X-Git-Url: http://git.chise.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=etc%2FNEWS;h=9ddb85b9a26f8077d7ae508b2c1e01154c5bd0d8;hb=44e716ef11bd794a51f8c5b56c4f3f10a7dbf217;hp=01711bacf3d2e46ac64af85925b79b176a27a3d5;hpb=6883ee56ec887c2c48abe5b06b5e66aa74031910;p=chise%2Fxemacs-chise.git diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS index 01711ba..9ddb85b 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 +32,209 @@ file. * Changes in XEmacs 21.2 ======================== -None yet. +** `delete-key-deletes-forward' now defaults to t. + +`delete-key-deletes-forward' is the variable that regulates the +behaviour of the delete key on the systems that offer both a backspace +and a delete key. If set to nil, the key labeled "Delete" will delete +backward. If set to non-nil, the "Delete" key will delete forward, +except on keyboards where a "Backspace" key is not provided. + +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. + +** 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. + +** 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'. + +** 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. + +This support is currently only available under MS-Windows. + +** 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 + + +* Lisp and internal changes in XEmacs 21.2 +========================================== + +** 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! + +** 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. + +** 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 arguments to `locate-file' are now much more "lispy". 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. + +** `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 is useful for Mule.) +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 `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 behaviour 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. + +** 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 + +** Functions for decoding base64 encoding are now available; see +`base64-encode-region', `base64-encode-string', `base64-decode-region' +and `base64-decode-string'. + + * Changes in XEmacs 21.0 ======================== @@ -63,8 +264,18 @@ 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 +294,15 @@ 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 +368,12 @@ 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 +467,7 @@ 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 +517,7 @@ 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 +557,7 @@ 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 +629,10 @@ 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 )