X-Git-Url: http://git.chise.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=etc%2FNEWS;h=6bf41ea4b5bef1dd49003d8a864a0cb68725f4d3;hb=952514240dce6e49339247545b2e3bbffff2246f;hp=01711bacf3d2e46ac64af85925b79b176a27a3d5;hpb=6883ee56ec887c2c48abe5b06b5e66aa74031910;p=chise%2Fxemacs-chise.git diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS index 01711ba..6bf41ea 100644 --- a/etc/NEWS +++ b/etc/NEWS @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ history. Use `C-c C-f' to move to the next equal level of outline, and `C-c C-b' to move to previous equal level. `C-h m' will give more -info about the Outline mode. Many commands are also available through +info about the Outline mode. Many commands are also available through the menubar. Users who would like to know which capabilities have been introduced @@ -32,8 +32,507 @@ file. * Changes in XEmacs 21.2 ======================== -None yet. +** The modeline's text is now scrollable. Please refer to the variable +`modeline-scrolling-method' for more information. + +** The delete key now deletes forward by default. + +This is regulated by the variable `delete-key-deletes-forward', which +now defaults to t. `delete-key-deletes-forward' takes effect only on +the systems that offer both a backspace and a delete key. If set to +nil, the key labeled "Delete" will always delete backward. If set to +non-nil, the "Delete" key will delete forward, except on keyboards +where a "Backspace" key is not provided (e.g. old DEC keyboards.) + +Unless our implementation has bugs, the only reason why you would want +to set `delete-key-deletes-forward' to nil is if you want to use the +Delete key to delete backwards, despite the presence (according to +Xlib) of a BackSpace key on the keyboard. + +** Shifted motion keys now select text by default. You can turn this +off by setting `shifted-motion-keys-select-region' to nil. + +** You can now set the variable `kill-whole-line' to `always', which +makes `kill-line' (C-k) delete the entire line always, not just when +the cursor is at the beginning of the line. This behavior, as well as +the existing kill-whole-line behavior, now only take effect when +kill-line is called interactively, although this is a departure from a +previous behavior in the case of setting this variable kill-whole-line +to t. It is almost certainly what has always been intended, and most +likely the old way of doing things introduced bugs. + +The new function `historical-kill-line' ignores the `kill-whole-line' +setting and always gives the historical behavior of only killing to +the end of the line. This function is bound to Sh-C-k, so that the +kill to end of line behavior is available, even when `kill-whole-line' +has been customized. + +** XEmacs menus now have accelerators by default. If a menu item does +not have an accelerator specified, one is created dynamically, using +numbers 1-9 and letters. + +** Interactive searching and matching case improvements. + +Case sensitiveness in searching operations is normally controlled by +the variable `case-fold-search' (if non-nil, case is ignored while +searching). This mechanism has now been slightly improved for +interactive searches: if the search string (or regexp) contains +uppercase characters, the searching is forced to be case-sensitive, +`case-fold-search'. + +The new behavior affects all functions performing interactive +searches, like `zap-to-char', `list-matching-lines', `tags-search' +etc. The incremental search facility has always behaved that way. + +** Incremental search will now highlight all visible matches, making +it easier to anticipate where consecutive C-s or C-r will place the +point. If you want to disable the feature, set +`isearch-highlight-all-matches' to nil. + +** You can now use the buffer tabs to switch between buffers. The +tabs are located between the toolbar and the uppermost window, in a +location called "gutter". If you dislike the buffer tabs, you can +disable them by customizing `gutter-buffers-tab-visible-p', or by +placing this in your .emacs: + + (set-gutter-element-visible-p default-gutter-visible-p 'buffers-tab nil) + +You can change the location of the gutter with +`set-default-gutter-position', however currently only MS-Windows +supports tab widgets with orientations other than vertical. + +** Kill and yank now interact with the clipboard by default under +Windows. This was done by changing the default value of +`interprogram-cut-function' and `interprogram-paste-function'. You +can get the old behavior by setting these to nil, and there is an +option on the options menu to do this. + +** When you press RET at a minibuffer prompt that provides a default +value, the value is stored in history instead of an empty line. Also, +you can now edit the default value by pressing the down arrow, +accessing the logical "future" value. Not all minibuffer prompts have +yet been converted to support this feature. + +** The rectangle functions have been almost completely rewritten in +order to avoid inserting undesirable spaces, notably at the end of +lines. Two typical examples of the old behavior were +`string-rectangle', which filled all lines up to the right side of the +rectangle, and `clear-rectangle', which filled even empty lines up to +the left side. All functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting +unwanted spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the +old way. + +Also, the behavior of `string-rectangle' is now compliant with +`pending-delete-mode': if this mode is active, then the string +replaces the region rectangle. Otherwise, the command does not delete +or overwrite any existing text. For those who want that feature but do +not use pending-delete-mode, a new function, `replace-rectangle', is +available. + +As a side effect, the FORCE argument to `move-to-column' now +understands the special value `coerce', which means that the line +should not be filled if it is too short to reach the desired column. + +** Customize now supports adding comments about your face and variable +settings using a new menu entry. Comments for variables can also be +assigned by calling `customize-set-(value|variable)' with a prefix +argument. + +** XEmacs now locates the early package hierarchies at +~/.xemacs/mule-packages/ and ~/.xemacs/xemacs-packages/. Previously, +the early packages were located in ~/.xemacs/. + +** You can now create "indirect buffers", like in GNU Emacs. An +indirect buffer shares its text with another buffer ("base buffer"), +but has its own major mode, local variables, extents, and narrowing. +An indirect buffer has a name of its own, distinct from those of the +base buffer and all other buffers. An indirect buffer cannot itself +be visiting a file (though its base buffer can be). The base buffer +cannot itself be indirect. + +Use (make-indirect-buffer BASE-BUFFER NAME) to make an indirect buffer +named NAME whose base is BASE-BUFFER. If BASE-BUFFER is itself an +indirect buffer, its base buffer is used as the base for the new +buffer. + +You can make an indirect buffer current, or switch to it in a window, +just as you would a non-indirect buffer. + +The function `buffer-base-buffer' returns a buffer's base buffer or +nil, if given an ordinary (non-indirect) buffer. The function +`buffer-indirect-children' returns a list of the indirect children of +a base buffer. + +** User names following the tilde character can now be completed at +file name prompts; e.g. `C-x C-f ~hni' will complete to +`~hniksic/'. To make this operation faster, a cache of user names is +maintained internally. + +The new primitives available for this purpose are functions named +`user-name-completion' and `user-name-all-completions'. + +** XEmacs can now play sound using Enlightenment Sound Daemon (ESD). +It will try NAS first, then ESD, then playing native sound directly. + +** X-Face support is now available under MS-Windows. +If an X-Face libary built under MS-Windows is available then XEmacs +will use this at build time. + +** The font-menu is now available under MS-Windows. + +** MS-Windows support for selection is now much more robust. + +Generally selection should now do what you would expect under +MS-Windows: the middle mouse button will paste your current selection +or the clipboard; conversions from different types of selection to the +clipboard can be made; the kill-ring and friends will be updated as +per X. + +The only thing selection doesn't do is set the clipboard automatically +as this would break the MS-Windows model. If you want this behavior +then set `selection-sets-clipboard' to t. + +** Mail spool locking now works correctly. +XEmacs has always come with a little auxiliary program, movemail, +which moves mail out of the system's spool area into user storage. To +coordinate between XEmacs, the mail delivery agent, and other mail +user agents, movemail needs to properly lock the spool file before +moving it. Movemail now correctly respects the --mail-locking option +to configure. Moreover, movemail's locking behavior can be specified +at run-time, via a new command-line option -m to movemail, or through +the environment variable EMACSLOCKMETHOD. + +When installing XEmacs, make sure you configure it according to your +environment's mail spool locking conventions. When you're using a +binary kit, set the `mail-lock-method' variable at startup, or the +EMACSLOCKMETHOD environment variable. + +** Init file will move to ~/.xemacs/init.el. + +If `~/.xemacs/init.el' exists, XEmacs will prefer it over `~/.emacs' +as an init file. The file may be byte-compiled as +`~/.xemacs/init.elc'. + +Future versions of XEmacs will stop supporting `~/.emacs' as an init +file. XEmacs offers automatic migration upon startup. + +** Custom file will move to ~/.xemacs/custom.el. + +Whereas customize settings were formerly stored in the regular init +file, XEmacs now prefers them to be in a separate file +`~/.xemacs/custom.el', completely under automatic control. This +change goes with the migration of the init file, and XEmacs offers +automatic migration upon startup. + +** Init file may be called .emacs.el. + +For the time being, like in GNU Emacs 20.4 and on, you can now name +the XEmacs init file `.emacs.el'. Formerly the name had to be +`.emacs'. If you use the name `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the +file in the usual way. + +If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file is the one +that is used. + +** New command-line switches -user-init-file and -user-init-directory. +These can be used to specify alternate locations for what is normally +~/.emacs and ~/.xemacs. + +Moreover, -user (which used to only work in unpredictable ways) +is now equivalent to -user-init-file ~/.xemacs/init.el +-user-init-directory ~/.xemacs. or -user-init-file +~/.emacs -user-init-directory ~/.xemacs, whichever init +file comes first. + +** New variable `mswindows-meta-activates-menu'. +If you set this variable to nil then pressing and releasing the Alt +key under MS-Windows will no longer activate the menubar. The default +is t. This is not to be confused with `menu-accelerator-enabled', +which enables the use of Alt+ accelerators to invoke the +menus. + +** Pixel-based scrolling has been implemented. +By default this will attempt to scroll in increments equal to the +height of the default face. Set `window-pixel-scroll-increment' to +modify this behavior. + +** Operation progress can be displayed using graphical widgets. +See `progress-feedback' for details. This support has been switched +on by default for font-lock and some web browsing functions. If you +do not like this behavior set `progress-feedback-use-echo-area'. + +** The PostgreSQL Relational Database Management System is now supported. +It is now possible to build XEmacs so that the programming interface +to the PostgreSQL RDBMS (libpq) is available in XEmacs Lisp. +Supported versions of PostgreSQL are 6.5.3 (earlier versions may work, +but have not been tested) and 7.0-beta1. + +** Etags changes. + +*** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c. + +*** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now +possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with +{lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints +out. This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each +line contains a regular expression. The manual contains details. + +*** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function +declarations when given the --declarations option. + +*** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form +"operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator. + +*** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and +types. + +*** In Fortran, procedure is no more tagged. + +*** In Java, tags are created for "interface". + +*** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs +are now tagged. + +*** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local +variables are tagged. + +*** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags. + +*** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is +for PSWrap. + + +* Lisp and internal changes in XEmacs 21.2 +========================================== + +** A new portable dumper is available for beta testing. + +Olivier Galibert has written a portable dumper for XEmacs, based on +initial work by Kyle Jones. Normally, XEmacs C sources link into an +executable called `temacs', which loads the Lisp code and "unexecs" +into a proper `xemacs' executable. The unexec() process is hard to +implement correctly and makes XEmacs very hard to port to new +operating systems, or even to new releases of old systems. + +A portable dumper is a different approach to dumping: instead of +dumping full-fledged executable, it only dumps out the initialized +data structures (both Lisp and C) into an external file. A normally +running XEmacs only needs to mmap() that file and relocate a bit to +get to the initialized data. In that scheme, there is no difference +between `temacs' and `xemacs'. + +This is all very experimental, though. Configure with `--pdump' to +try testing it. + +** Much effort has been invested to make XEmacs Lisp faster: + +*** Many basic lisp operations are now faster. +This is especially the case when running a Mule-enabled XEmacs. + +A general overhaul of the lisp engine should produce a speedup of 1.4 +in a Latin-1 XEmacs, and 2.1 in a Mule XEmacs. These numbers were +obtained running `(byte-compile "simple.el")', which should be a +pretty typical test of "pure" Lisp. + +*** Lisp hash tables have been re-implemented. The Common Lisp style +hash table interface has been made standard, and moved from cl.el into +fast C code (See the section on hash tables in the XEmacs Lisp +Reference). A speedup factor of 3 can be expected with code that +makes intensive use of hash tables. + +*** The garbage collector has been tuned, leading to a speedup of +1.16. + +*** The family of functions that iterate over lists, like `memq', and +`rassq', have been made a little faster (typically 1.3). + +*** Lisp function calls are faster, by approximately a factor of two. +However, defining inline functions (via defsubst) still makes sense +for tight loops. + +*** Finally, a few functions have had dramatic performance +improvements. For example, `(last long-list)' is now 30 times faster. + +Of course, your mileage will vary. + +Many operations do not see any improvement. Surprisingly, running +(font-lock-fontify-buffer) does not use the Lisp engine much at all. +Speeding up your favorite slow operation is an excellent project to +improve XEmacs. Don't forget to profile! + +** Native widgets can be displayed in buffers. + +The glyph system has been extended to allow the display of glyphs that +are implemented as native window-system widgets. Thus you can embed +buttons, scrollbars, combo boxes, edit fields and progress gauges in a +buffer. As a side effect subwindow support now works once again. + +All of this is still fairly experimental and there is no +documentation. The current APIs might change in a future version of +XEmacs. Some widgets are only available under MS-Windows. See the +file glyphs-test.el in the XEmacs src distribution for examples of +usage. + +The buffers-tab functionality and progress gauge have been implemented +using this feature. + +** `user-init-file' and `user-init-directory' are now absolute +file/directory names. Previously, both variables used to be relative +to (concat "~" init-file-user). This turned out to be too complicated +for most packages (and some core Lisp files) to use correctly. Also, +the `init-file-user' variable has been obsoleted in the process. + +The user-visible options like `-u' have not changed their behavior. + +** XEmacs finally has an automated test suite! +Although this is not yet very sophisticated, it is already responsible +for several important bug fixes in XEmacs. To try it out, simply use +the makefile target `make check' after building XEmacs. + +** Hash tables have been reimplemented. +As was pointed out above, the standard interface to hash tables is now +the Common Lisp interface, as described in Common Lisp, the Language +(CLtL2, by Steele). The older interface (functions with names +containing the phrase `hashtable') will continue to work, but the +preferred interface now has names containing the phrase `hash-table'. + +Here's the executive overview: create hash tables using +make-hash-table, and use gethash, puthash, remhash, maphash and +clrhash to manipulate entries in the hash table. See the (updated) +Lisp Reference Manual for details. + +** Lisp code handles circular lists much more robustly. +Many basic lisp functions used to loop forever when given a circular +list, expecting you to C-g (quit) out of the loop. Now this is more +likely to trigger a `circular-list' error. Printing a circular list +now results in something like this: + + (let ((x (cons 'foo 'foo))) + (setcdr x x) + x) + => (foo ... ) + +An extra bonus is that checking for circularities is not just +friendlier, but actually faster than checking for C-g. + +** Functions for decoding base64 encoding are now available; see +`base64-encode-region', `base64-encode-string', `base64-decode-region' +and `base64-decode-string'. + +** The functions `read-string', `read-expression', `eval-minibuffer', +`read-variable', `read-command', `read-function', `read-number', +`read-shell-command', `read-from-minibuffer', and `completing-read' +now take an additional argument which specifies the default value. If +this argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used +in two ways: + + It is returned if the user enters empty input. + It is available through the history command M-n. + +** LDAP changes. + +*** The LDAP interface now consists of two layers, a low-level layer +that closely matches the LDAP C API, and a more convenient +higher-level set of functions. + +*** The low-level functions that used to be named *-internal are now +named more simply: `ldap-open', `ldap-close', `ldap-search-basic', +`ldap-add', and `ldap-modify'. They should be used directly for very +specific purposes (such as multiple operations on a connection) only. + +*** The higher-level functions provide a more convenient way to access +LDAP directories hiding the subtleties of handling the connection, +translating arguments and ensuring compliance with LDAP +internationalization rules and formats (currently partly implemented +only.) This layer provides atomic operations for searches, +modification, addition and deletion of multiple entries at once: +`ldap-search-entries', `ldap-add-entries', `ldap-delete-entries', and +`ldap-modify-entries'. + +*** To maintain compatibility with previous code, the now obsolete +function `ldap-search' is now merely a wrapper that calls either +`ldap-search-basic' or `ldap-search-entries'. Please don't use the +`ldap-search' function in your new programs -- a direct call to one of +the two replacements is more efficient and unambiguous. + +** The arguments to `locate-file' are now more Lisp-like. As before, +the usage is: + + (locate-file FILENAME PATH-LIST &optional SUFFIXES MODE) + +Except that SUFFIXES are now a list of strings instead of a single, +colon-separated string. MODE is now a symbol or a list of symbols +(symbols `exists', `executable', `writable', and `readable' are +supported) instead of an integer code. See the documentation for +details. Of course, the old form is still accepted for backward +compatibility. + +Several bugs in locate-file have been fixed, most notably its failure +to call expand-file-name on elements of PATH-LIST. Because of that +elements of load-path of the form "~/..." used to not work. +locate-file is now guaranteed to expand files during its course of +operation. + +** `translate-region' has been improved in several ways. Its TABLE +argument used to be a 256-character string. In addition to this, it +can now also be a vector or a char-table, which makes the function +useful for Mule, which it wasn't. If TABLE a vector or a generic +char-table, you can map characters to strings instead of to other +characters. For instance: + + (let ((table (make-char-table 'generic))) + (put-char-table ?a "the letter a" table) + (put-char-table ?b "" table) + (put-char-table ?c ?\n table) + (translate-region (point-min) (point-max) table)) + +** The new form `ignore-file-errors', similar to `ignore-errors' may +be used as a short-hand for condition-case when you wish to ignore +file-related error. For example: + + (ignore-file-errors (delete-file "foo")) + +** The first argument to `intern-soft' may now also be a symbol, like +with `unintern'. If given a symbol, `intern-soft' will look for that +exact symbol rather than for any string. This is useful when you want +to check whether a specific symbol is interned in an obarray, e.g.: + + (intern "foo") + (intern-soft "foo") + => foo + (intern-soft (make-symbol "foo")) + => nil + +** The `keywordp' function now returns non-nil only on symbols +interned in the global obarray. For example: + + (keywordp (intern ":foo" [0])) + => nil + (keywordp (intern ":foo")) ; The same as (keywordp :foo) + => t + +This behavior is compatible with other code which treats symbols +beginning with colon as keywords only if they are interned in the +global obarray. `keywordp' used to wrongly return t in both cases +above. + +** New variables `this-command-properties' and +`last-command-properties' are now available for communication between +consecutive commands. Commands should use these to communicate with +the pre/post-command hooks, subsequent commands, wrapping commands, +etc. in preference to looking at and/or setting `this-command'. + +** New functions `add-one-shot-hook' and `add-local-one-shot-hook' make +it possible to add a "one-shot" hook, which is to say a hook that runs +only once, and automatically removes itself after the first time it +has run. + +** The descriptor that specifies the text of a menu item can now be an +evaluated expression. This makes this descriptor parallel with +others, which can also be expressions. + + * Changes in XEmacs 21.0 ======================== @@ -63,8 +562,18 @@ will have to set them all again through the menu, and remove the code loading ** When the Zmacs region is active, `M-x query-replace' and the other replace commands now operate on the region contents only. -** Using the new `-private' option, you can make XEmacs use a private -colormap. +** XEmacs now is able to choose X visuals and use private colormaps. +The '-visual ' command line option or the '.EmacsVisual' +Xresource controls which visual XEmacs will use, and +'-privateColormap' or '.privateColormap' will force XEmacs to create a +private colormap for use. The syntax for the visual string is +"" where is one of 'StaticColor', +'TrueColor', 'GrayScale', 'PseudoColor' or 'DirectColor' and + is the appropriate number of bits per pixel. If an invalid +or non-supported combination is entered, XEmacs attempts to find a happy +medium. The X creation mechanism will then determine if it needs to +create a colormap for use, or the presence of the private flags will +force it to create it. ** The `imenu' package has been ported to XEmacs and is available as a package. @@ -83,15 +592,15 @@ and then through inexact matches, as one would expect. ** The new variable `user-full-name' can be used to customize one's name when using the Emacs mail and news reading facilities. -Normally, `user-full-name' is a function that returns the full name of +Normally, `user-full-name' is a function that returns the full name of a user or UID, as specified by the system -- for instance, -(user-full-name "root") returns something like "Super-User". However, +(user-full-name "root") returns something like "Super-User". However, when the function is called without arguments, it will return the -value of the `user-full-name' variable. The `user-full-name' variable +value of the `user-full-name' variable. The `user-full-name' variable is initialized using the environment variable NAME and (failing that) the user's system name. -The behaviour of the `user-full-name' function with an argument +The behavior of the `user-full-name' function with an argument specified is unchanged. ** The new command `M-x customize-changed-options' lets you customize @@ -157,6 +666,12 @@ commands attached to them. To use it, add the following to `.emacs': It has been greatly enhanced with respect to the one once included with the ilisp package and should work well under XEmacs 21.0. +** Gnuserv changes + +*** Like the old 'gnudoit' program. Gnuclient -batch now can read from stdin. + +*** Gnuclient -batch no longer breaks off the output at the first LF. + ** C mode changes *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation, @@ -250,7 +765,7 @@ limit. *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'. -*** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed. +*** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed. If you used this function in your initialization files, you must rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead. @@ -300,7 +815,7 @@ updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command. subsystem. If the `dir' file does not exist in an Info directory, the relevant information will be generated on-the-fly. -This behaviour can be customized, look for `Info-auto-generate-directory' +This behavior can be customized, look for `Info-auto-generate-directory' and `Info-save-auto-generated-dir' in the `info' customization group. @@ -340,7 +855,7 @@ this is set to nil, the vertical dividers between windows are shown only when needed, and they are not draggable. Other properties of the vertical dividers may be controlled using -`vertical-divider-shadow-thickness', `vertical-divider-line-width' and +`vertical-divider-shadow-thickness', `vertical-divider-line-width' and `vertical-divider-spacing' specifiers, which see. ** Frame focus management changes. @@ -412,8 +927,10 @@ instance: ** It is now possible to build XEmacs with LDAP support. You will need to install a LDAP library first. The following have been tested: - - LDAP 3.3 from the University of Michigan + - LDAP 3.3 from the University of Michigan (get it from ) + - OpenLDAP 1.0.3 from the OpenLDAP Foundation + (get it from ) - LDAP SDK 1.0 from Netscape Corp. (get it from ) @@ -497,7 +1014,7 @@ directory hierarchy has been rewritten to support the package system. Look under "Startup Paths" in the Info documentation for more information. -*** site-lisp is now longer part of the load-path by default. +*** site-lisp is no longer part of the load-path by default. Its use is deprecated, but you can specify --with-site-lisp=yes at the configure command line to get it back.