widget set.
8313 ~/.xemacs/init.el is now the preferred location for the init
8314 file. (XEmacs now supports a `~/.xemacs/init.el' startup file. Custom
8315 file will move to ~/.xemacs/custom.el.)
8317 Much-improved sample init.el, showing how to use many useful features.
8319 XEmacs support for menu accelerators has been much improved.
8321 Default menubar improvements. (Default menubar has many new commands and
8322 better organization. The font-menu is now available under MS Windows.)
8324 Dialog box improvements, including a real file dialog box. (XEmacs now
8325 has a proper file dialog box under MS Windows (and GTK)! The old
8326 clunky file dialog box is improved. Keyboard traversal now works
8327 correctly in MS Windows dialog boxes. There is a Search dialog box
8328 available from @samp{Edit->Find...})
8332 There is a new MS Windows installer, netinstall, ported from Cygwin.
8334 The subprocess quote-handling mechanism under Windows is much improved.
8336 Printing support now available under MS Windows.
8338 Selection improvements. (Kill and yank now interact with the clipboard under Windows. MS Windows support for selection is now much more robust. Motif selection support is now more correct (but slower).)
8340 Mail spool locking now works correctly.
8342 International support changes. (The default coding-priority-list is now
8343 safer. International keysyms are now supported under X. MS Windows
8344 1251 code page now supported. Czech, Thai, Cyrillic-KOI8, Vietnamese,
8345 Ethiopic now supported. Proper support for words in Latin 3 and Latin
8348 Help buffers contain hyperlinks, and other changes.
8350 The modeline's text is now scrollable.
8352 The mouse wheel under MS Windows now functions correctly.
8354 Interactive searching and matching case improvements. (Incremental search will now highlight all visible matches. Interactive searches always respect uppercase characters.)
8356 Rectangle functions rewritten to avoid inserting extra spaces.
8358 New command `kill-entire-line' that always kills the entire line.
8360 Default values correctly stored in minibuffer histories.
8362 You can now create "indirect buffers", like in GNU Emacs.
8364 Pixel-based scrolling has been implemented.
8366 Operation progress can be displayed using graphical widgets.
8368 User names following a tilde can now be completed at file name prompts.
8370 XEmacs can now play sound using Enlightenment Sound Daemon (ESD).
8372 X-Face support is now available under MS Windows.
8374 The PostgreSQL Relational Database Management System is now supported.
8376 Indentation no longer indents comments that begin at column zero.
8378 Face and variable settings can have comments in Customize.
8380 New locations for early package hierarchies.
8382 The `auto-save' library has been greatly improved.
8384 New variable `mswindows-alt-by-itself-activates-menu'.
8386 Other init-file-related changes. (Init file in your home directory may be called `.emacs.el'. New command-line switches -user-init-file and -user-init-directory.)
8388 Etags changes. See @file{NEWS} for full details.
8391 @unnumberedsubsubsec Lisp and internal changes in XEmacs 21.4
8395 @c APA: Texi2html produces invalid HTML from an empty list of bullets!
8396 @c Please uncomment following list when it does contain bullets.
8400 @node Q9.0.3, Q9.0.4, Q9.0.2, Current Events
8401 @unnumberedsubsec Q9.0.3: What's new in XEmacs 21.1?
8403 21.1 was the "stable" version of "experimental" 21.0 series.
8404 @xref{Q9.0.2, What's new in XEmacs 21.4?}.
8406 The following lists summarizes the essential changes made in this
8407 version. For a fuller list, see the @file{NEWS} in the @file{etc}
8408 directory of the XEmacs distribution, or use @kbd{C-h n} or the
8409 @samp{Help} menu to view this file inside of XEmacs.
8411 @unnumberedsubsubsec User-visible changes in XEmacs 21.1
8416 XEmacs is now supported under Microsoft Windows 95/98 and Windows
8417 NT/2000/XP operating systems. To discuss Windows-specific issues,
8418 subscribe to the mailing list at
8419 @email{xemacs-winnt-request@@xemacs.org}.
8422 XEmacs has been unbundled into constituent installable packages.
8425 @strong{Other notable changes}: The @samp{Options} menu has been ported to
8426 Custom; XEmacs now is able to choose X visuals and use private
8427 colormaps; You can drag the vertical divider of "horizontally"
8428 (side-by-side) split windows.
8431 @strong{Building changes}: XEmacs can be built with support for 31-bit Lisp
8432 integers and 32-bit pointers (previously, it was 28-bit integers and
8433 pointers); XEmacs can be built with LDAP support; @file{dir} files can be
8434 removed in the Info subsystem, and will be regenerated on-the-fly.
8437 @strong{New packages}: @file{imenu}, @file{popper}, @file{gdb-highlight}
8440 @strong{Package changes}: Many changes to @file{cc-mode}, @file{gnus},
8441 @file{gnuclient}. See @file{NEWS} for full details.
8444 @strong{New commands, variables and functions}:
8445 @code{center-to-window-line} (like @code{recenter} but doesn't force a
8446 redisplay); variable @code{user-full-name} (customize what your full
8447 name looks like in mail); @kbd{M-x customize-changed-options} (customize
8448 options whose default values changes because you upgraded your XEmacs);
8449 @kbd{M-x add-log-convert} (converts an old-style ChangeLog buffer to
8450 new-style); @kbd{M-x zap-up-to-char} (like @code{zap-to-char} but
8451 doesn't delete the char searched for); commands to store, retrieve and
8452 increment numbers in registers, useful for macros.
8455 @strong{Changes to commands, variables, and functions}: @kbd{M-x
8456 query-replace} and friends operate only on the region when it's active;
8457 @code{echo-keystrokes} can now be a floating-point number; @kbd{M-.}
8458 searches exact tag matches before inexact ones; function
8459 @code{user-full-name} with no arguments returns the var
8460 @code{user-full-name}; a prefix arg to @kbd{M-:} and @kbd{C-h c} inserts
8461 the result in the current buffer.
8464 @strong{Other changes}: Under X, new application class @samp{XEmacs};
8465 byte-compilation of user-specs now works.
8468 @strong{XEmacs/Mule (internationalization) changes}: Mule support now
8469 works on TTY's; Egg/SJ3 input method now officially supported (Quail and
8470 Egg/Skk already available through LEIM since 20.3); localized Japanese
8471 menubars if XEmacs is built with the right support.
8475 @unnumberedsubsubsec Lisp and internal changes in XEmacs 21.1
8480 @strong{Specifier changes}: The window locale now has a higher
8481 precedence than the buffer locale when instantiating; new macro
8482 @code{let-specifier}; new specifiers
8483 @code{vertical-scrollbar-visible-p}, horizontal-scrollbar-visible-p',
8484 @code{scrollbar-on-left-p}, @code{scrollbar-on-top-p},
8485 @code{vertical-divider-always-visible-p},
8486 @code{vertical-divider-shadow-thickness},
8487 @code{vertical-divider-line-width}, @code{vertical-divider-spacing};
8488 specifiers and symbols whose value is a specifier allowed as modeline
8492 @strong{Frame focus changes}: @code{focus-follows-mouse} works like FSF,
8493 prevents any attempt to permanently change the selected frame; new
8494 function @code{focus-frame} sets the window system focus a frame; new
8495 special forms @code{save-selected-frame} and @code{with-selected-frame}.
8498 @strong{Window function changes}: @code{select-window} now has optional
8499 argument @var{NORECORD} to inhibit recording a buffer change;
8500 @code{vertical-motion} now correctly handles optional @var{WINDOW}
8501 argument and has new optional argument @var{PIXELS}, to have the
8502 returned values be in pixels; new function
8503 @code{vertical-motion-pixels}; new functions
8504 @code{window-text-area-pixel-@{width,height,edges@}}; new functions
8505 @code{shrink-window-pixels} and @code{enlarge-window-pixels}; new
8506 function @code{window-displayed-text-pixel-height}.
8509 @strong{Other function changes}: Arithmetic comparison functions
8510 @code{<}, @code{>}, @code{=}, @code{/=} now accept a variable number of
8511 arguments; hashtables now have a consistent read/print syntax; keyword
8512 symbols cannot be set to a value other than themselves; @code{concat} no
8513 longer accepts integer arguments; new function @code{string}, like
8514 @code{list}, @code{vector}, etc.; new function @code{temp-directory}
8515 (OS-independent way to get a temp directory); @code{load-average} has
8516 optional argument @var{USE-FLOATS}; @code{make-event} implemented
8517 completely; new function @code{function-interactive} (returns a
8518 function's interactive spec); new functions @code{lmessage},
8519 @code{lwarn} (printf-like versions of @code{display-wessage},
8520 @code{display-warning}); new keyword @code{:version} to
8524 @strong{Performance}: when the new GNU Malloc aka Doug Lea Malloc is
8525 available, it will be used (better performance on libc6 Linux systems);
8526 tracking line-numbers in modeline is now efficient; profiling records a
8527 call-count of all called functions, retrievable through
8528 @code{profile-call-count-results}.
8531 @strong{Startup and path searching}: code to assemble paths at startup
8532 rewritten for new package system; new function @code{split-path} (splits
8533 by @code{path-separator}); @code{Info-default-directory-list} obsolete,
8534 use @code{Info-directory-list} instead; site-lisp is deprecated and no
8535 longer on the load-path by default.
8539 @node Q9.0.4, Q9.0.5, Q9.0.3, Current Events
8540 @unnumberedsubsec Q9.0.4: What's new in XEmacs 20.4?
8542 XEmacs 20.4 is a bugfix release with no user-visible changes.
8543 @c Filled in from NEWS file of 20.5-b33
8545 @node Q9.0.5, Q9.0.6, Q9.0.4, Current Events
8546 @unnumberedsubsec Q9.0.5: What's new in XEmacs 20.3?
8548 XEmacs 20.3 was released in November 1997. It contains many bugfixes,
8549 and a number of new features, including Autoconf 2 based configuration,
8550 additional support for Mule (Multi-language extensions to Emacs), many
8551 more customizations, multiple frames on TTY-s, support for multiple info
8552 directories, an enhanced gnuclient, improvements to regexp matching,
8553 increased MIME support, and many, many synches with GNU Emacs 20.
8555 The XEmacs/Mule support has been only seriously tested in a Japanese
8556 locale, and no doubt many problems still remain. The support for
8557 ISO-Latin-1 and Japanese is fairly strong. MULE support comes at a
8558 price---about a 30% slowdown from 19.16. We're making progress on
8559 improving performance and XEmacs 20.3 compiled without Mule (which is
8560 the default) is definitely faster than XEmacs 19.16.
8562 XEmacs 20.3 is the first non-beta v20 release, and will be the
8563 basis for all further development.
8565 @node Q9.0.6, , Q9.0.5, Current Events
8566 @unnumberedsubsec Q9.0.6: What's new in XEmacs 20.2?
8568 The biggest changes in 20.2 include integration of EFS (the next
8569 generation of ange-ftp) and AUC Tex (the Emacs subsystem that includes a
8570 major mode for editing Tex and LaTeX, and a lot of other stuff). Many
8571 bugs from 20.0 have been fixed for this release. 20.2 also contains a
8572 new system for customizing XEmacs options, invoked via @kbd{M-x
8575 XEmacs 20.2 is the development release (20.0 was beta), and is no longer
8576 considered unstable.
8578 For older news, see the file @file{ONEWS} in the @file{etc} directory of
8579 the XEmacs distribution.
8581 @node Legacy Versions, , Current Events, Top
8582 @unnumbered 10 New information about old XEmacsen
8584 This is part 10 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. It will
8585 occasionally be updated to reflect new information about versions which
8586 are no longer being revised by the XEmacs Project. The primary purpose
8587 is advice on compatibility of older XEmacsen with new packages and
8588 updated versions of packages, but bug fixes (which will not be applied
8589 to released XEmacsen, but users can apply themselves) are also accepted.
8593 * Q10.0.1:: Gnus 5.10 won't display smileys in XEmacs 21.1.
8594 * Q10.0.2:: XEmacs won't start on Windows in XEmacs 21.1.
8597 @unnumberedsec 10.0: XEmacs 21.1
8599 @node Q10.0.1, Q10.0.2, Legacy Versions, Legacy Versions
8600 @unnumberedsubsec Q10.0.1: Gnus 5.10 won't display smileys in XEmacs 21.1.
8602 @email{eeide@@cs.utah.edu, Eric Eide} wrote:
8607 Eric> Summary: with Gnus 5.10.1 in XEmacs 21.1.14, I don't see
8608 Eric> any smileys :-(.
8610 After a bit of sleuthing, I discovered the essence of the problem.
8615 (insert-file-contents "foo.xpm")
8619 returns the empty string. This is because something somewhere
8620 replaces the XPM data with a glyph --- I haven't figured out where
8624 @email{kyle_jones@@wonderworks.com, Kyle Jones} replies:
8630 (setq format-alist nil)
8633 The image-mode stuff is gone from format-alist in the 21.4
8637 @node Q10.0.2, , Q10.0.1, Legacy Versions
8638 @unnumberedsubsec Q10.0.2: XEmacs won't start on Windows in XEmacs 21.1.
8640 XEmacs relies on a process called "dumping" to generate a working
8641 executable. Under MS-Windows this process effectively fixes the memory
8642 addresses of information in the executable. When XEmacs starts up it tries
8643 to reserve these memory addresses so that the dumping process can be
8644 reversed -- putting the information back at the correct addresses.
8645 Unfortunately some .DLLs (for instance the soundblaster driver) occupy
8646 memory addresses that can conflict with those needed by the dumped XEmacs
8647 executable. In this instance XEmacs will fail to start without any
8648 explanation. Note that this is extremely machine specific.
8650 21.1.10 includes a fix for this that makes more intelligent guesses
8651 about which memory addresses will be free, and this should cure the
8652 problem for most people. 21.4 implements "portable dumping", which
8653 eliminates the problem altogether. We recommend you use the 21.4
8654 binaries, but you can use the 21.1 binaries if you are very paranoid
8655 about stability. @xref{Q1.1.2, Are binaries available?}.