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1 -*- mode:outline; minor-mode:outl-mouse -*- | |
2 | |
3 * Introduction | |
4 ============== | |
5 | |
6 This file presents some general information about XEmacs. It is primarily | |
7 about the evolution of XEmacs and its release history. | |
8 | |
9 There are five sections. | |
10 | |
11 Introduction................(this section) provides an introduction | |
12 | |
13 Using Outline Mode..........briefly explains how to use outline mode | |
14 | |
15 The History of XEmacs.......some historical notes | |
16 | |
17 What's Different?...........new or changed capabilities | |
18 | |
19 XEmacs Release Notes........details of the changes between releases | |
20 | |
21 New users should look at the next section on "Using Outline Mode". You will | |
22 be more efficient when you can navigate quickly through this file. Users | |
23 interested in some of the details of how XEmacs differs from FSF GNU Emacs | |
24 should read the section "What's Different?". Users who would to know which | |
25 capabilities have been introduced in each release should look at the | |
26 appropriate subsection of the "XEmacs Release Notes." | |
27 | |
28 N.B. The term "FSF GNU Emacs" refers to any release of Emacs Version 19 | |
29 from the Free Software Foundation's GNU Project. (We do not say just | |
30 "GNU Emacs" because Richard M. Stallman ["RMS"] thinks that this term | |
31 is too generic; although we sometimes say e.g. "GNU Emacs 19.30" to refer | |
32 to a specific version of FSF GNU Emacs. We do not say merely "Emacs", as | |
33 RMS prefers, because that is clearly an even more generic term.) The term | |
34 "XEmacs" refers to this program or to its predecessors "Era" and | |
35 "Lucid Emacs". The predecessor of all these program is called "Emacs 18". | |
36 When no particular version is implied, "Emacs" will be used. | |
37 | |
38 | |
39 * Using Outline Mode | |
40 ==================== | |
41 | |
42 This file is in outline mode, a major mode for viewing (or editing) | |
43 outlines. It allows you to make parts of the text temporarily invisible so | |
44 that you can see just the overall structure of the outline. | |
45 | |
46 There are two ways of using outline mode: with keys or with menus. Using | |
47 outline mode with menus is the simplest and is just as effective as using | |
48 keystrokes. There are menus for outline mode on the menubar as well as in | |
49 popup menus activated by pressing mouse button 3. | |
50 | |
51 Experiment with the menu commands. Menu items under "Headings" allow | |
52 you to navigate from heading to heading. Menu items under "Show" make | |
53 visible portions of the outline while menu items under "Hide" do the | |
54 opposite. | |
55 | |
56 A special minor mode called "outl-mouse" has been automatically enabled. In | |
57 this minor mode, glyphs appear which, when clicked on, will alternately hide | |
58 or show sections of the outline. | |
59 | |
60 You may at any time press `C-h m' to get a listing of the outline mode key | |
61 bindings. They are reproduced here: | |
62 | |
63 Commands: | |
64 C-c C-n outline-next-visible-heading move by visible headings | |
65 C-c C-p outline-previous-visible-heading | |
66 C-c C-f outline-forward-same-level similar but skip subheadings | |
67 C-c C-b outline-backward-same-level | |
68 C-c C-u outline-up-heading move from subheading to heading | |
69 | |
70 C-c C-t make all text invisible (not headings). | |
71 M-x show-all make everything in buffer visible. | |
72 | |
73 The remaining commands are used when point is on a heading line. | |
74 They apply to some of the body or subheadings of that heading. | |
75 C-c C-d hide-subtree make body and subheadings invisible. | |
76 C-c C-s show-subtree make body and subheadings visible. | |
77 C-c tab show-children make direct subheadings visible. | |
78 No effect on body, or subheadings 2 or more levels down. | |
79 With arg N, affects subheadings N levels down. | |
80 C-c C-c make immediately following body invisible. | |
81 C-c C-e make it visible. | |
82 C-c C-l make body under heading and under its subheadings invisible. | |
83 The subheadings remain visible. | |
84 C-c C-k make all subheadings at all levels visible.x1 | |
85 | |
86 | |
87 * The History of XEmacs | |
88 ======================= | |
89 | |
90 This product is an extension of GNU Emacs, previously known to some as | |
91 "Lucid Emacs" or "ERA". It was initially based on an early version of Emacs | |
92 Version 19 from the Free Software Foundation and has since been kept | |
93 up-to-date with recent versions of that product. It stems from a | |
94 collaboration of Lucid, Inc. with SunSoft DevPro (a division of Sun | |
95 Microsystems, Inc.; formerly called SunPro) and the University of Illinois. | |
96 | |
97 NOTE: Lucid, Inc. is currently out of business but development on XEmacs | |
98 continues strong. Recently, Amdahl Corporation and INS Engineering have | |
99 both contributed significantly to the development of XEmacs. | |
100 | |
101 | |
102 ** Why Haven't XEmacs and FSF GNU Emacs Merged? | |
103 =============================================== | |
104 | |
105 This question comes up again and again on comp.emacs.xemacs and other | |
106 newsgroups and mailing lists. Recently in fact there was a long, heated | |
107 thread about this issue. | |
108 | |
109 Here is what one XEmacs developer said about this issue. | |
110 | |
111 DISCLAIMER: This is provided for informational purposes only and does | |
112 _NOT_ necessarily represent the opinions of any of the other XEmacs | |
113 developers or of any of the organizations involved. Keep in mind | |
114 that this is a highly charged issue with differing and strongly-held | |
115 opinions held by the various parties involved. | |
116 | |
117 Subject: Re: elisp code in GNU Emacs/XEmacs | |
118 From: wing@666.com (Ben Wing) | |
119 Message-ID: <wingDqGwLH.K6w@netcom.com> | |
120 Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 11:44:05 GMT | |
121 | |
122 In article <9xo91fmordx.fsf@bcarsf26.nortel.ca>, Stephane Boucher | |
123 <sbo@bcarsf26.nortel.ca> wrote: | |
124 | |
125 Well, I don't think the number of volunteers is greater by having 2 | |
126 Emacsen. I think your affirmation holds true because of the | |
127 inhability of the various parties involved to work together and | |
128 compromise. If people could all work together, I don't think there | |
129 would be any benifit in having 2 Emacsen. It may seem profitable | |
130 right now, but in the long run, I think everyone looses. The time | |
131 everyone spends porting back and forth, and imitating what the other | |
132 has done is not spent to do new features. I've presonnally | |
133 experienced a project split in the past, and in the end everyone | |
134 lost. | |
135 | |
136 I don't want to try to blame anybody for the current fiasco. But we do | |
137 have a fiasco. That is unfortunate. There are so many contributors | |
138 out there that if everyone worked together we might be looking | |
139 forward to having, say, threads in Emacs. But instead, as someone | |
140 told me not that long ago, maybe we'll soon see a new editor come out | |
141 based on Java. Threads will be part of it at no extra cost, and those | |
142 people still using Emacs will continue to curse at the fact that they | |
143 can't start GNUS while typing an E-mail, and the various Emacs | |
144 contributors will continue to argue among themselves, nitpicking | |
145 about how to get the perfect solution, rather than try to move | |
146 forward. Meanwhile, people will enjoy using a new state of the art | |
147 editor. | |
148 | |
149 Don't think we're just being needlessly perverse by continuing to have | |
150 XEmacs. I'm well aware of the problems in having a project split, and | |
151 don't think for a minute that we haven't tried (extremely hard, in | |
152 fact) to come up with a merge. | |
153 | |
154 Unfortunately, as I have said before, the odds of this happening are | |
155 quite low due to severe conflicts (both technical, procedural, and | |
156 philosophical) between RMS and the XEmacs developers. If we were to | |
157 assent to even half of what RMS wants in a merged Emacs, it would take | |
158 years of work to produce the merged Emacs, and the result would be | |
159 less powerful than the existing XEmacs. | |
160 | |
161 Since so many people seem so misinformed about this problem, I'll go | |
162 ahead and state the fundamental dividing issues: | |
163 | |
164 1. RMS does not believe in data abstraction, and cannot be convinced | |
165 of the folly of this. This by itself is such a huge division that | |
166 it makes a merge basically unthinkable. Because of this, FSF Emacs | |
167 is basically unmaintainable by anyone other than RMS. RMS has | |
168 consented to all the data abstraction I want provided that I take | |
169 sole responsibility for writing this code (which basically means | |
170 I'd have to write almost all of the code or rewrite most of his | |
171 code), and provided that he can use this issue as a bargaining | |
172 chip to get concessions of his own. | |
173 2. RMS sees the merge process as a series of mutual concessions | |
174 traded back and forth. IMHO this is reasonable for a peace treaty | |
175 but absurd for a piece of software -- we have to have technical | |
176 agreement on the major issues involved, and the chance of that | |
177 happening is basically nil. | |
178 3. RMS has insisted in full backwards compatibility with all aspects | |
179 of FSF Emacs, no matter how ugly; and furthermore, this backwards | |
180 compatibility must work fast enough to make existing code run | |
181 without problem. This basically means that there would have to be | |
182 parallel C implementations of events, keymaps, and many other data | |
183 structures. This not only will take months or years of extra work | |
184 to implement, but poses some fundamental technical problems due to | |
185 the non-abstractedness of FSF Emacs (e.g. in FSF Emacs keymaps are | |
186 conses or vectors and a lot of code depends on this, and | |
187 reconciling this with XEmacs's primitive keymap type is difficult | |
188 to impossible). | |
189 4. RMS will not even consent to neutral names for the two editors. He | |
190 objects to call his editor FSF Emacs because for some unfathomable | |
191 reason he finds it insulting. He suggests just Emacs, which I find | |
192 not only insulting (XEmacs is just as much Emacs as is FSF Emacs) | |
193 but also quite confusing. He will not even consent to calling his | |
194 editor GNU Emacs without also referring to XEmacs as GNU XEmacs -- | |
195 basically a Borg-like assimilation attempt at making XEmacs a GNU | |
196 product, which it is not. (None of the developers of Lucid Emacs | |
197 and XEmacs were or are sanctioned by GNU, and none of us got the | |
198 least bit of assistance or cooperation in doing our work. In fact, | |
199 RMS actively made it harder by choosing to ignore all work | |
200 previously done in XEmacs and adding his own incompatible | |
201 interfaces for functionality already in XEmacs. This makes it | |
202 quite difficult to track FSF Emacs and keep a sane API.) He has | |
203 stated many times, and continues to assert, that most or all of | |
204 the work done on Lucid Emacs and XEmacs was done primarily as a | |
205 testing ground for potential features to be added to FSF Emacs. | |
206 All of the developers of Lucid Emacs and XEmacs assert that this | |
207 is patently false -- so why does RMS continue to insist that this | |
208 is the case? | |
209 | |
210 ben | |
211 -- | |
212 "... then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was | |
213 more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -- Anais Nin | |
214 | |
215 | |
216 ** Why Another Version of Emacs? (The Lucid, Inc. Point of View) | |
217 ================================================================= | |
218 | |
219 Lucid's latest product, Energize, is a C/C++ development environment. | |
220 Rather than invent (and force our users to learn) a new user-interface, we | |
221 chose to build part of our environment on top of the world's best editor, | |
222 GNU Emacs. (Though our product is commercial, the work we did on is | |
223 free software, and is useful without having to purchase our product.) | |
224 | |
225 We needed a version of Emacs with mouse-sensitive regions, multiple fonts, | |
226 the ability to mark sections of a buffer as read-only, the ability to detect | |
227 which parts of a buffer has been modified, and many other features. | |
228 | |
229 *** Why Not Epoch or GNU Emacs? | |
230 ------------------------------- | |
231 | |
232 For our purposes, the existing version of Epoch was not sufficient; it did | |
233 not allow us to put arbitrary pixmaps/icons in buffers, `undo' did not | |
234 restore changes to regions, regions did not overlap and merge their | |
235 attributes in the way we needed, and several other things. | |
236 | |
237 We could have devoted our time to making Epoch do what we needed (and, in | |
238 fact, we spent some time doing that in 1990) but, since the Free Software | |
239 Foundation planned to include Epoch-like features in their Version 19, we | |
240 decided that our efforts would be better spent improving GNU Emacs | |
241 instead of Epoch. | |
242 | |
243 Our original hope was that our changes to GNU Emacs would be | |
244 incorporated into the "official" v19. However, scheduling conflicts arose, | |
245 and we found that, given the amount of work still remaining to be done, we | |
246 didn't have the time or manpower to do the level of coordination that would | |
247 be necessary to get our changes accepted by the Free Software Foundation. | |
248 Consequently, we released our work as a forked branch of Emacs, instead of | |
249 delaying any longer. | |
250 | |
251 Roughly a year after Lucid Emacs 19.0 was released, a beta version of the | |
252 Free Software Foundation branch of Emacs 19 was released. This version | |
253 was better in some areas, and worse in others, as reflects the differing | |
254 focus of our development efforts. | |
255 | |
256 We planned to continue developing and supporting Lucid Emacs, and merging in | |
257 bug fixes and new features from the Free Software Foundation branch as | |
258 appropriate; we did not plan to discard any of the functionality that we | |
259 implemented which Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation has | |
260 chosen not to include in his version. | |
261 | |
262 However, events have overtaken us, and Lucid, Inc. has effectively ceased | |
263 doing business and is (September 1994) in the process of being sold. Our | |
264 efforts on Lucid Emacs have also ceased and we've turned over the continued | |
265 enhancement of Lucid Emacs to the University of Illinois under Chuck | |
266 Thompson, a member of the Lucid Emacs team and a maintainer of Epoch. | |
267 At the same time, Lucid Emacs has been renamed XEmacs to reflect the | |
268 substantial contribution of the University of Illinois with the support of | |
269 Sun Microsystems. | |
270 | |
271 Certain elements of Lucid Emacs, or derivatives of them, have been ported to | |
272 the FSF GNU Emacs. We have not been doing work in this direction, because | |
273 we feel that Lucid Emacs has a cleaner and more extensible substrate, and | |
274 that any kind of merger between the two branches would be far easier by | |
275 merging the Free Software Foundation changes into our version than the other | |
276 way around. | |
277 | |
278 We were working closely with the Epoch developers to merge in the | |
279 remaining Epoch functionality which Lucid Emacs does not yet have. Epoch | |
280 and Lucid Emacs will soon be one and the same thing. Work is being done on | |
281 a compatibility package which will allow Epoch 4 code to run in XEmacs with | |
282 little or no change. (As of 19.8, Lucid Emacs is running a descendant of | |
283 the Epoch redisplay engine.) | |
284 | |
285 ** Why Another Version of Emacs? (The SunPro Point of View) | |
286 ============================================================ | |
287 | |
288 Emacs 18 has been around for a long, long time. Version 19 was supposed to | |
289 be the successor to Emacs 18 with X support. It was going to be available | |
290 "real soon" for a long time (some people remember hearing about v19 as early | |
291 as 1984!), but it never came out. v19 development was going very, very | |
292 slowly, and from the outside it seemed that it was not moving at all. In | |
293 the meantime other people gave up waiting for v19 and decided to build their | |
294 own X-aware Emacsen. The most important of these was probably Epoch, which | |
295 came from the University of Illinois and was based on v18. | |
296 | |
297 Around three years ago we decided that we wanted an integrated editor. We | |
298 contracted with the University of Illinois to provide a number of basic | |
299 enhancements to the functionality in Epoch. The University of Illinois | |
300 initially was planning to deliver this on top of Epoch code. | |
301 | |
302 In the meantime (actually some time before we talked with the University of | |
303 Illinois) Lucid had decided that it also wanted to provide an integrated | |
304 environment with an integrated editor. Lucid decided that the Version 19 | |
305 basis was a better one than Version 18 and thus decided not to use Epoch but | |
306 instead work with Richard Stallman, the head of the Free Software Foundation | |
307 and principle author of Emacs, on getting Version 19 out. At some point | |
308 Stallman and Lucid parted ways. Lucid kept working and got a Version 19 out | |
309 that they called Lucid Emacs 19. | |
310 | |
311 After Lucid's v19 came out it became clear to us (the University of Illinois | |
312 and SunPro) that the right thing to do was to push for an integration of | |
313 both Lucid Emacs and Epoch, and to get the deliverables that we were asking | |
314 from the University of Illinois on top of this integrated platform. Through | |
315 the last two years, SunPro has been actively supporting this product and has | |
316 been investing a comparable amount of effort into it as Lucid has. | |
317 Substantial portions of the current code have originated under the support | |
318 of SunPro, either directly in SunPro, or in the University of Illinois but | |
319 paid for by us. This code was kept away from Lucid for a while, but later | |
320 was made available to them. Initially Lucid didn't know that we were | |
321 supporting UofI, but later we were open about it. | |
322 | |
323 Eventually, all development source trees were synched up. Currently, there | |
324 is basically no difference in the source trees between what is at the | |
325 University of Illinois and SunPro. | |
326 | |
327 SunPro originally called the integrated product ERA, for "Emacs Rewritten | |
328 Again". At some point, SunPro and Lucid came to an agreement to find a name | |
329 for the product that was not specific to either company. An additional | |
330 constraint that Lucid placed on the name was that it must contain the word | |
331 "Emacs" in it -- thus "ERA" was not acceptable. The agreed-upon name was | |
332 "XEmacs", and this is what the product has been called starting with the | |
333 19.11 release. | |
334 | |
335 | |
336 * What's Different? | |
337 =================== | |
338 | |
339 | |
340 ** Differences between XEmacs and FSF GNU Emacs 19 | |
341 ================================================== | |
342 | |
343 In XEmacs, events are first-class objects. FSF 19 represents them as | |
344 integers, which obscures the differences between a key gesture and the | |
345 ancient ASCII code used to represent a particular overlapping subset of them. | |
346 | |
347 In XEmacs, keymaps are first-class opaque objects. FSF 19 represents them as | |
348 complicated combinations of association lists and vectors. If you use the | |
349 advertised functional interface to manipulation of keymaps, the same code | |
350 will work in XEmacs, Emacs 18, and and FSF GNU Emacs 19; if your code depends | |
351 on the underlying implementation of keymaps, it will not. | |
352 | |
353 XEmacs uses "extents" to represent all non-textual aspects of buffers; | |
354 FSF 19 uses two distinct objects, "text properties" and "overlays", | |
355 which divide up the functionality between them. Extents are a | |
356 superset of the functionality of the two FSF data types. The full FSF | |
357 19 interface to text properties is supported in XEmacs (with extents | |
358 being the underlying representation). | |
359 | |
360 Extents can be made to be copied into strings, and thus restored by kill | |
361 and yank. Thus, one can specify this behavior on either "extents" or | |
362 "text properties", whereas in FSF 19 text properties always have this | |
363 behavior and overlays never do. | |
364 | |
365 Many more packages are provided standard with XEmacs than with FSF 19. | |
366 | |
367 Pixmaps of arbitrary size can be embedded in a buffer. | |
368 | |
369 Variable width fonts work. | |
370 | |
371 The height of a line is the height of the tallest font on that line, instead | |
372 of all lines having the same height. | |
373 | |
374 XEmacs uses the MIT "Xt" toolkit instead of raw Xlib calls, which | |
375 makes it be a more well-behaved X citizen (and also improves | |
376 portability). A result of this is that it is possible to include | |
377 other Xt "Widgets" in the XEmacs window. Also, XEmacs understands the | |
378 standard Xt command-line arguments. | |
379 | |
380 XEmacs provides support for ToolTalk on systems that have it. | |
381 | |
382 XEmacs can ask questions using popup dialog boxes. Any command executed from | |
383 a menu will ask yes/no questions with dialog boxes, while commands executed | |
384 via the keyboard will use the minibuffer. | |
385 | |
386 XEmacs has a built-in toolbar. Four toolbars can actually be configured: | |
387 top, bottom, left, and right toolbars. | |
388 | |
389 XEmacs has vertical and horizontal scrollbars. Unlike in FSF 19 (which | |
390 provides a primitive form of vertical scrollbar), these are true toolkit | |
391 scrollbars. A look-alike Motif scrollbar is provided for those who | |
392 don't have Motif. (Even for those who do, the look-alike may be preferable | |
393 as it is faster.) | |
394 | |
395 If you're running on a machine with audio hardware, you can specify sound | |
396 files for XEmacs to play instead of the default X beep. See the documentation | |
397 of the function load-sound-file and the variable sound-alist. | |
398 | |
399 An XEmacs frame can be placed within an "external client widget" managed by | |
400 another application. This allows an application to use an XEmacs frame as its | |
401 text pane rather than the standard Text widget that is provided with Motif or | |
402 Athena. XEmacs supports Motif applications, generic Xt (e.g. Athena) | |
403 applications, and raw Xlib applications. | |
404 | |
405 Here are some more specifics about the XEmacs implementation: | |
406 | |
407 *** The Input Model | |
408 ------------------- | |
409 | |
410 The fundamental unit of input is an "event" instead of a character. An | |
411 event is a new data type that contains several pieces of information. | |
412 There are several kinds of event, and corresponding accessor and utility | |
413 functions. We tried to abstract them so that they would apply equally | |
414 well to a number of window systems. | |
415 | |
416 NOTE: All timestamps are measured as milliseconds since Emacs started. | |
417 | |
418 key_press_event | |
419 event_channel A token representing which keyboard generated it. | |
420 For this kind of event, this is a frame object. | |
421 (This is for eventual support of multiple displays.) | |
422 timestamp When it happened | |
423 key What keysym this is; an integer or a symbol. | |
424 If this is an integer, it will be in the printing | |
425 ASCII range: >32 and <127. | |
426 modifiers Bucky-bits on that key: control, meta, etc. | |
427 For most keys, Shift is not a bit; that is implicit | |
428 in the keyboard layout. | |
429 | |
430 button_press_event | |
431 button_release_event | |
432 event_channel A token representing which mouse generated it. | |
433 For this kind of event, this is a frame object. | |
434 timestamp When it happened | |
435 button What button went down or up. | |
436 modifiers Bucky-bits on that button: shift, control, meta, etc. | |
437 x, y Where it was at the button-state-change (in pixels). | |
438 | |
439 pointer_motion_event | |
440 event_channel A token representing which mouse generated it. | |
441 For this kind of event, this is a frame object. | |
442 timestamp When it happened | |
443 x, y Where it was after it moved (in pixels). | |
444 modifiers Bucky-bits down when the motion was detected. | |
445 (Possibly not all window systems will provide this?) | |
446 | |
447 process_event | |
448 timestamp When it happened | |
449 process the emacs "process" object in question | |
450 | |
451 timeout_event | |
452 timestamp Now (really, when the timeout was signaled) | |
453 interval_id The ID returned when the associated call to | |
454 add_timeout_cb() was made | |
455 ------ the rest of the fields are filled in by Emacs ----- | |
456 id_number The Emacs timeout ID for this timeout (more | |
457 than one timeout event can have the same value | |
458 here, since Emacs timeouts, as opposed to | |
459 add_timeout_cb() timeouts, can resignal | |
460 themselves) | |
461 function An elisp function to call when this timeout is | |
462 processed. | |
463 object The object passed to that function. | |
464 | |
465 eval_event | |
466 timestamp When it happened | |
467 function An elisp function to call with this event object. | |
468 object Anything. | |
469 This kind of event is used internally; sometimes the | |
470 window system interface would like to inform emacs of | |
471 some user action (such as focusing on another frame) | |
472 but needs that to happen synchronously with the other | |
473 user input, like keypresses. This is useful when | |
474 events are reported through callbacks rather | |
475 than in the standard event stream. | |
476 | |
477 misc_user_event | |
478 timestamp When it happened | |
479 function An elisp function to call with this event object. | |
480 object Anything. | |
481 This is similar to an eval_event, except that it is | |
482 generated by user actions: selections in the | |
483 menubar or scrollbar actions. It is a "command" | |
484 event, like key and mouse presses (and unlike mouse | |
485 motion, process output, and enter and leave window | |
486 hooks). In many ways, eval_events are not the same | |
487 as keypresses or misc_user_events. | |
488 | |
489 magic_event | |
490 No user-serviceable parts within. This is for things | |
491 like KeymapNotify and ExposeRegion events and so on | |
492 that emacs itself doesn't care about, but which it | |
493 must do something with for proper interaction with | |
494 the window system. | |
495 | |
496 Magic_events are handled somewhat asynchronously, just | |
497 like subprocess filters. However, occasionally a | |
498 magic_event needs to be handled synchronously; in that | |
499 case, the asynchronous handling of the magic_event will | |
500 push an eval_event back onto the queue, which will be | |
501 handled synchronously later. This is one of the | |
502 reasons why eval_events exist; I'm not entirely happy | |
503 with this aspect of this event model. | |
504 | |
505 | |
506 The function `next-event' blocks and returns one of the above-described | |
507 event objects. The function `dispatch-event' takes an event and processes | |
508 it in the appropriate way. | |
509 | |
510 For a process-event, dispatch-event calls the process's handler; for a | |
511 mouse-motion event, the mouse-motion-handler hook is called, and so on. | |
512 For magic-events, dispatch-event does window-system-dependent things, | |
513 including calling some non-window-system-dependent hooks: map-frame-hook, | |
514 unmap-frame-hook, mouse-enter-frame-hook, and mouse-leave-frame-hook. | |
515 | |
516 The function `next-command-event' calls `next-event' until it gets a key or | |
517 button from the user (that is, not a process, motion, timeout, or magic | |
518 event). If it gets an event that is not a key or button, it calls | |
519 `dispatch-event' on it immediately and reads another one. The | |
520 next-command-event function could be implemented in Emacs Lisp, though it | |
521 isn't. Generally one should call `next-command-event' instead of | |
522 `next-event'. | |
523 | |
524 read-char calls next-command-event; if it doesn't get an event that can be | |
525 converted to an ASCII character, it signals an error. Otherwise it returns | |
526 an integer. | |
527 | |
528 The variable `last-command-char' always contains an integer, or nil (if the | |
529 last read event has no ASCII equivalent, as when it is a mouse-click or a | |
530 non-ASCII character chord.) | |
531 | |
532 The new variable `last-command-event' holds an event object, that could be | |
533 a non-ASCII character, a button click, a menu selection, etc. | |
534 | |
535 The variable `unread-command-char' no longer exists, and has been replaced | |
536 by `unread-command-events'. With the new event model, it is incorrect for | |
537 code to do (setq unread-command-char (read-char)), because all user-input | |
538 can't be represented as ASCII characters. *** This is an incompatible | |
539 change. Code which sets `unread-command-char' must be updated to use the | |
540 combination of `next-command-event' and `unread-command-events' instead. | |
541 | |
542 The functions `this-command-keys' and `recent-keys' return a vector of | |
543 event objects, instead of a string of ASCII characters. *** This also | |
544 is an incompatible change. | |
545 | |
546 Almost nothing happens at interrupt level; the SIGIO handler simply sets a | |
547 flag, and later, the X event queue is scanned for KeyPress events which map | |
548 to ^G. All redisplay happens in the main thread of the process. | |
549 | |
550 | |
551 *** Keymaps | |
552 ----------- | |
553 | |
554 Instead of keymaps being alists or obarrays, they are a new primary data | |
555 type. The only user access to the contents of a keymap is through the | |
556 existing keymap-manipulation functions, and a new function, map-keymap. | |
557 This means that existing code that manipulates keymaps may need to | |
558 be changed. | |
559 | |
560 One of our goals with the new input and keymap code was to make more | |
561 character combinations available for binding, besides just ASCII and | |
562 function keys. We want to be able bind different commands to Control-a | |
563 and Control-Shift-a; we also want it to be possible for the keys Control-h | |
564 and Backspace (and Control-M and Return, and Control-I and Tab, etc) to | |
565 be distinct. | |
566 | |
567 One of the most common complaints that new Emacs users have is that backspace | |
568 is help. The answer is to play around with the keyboard-translate-table, or | |
569 be lucky enough to have a system administrator who has done this for you | |
570 already; but if it were possible to bind backspace and C-h to different | |
571 things, then (under a window manager at least) both backspace and delete | |
572 would delete a character, and ^H would be help. There's no need to deal | |
573 with xmodmap, kbd-translate-table, etc. | |
574 | |
575 Here are some more examples: suppose you want to bind one function to Tab, | |
576 and another to Control-Tab. This can't be done if Tab and Control-I are the | |
577 same thing. What about control keys that have no ASCII equivalent, like | |
578 Control-< ? One might want that to be bound to set-mark-at-point-min. We | |
579 want M-C-Backspace to be kill-backward-sexp. But we want M-Backspace to be | |
580 kill-backward-word. Again, this can't be done if Backspace and C-h are | |
581 indistinguishable. | |
582 | |
583 The user represents keys as a string of ASCII characters (when possible and | |
584 convenient), or as a vector of event objects, or as a vector of "key | |
585 description lists", that looks like (control a), or (control meta delete) | |
586 or (shift f1). The order of the modifier-names is not significant, so | |
587 (meta control x) and (control meta x) are the same. | |
588 | |
589 `define-key' knows how to take any of the above representations and store them | |
590 into a keymap. When Emacs wants to return a key sequence (this-command-keys, | |
591 recent-keys, keyboard-macros, and read-key-sequence, for example) it returns | |
592 a vector of event objects. Keyboard macros can also be represented as ASCII | |
593 strings or as vectors of key description lists. | |
594 | |
595 This is an incompatible change: code which calls `this-command-keys', | |
596 `recent-keys', `read-key-sequence', or manipulates keyboard-macros probably | |
597 needs to be changed so that it no longer assumes that the returned value is a | |
598 string. | |
599 | |
600 Control-Shift-a is specified as (control A), not (control shift a), since A | |
601 is a two-case character. But for keys that don't have an upper case | |
602 version, like F1, Backspace, and Escape, you use the (shift backspace) syntax. | |
603 | |
604 See the doc string for our version of define-key, reproduced below in the | |
605 `Changed Functions' section. Note that when the KEYS argument is a string, | |
606 it has the same semantics as the v18 define-key. | |
607 | |
608 | |
609 *** Xt Integration | |
610 ------------------ | |
611 | |
612 The heart of the event loop is implemented in terms of the Xt event functions | |
613 (specifically XtAppProcessEvent), and uses Xt's concept of timeouts and | |
614 file-descriptor callbacks, eliminating a large amount of system-dependent code | |
615 (Xt does it for you.) | |
616 | |
617 If Emacs is compiled with support for X, it uses the Xt event loop even when | |
618 Emacs is not running on an X display (the Xt event loop supports this). This | |
619 makes it possible to run Emacs on a dumb TTY, and later connect it to one or | |
620 more X servers. It should also be possible to later connect an existing Emacs | |
621 process to additional TTY's, although this code is still experimental. (Our | |
622 intent at this point is not to have an Emacs that is being used by multiple | |
623 people at the same time: it is to make it possible for someone to go home, log | |
624 in on a dialup line, and connect to the same Emacs process that is running | |
625 under X in their office without having to recreate their buffer state and so | |
626 on.) | |
627 | |
628 If Emacs is not compiled with support for X, then it instead uses more general | |
629 code, something like what v18 does; but this way of doing things is a lot more | |
630 modular. | |
631 | |
632 (Linking Emacs with Xt seems to only add about 300k to the executable size, | |
633 compared with an Emacs linked with Xlib only.) | |
634 | |
635 | |
636 *** Region Highlighting | |
637 ----------------------- | |
638 | |
639 If the variable `zmacs-regions' is true, then the region between point and | |
640 mark will be highlighted when "active". Those commands which push a mark | |
641 (such as C-SPC, and C-x C-x) make the region become "active" and thus | |
642 highlighted. Most commands (all non-motion commands, basically) cause it to | |
643 become non-highlighted (non-"active"). Commands that operate on the region | |
644 (such as C-w, C-x C-l, etc.) only work if the region is in the highlighted | |
645 state. | |
646 | |
647 zmacs-activate-region-hook and zmacs-deactivate-region-hook are run at the | |
648 appropriate times; under X, zmacs-activate-region-hook makes the X selection | |
649 be the region between point and mark, thus doing two things at once: making | |
650 the region and the X selection be the same; and making the region highlight | |
651 in the same way as the X selection. | |
652 | |
653 If `zmacs-regions' is true, then the `mark-marker' command returns nil unless | |
654 the region is currently in the active (highlighted) state. With an argument | |
655 of t, this returns the mark (if there is one) regardless of the active-region | |
656 state. You should *generally* not use the mark unless the region is active, | |
657 if the user has expressed a preference for the active-region model. Watch | |
658 out! Moving this marker changes the mark position. If you set the marker not | |
659 to point anywhere, the buffer will have no mark. | |
660 | |
661 In this way, the primary selection is a fairly transitory entity; but | |
662 when something is copied to the kill ring, it is made the Clipboard | |
663 selection. It is also stored into CUT_BUFFER0, for compatibility with | |
664 X applications that don't understand selections (like Emacs18). | |
665 | |
666 Compatibility note: if you have code which uses (mark) or (mark-marker), | |
667 then you need to either: change those calls to (mark t) or (mark-marker t); | |
668 or simply bind `zmacs-regions' to nil around the call to mark or mark-marker. | |
669 This is probably the best solution, since it will work in Emacs 18 as well. | |
670 | |
671 | |
672 *** Menubars and Dialog Boxes | |
673 ----------------------------- | |
674 | |
675 Here is an example of a menubar definition: | |
676 | |
677 (defvar default-menubar | |
678 '(("File" ["Open File..." find-file t] | |
679 ["Save Buffer" save-buffer t] | |
680 ["Save Buffer As..." write-file t] | |
681 ["Revert Buffer" revert-buffer t] | |
682 "-----" | |
683 ["Print Buffer" lpr-buffer t] | |
684 "-----" | |
685 ["Delete Frame" delete-frame t] | |
686 ["Kill Buffer..." kill-buffer t] | |
687 ["Exit Emacs" save-buffers-kill-emacs t] | |
688 ) | |
689 ("Edit" ["Undo" advertised-undo t] | |
690 ["Cut" kill-primary-selection t] | |
691 ["Copy" copy-primary-selection t] | |
692 ["Paste" yank-clipboard-selection t] | |
693 ["Clear" delete-primary-selection t] | |
694 ) | |
695 ...)) | |
696 | |
697 The first element of each menu item is the string to print on the menu. | |
698 | |
699 The second element is the callback function; if it is a symbol, it is | |
700 invoked with `call-interactively.' If it is a list, it is invoked with | |
701 `eval'. | |
702 | |
703 If the second element is a symbol, then the menu also displays the key that | |
704 is bound to that command (if any). | |
705 | |
706 The third element of the menu items determines whether the item is selectable. | |
707 It may be t, nil, or a form to evaluate. Also, a hook is run just before a | |
708 menu is exposed, which can be used to change the value of these slots. | |
709 For example, there is a hook that makes the "undo" menu item be selectable | |
710 only in the cases when `advertised-undo' would not signal an error. | |
711 | |
712 Menus may have other menus nested within them; they will cascade. | |
713 | |
714 There are utility functions for adding items to menus, deleting items, | |
715 disabling them, etc. | |
716 | |
717 The function `popup-menu' takes a menu description and pops it up. | |
718 | |
719 The function `popup-dialog-box' takes a dialog-box description and pops | |
720 it up. Dialog box descriptions look a lot like menu descriptions. | |
721 | |
722 The menubar, menu, and dialog-box code is implemented as a library, | |
723 with an interface which hides the toolkit that implements it. | |
724 | |
725 | |
726 *** Isearch Changes | |
727 ------------------- | |
728 | |
729 Isearch has been reimplemented in a different way, adding some new features, | |
730 and causing a few incompatible changes. | |
731 | |
732 - the old isearch-*-char variables are no longer supported. In the old | |
733 system, one could make ^A mean "repeat the search" by doing something | |
734 like (setq search-repeat-char ?C-a). In the new system, this is | |
735 accomplished with | |
736 | |
737 (define-key isearch-mode-map "\C-a" 'isearch-repeat-forward) | |
738 | |
739 - The advantage of using the normal keymap mechanism for this is that you | |
740 can bind more than one key to an isearch command: for example, both C-a | |
741 and C-s could do the same thing inside isearch mode. You can also bind | |
742 multi-key sequences inside of isearch mode, and bind non-ASCII keys. | |
743 For example, to use the F1 key to terminate a search: | |
744 | |
745 (define-key isearch-mode-map 'f1 'isearch-exit) | |
746 | |
747 or to make ``C-c C-c'' terminate a search: | |
748 | |
749 (define-key isearch-mode-map "\C-c\C-c" 'isearch-exit) | |
750 | |
751 - If isearch is behaving case-insensitively (the default) and you type an | |
752 upper case character, then the search will become case-sensitive. This | |
753 can be disabled by setting `search-caps-disable-folding' to nil. | |
754 | |
755 - There is a history ring of the strings previously searched for; typing | |
756 M-p or M-n while searching will cycle through this ring. Typing M-TAB | |
757 will do completion across the set of items in the history ring. | |
758 | |
759 - The ESC key is no longer used to terminate an incremental search. The | |
760 RET key should be used instead. This change is necessary for it to be | |
761 possible to bind "meta" characters to isearch commands. | |
762 | |
763 | |
764 *** Startup Code Changes | |
765 ------------------------ | |
766 | |
767 The initial X frame is mapped before the user's .emacs file is executed. | |
768 Without this, there is no way for the user to see any error messages | |
769 generated by their .emacs file, any windows created by the .emacs file | |
770 don't show up, and the copyleft notice isn't shown. | |
771 | |
772 The default values for load-path, exec-path, lock-directory, and | |
773 Info-directory-list are not (necessarily) built into Emacs, but are | |
774 computed at startup time. | |
775 | |
776 First, Emacs looks at the directory in which its executable file resides: | |
777 | |
778 o If that directory contains subdirectories named "lisp" and "lib-src", | |
779 then those directories are used as the lisp library and exec directory. | |
780 | |
781 o If the parent of the directory in which the emacs executable is located | |
782 contains "lisp" and "lib-src" subdirectories, then those are used. | |
783 | |
784 o If ../lib/xemacs-<version> (starting from the directory in which the | |
785 emacs executable is located) contains a "lisp" subdirectory and either | |
786 a "lib-src" subdirectory or a <configuration-name> subdirectory, then | |
787 those are used. | |
788 | |
789 o If the emacs executable that was run is a symbolic link, then the link | |
790 is chased, and the resultant directory is checked as above. | |
791 | |
792 (Actually, it doesn't just look for "lisp/", it looks for "lisp/prim/", | |
793 which reduces the chances of a false positive.) | |
794 | |
795 If the lisp directory contains subdirectories, they are added to the default | |
796 load-path as well. If the site-lisp directory exists and contains | |
797 subdirectories, they are then added. Subdirectories whose names begin with | |
798 a dot or a hyphen are not added to the load-path. | |
799 | |
800 These heuristics fail if the Emacs binary was copied from the main Emacs | |
801 tree to some other directory, and links for the lisp directory were not put | |
802 in. This isn't much of a restriction: either make there be subdirectories | |
803 (or symbolic links) of the directory of the emacs executable, or make the | |
804 "installed" emacs executable be a symbolic link to an executable in a more | |
805 appropriate directory structure. For example, this setup works: | |
806 | |
807 /usr/local/xemacs/xemacs* ; The executable. | |
808 /usr/local/xemacs/lisp/ ; The associated directories. | |
809 /usr/local/xemacs/etc/ ; Any of the files in this list | |
810 /usr/local/xemacs/lock/ ; could be symbolic links as well. | |
811 /usr/local/xemacs/info/ | |
812 | |
813 As does this: | |
814 | |
815 /usr/local/bin/xemacs -> ../xemacs/src/xemacs-19.14 ; A link... | |
816 /usr/local/xemacs/src/xemacs-19.14* ; The executable, | |
817 /usr/local/xemacs/lisp/ ; and the rest of | |
818 /usr/local/xemacs/etc/ ; the the source | |
819 /usr/local/xemacs/lock/ ; tree. | |
820 /usr/local/xemacs/info/ | |
821 | |
822 This configuration might be used for a multi-architecture installation; assume | |
823 that $LOCAL refers to a directory which contains only files specific to a | |
824 particular architecture (i.e., executables) and $SHARED refers to those files | |
825 which are not machine specific (i.e., lisp code and documentation.) | |
826 | |
827 $LOCAL/bin/xemacs@ -> $LOCAL/xemacs-19.14/xemacs* | |
828 $LOCAL/xemacs-19.14/lisp@ -> $SHARED/xemacs-19.14/lisp/ | |
829 $LOCAL/xemacs-19.14/etc@ -> $SHARED/xemacs-19.14/etc/ | |
830 $LOCAL/xemacs-19.14/info@ -> $SHARED/xemacs-19.14/info/ | |
831 | |
832 The following would also work, but the above is probably more attractive: | |
833 | |
834 $LOCAL/bin/xemacs* | |
835 $LOCAL/bin/lisp@ -> $SHARED/xemacs-19.14/lisp/ | |
836 $LOCAL/bin/etc@ -> $SHARED/xemacs-19.14/etc/ | |
837 $LOCAL/bin/info@ -> $SHARED/xemacs-19.14/info/ | |
838 | |
839 If Emacs can't find the requisite directories, it writes a message like this | |
840 (or some appropriate subset of it) to stderr: | |
841 | |
842 WARNING: | |
843 couldn't find an obvious default for load-path, exec-directory, and | |
844 lock-directory, and there were no defaults specified in paths.h when | |
845 Emacs was built. Perhaps some directories don't exist, or the Emacs | |
846 executable, /cadillac-th/jwz/somewhere/xemacs is in a strange place? | |
847 | |
848 Without both exec-directory and load-path, Emacs will be very broken. | |
849 Consider making a symbolic link from /cadillac-th/jwz/somewhere/etc | |
850 to wherever the appropriate Emacs etc/ directory is, and from | |
851 /cadillac-th/jwz/somewhere/lisp/ to wherever the appropriate Emacs | |
852 lisp library is. | |
853 | |
854 Without lock-directory set, file locking won't work. Consider | |
855 creating /cadillac-th/jwz/somewhere/lock as a directory or symbolic | |
856 link for use as the lock directory. | |
857 | |
858 The default installation tree is the following: | |
859 | |
860 /usr/local/bin/b2m ; | |
861 ctags ; executables that | |
862 emacsclient ; should be in | |
863 etags ; user's path | |
864 xemacs -> xemacs-<version> ; | |
865 xemacs ; | |
866 /usr/local/lib/xemacs/site-lisp | |
867 /usr/local/lib/xemacs/lock | |
868 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-<version>/etc ; architecture ind. files | |
869 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-<version>/info | |
870 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-<version>/lisp | |
871 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-<version>/<configuration> ; binaries emacs may run | |
872 | |
873 | |
874 *** X Resources | |
875 --------------- | |
876 | |
877 (Note: This section is copied verbatim from the XEmacs Reference Manual.) | |
878 | |
879 The Emacs resources are generally set per-frame. Each Emacs frame | |
880 can have its own name or the same name as another, depending on the | |
881 name passed to the `make-frame' function. | |
882 | |
883 You can specify resources for all frames with the syntax: | |
884 | |
885 Emacs*parameter: value | |
886 | |
887 or | |
888 | |
889 Emacs*EmacsFrame.parameter:value | |
890 | |
891 You can specify resources for a particular frame with the syntax: | |
892 | |
893 Emacs*FRAME-NAME.parameter: value | |
894 | |
895 | |
896 **** Geometry Resources | |
897 ----------------------- | |
898 | |
899 To make the default size of all Emacs frames be 80 columns by 55 | |
900 lines, do this: | |
901 | |
902 Emacs*EmacsFrame.geometry: 80x55 | |
903 | |
904 To set the geometry of a particular frame named `fred', do this: | |
905 | |
906 Emacs*fred.geometry: 80x55 | |
907 | |
908 Important! Do not use the following syntax: | |
909 | |
910 Emacs*geometry: 80x55 | |
911 | |
912 You should never use `*geometry' with any X application. It does not | |
913 say "make the geometry of Emacs be 80 columns by 55 lines." It really | |
914 says, "make Emacs and all subwindows thereof be 80x55 in whatever units | |
915 they care to measure in." In particular, that is both telling the | |
916 Emacs text pane to be 80x55 in characters, and telling the menubar pane | |
917 to be 80x55 pixels, which is surely not what you want. | |
918 | |
919 As a special case, this geometry specification also works (and sets | |
920 the default size of all Emacs frames to 80 columns by 55 lines): | |
921 | |
922 Emacs.geometry: 80x55 | |
923 | |
924 since that is the syntax used with most other applications (since most | |
925 other applications have only one top-level window, unlike Emacs). In | |
926 general, however, the top-level shell (the unmapped ApplicationShell | |
927 widget named `Emacs' that is the parent of the shell widgets that | |
928 actually manage the individual frames) does not have any interesting | |
929 resources on it, and you should set the resources on the frames instead. | |
930 | |
931 The `-geometry' command-line argument sets only the geometry of the | |
932 initial frame created by Emacs. | |
933 | |
934 A more complete explanation of geometry-handling is | |
935 | |
936 * The `-geometry' command-line option sets the `Emacs.geometry' | |
937 resource, that is, the geometry of the ApplicationShell. | |
938 | |
939 * For the first frame created, the size of the frame is taken from | |
940 the ApplicationShell if it is specified, otherwise from the | |
941 geometry of the frame. | |
942 | |
943 * For subsequent frames, the order is reversed: First the frame, and | |
944 then the ApplicationShell. | |
945 | |
946 * For the first frame created, the position of the frame is taken | |
947 from the ApplicationShell (`Emacs.geometry') if it is specified, | |
948 otherwise from the geometry of the frame. | |
949 | |
950 * For subsequent frames, the position is taken only from the frame, | |
951 and never from the ApplicationShell. | |
952 | |
953 This is rather complicated, but it does seem to provide the most | |
954 intuitive behavior with respect to the default sizes and positions of | |
955 frames created in various ways. | |
956 | |
957 | |
958 **** Iconic Resources | |
959 --------------------- | |
960 | |
961 Analogous to `-geometry', the `-iconic' command-line option sets the | |
962 iconic flag of the ApplicationShell (`Emacs.iconic') and always applies | |
963 to the first frame created regardless of its name. However, it is | |
964 possible to set the iconic flag on particular frames (by name) by using | |
965 the `Emacs*FRAME-NAME.iconic' resource. | |
966 | |
967 | |
968 **** Resource List | |
969 ------------------ | |
970 | |
971 Emacs frames accept the following resources: | |
972 | |
973 `geometry' (class `Geometry'): string | |
974 Initial geometry for the frame. *Note Geometry Resources:: for a | |
975 complete discussion of how this works. | |
976 | |
977 `iconic' (class `Iconic'): boolean | |
978 Whether this frame should appear in the iconified state. | |
979 | |
980 `internalBorderWidth' (class `InternalBorderWidth'): int | |
981 How many blank pixels to leave between the text and the edge of the | |
982 window. | |
983 | |
984 `interline' (class `Interline'): int | |
985 How many pixels to leave between each line (may not be | |
986 implemented). | |
987 | |
988 `menubar' (class `Menubar'): boolean | |
989 Whether newly-created frames should initially have a menubar. Set | |
990 to true by default. | |
991 | |
992 `initiallyUnmapped' (class `InitiallyUnmapped'): boolean | |
993 Whether XEmacs should leave the initial frame unmapped when it | |
994 starts up. This is useful if you are starting XEmacs as a server | |
995 (e.g. in conjunction with gnuserv or the external client widget). | |
996 You can also control this with the `-unmapped' command-line option. | |
997 | |
998 `barCursor' (class `BarColor'): boolean | |
999 Whether the cursor should be displayed as a bar, or the | |
1000 traditional box. | |
1001 | |
1002 `textPointer' (class `Cursor'): cursor-name | |
1003 The cursor to use when the mouse is over text. This resource is | |
1004 used to initialize the variable `x-pointer-shape'. | |
1005 | |
1006 `selectionPointer' (class `Cursor'): cursor-name | |
1007 The cursor to use when the mouse is over a selectable text region | |
1008 (an extent with the `highlight' property; for example, an Info | |
1009 cross-reference). This resource is used to initialize the variable | |
1010 `x-selection-pointer-shape'. | |
1011 | |
1012 `spacePointer' (class `Cursor'): cursor-name | |
1013 The cursor to use when the mouse is over a blank space in a buffer | |
1014 (that is, after the end of a line or after the end-of-file). This | |
1015 resource is used to initialize the variable | |
1016 `x-nontext-pointer-shape'. | |
1017 | |
1018 `modeLinePointer' (class `Cursor'): cursor-name | |
1019 The cursor to use when the mouse is over a mode line. This | |
1020 resource is used to initialize the variable `x-mode-pointer-shape'. | |
1021 | |
1022 `gcPointer' (class `Cursor'): cursor-name | |
1023 The cursor to display when a garbage-collection is in progress. | |
1024 This resource is used to initialize the variable | |
1025 `x-gc-pointer-shape'. | |
1026 | |
1027 `scrollbarPointer' (class `Cursor'): cursor-name | |
1028 The cursor to use when the mouse is over the scrollbar. This | |
1029 resource is used to initialize the variable | |
1030 `x-scrollbar-pointer-shape'. | |
1031 | |
1032 `pointerColor' (class `Foreground'): color-name | |
1033 `pointerBackground' (class `Background'): color-name | |
1034 The foreground and background colors of the mouse cursor. These | |
1035 resources are used to initialize the variables | |
1036 `x-pointer-foreground-color' and `x-pointer-background-color'. | |
1037 | |
1038 `scrollBarWidth' (class `ScrollBarWidth'): integer | |
1039 How wide the vertical scrollbars should be, in pixels; 0 means no | |
1040 vertical scrollbars. You can also use a resource specification of | |
1041 the form `*scrollbar.width', or the usual toolkit scrollbar | |
1042 resources: `*XmScrollBar.width' (Motif), `*XlwScrollBar.width' | |
1043 (Lucid), or `*Scrollbar.thickness' (Athena). We don't recommend | |
1044 that you use the toolkit resources, though, because they're | |
1045 dependent on how exactly your particular build of XEmacs was | |
1046 configured. | |
1047 | |
1048 `scrollBarHeight' (class `ScrollBarHeight'): integer | |
1049 How high the horizontal scrollbars should be, in pixels; 0 means no | |
1050 horizontal scrollbars. You can also use a resource specification | |
1051 of the form `*scrollbar.height', or the usual toolkit scrollbar | |
1052 resources: `*XmScrollBar.height' (Motif), `*XlwScrollBar.height' | |
1053 (Lucid), or `*Scrollbar.thickness' (Athena). We don't recommend | |
1054 that you use the toolkit resources, though, because they're | |
1055 dependent on how exactly your particular build of XEmacs was | |
1056 configured. | |
1057 | |
1058 `scrollBarPlacement' (class `ScrollBarPlacement'): string | |
1059 Where the horizontal and vertical scrollbars should be positioned. | |
1060 This should be one of the four strings `bottom-left', | |
1061 `bottom-right', `top-left', and `top-right'. Default is | |
1062 `bottom-right' for the Motif and Lucid scrollbars and | |
1063 `bottom-left' for the Athena scrollbars. | |
1064 | |
1065 `topToolBarHeight' (class `TopToolBarHeight'): integer | |
1066 `bottomToolBarHeight' (class `BottomToolBarHeight'): integer | |
1067 `leftToolBarWidth' (class `LeftToolBarWidth'): integer | |
1068 `rightToolBarWidth' (class `RightToolBarWidth'): integer | |
1069 Height and width of the four possible toolbars. | |
1070 | |
1071 `topToolBarShadowColor' (class `TopToolBarShadowColor'): color-name | |
1072 `bottomToolBarShadowColor' (class `BottomToolBarShadowColor'): color-name | |
1073 Color of the top and bottom shadows for the toolbars. NOTE: These | |
1074 resources do *not* have anything to do with the top and bottom | |
1075 toolbars (i.e. the toolbars at the top and bottom of the frame)! | |
1076 Rather, they affect the top and bottom shadows around the edges of | |
1077 all four kinds of toolbars. | |
1078 | |
1079 `topToolBarShadowPixmap' (class `TopToolBarShadowPixmap'): pixmap-name | |
1080 `bottomToolBarShadowPixmap' (class `BottomToolBarShadowPixmap'): pixmap-name | |
1081 Pixmap of the top and bottom shadows for the toolbars. If set, | |
1082 these resources override the corresponding color resources. NOTE: | |
1083 These resources do *not* have anything to do with the top and | |
1084 bottom toolbars (i.e. the toolbars at the top and bottom of the | |
1085 frame)! Rather, they affect the top and bottom shadows around the | |
1086 edges of all four kinds of toolbars. | |
1087 | |
1088 `toolBarShadowThickness' (class `ToolBarShadowThickness'): integer | |
1089 Thickness of the shadows around the toolbars, in pixels. | |
1090 | |
1091 `visualBell' (class `VisualBell'): boolean | |
1092 Whether XEmacs should flash the screen rather than making an | |
1093 audible beep. | |
1094 | |
1095 `bellVolume' (class `BellVolume'): integer | |
1096 Volume of the audible beep. | |
1097 | |
1098 `useBackingStore' (class `UseBackingStore'): boolean | |
1099 Whether XEmacs should set the backing-store attribute of the X | |
1100 windows it creates. This increases the memory usage of the X | |
1101 server but decreases the amount of X traffic necessary to update | |
1102 the screen, and is useful when the connection to the X server goes | |
1103 over a low-bandwidth line such as a modem connection. | |
1104 | |
1105 | |
1106 **** Face Resources | |
1107 ------------------- | |
1108 | |
1109 The attributes of faces are also per-frame. They can be specified as: | |
1110 | |
1111 Emacs.FACE_NAME.parameter: value | |
1112 | |
1113 (*do not* use `Emacs*FACE_NAME...') | |
1114 | |
1115 or | |
1116 | |
1117 Emacs*FRAME_NAME.FACE_NAME.parameter: value | |
1118 | |
1119 Faces accept the following resources: | |
1120 | |
1121 `attributeFont' (class `AttributeFont'): font-name | |
1122 The font of this face. | |
1123 | |
1124 `attributeForeground' (class `AttributeForeground'): color-name | |
1125 `attributeBackground' (class `AttributeBackground'): color-name | |
1126 The foreground and background colors of this face. | |
1127 | |
1128 `attributeBackgroundPixmap' (class `AttributeBackgroundPixmap'): file-name | |
1129 The name of an XBM file (or XPM file, if your version of Emacs | |
1130 supports XPM), to use as a background stipple. | |
1131 | |
1132 `attributeUnderline' (class `AttributeUnderline'): boolean | |
1133 Whether text in this face should be underlined. | |
1134 | |
1135 All text is displayed in some face, defaulting to the face named | |
1136 `default'. To set the font of normal text, use | |
1137 `Emacs*default.attributeFont'. To set it in the frame named `fred', use | |
1138 `Emacs*fred.default.attributeFont'. | |
1139 | |
1140 These are the names of the predefined faces: | |
1141 | |
1142 `default' | |
1143 Everything inherits from this. | |
1144 | |
1145 `bold' | |
1146 If this is not specified in the resource database, Emacs tries to | |
1147 find a bold version of the font of the default face. | |
1148 | |
1149 `italic' | |
1150 If this is not specified in the resource database, Emacs tries to | |
1151 find an italic version of the font of the default face. | |
1152 | |
1153 `bold-italic' | |
1154 If this is not specified in the resource database, Emacs tries to | |
1155 find a bold-italic version of the font of the default face. | |
1156 | |
1157 `modeline' | |
1158 This is the face that the modeline is displayed in. If not | |
1159 specified in the resource database, it is determined from the | |
1160 default face by reversing the foreground and background colors. | |
1161 | |
1162 `highlight' | |
1163 This is the face that highlighted extents (for example, Info | |
1164 cross-references and possible completions, when the mouse passes | |
1165 over them) are displayed in. | |
1166 | |
1167 `left-margin' | |
1168 `right-margin' | |
1169 These are the faces that the left and right annotation margins are | |
1170 displayed in. | |
1171 | |
1172 `primary-selection' | |
1173 This is the face that mouse selections are displayed in. | |
1174 | |
1175 `text-cursor' | |
1176 This is the face that the cursor is displayed in. | |
1177 | |
1178 `isearch' | |
1179 This is the face that the matched text being searched for is | |
1180 displayed in. | |
1181 | |
1182 `info-node' | |
1183 This is the face of info menu items. If unspecified, it is copied | |
1184 from `bold-italic'. | |
1185 | |
1186 `info-xref' | |
1187 This is the face of info cross-references. If unspecified, it is | |
1188 copied from `bold'. (Note that, when the mouse passes over a | |
1189 cross-reference, the cross-reference's face is determined from a | |
1190 combination of the `info-xref' and `highlight' faces.) | |
1191 | |
1192 Other packages might define their own faces; to see a list of all | |
1193 faces, use any of the interactive face-manipulation commands such as | |
1194 `set-face-font' and type `?' when you are prompted for the name of a | |
1195 face. | |
1196 | |
1197 If the `bold', `italic', and `bold-italic' faces are not specified | |
1198 in the resource database, then XEmacs attempts to derive them from the | |
1199 font of the default face. It can only succeed at this if you have | |
1200 specified the default font using the XLFD (X Logical Font Description) | |
1201 format, which looks like | |
1202 | |
1203 *-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-* | |
1204 | |
1205 If you use any of the other, less strict font name formats, some of | |
1206 which look like | |
1207 | |
1208 lucidasanstypewriter-12 | |
1209 fixed | |
1210 9x13 | |
1211 | |
1212 then XEmacs won't be able to guess the names of the bold and italic | |
1213 versions. All X fonts can be referred to via XLFD-style names, so you | |
1214 should use those forms. See the man pages for `X(1)', `xlsfonts(1)', | |
1215 and `xfontsel(1)'. | |
1216 | |
1217 | |
1218 **** Widgets | |
1219 ------------ | |
1220 | |
1221 There are several structural widgets between the terminal EmacsFrame | |
1222 widget and the top level ApplicationShell; the exact names and types of | |
1223 these widgets change from release to release (for example, they changed | |
1224 in 19.9, 19.10, 19.12, and 19.13) and are subject to further change in | |
1225 the future, so you should avoid mentioning them in your resource database. | |
1226 The above-mentioned syntaxes should be forward-compatible. As of 19.14, | |
1227 the exact widget hierarchy is as follows: | |
1228 | |
1229 INVOCATION-NAME "shell" "container" FRAME-NAME | |
1230 x-emacs-application-class "TopLevelEmacsShell" "EmacsManager" "EmacsFrame" | |
1231 | |
1232 (for normal frames) | |
1233 | |
1234 or | |
1235 | |
1236 INVOCATION-NAME "shell" "container" FRAME-NAME | |
1237 x-emacs-application-class "TransientEmacsShell" "EmacsManager" "EmacsFrame" | |
1238 | |
1239 (for popup/dialog-box frames) | |
1240 | |
1241 where INVOCATION-NAME is the terminal component of the name of the | |
1242 XEmacs executable (usually `xemacs'), and `x-emacs-application-class' | |
1243 is generally `Emacs'. | |
1244 | |
1245 | |
1246 **** Menubar Resources | |
1247 ---------------------- | |
1248 | |
1249 As the menubar is implemented as a widget which is not a part of | |
1250 XEmacs proper, it does not use the face mechanism for specifying fonts | |
1251 and colors: It uses whatever resources are appropriate to the type of | |
1252 widget which is used to implement it. | |
1253 | |
1254 If Emacs was compiled to use only the Motif-lookalike menu widgets, | |
1255 then one way to specify the font of the menubar would be | |
1256 | |
1257 Emacs*menubar*font: *-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-* | |
1258 | |
1259 If the Motif library is being used, then one would have to use | |
1260 | |
1261 Emacs*menubar*fontList: *-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-* | |
1262 | |
1263 because the Motif library uses the `fontList' resource name instead | |
1264 of `font', which has subtly different semantics. | |
1265 | |
1266 The same is true of the scrollbars: They accept whichever resources | |
1267 are appropriate for the toolkit in use. | |
1268 | |
1269 | |
1270 *** Source Code Highlighting | |
1271 ---------------------------- | |
1272 | |
1273 It's possible to have your buffers "decorated" with fonts or colors | |
1274 indicating syntactic structures (such as strings, comments, function names, | |
1275 "reserved words", etc.). In XEmacs, the preferred way to do this is with | |
1276 font-lock-mode; activate it by adding the following code to your .emacs file: | |
1277 | |
1278 (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) | |
1279 (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) | |
1280 (add-hook 'c++-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) | |
1281 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) | |
1282 ...etc... | |
1283 | |
1284 To customize it, see the descriptions of the function `font-lock-mode' and | |
1285 the variables `font-lock-keywords', `c-font-lock-keywords', etc. | |
1286 | |
1287 There exist several other source code highlighting packages, but font-lock | |
1288 does does one thing that most others don't do: highlights as you type new | |
1289 text; and one thing that no others do: bases part of its decoration on the | |
1290 syntax table of the major mode. Font-lock has C-level support to do this | |
1291 efficiently, so it should also be significantly faster than the others. | |
1292 | |
1293 If there's something that another highlighting package does that you can't | |
1294 make font-lock do, let us know. We would prefer to consolidate all of the | |
1295 desired functionality into one package rather than ship several different | |
1296 packages which do essentially the same thing in different ways. | |
1297 | |
1298 | |
1299 ** Differences Between XEmacs and Emacs 18 | |
1300 ========================================== | |
1301 | |
1302 Auto-configure support has been added, so it should be fairly easy to compile | |
1303 XEmacs on different systems. If you have any problems or feedback about | |
1304 compiling on your system, please let us know. | |
1305 | |
1306 We have reimplemented the basic input model in a more general way; instead of | |
1307 X input being a special-case of the normal ASCII input stream, XEmacs has a | |
1308 concept of "input events", and ASCII characters are a subset of that. The | |
1309 events that XEmacs knows about are not X events, but are a generalization of | |
1310 them, so that XEmacs can eventually be ported to different window systems. | |
1311 | |
1312 We have reimplemented keymaps so that sequences of events can be stored into | |
1313 them instead of just ASCII codes; it is possible to, for example, bind | |
1314 different commands to each of the chords Control-h, Control-H, Backspace, | |
1315 Control-Backspace, and Super-Shift-Backspace. Key bindings, function key | |
1316 bindings, and mouse bindings live in the same keymaps. | |
1317 | |
1318 Input and display of all ISO-8859-1 characters is supported. | |
1319 | |
1320 You can have multiple X windows ("frames" in XEmacs terminology). | |
1321 | |
1322 XEmacs has objects called "extents" and "faces", which are roughly | |
1323 analogous to Epoch's "buttons," "zones," and "styles." An extent is a | |
1324 region of text (a start position and an end position) and a face is a | |
1325 collection of textual attributes like fonts and colors. Every extent | |
1326 is displayed in some "face", so changing the properties of a face | |
1327 immediately updates the display of all associated extents. Faces can | |
1328 be frame-local: you can have a region of text which displays with | |
1329 completely different attributes when its buffer is viewed from a | |
1330 different X window. | |
1331 | |
1332 The display attributes of faces may be specified either in lisp or through | |
1333 the X resource manager. | |
1334 | |
1335 Pixmaps of arbitrary size can be embedded in a buffer. | |
1336 | |
1337 Variable width fonts work. | |
1338 | |
1339 The height of a line is the height of the tallest font on that line, instead | |
1340 of all lines having the same height. | |
1341 | |
1342 XEmacs uses the MIT "Xt" toolkit instead of raw Xlib calls, which | |
1343 makes it be a more well-behaved X citizen (and also improves | |
1344 portability). A result of this is that it is possible to include | |
1345 other Xt "Widgets" in the XEmacs window. Also, XEmacs understands the | |
1346 standard Xt command-line arguments. | |
1347 | |
1348 XEmacs understands the X11 "Selection" mechanism; it's possible to define | |
1349 and customize selection converter functions and new selection types from | |
1350 Emacs Lisp, without having to recompile XEmacs. | |
1351 | |
1352 XEmacs provides support for ToolTalk on systems that have it. | |
1353 | |
1354 XEmacs supports the Zmacs/Lispm style of region highlighting, where the | |
1355 region between the point and mark is highlighted when in its "active" state. | |
1356 | |
1357 XEmacs has a menubar, whose contents are customizable from emacs-lisp. | |
1358 This menubar looks Motif-ish, but does not require Motif. If you already | |
1359 own Motif, however, you can configure XEmacs to use a *real* Motif menubar | |
1360 instead. | |
1361 | |
1362 XEmacs can ask questions using popup dialog boxes. Any command executed from | |
1363 a menu will ask yes/no questions with dialog boxes, while commands executed | |
1364 via the keyboard will use the minibuffer. | |
1365 | |
1366 XEmacs has vertical and horizontal scrollbars. | |
1367 | |
1368 The initial load-path is computed at run-time, instead of at compile-time. | |
1369 This means that if you move the XEmacs executable and associated directories | |
1370 to somewhere else, you don't have to recompile anything. | |
1371 | |
1372 You can specify what the title of the XEmacs windows and icons should be | |
1373 with the variables `frame-title-format' and `frame-icon-title-format', | |
1374 which have the same syntax as `mode-line-format'. | |
1375 | |
1376 XEmacs now supports floating-point numbers. | |
1377 | |
1378 XEmacs now knows about timers directly, instead of them being simulated by | |
1379 a subprocess. | |
1380 | |
1381 XEmacs understands truenames, and can be configured to notice when you are | |
1382 visiting two names of the same file. See the variables find-file-use-truenames | |
1383 and find-file-compare-truenames. | |
1384 | |
1385 If you're running on a machine with audio hardware, you can specify sound | |
1386 files for XEmacs to play instead of the default X beep. See the documentation | |
1387 of the function load-sound-file and the variable sound-alist. | |
1388 | |
1389 An XEmacs frame can be placed within an "external client widget" managed by | |
1390 another application. This allows an application to use an XEmacs frame as its | |
1391 text pane rather than the standard Text widget that is provided with Motif or | |
1392 Athena. XEmacs supports Motif applications, generic Xt (e.g. Athena) | |
1393 applications, and raw Xlib applications. | |
1394 | |
1395 Random changes to the emacs-lisp library: (some of this was not written by | |
1396 us, but is included because it's free software and we think it's good stuff) | |
1397 | |
1398 - there is a new optimizing byte-compiler | |
1399 - there is a new abbrev-based mail-alias mechanism | |
1400 - the -*- line can contain local-variable settings | |
1401 - there is a new TAGS package | |
1402 - there is a new VI-emulation mode (viper) | |
1403 - there is a new implementation of Dired | |
1404 - there is a new implementation of Isearch | |
1405 - the VM package for reading mail is provided | |
1406 - the W3 package for browsing the World Wide Web hypertext information | |
1407 system is provided | |
1408 - the Hyperbole package, a programmable information management and | |
1409 hypertext system | |
1410 - the OO-Browser package, a multi-language object-oriented browser | |
1411 | |
1412 There are many more specifics in the "Miscellaneous Changes" section, below. | |
1413 | |
1414 The online Emacs Manual and Emacs-Lisp Manual are now both relatively | |
1415 up-to-date. | |
1416 | |
1417 * XEmacs Release Notes | |
1418 ====================== | |
1419 | |
1420 ** Future Plans for XEmacs | |
1421 ========================== | |
1422 | |
1423 For the curious, the biggest changes in 19.15 will include integration | |
1424 of TM (a MIME package for VM and GNUS), EFS (the next generation of | |
1425 ange-ftp), and Auc-TeX, and a "lite" distribution that includes a | |
1426 minimal base and a set of optional packages (which will include TM, | |
1427 EFS, and Auc-TeX, as well as all of the large packages currently | |
1428 distributed with XEmacs). There will also still be a full distribution | |
1429 that includes all the optional packages. | |
1430 | |
1431 In the longer term, we are also working on a separate branch of XEmacs that | |
1432 includes full Asian-language ("MULE") support. This work is currently in | |
1433 beta and is being supported by Sun Microsystems. | |
1434 | |
1435 | |
1436 ** Major Differences Between 19.13 and 19.14 | |
1437 ============================================ | |
1438 | |
1439 XEmacs has a new address! The canonical ftp site is now | |
1440 ftp.xemacs.org:/pub/xemacs and the Web page is now at | |
1441 http://www.xemacs.org/. All mailing lists now have @xemacs.org | |
1442 addresses. For the time being the @cs.uiuc.edu addresses will | |
1443 continue to function. | |
1444 | |
1445 This is a major new release. Many features have been added, as well | |
1446 as many bugs fixed. The Motif menubar has still _NOT_ been fixed for | |
1447 19.14. You should use the Lucid menubar instead. | |
1448 | |
1449 | |
1450 | |
1451 Major user-visible changes: | |
1452 --------------------------- | |
1453 | |
1454 -- Color support in TTY mode is provided. You have to have a TTY capable | |
1455 of displaying them, such as color xterm or the console under Linux. | |
1456 If your terminal type supports colors (e.g. `xterm-color'), XEmacs | |
1457 will automatically notice this and start using color. | |
1458 | |
1459 -- blink-cursor-mode enables a blinking text cursor. There is a | |
1460 menubar option for this also. | |
1461 | |
1462 -- auto-show-mode is turned on by default; this means that XEmacs | |
1463 will automatically scroll a window horizontally as necessary to | |
1464 keep point in view. | |
1465 | |
1466 -- a file dialog box is provided and will be used whenever you | |
1467 are prompted for a filename as a result of a menubar selection. | |
1468 | |
1469 -- XEmacs can be compiled with built-in GIF, JPEG, and PNG support. | |
1470 The GIF libraries are supplied with XEmacs; for JPEG and PNG, | |
1471 you have to obtain the appropriate libraries (this is well- | |
1472 documented). This makes image display much easier and faster under | |
1473 W3 (the web browser) and TM (adds MIME support to VM and GNUS; | |
1474 not yet included with XEmacs but will be in 19.15). | |
1475 | |
1476 -- XEmacs provides a really nice mode (PSGML with "Wing improvements") | |
1477 for editing HTML and other SGML documents. It parses the document, | |
1478 and as a result it does proper indentation, can show you the context | |
1479 you're in, the allowed tags at a particular position, etc. | |
1480 | |
1481 -- XEmacs comes standard with modes for editing Java and VRML code, | |
1482 including font-lock support. | |
1483 | |
1484 -- GNUS 5.2 comes standard with XEmacs. | |
1485 | |
1486 -- You can now embed colors in the modeline, with different sections | |
1487 of the modeline responding appropriately to various mouse gestures: | |
1488 For example, clicking on the "read-only" indicator toggles the | |
1489 read-only status of a buffer, and clicking on the buffer name | |
1490 cycles to the next buffer. Pressing button3 on these areas brings | |
1491 up a popup menu of appropriate commands. | |
1492 | |
1493 -- There is a much nicer mode for completion lists and such. | |
1494 At the minibuffer prompt, if you hit page-up or Meta-V, the completion | |
1495 buffer will be displayed (if it wasn't already), you're moved into | |
1496 it, and can move around and select filenames using the arrow keys | |
1497 and the return key. Rather than a cursor, a filename is highlighted, | |
1498 and the arrow keys change which filename is highlighted. | |
1499 | |
1500 -- The edit-faces subsystem has also been much improved, in somewhat | |
1501 similar ways to the completion list improvements. | |
1502 | |
1503 -- Many improvements were made to the multi-device support. | |
1504 We now provide an auxiliary utility called "gnuattach" that | |
1505 lets you connect to an existing XEmacs process and display | |
1506 a TTY frame on the current TTY connection, and commands | |
1507 `make-frame-on-display' (with a corresponding menubar entry) | |
1508 and `make-frame-on-tty' for more easily creating frames on | |
1509 new TTY or X connections. | |
1510 | |
1511 -- We have incorporated nearly all of the functionality of GNU Emacs | |
1512 19.30 into XEmacs. This includes support for lazy-loaded | |
1513 byte code and documentation strings, improved paragraph filling, | |
1514 better support for margins within documents, v19 regular expression | |
1515 routines (including caching of compiled regexps), etc. | |
1516 | |
1517 -- In accordance with GNU Emacs 19.30, the following key binding | |
1518 changes have been made: | |
1519 | |
1520 C-x ESC -> C-x ESC ESC | |
1521 ESC ESC -> ESC : | |
1522 ESC ESC ESC is "abort anything" (keyboard-escape-quit). | |
1523 | |
1524 -- All major packages have been updated to their latest-released | |
1525 versions. | |
1526 | |
1527 -- XEmacs now gracefully handles a full colormap (such as typically | |
1528 results when running Netscape). The nearest available color | |
1529 is automatically substituted. | |
1530 | |
1531 -- Many bug fixes to the subprocess/PTY code, ps-print, menubar | |
1532 functions, `set-text-properties', DEC Alpha support, toolbar | |
1533 resizing (the "phantom VM toolbar" bug), and lots and lots | |
1534 of other things were made. | |
1535 | |
1536 -- The ncurses library (a replacement for curses, found especially | |
1537 under Linux) is supported, and will be automatically used | |
1538 if it can be found. | |
1539 | |
1540 -- You can now undo in the minibuffer. | |
1541 | |
1542 -- Surrogate minibuffers now work. These are also sometimes referred | |
1543 to as "global" minibuffers. | |
1544 | |
1545 -- font-lock has been merged with GNU Emacs 19.30, improved defaults | |
1546 have been added, and changes have been made to the way it is | |
1547 configured. | |
1548 | |
1549 -- Many, many modes have menubar entries for them. | |
1550 | |
1551 -- `recover-session' lets you recover whatever files can be recovered | |
1552 after your XEmacs process has died unexpectedly. | |
1553 | |
1554 -- C-h k followed by a toolbar button press correctly reports | |
1555 the binding of the toolbar button. | |
1556 | |
1557 -- `function-key-map', `key-translation-map', and `keyboard-translate-table' | |
1558 are now correctly implemented. | |
1559 | |
1560 -- `show-message-log' (and its menubar entry under Edit) have been | |
1561 removed; instead use `view-lossage' (and its menubar entry under | |
1562 Help). | |
1563 | |
1564 -- There is a standard menubar entry for specifying which browser | |
1565 (Netscape, W3, Mosaic, etc.) to use when dispatching URL's | |
1566 in mail, Usenet news, etc. | |
1567 | |
1568 -- Improved native sound support under Linux. | |
1569 | |
1570 -- Lots of other things we forgot to mention. | |
1571 | |
1572 | |
1573 | |
1574 Significant Lisp-level changes: | |
1575 ------------------------------- | |
1576 | |
1577 -- Many improvements to the E-Lisp documentation have been made; | |
1578 it should now be up-to-date and complete in nearly all cases. | |
1579 | |
1580 -- XEmacs has extensive documentation on its internals, for | |
1581 would-be C hackers. | |
1582 | |
1583 -- Common-Lisp support (the CL package) is now dumped standard | |
1584 into XEmacs. No more need for (require 'cl) or anything | |
1585 like that. | |
1586 | |
1587 -- Full support for extents and text properties over strings is | |
1588 provided. | |
1589 | |
1590 -- The extent properties `start-open', `end-open', `start-closed', | |
1591 and `end-closed' now work correctly w.r.t. text properties. | |
1592 | |
1593 -- The `face' property of extents and text properties can now | |
1594 be a list. | |
1595 | |
1596 -- The `mouse-face' property from FSF GNU Emacs is now supported. | |
1597 It supersedes the `highlight' property. | |
1598 | |
1599 -- `enriched' and `facemenu' packages from FSF GNU Emacs have been ported. | |
1600 | |
1601 -- New functions for easier creation of dialog boxes: | |
1602 `get-dialog-box-response', `message-box', and `message-or-box'. | |
1603 | |
1604 -- `function-min-args' and `function-max-args' allow you to determine | |
1605 the minimum and maximum allowed arguments for any type of | |
1606 function (i.e. subr, lambda expression, byte-compiled function, etc.). | |
1607 | |
1608 -- Some C-level support for doing E-Lisp profiling is provided. | |
1609 See `start-profiling', `stop-profiling', and | |
1610 `pretty-print-profiling-info'. | |
1611 | |
1612 -- `current-process-time' reports the user, system, and real times | |
1613 for the currently running XEmacs process. | |
1614 | |
1615 -- `next-window', `previous-window', `next-frame', `previous-frame', | |
1616 `other-window', `get-lru-window', etc. have an extra device | |
1617 argument that allows you to restrict which devices it includes | |
1618 (normally all devices). Some functions that incorrectly ignored | |
1619 frames on different devices (e.g. C-x 0) are fixed. | |
1620 | |
1621 -- new functions `run-hook-with-args-until-success', | |
1622 `run-hook-with-args-until-failure'. | |
1623 | |
1624 -- generalized facility for local vs. global hooks. See `make-local-hook', | |
1625 `add-hook'. | |
1626 | |
1627 -- New functions for querying the window tree: `frame-leftmost-window', | |
1628 `frame-rightmost-window', `window-first-hchild', `window-first-vchild', | |
1629 `window-next-child', `window-previous-child', and `window-parent'. | |
1630 | |
1631 -- Epoch support works. This gets you direct access to some X events | |
1632 and objects (e.g. properties and property-notify events). | |
1633 | |
1634 -- The multi-device support has been majorly revamped. There is now | |
1635 a new concept of "consoles" (devices grouped together under a | |
1636 common keyboard/mouse), console-local variables, and a generalized | |
1637 concept of device/console connection. | |
1638 | |
1639 -- `display-buffer' synched with GNU Emacs 19.30, giving you lots of | |
1640 wondrous cruft such as | |
1641 -- unsplittable frames | |
1642 -- pop-up-frames, pop-up-frame-function | |
1643 -- special-display-buffer-names, special-display-regexps, | |
1644 special-display-function | |
1645 -- same-window-buffer-names, same-window-regexps | |
1646 | |
1647 -- XEmacs has support for accessing DBM- and/or DB-format databases, | |
1648 provided that you have the appropriate libraries on your system. | |
1649 | |
1650 -- There is a new font style: "strikethru" fonts. | |
1651 | |
1652 -- New data type "weak list", which is a list with special | |
1653 garbage-collection properties, similar to weak hash tables. | |
1654 | |
1655 -- `set-face-parent' makes one face inherit all properties from another. | |
1656 | |
1657 -- The junky frame parameters mechanism has been revamped as | |
1658 frame properties, which a standard property-list interface. | |
1659 | |
1660 -- Lots and lots of functions for working with property lists have | |
1661 been added. | |
1662 | |
1663 -- New functions `push-window-configuration', `pop-window-configuration', | |
1664 `unpop-window-configuration' for maintain a stack of window | |
1665 configurations. | |
1666 | |
1667 -- Many fixups to the glyph code; icons and mouse pointers are now | |
1668 properly merged into the glyph mechanism. | |
1669 | |
1670 -- `set-specifier' works more sensibly, like `set-face-property'. | |
1671 | |
1672 -- Many new specifiers for individually controlling toolbar height/width | |
1673 and visibility and text cursor visibility. | |
1674 | |
1675 -- New face `text-cursor' controls the colors of the text cursor. | |
1676 | |
1677 -- Many new variables for turning on debug information about the | |
1678 inner workings of XEmacs. | |
1679 | |
1680 -- Hash tables can now compare their keys using `equal' or `eql' | |
1681 as well as `eq'. | |
1682 | |
1683 -- Other things too numerous to mention. | |
1684 | |
1685 | |
1686 | |
1687 Significant configuration/build changes: | |
1688 ---------------------------------------- | |
1689 | |
1690 -- You can disable TTY support, toolbar support, scrollbar support, | |
1691 menubar support, and/or dialog box support at configure time | |
1692 to save memory. | |
1693 | |
1694 -- New configure option `--extra-verbose' shows the diagnostic | |
1695 output from feature testing; this should help track down | |
1696 problems with incorrect feature detection. | |
1697 | |
1698 -- `dont-have-xmu' is now `with-xmu', with the reversed sense. | |
1699 (It defaults to `yes'.) | |
1700 | |
1701 -- `with-mocklisp' lets you add Mocklisp support if you really | |
1702 need this. | |
1703 | |
1704 -- `with-term' for adding TERM support for Linux users. | |
1705 | |
1706 | |
1707 | |
1708 ** Major Differences Between 19.12 and 19.13 | |
1709 ============================================ | |
1710 | |
1711 This is primarily a bug-fix release. Lots of bugs have been fixed. | |
1712 Hopefully only a few have been introduced. The most noteworthy bug | |
1713 fixes are: | |
1714 | |
1715 -- There should be no more problems connecting XEmacs to an X | |
1716 server over SLIP or other slow connections. | |
1717 -- Periodic crashes when using the Buffers menu should be gone. | |
1718 -- etags would sometimes erase the current buffer; it doesn't | |
1719 any more. | |
1720 -- XEmacs will correctly exit if the X server dies. | |
1721 -- uniconified frames are displayed properly under TVTWM. | |
1722 -- Breakage in `add-menu-item' / `add-menu-button' is fixed. | |
1723 | |
1724 The Motif menubar has _NOT_ been fixed for 19.13. You should use the | |
1725 Lucid menubar instead. | |
1726 | |
1727 Multi-device support should now be working properly. You can now open | |
1728 an X device after having started out on a TTY device. | |
1729 | |
1730 Background pixmaps now work. See `set-face-background-pixmap'. | |
1731 | |
1732 Echo area messages are now saved to a buffer, " *Message Log*". To | |
1733 see this buffer, use the command `show-message-log'. It is possible | |
1734 to filter the message which are actually included by modifying the | |
1735 variables `log-message-ignore-regexps' and `log-message-ignore-labels'. | |
1736 | |
1737 You can now control which warnings you want to see. See | |
1738 `display-warning-suppressed-classes' and friends. | |
1739 | |
1740 You can now set the default location of an "other window" from the | |
1741 Options menu. | |
1742 | |
1743 "Save Options" now saves the state of all faces. | |
1744 | |
1745 You can choose which file "Save Options" writes into; see | |
1746 `save-options-file'. | |
1747 | |
1748 XPM support is no longer required for the toolbar. | |
1749 | |
1750 The relocating allocator is now enabled by default whenever possible. | |
1751 This allows buffer memory to be returned to the system when no longer | |
1752 in use which helps keep XEmacs process size down. | |
1753 | |
1754 The ability to have captioned toolbars has been added. Currently only | |
1755 the default toolbar actually has a captioned version provided. A new | |
1756 specifier variable, `toolbar-buttons-captioned-p' controls whether the | |
1757 toolbar is captioned. | |
1758 | |
1759 A copy of the XEmacs FAQ is now included and is available through info. | |
1760 | |
1761 The on-line E-Lisp reference manual has been significantly updated. | |
1762 | |
1763 There is now audio support under Linux. | |
1764 | |
1765 Modifier keys can now be sticky. This is controlled by the variable | |
1766 `modifier-keys-are-sticky'. | |
1767 | |
1768 manual-entry should now work correctly under Irix with the penalty of | |
1769 a longer startup time the first time it is invoked. If you are having | |
1770 problems with this on another system try setting | |
1771 `Manual-use-subdirectory-list' to t. | |
1772 | |
1773 make-tty-device no longer automatically creates the first frame. | |
1774 | |
1775 Rectangular regions now work correctly. | |
1776 | |
1777 ediff no longer sets synchronize-minibuffers to t unless you first set | |
1778 ediff-synchronize-minibuffers | |
1779 | |
1780 keyboard-translate-table has been implemented. This means that the | |
1781 `enable-flow-control' command for dealing with TTY connections that | |
1782 filter out ^S and ^Q now works. | |
1783 | |
1784 You can now create frames that are initially unmapped and frames that | |
1785 are "transient for another frame", meaning that they behave more like | |
1786 dialog-box frames. | |
1787 | |
1788 Other E-Lisp changes: | |
1789 | |
1790 -- Specifier `menubar-visible-p' for controlling menubar visibility | |
1791 -- Local command hooks should be set using `local-pre-command-hook' | |
1792 and `local-post-command-hook' instead of making the global | |
1793 equivalents be buffer-local. | |
1794 -- `quit-char', `help-char', `meta-prefix-char' can be any key specifier | |
1795 instead of just an integer. | |
1796 -- new functions `add-async-timeout' and `disable-async-timeout'. | |
1797 These let you create asynchronous timeouts, which are like | |
1798 normal timeouts except that they're executed even during | |
1799 running Lisp code. Use this with care! | |
1800 -- `debug-on-error' and `stack-trace-on-error' now enter the debugger | |
1801 only when an *unhandled* error occurs. If you want the old | |
1802 behavior, use `debug-on-signal' and `stack-trace-on-signal'. | |
1803 -- \U, \L, \u, \l, \E recognized specially in `replace-match'. | |
1804 These are standard ex/perl commands for changing the case of | |
1805 replaced text. | |
1806 -- New function event-matches-key-specifier-p. This provides | |
1807 a clean way of comparing keypress events with key specifiers | |
1808 such as 65, (shift home), etc. without having to resort | |
1809 to ugly `character-to-event' / `event-to-character' hacks. | |
1810 -- New function `add-to-list' | |
1811 -- New Common-Lisp functions `some', `every', `notevery', `notany', | |
1812 `adjoin', `union', `intersection', `set-difference', | |
1813 `set-exclusive-or', `subsetp' | |
1814 -- `remove-face-property' provides a clean way of removing a | |
1815 face property. | |
1816 | |
1817 Many of the Emacs Lisp packages have been updated. Some of the new | |
1818 Emacs Lisp packages --- | |
1819 | |
1820 ada-mode: major mode for editing Ada source | |
1821 | |
1822 arc-mode: simple editing of archives | |
1823 | |
1824 auto-show-mode: automatically scrolls horizontally to keep point on-screen | |
1825 | |
1826 completion: dynamic word completion mode | |
1827 | |
1828 dabbrev: the dynamic abbrev package has been rewritten and is much | |
1829 more powerful -- e.g. it searches in other buffers as well | |
1830 as the current one | |
1831 | |
1832 easymenu: menu support package | |
1833 | |
1834 live-icon: makes frame icons represent the current frame contents | |
1835 | |
1836 mailcrypt 3.2: mail encryption with PGP; included but v2.4 is still | |
1837 the default | |
1838 | |
1839 two-column: for editing two-column text | |
1840 | |
1841 | |
1842 ** Major Differences Between 19.11 and 19.12 | |
1843 ============================================ | |
1844 | |
1845 This is a huge new release. Almost every aspect of XEmacs has been changed | |
1846 at least somewhat. The highlights are: | |
1847 | |
1848 -- TTY support (includes face support) | |
1849 -- new redisplay engine; should be faster, less buggy, and more powerful | |
1850 -- terminology change from "screen" to "frame" | |
1851 -- built-in toolbar | |
1852 -- toolbar support added to many packages | |
1853 -- multiple device support (still in beta; improvements to come in | |
1854 19.13) | |
1855 -- Purify used to ensure that there are no memory leaks or memory corruption | |
1856 problems | |
1857 -- horizontal and vertical scrollbars in all windows | |
1858 -- new Lucid (i.e. look-alike Motif) scrollbar widget | |
1859 -- stay-up menus in the Lucid (look-alike Motif) menubar widget | |
1860 -- 3-d modeline | |
1861 -- new extents engine; should be faster, less buggy, and more powerful | |
1862 -- much more powerful control over faces | |
1863 -- expanded menubar | |
1864 -- more work on synching with GNU Emacs 19.28 | |
1865 -- new packages: Hyperbole, OOBR (object browser), hm--html-menus, viper, | |
1866 lazy-lock.el, ksh-mode.el, rsz-minibuf.el | |
1867 -- package updates for all major packages | |
1868 -- dynodump package for Solaris: provides proper undumping and portable | |
1869 binaries across different OS versions and machine types | |
1870 -- Greatly expanded concept of "glyphs" (pixmaps etc. in a buffer) | |
1871 -- built-in support for displaying X-Faces, if the X-Face library is | |
1872 available | |
1873 -- built-in support for SOCKS if the SOCKS library is available | |
1874 -- graceful behavior when the colormap is full (e.g. Netscape ate | |
1875 all the colors) | |
1876 -- built-in MD5 (secure hashing function) support | |
1877 | |
1878 | |
1879 More specific information: | |
1880 | |
1881 *** TTY Support | |
1882 --------------- | |
1883 | |
1884 The long-awaited TTY support is now available. XEmacs will start up | |
1885 in TTY mode (using the tty you started XEmacs from) if the DISPLAY | |
1886 environment variable is not set or if you use the `-nw' option. | |
1887 | |
1888 Faces are available on TTY's. For a demonstration, try editing a C | |
1889 file and turning on font-lock-mode. | |
1890 | |
1891 You can also connect to additional TTY's using `make-tty-device', | |
1892 whether your first frame was a TTY or an X window. This ability is | |
1893 not yet completely finished. | |
1894 | |
1895 The full event-loop capabilities (processes, timeouts, etc.) are | |
1896 available on TTY's. | |
1897 | |
1898 | |
1899 | |
1900 *** New Redisplay Engine | |
1901 ------------------------ | |
1902 | |
1903 The redisplay engine has been rewritten to improve its efficiency and | |
1904 to increase its functionality. It should also be significantly more | |
1905 bug-free than the previous redisplay engine. | |
1906 | |
1907 A line that is not big enough to display at the bottom of the window | |
1908 will normally be clipped (so that it is partially visible) rather than | |
1909 not displayed at all. The variable `pixel-vertical-clip-threshold' | |
1910 can be used to control the minimum space that must be available for a | |
1911 line to be clipped rather than not displayed at all. | |
1912 | |
1913 Tabs are displayed in such a way that things line up fairly well even | |
1914 in the presence of variable-width fonts and/or lines with | |
1915 multiply-sized fonts. | |
1916 | |
1917 Display tables are implemented, through the specifier variable | |
1918 `current-display-table'. They can be buffer-local, window-local, | |
1919 frame-local, or device-local. See below for info about specifiers. | |
1920 | |
1921 | |
1922 | |
1923 *** Toolbar | |
1924 ----------- | |
1925 | |
1926 There is now built-in support for a toolbar. A sample toolbar is | |
1927 visible by default at the top of the frame. Four separate toolbars | |
1928 can be configured (at the top, bottom, left, and right of the frame). | |
1929 The toolbar specification is similar to the menubar specification. | |
1930 The up, down, and disabled glyphs of a toolbar button can be | |
1931 separately controlled. Explanatory text can be echoed in the echo | |
1932 area when the mouse passes over a toolbar button. The size, contents, | |
1933 and visibility of the various toolbars can be controlled on a | |
1934 per-buffer, per-window, per-frame, and per-device basis through the | |
1935 use of specifiers. See the chapter on toolbars in the Lisp Reference | |
1936 Manual (included with XEmacs) for more information. | |
1937 | |
1938 The toolbar color and shadow thicknesses are currently controlled only | |
1939 through `modify-frame-parameters' and through X resources. We are | |
1940 planning on making these controllable through specifiers as well. (Our | |
1941 hope is to make `modify-frame-parameters' obsolete, as it is a clunky | |
1942 and not very powerful mechanism.) | |
1943 | |
1944 Info, GNUS, VM, W3, and various other packages include custom toolbars | |
1945 with them. | |
1946 | |
1947 | |
1948 | |
1949 *** Menubar | |
1950 ----------- | |
1951 | |
1952 Stay-up menus are implemented in the look-alike Motif menubar. | |
1953 | |
1954 The default menubar has been expanded to include most commonly-used | |
1955 functions in XEmacs. | |
1956 | |
1957 The options menu has been greatly expanded to include many more | |
1958 options. | |
1959 | |
1960 The menubar specification format has been greatly expanded. Per-menu | |
1961 activation hooks can be specified through the :filter keyword (thus | |
1962 obsoleting `activate-menubar-hook'); this allows for fast response | |
1963 time when you have a large and complex menu. You can dynamically | |
1964 control whether menu items are present through the :included and | |
1965 :config keywords. (The latter keyword implements a simple menubar | |
1966 configuration scheme, in conjunction with the variable | |
1967 `menubar-configuration'.) Many different menu-item separators (single | |
1968 or double line; solid or dashed; flat, etched-in, or etched-out) are | |
1969 available. See the chapter on menus in the Lisp Reference Manual for | |
1970 more information about all of this. | |
1971 | |
1972 New functions `add-submenu' and `add-menu-button' are available. | |
1973 These supersede the older `add-menu' and `add-menu-item' functions, | |
1974 and provide a more powerful and consistent interface. | |
1975 | |
1976 New convenience functions for popping up the part or all of the | |
1977 menubar in a pop-up menu are available: `popup-menubar-menu' and | |
1978 `popup-buffer-menu'. | |
1979 | |
1980 Menus are now incrementally constructed greatly improving menubar | |
1981 response time. | |
1982 | |
1983 | |
1984 | |
1985 *** Scrollbars | |
1986 -------------- | |
1987 | |
1988 A look-alike Motif scrollbar is now included with XEmacs. No longer | |
1989 will you have to suffer with ugly Athena scrollbars. | |
1990 | |
1991 Windows can now have horizontal scrollbars. Normally they are visible | |
1992 when the window's buffer is set to truncate lines rather than wrap | |
1993 them (e.g. `(setq truncate-lines t)'). | |
1994 | |
1995 All windows, not only the right-most ones, can have vertical | |
1996 scrollbars. | |
1997 | |
1998 The functions to change a scrollbar's width have been superseded by | |
1999 the specifier variables `scrollbar-width' and `scrollbar-height'. | |
2000 This allows their values to be controlled on a buffer-local, | |
2001 window-local, frame-local, and device-local basis. See below. | |
2002 | |
2003 The scrollbars interact better with the event loop (for example, you | |
2004 can type `C-h k', do a scrollbar action, and see a description of this | |
2005 scrollbar action printed as if you had pressed a key sequence or | |
2006 selected a menu item). | |
2007 | |
2008 The scrollbar behavior can be reprogrammed, by advising the | |
2009 `scrollbar-*' functions. | |
2010 | |
2011 | |
2012 | |
2013 *** Key Bindings | |
2014 ---------------- | |
2015 | |
2016 The oft-used function `goto-line' now has its own binding: M-g. | |
2017 | |
2018 New bindings are available for scrolling the "other" window: M-next, | |
2019 M-prior, M-home, M-end. (On many keyboards, `next' and `prior' | |
2020 labelled `PgUp' and `PgDn'.) | |
2021 | |
2022 You can reactivate a deactivated Zmacs region, without having any | |
2023 other effects, with the binding M-C-z. | |
2024 | |
2025 The bindings `M-u', `M-l', and `M-c' now work on the region (if a | |
2026 region is active) or work on a word, as before. | |
2027 | |
2028 Shift-Control-G forces a "critical quit", which drops immediately into | |
2029 the debugger; see below. | |
2030 | |
2031 | |
2032 | |
2033 *** Modeline | |
2034 ------------ | |
2035 | |
2036 The modeline can now have a 3-d look; this is enabled by default. The | |
2037 specifier variable `modeline-shadow-thickness' controls the size. | |
2038 | |
2039 The modeline can now be turned off on a per-buffer, per-window, | |
2040 per-frame, or per-device basis. The specifier variable | |
2041 `has-modeline-p' controls whether the modeline is visible. See below | |
2042 for details about the vastly powerful specifier mechanism. | |
2043 | |
2044 The modeline functions and variables have been renamed to be | |
2045 `*-modeline-*' rather than `*-mode-line-*'. Aliases are provided for | |
2046 all the old names. | |
2047 | |
2048 Variable width fonts now work correctly when used in the modeline. | |
2049 | |
2050 | |
2051 | |
2052 *** Minibuffer, Echo Area | |
2053 ------------------------- | |
2054 | |
2055 The minibuffer is no longer constrained to be one line high. The | |
2056 package rsz-minibuf.el is included to automatically resize the | |
2057 minibuffer when its contents are too big; enable this with | |
2058 `resize-minibuffer-mode'. | |
2059 | |
2060 The echo area is now a true buffer, called " *Echo Area*". This | |
2061 allows you to customize the echo area behavior through | |
2062 before-change-functions and after-change-functions. | |
2063 | |
2064 | |
2065 | |
2066 *** Specifiers | |
2067 -------------- | |
2068 | |
2069 XEmacs has a new concept called "specifiers", used to configure most | |
2070 display options (toolbar size and contents, scrollbar size, face | |
2071 properties, modeline visibility and shadow-thickness, glyphs, display | |
2072 tables, etc.). We are planning on converting all display | |
2073 characteristics to use specifiers, and obsoleting the clunky functions | |
2074 `frame-parameters' and `modify-frame-parameters'. Specifically: | |
2075 | |
2076 -- You can specify values (called "instantiators") for particular | |
2077 "locales" (i.e. buffers, windows, frames, devices, or a global value). | |
2078 When determining what the actual value (or "instance") of a specifier | |
2079 is, the specifications that are provided are searched from most | |
2080 specific (i.e. buffer-local) to most general (i.e. global), looking | |
2081 for a matching one. | |
2082 | |
2083 -- You can specify multiple instantiators for a particular locale. | |
2084 For example, when specifying what the foreground color of a face | |
2085 is in a particular buffer, you could specify two instantiators: | |
2086 "dark sea green" and "green". The color would then be dark sea | |
2087 green on devices that recognize that color, and green on other | |
2088 devices. You have effectively provided a fallback value to make | |
2089 sure you get reasonable behavior on all devices. | |
2090 | |
2091 -- You can add one or more tags to an instantiator, where a tag | |
2092 is a symbol that has been previously registered with XEmacs. | |
2093 This allows you to identify your instantiators for later | |
2094 removal in a way that won't interfere with other applications | |
2095 using the same specifier. Furthermore, particular tags can | |
2096 be restricted to match only particular sorts of devices. | |
2097 Any tagged instantiator will be ignored if the device over which | |
2098 it is being instanced does not match any of its tags. This | |
2099 allows you, for example, to restrict an instantiator to a | |
2100 particular device type (X or TTY) and/or class (color, grayscale, | |
2101 or mono). (You might want to specify, for example, that a | |
2102 particular face is displayed in green on color devices and is | |
2103 underlined on mono devices.) | |
2104 | |
2105 -- A full API is provided for manipulating specifiers, and full | |
2106 documentation is provided in the Lisp Reference Manual. | |
2107 | |
2108 | |
2109 | |
2110 *** Basic Lisp Stuff | |
2111 -------------------- | |
2112 | |
2113 Common-Lisp backquote syntax is recognized. For example, the old | |
2114 expression | |
2115 | |
2116 (` (a b (, c))) | |
2117 | |
2118 can now be written | |
2119 | |
2120 `(a b ,c) | |
2121 | |
2122 The old backquote syntax is still accepted. | |
2123 | |
2124 The new function `type-of' returns a symbol describing the type of a | |
2125 Lisp object (`integer', `string', `symbol', etc.) | |
2126 | |
2127 Symbols beginning with a colon (called "keywords") are treated | |
2128 specially in that they are automatically made self-evaluating when | |
2129 they are interned into `obarray'. The new function `keywordp' returns | |
2130 whether a symbol begins with a colon. | |
2131 | |
2132 `get', `put', and `remprop' have been generalized to allow you to set | |
2133 and retrieve properties on many different kinds of objects: symbols, | |
2134 strings, faces, glyphs, and extents (for extents, however, this is not | |
2135 yet implemented). They are joined by a new function `object-props' | |
2136 that returns all of the properties that have been set on an object. | |
2137 | |
2138 New functions `plists-eq' and `plists-equal' are provided for | |
2139 comparing property lists (a property list is an alternating list | |
2140 of keys and values). | |
2141 | |
2142 The Common-Lisp functions `caar', `cadr', `cdar', `cddr', `caaar', etc. | |
2143 (up to four a's and/or d's), `first', `second', `third', etc. (up to | |
2144 `tenth'), `last', `rest', and `endp' have been added, for more | |
2145 convenient manipulation of lists. | |
2146 | |
2147 New function `mapvector' maps over a sequence and returns a vector | |
2148 of the results, analogous to `mapcar'. | |
2149 | |
2150 New functions `rassoc', `remassoc', `remassq', `remrassoc', and | |
2151 `remrassq' are provided for working with alists. | |
2152 | |
2153 New functions `defvaralias', `variable-alias' and `indirect-variable' | |
2154 are provided for creating variable aliases. | |
2155 | |
2156 Strings have a modified-tick that is bumped every time a string | |
2157 is modified in-place with `aset' or `fillarray'. This is retrieved | |
2158 with the new function `string-modified-tick'. | |
2159 | |
2160 New macro `push' destructively adds an element to the beginning of a | |
2161 list. New macro `pop' destructively removes and returns the first | |
2162 element of a list. | |
2163 | |
2164 | |
2165 | |
2166 *** Buffers | |
2167 ----------- | |
2168 | |
2169 Most functions that operate on buffer text now take an optional BUFFER | |
2170 argument, specifying which buffer they operate on. (Previously, they | |
2171 always operated on the current buffer.) | |
2172 | |
2173 The new function `transpose-regions' is provided, ported from GNU | |
2174 Emacs. | |
2175 | |
2176 The new function `save-current-buffer' works like `save-excursion' | |
2177 but only saves the current buffer, not the location of point in | |
2178 that buffer. | |
2179 | |
2180 | |
2181 | |
2182 *** Devices | |
2183 ----------- | |
2184 | |
2185 XEmacs has a new concept of "device", which is represents a particular | |
2186 X display or TTY connection. `make-frame' has a new, optional device | |
2187 parameter that allows you to specify which device the frame is to be | |
2188 created on. | |
2189 | |
2190 Multiple simultaneous TTY and/or X connections may be made. The | |
2191 specifier mechanism provides reasonable behavior of glyphs, faces, | |
2192 etc. over heterogeneous device types and over devices whose individual | |
2193 capabilities may vary. | |
2194 | |
2195 There is also a device type called "stream" that represents a STDIO | |
2196 device that has no redisplay or cursor-motion capabilities, such as | |
2197 the "glass terminal" that XEmacs uses when it is run noninteractively. | |
2198 There is not all that much you can do with stream devices currently; | |
2199 please let us know if there are good uses you can think of for this | |
2200 capability. (For example, log files?) | |
2201 | |
2202 A new device API is provided. Functions are provided such as | |
2203 `device-name' (the name of the device, which generally is based on the | |
2204 X display or TTY file name), `device-type' (X, TTY, or stream), | |
2205 `device-class' (color, grayscale, or mono), etc. See the Lisp | |
2206 Reference Manual. | |
2207 | |
2208 Many functions have been extended to contain an additional, optional | |
2209 device argument, where such an extension makes sense. In general, if | |
2210 the argument is omitted, it is equivalent to specifying | |
2211 `(selected-device)'. | |
2212 | |
2213 Many previous functions and variables are obsoleted in favor of the | |
2214 device API. For example, `window-system' is obsoleted by | |
2215 `device-type', and `x-color-display-p' and friends are obsoleted by | |
2216 `device-class'. | |
2217 | |
2218 ** NOTE **: The obsolete variable `window-system' is going | |
2219 to be deleted soon, probably in 19.14. Please correct all | |
2220 your code to use `device-type'. | |
2221 | |
2222 ** INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE **: The function `x-display-visual-class' | |
2223 returns different values from previous versions of XEmacs. | |
2224 | |
2225 | |
2226 | |
2227 *** Errors, Warnings, C-g | |
2228 ------------------------- | |
2229 | |
2230 There is a new warnings system implemented. Many warnings that were | |
2231 formerly displayed in various ad-hoc ways (e.g. warnings about screwy | |
2232 modifier mappings, messages about failures handling the mouse cursor | |
2233 and errors in a gc-hook) have been regularized through this system. | |
2234 The new function `warn' displays a warning before the next redisplay | |
2235 (the actually display of the warning messages is accomplished through | |
2236 `display-warning-buffer'). Both `warn' and `display-warning-buffer' | |
2237 are Lisp functions (the C code calls out to them as necessary), and | |
2238 thus you can customize the warning system. | |
2239 | |
2240 Under an X display, you can press Shift-Control-G to force a "critical | |
2241 quit". This will immediately display a backtrace and pop you into the | |
2242 debugger, regardless of the settings of `inhibit-quit' and | |
2243 `debug-on-quit'. | |
2244 | |
2245 C-g now works properly even on systems that don't implement SIGIO or | |
2246 for which SIGIO is broken (e.g. IRIX 5.3 and older versions of Linux). | |
2247 In addition, the SIGIO support has been fixed for many systems on | |
2248 which it didn't always work properly before (e.g. HPUX and Solaris). | |
2249 | |
2250 | |
2251 | |
2252 *** Events | |
2253 ---------- | |
2254 | |
2255 ** INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE **: Many event functions have been changed to | |
2256 accept and return windows instead of frames. | |
2257 | |
2258 New function: `event-live-p', specifying whether `deallocate-event' | |
2259 has been called on an event. | |
2260 | |
2261 The "menu event" type has been renamed to "misc-user event", and | |
2262 encompasses scrollbar events as well as menu events. We are planning | |
2263 on making it also encompass toolbar events in a future release. | |
2264 | |
2265 New functions are provided for determining whether an particular | |
2266 sections of a frame: `event-over-border-p', `event-over-glyph-p', | |
2267 `event-over-modeline-p', `event-over-text-area-p', and | |
2268 `event-over-toolbar-p'. The old, kludgey methods of checking the | |
2269 window-height, the internal-border-width, etc. are unreliable and | |
2270 should not be used. | |
2271 | |
2272 New functions `event-window-x-pixel' and `event-window-y-pixel' are | |
2273 provided for determining where in a particular window an event | |
2274 happened. | |
2275 | |
2276 New functions `event-glyph-x-pixel' and `event-glyph-y-pixel' are | |
2277 provided for determining where in a particular glyph an event | |
2278 happened. | |
2279 | |
2280 New function `event-closest-point', which returns the closest buffer | |
2281 position to the event even if the event did not occur over any text. | |
2282 | |
2283 New variable `unread-command-events', superseding the older | |
2284 `unread-command-event'. | |
2285 | |
2286 Many event-loop bugs have been fixed. | |
2287 | |
2288 | |
2289 | |
2290 *** Extents | |
2291 ----------- | |
2292 | |
2293 The extent code has been largely rewritten. It should be faster and | |
2294 more reliable. | |
2295 | |
2296 The text-property implementation has been greatly improved. | |
2297 | |
2298 Some new extent primitives are provided to return the position of the | |
2299 next or previous property change in a buffer. | |
2300 | |
2301 Extents can now have a parent specified; then all of its properties | |
2302 (except for the buffer it's in and its position in that buffer) come | |
2303 from that extent. Hierarchies of such extents can be created. | |
2304 | |
2305 Extents now have a `detachable' property that controls what happens | |
2306 (they either get detached or shrink down to zero-length) when their | |
2307 text is deleted. Previously, such extents would always be detached. | |
2308 | |
2309 The `invisible' property on extents now works. | |
2310 | |
2311 `map-extents' has three additional parameters that provide more | |
2312 control over which extents are mapped. | |
2313 | |
2314 `map-extents' deals better with changes made to extents in the | |
2315 buffer being mapped over. | |
2316 | |
2317 A new function `mapcar-extents' (an alternative to `map-extents') has | |
2318 been provided and should be easier to use than `map-extents'. | |
2319 | |
2320 | |
2321 | |
2322 *** Faces | |
2323 --------- | |
2324 | |
2325 Faces can now be buffer-local, window-local, and device-local as well | |
2326 as frame-local, and can be further restricted to a particular device | |
2327 type or class. The way in which faces can be controlled is now based | |
2328 on the general and powerful specifier mechanism; see above. | |
2329 | |
2330 The new function `set-face-property' generalizes `set-face-font', | |
2331 `set-face-foreground', etc. and takes many new optional arguments, in | |
2332 accordance with the new specifier mechanism. | |
2333 | |
2334 The new functions `face-property' and `face-property-instance' | |
2335 generalize `face-font', `face-foreground', etc. and take many new | |
2336 optional arguments, in accordance with the new specifier mechanism. | |
2337 (`face-property' returns the value, if any, that was specified for a | |
2338 particular locale, and `face-property-instance' returns the actual | |
2339 value that will be used for display. See the section on specifiers.) | |
2340 | |
2341 The functions `face-font', `face-foreground', `face-background', | |
2342 `set-face-font', `set-face-foreground', `set-face-background', | |
2343 etc. are now convenience functions, trivially implemented using | |
2344 `face-property' and `set-face-property' and take new optioanl | |
2345 arguments in accordance with those functions. New convenience | |
2346 functions `face-font-instance', `face-foreground-instance', | |
2347 `face-background-instance', etc. are provided and are trivially | |
2348 implemented using `face-property-instance'. | |
2349 | |
2350 Inheritance of face properties can now be specified. Each individual | |
2351 face property can inherit differently from other properties, or not | |
2352 inherit at all. | |
2353 | |
2354 You can set user-defined properties on faces using | |
2355 `set-face-property'. | |
2356 | |
2357 You can create "temporary" faces, which are faces that disappear | |
2358 when they are no longer in use. This is as opposed to normal | |
2359 faces, which stay around forever. | |
2360 | |
2361 The function `make-face' takes a new optional argument specifying | |
2362 whether a face should be permanent or temporary, and returns the | |
2363 actual face object rather than the face symbol, as in previous | |
2364 versions of XEmacs. | |
2365 | |
2366 The function `face-list' takes a new optional argument specifying | |
2367 whether permanent, temporary, or both kinds of faces should be | |
2368 returned. | |
2369 | |
2370 Faces have new TTY-specific properties: `highlight', `reverse', | |
2371 `alternate', `blinking', and `dim'. | |
2372 | |
2373 Redisplay is smarter about dealing with face changes: changes to a | |
2374 particular face no longer cause all frames to be cleared and | |
2375 redisplayed. | |
2376 | |
2377 The Edit-Faces package is provided for interactively changing faces. | |
2378 A menu item on the options menu is provided for this. | |
2379 | |
2380 New functions are provided for retrieving the ascent, descent, height, | |
2381 and width of a character in a particular face. | |
2382 | |
2383 | |
2384 | |
2385 *** Fonts, Colors | |
2386 ----------------- | |
2387 | |
2388 ** INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE **: The old "font" and "pixel" objects are gone. | |
2389 In place are new objects "font specifier", "font instance", "color | |
2390 specifier", and "color instance". Functions `font-name', `pixel-name' | |
2391 (an obsolete alias for `color-name'), etc. are now convenience | |
2392 functions for working with font and color specifiers. Old code that | |
2393 is not too sophisticated about working with font and pixel objects may | |
2394 still work, though. (For example, the idiom `(font-name (face-font | |
2395 'default))' still works.) | |
2396 | |
2397 You can now extract the RGB components of a color-instance object | |
2398 (similar to the old pixel object) with the function | |
2399 `color-instance-rgb-components'. There is also a convenience function | |
2400 `color-rgb-components' for working with color specifiers. | |
2401 | |
2402 If there are no more colors available in the colormap, the nearest | |
2403 existing color will be used when allocating a new color. | |
2404 | |
2405 | |
2406 | |
2407 *** Frames | |
2408 ---------- | |
2409 | |
2410 What used to be called "screens" are now called "frames", for clarity | |
2411 and consistency with GNU Emacs. Aliases are provided for all the old | |
2412 screen functions and variables, to avoid introducing a huge E-Lisp | |
2413 incompatibility. | |
2414 | |
2415 The frame code has been merged with GNU Emacs 19.28, providing | |
2416 improved functionality for many functions. | |
2417 | |
2418 | |
2419 | |
2420 *** Glyphs, Images, and Pixmaps | |
2421 ------------------------------- | |
2422 | |
2423 Glyphs (used in various places, i.e. as begin-glyphs and end-glyphs | |
2424 attached to extents and appearing in a buffer or in marginal | |
2425 annotations; as the truncator and continuor glyphs marking line wrap | |
2426 or truncation; as an overlay at the beginning of a line; as the | |
2427 displayable element in a toolbar button; etc.) can now be | |
2428 buffer-local, window-local, frame-local, and device-local, and can be | |
2429 further restricted to a particular device type or class. The way in | |
2430 which faces can be controlled is now based on the general and powerful | |
2431 specifier mechanism; see above. | |
2432 | |
2433 ** INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE **: The glyph and pixmap API has been completely | |
2434 overhauled. A new Lisp object "glyph" is provided and should be used | |
2435 where the old "pixmap" object would have been used. The pixmap object | |
2436 exists no longer. There are also new Lisp objects "image specifier" | |
2437 and "image instance" (an image-instance is the closest equivalent to | |
2438 what a pixmap object was). More work on glyphs and images is slated | |
2439 for 19.13. The glyph and image docs in the Lisp Reference Manual are | |
2440 incomplete and will be finished in 19.13. | |
2441 | |
2442 The new function `set-glyph-property' allows setting of all the | |
2443 glyph properties (`baseline', `contrib-p', etc.). Convenience | |
2444 functions for particular properties are also provided, just like | |
2445 for faces. | |
2446 | |
2447 You can set user-defined properties on glyphs using the new function | |
2448 `set-glyph-property'. | |
2449 | |
2450 When displaying pixmaps, existing, closest-matching colors will be | |
2451 used if the colormap is full. | |
2452 | |
2453 If the compface library is compiled into XEmacs, there is built-in | |
2454 support for displaying X-Face bitmaps. (These are typically small | |
2455 pictures of people's faces, included in a mail message through the | |
2456 X-Face: header.) VM and highlight-headers will automatically use the | |
2457 built-in X-Face support if it is available. | |
2458 | |
2459 Annotations in the right margin (as well as the left margin) are now | |
2460 implemented. The left and right margin width functions have been | |
2461 superseded by the specifier variables `left-margin-width' and | |
2462 `right-margin-width', allowing much more flexible control through the | |
2463 specifier mechanism. | |
2464 | |
2465 ** INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE **: The variable `use-left-overflow', | |
2466 for controlling annotations in the left margin, is now a specifier | |
2467 variable instead of a buffer-local variable. (There is also a new | |
2468 variable `use-right-overflow', that is complementary.) | |
2469 | |
2470 | |
2471 | |
2472 *** Hashing | |
2473 ----------- | |
2474 | |
2475 Two new types of weak hashtables can be created: key-weak and | |
2476 value-weak. In a key-weak hashtable, an entry remains around | |
2477 if its key is referenced elsewhere, regardless of whether this | |
2478 is also the case for the value. Value-weak hashtables are | |
2479 complementary. (This is as opposed to the traditional weak | |
2480 hashtables, where an entry remains around only if both the | |
2481 key and value are referenced elsewhere.) New functions | |
2482 `make-key-weak-hashtable' and `make-value-weak-hashtable' | |
2483 are provided for creating these hashtables. | |
2484 | |
2485 The new function `md5' is provided for performing an MD5 | |
2486 hash of an object. MD5 is a secure message digest algorithm | |
2487 developed by RSA, inc. | |
2488 | |
2489 | |
2490 | |
2491 *** Keymaps | |
2492 ----------- | |
2493 | |
2494 The FSF GNU Emacs concept of `function-key-map' is now partially | |
2495 implemented. This allows conversion of function-key escape sequences | |
2496 such as `ESC [ 1 1 ~' into an equivalent human-readable keysym such as | |
2497 `F1'. This work will be completed in 19.14. The function-key map is | |
2498 device-local and controllable through the functions | |
2499 `device-function-key-map' and `set-device-function-key-map'. | |
2500 | |
2501 `where-is-internal' now correctly searches minor-mode keymaps, | |
2502 extent-local keymaps, etc. As a side effect of this, menu items will | |
2503 now correctly show the keyboard equivalent for commands that are | |
2504 available through a minor-mode keymap, extent-local keymap, etc. | |
2505 | |
2506 ** INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE **: The modifier key "Symbol" has | |
2507 been renamed to "Alt", for compatibility with the rest of the world. | |
2508 Keep in mind that on many keyboards, the key labelled "Alt" actually | |
2509 generates the "Meta" modifier. (On Sun keyboards, however, the key | |
2510 labelled "Alt" does indeed generate the "Alt" modifier, and the key | |
2511 labelled with a diamond generates the "Meta" modifier.) | |
2512 | |
2513 | |
2514 | |
2515 *** Mouse, Active Region | |
2516 ------------------------ | |
2517 | |
2518 The mouse internals in mouse.el have been rewritten. Hooks have been | |
2519 provided for easier customization of mouse behavior. For example, you | |
2520 can now easily specify an action to be invoked on single-click | |
2521 (i.e. down-up without appreciable motion), double-click, drag-up, etc. | |
2522 | |
2523 Some code from FSF GNU Emacs has been ported over, generalizing some of | |
2524 the X-specific mouse stuff. | |
2525 | |
2526 ** INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE **: The function `set-mouse-position' accepts | |
2527 a window instead of a frame. | |
2528 | |
2529 New function `mouse-position' that obsoletes and is more powerful than | |
2530 `read-mouse-position'. | |
2531 | |
2532 New functions `mouse-pixel-positon' and `set-mouse-pixel-position' for | |
2533 working with pixels instead of characters. | |
2534 | |
2535 The active (Zmacs) region is now highlighted using the `zmacs-region-face' | |
2536 instead of the `primary-selection-face'; this generalizes what used | |
2537 to be X-specific. | |
2538 | |
2539 New functions `region-active-p', `region-exists-p', and `activate-region' | |
2540 provide a uniform API for dealing with the region irrespective of | |
2541 whether the variable `zmacs-regions' is set. | |
2542 | |
2543 XEmacs is now a better X citizen with respect to the primary selection: | |
2544 it does not stomp on the primary selection quite so much. This makes | |
2545 things more manageable if you set `zmacs-regions' to nil. | |
2546 | |
2547 | |
2548 | |
2549 *** Processes | |
2550 ------------- | |
2551 | |
2552 Various process race conditions and bugs have been fixed. Problems | |
2553 with process termination not getting noticed until much later (if at | |
2554 all) should be gone now, as well as problems with zombie processes | |
2555 under some systems. | |
2556 | |
2557 SOCKS support is now included. SOCKS is a package that allows hosts | |
2558 behind a firewall to gain full access to the Internet without | |
2559 requiring direct IP reachability. | |
2560 | |
2561 | |
2562 | |
2563 *** Windows | |
2564 ----------- | |
2565 | |
2566 Windows 95 is still not out yet. | |
2567 | |
2568 ** INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE **: The functions `locate-window-from-coordinates' | |
2569 and `window-edges' have been eliminated. It no longer makes sense to | |
2570 work with windows in terms of character positions, because windows can | |
2571 (and often do) have many differently-sized fonts in them, because the | |
2572 3-D modeline is not exactly one line high, etc. | |
2573 | |
2574 The new functions `window-pixel-edges', `window-highest-p', | |
2575 `window-lowest-p', `frame-highest-window', and `frame-lowest-window' | |
2576 are provided as substitutes for the above-mentioned, deleted | |
2577 functions. | |
2578 | |
2579 The function `window-end' now takes an optional GUARANTEE argument | |
2580 that will ensure that the value is actually correct as of the next | |
2581 redisplay. | |
2582 | |
2583 The window code has been merged with GNU Emacs 19.28, providing | |
2584 improved functionality for many functions. | |
2585 | |
2586 | |
2587 | |
2588 *** System-Specific Information | |
2589 ------------------------------- | |
2590 | |
2591 Georg Nikodym's dynodump package is provided, for proper unexec()ing | |
2592 on Solaris systems. Executables built on Solaris 2.3 can now run on | |
2593 Solaris 2.4 without crashing; similarly with executables built on one | |
2594 type of Sun machine and run on another. | |
2595 | |
2596 AIX 4.x is supported. | |
2597 | |
2598 The NeXTstep operating system is supported in TTY mode (this is still | |
2599 in beta). There are plans to port XEmacs to the NeXTstep window | |
2600 system, but it may be awhile before this is complete. | |
2601 | |
2602 Problems with the `round' function causing arithmetic errors on HPUX 9 | |
2603 have been fixed. | |
2604 | |
2605 You can now build XEmacs as an ELF executable on Linux systems that | |
2606 support ELF. | |
2607 | |
2608 Various other new system configurations are supported. | |
2609 | |
2610 | |
2611 | |
2612 *** Packages | |
2613 ------------ | |
2614 | |
2615 Most packages have been updated to the latest available versions. | |
2616 | |
2617 | |
2618 Some of the new Emacs Lisp packages --- | |
2619 | |
2620 Hyperbole: the everyday information manager. Provides a Rolodex, | |
2621 allows links to be embedded in text, etc. | |
2622 | |
2623 OOBR: a sophisticated class browser for object-oriented languages. | |
2624 | |
2625 viper: a better VI emulator that allows Emacs and VI features | |
2626 to coexist happily. | |
2627 | |
2628 hm--html-menus: a sophisticated package for editing HTML code, | |
2629 from Heiko Muenkel. | |
2630 | |
2631 ksh-mode.el: for editing shell scripts. | |
2632 | |
2633 lazy-lock.el: a lazy, on-the-fly fontifier. | |
2634 | |
2635 paren.el: an improved matching paren highlighter | |
2636 | |
2637 | |
2638 | |
2639 Major changes to existing packages -- | |
2640 | |
2641 VM: has a toolbar, many other nice features. | |
2642 | |
2643 w3: has a toolbar, many other nice features. | |
2644 | |
2645 ediff: provides three-way merging, has a better user interface. | |
2646 | |
2647 info: has a toolbar. | |
2648 | |
2649 highlight-headers.el: now highlights URL's and makes them active so | |
2650 that when clicked either Netscape 1.1 is called | |
2651 or Emacs W3 is run. | |
2652 | |
2653 | |
2654 ** Major Differences Between 19.10 and 19.11 | |
2655 ============================================ | |
2656 | |
2657 The name has changed from "Lucid Emacs" to "XEmacs". Along with this is a | |
2658 new canonical ftp site: cs.uiuc.edu:/pub/xemacs. | |
2659 | |
2660 XEmacs now has its very own World Wide Web page! It contains a | |
2661 complete list of the FTP distribution sites, the most recent FAQ, | |
2662 pointers to Emacs Lisp packages not included with the distribution, and | |
2663 other useful stuff. Check it out at http://xemacs.cs.uiuc.edu/. | |
2664 | |
2665 A preliminary New Users Guide. | |
2666 | |
2667 cc-mode.el now provides the default C, C++ and Objective-C modes. | |
2668 | |
2669 The primary goal of this release is stability. Very few new features have | |
2670 been introduced but lots of bugs have been fixed. Many of the Emacs Lisp | |
2671 packages have been updated. | |
2672 | |
2673 Some of the new Emacs Lisp packages --- | |
2674 | |
2675 tcl-mode.el: major mode for editing TCL code | |
2676 | |
2677 fast-lock.el: saves and restores font-lock highlighting, greatly | |
2678 reducing the time necessary for loading a font-lock'ed | |
2679 file | |
2680 | |
2681 ps-print.el: prints buffers to Postscript printers preserving the | |
2682 buffer's bold and italic text attributes | |
2683 | |
2684 toolbar.el: provides a "fake" toolbar for use with XEmacs (an | |
2685 integrated one will be included with 19.12) | |
2686 | |
2687 | |
2688 ** Major Differences Between 19.9 and 19.10 | |
2689 =========================================== | |
2690 | |
2691 The GNU `configure' system is now used to build lemacs. | |
2692 | |
2693 The Emacs Manual and Emacs Lisp Reference Manual now document version 19.10. | |
2694 If you notice any errors, please let us know. | |
2695 | |
2696 When pixmaps are displayed in a buffer, they contribute to the line height - | |
2697 that is, if the glyph is taller than the rest of the text on the line, the | |
2698 line will be as tall as necessary to display the glyph. | |
2699 | |
2700 In addition to using arbitrary sound files as emacs beeps, one can control | |
2701 the pitch and duration of the standard X beep, on X servers which allow that | |
2702 (Note: most don't.) | |
2703 | |
2704 There is support for playing sounds on systems with NetAudio servers. | |
2705 | |
2706 Minor modes may have mode-specific key bindings; keymaps may have an arbitrary | |
2707 number of parent maps. | |
2708 | |
2709 Menus can have toggle and radio buttons in them. | |
2710 | |
2711 There is a font selection menu. | |
2712 | |
2713 Some default key bindings have changed to match FSF19; the new bindings are | |
2714 | |
2715 Screen-related commands: | |
2716 C-x 5 2 make-screen | |
2717 C-x 5 0 delete-screen | |
2718 C-x 5 b switch-to-buffer-other-screen | |
2719 C-x 5 f find-file-other-screen | |
2720 C-x 5 C-f find-file-other-screen | |
2721 C-x 5 m mail-other-screen | |
2722 C-x 5 o other-screen | |
2723 C-x 5 r find-file-read-only-other-screen | |
2724 Abbrev-related commands: | |
2725 C-x a l add-mode-abbrev | |
2726 C-x a C-a add-mode-abbrev | |
2727 C-x a g add-global-abbrev | |
2728 C-x a + add-mode-abbrev | |
2729 C-x a i g inverse-add-global-abbrev | |
2730 C-x a i l inverse-add-mode-abbrev | |
2731 C-x a - inverse-add-global-abbrev | |
2732 C-x a e expand-abbrev | |
2733 C-x a ' expand-abbrev | |
2734 Register-related commands: | |
2735 C-x r C-SPC point-to-register | |
2736 C-x r SPC point-to-register | |
2737 C-x r j jump-to-register | |
2738 C-x r s copy-to-register | |
2739 C-x r x copy-to-register | |
2740 C-x r i insert-register | |
2741 C-x r g insert-register | |
2742 C-x r r copy-rectangle-to-register | |
2743 C-x r c clear-rectangle | |
2744 C-x r k kill-rectangle | |
2745 C-x r y yank-rectangle | |
2746 C-x r o open-rectangle | |
2747 C-x r t string-rectangle | |
2748 C-x r w window-configuration-to-register | |
2749 Narrowing-related commands: | |
2750 C-x n n narrow-to-region | |
2751 C-x n w widen | |
2752 Other changes: | |
2753 C-x 3 split-window-horizontally (was undefined) | |
2754 C-x - shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer | |
2755 C-x + balance-windows | |
2756 | |
2757 The variable allow-deletion-of-last-visible-screen has been removed, since | |
2758 it was widely hated. You can now always delete the last visible screen if | |
2759 there are other iconified screens in existence. | |
2760 | |
2761 ToolTalk support is provided. | |
2762 | |
2763 An Emacs screen can be placed within an "external client widget" managed | |
2764 by another application. This allows an application to use an Emacs screen | |
2765 as its text pane rather than the standard Text widget that is provided | |
2766 with Motif or Athena. | |
2767 | |
2768 Additional compatibility with Epoch is provided (though this is not yet | |
2769 complete.) | |
2770 | |
2771 | |
2772 ** Major Differences Between 19.8 and 19.9 | |
2773 ========================================== | |
2774 | |
2775 Scrollbars! If you have Motif, these are real Motif scrollbars; otherwise, | |
2776 Athena scrollbars are used. They obey all the usual resources of their | |
2777 respective toolkits. | |
2778 | |
2779 There is now an implementation of dialog boxes based based on the Athena | |
2780 widgets, as well as the existing Motif implementation. | |
2781 | |
2782 This release works with Motif 1.2 as well as 1.1. If you link with Motif, | |
2783 you do not also need to link with Athena. | |
2784 | |
2785 If you compile lwlib with both USE_MOTIF and USE_LUCID defined (which is the | |
2786 recommended configuration) then the Lucid menus will draw text using the Motif | |
2787 string-drawing library, instead of the Xlib one. The reason for this is that | |
2788 one can take advantage of the XmString facilities for including non-Latin1 | |
2789 characters in resource specifications. However, this is a user-visible change | |
2790 in that, in this configuration, the menubar will use the "*fontList" resource | |
2791 in preference to the "*font" resource, if it is set. | |
2792 | |
2793 It's possible to make extents which are copied/pasted by kill and undo. | |
2794 There is an implementation of FSF19-style text properties based on this. | |
2795 | |
2796 There is a new variable, minibuffer-max-depth, which is intended to circumvent | |
2797 a common source of confusion among new Emacs users. Since, under a window | |
2798 system, it's easy to jump out of the minibuffer (by doing M-x, then getting | |
2799 distracted, and clicking elsewhere) many, many novice users have had the | |
2800 problem of having multiple minibuffers build up, even to the point of | |
2801 exhausting the lisp stack. So the default behavior is to disallow the | |
2802 minibuffer to ever be reinvoked while active; if you attempt to do so, you | |
2803 will be prompted about it. | |
2804 | |
2805 There is a new variable, teach-extended-commands-p, which if set, will cause | |
2806 `M-x' to remind you of any key bindings of the command you just invoked the | |
2807 "long way." | |
2808 | |
2809 There are menus in Dired, Tar, Comint, Compile, and Grep modes. | |
2810 | |
2811 There is a menu of window management commands on the right mouse button over | |
2812 the modelines. | |
2813 | |
2814 Popup menus now have titles at the top; this is controlled by the new | |
2815 variable `popup-menu-titles'. | |
2816 | |
2817 The `Find' key on Sun keyboards will search for the next (or previous) | |
2818 occurrence of the selected text, as in OpenWindows programs. | |
2819 | |
2820 The `timer' package has been renamed to `itimer' to avoid a conflict with | |
2821 a different package called `timer'. | |
2822 | |
2823 VM 5.40 is included. | |
2824 | |
2825 W3, the emacs interface to the World Wide Web, is included. | |
2826 | |
2827 Felix Lee's GNUS speedups have been installed, including his new version of | |
2828 nntp.el which makes GNUS efficiently utilize the NNTP XOVER command if | |
2829 available (which is much faster.) | |
2830 | |
2831 GNUS should also be much friendlier to new users: it starts up much faster, | |
2832 and doesn't (necessarily) subscribe you to every single newsgroup. | |
2833 | |
2834 The byte-compiler issues a new class of warnings: variables which are | |
2835 bound but not used. This is merely an advisory, and does not mean the | |
2836 code is incorrect; you can disable these warnings in the usual way with | |
2837 the `byte-compiler-options' macro. | |
2838 | |
2839 the `start-open' and `end-open' extent properties, for specifying whether | |
2840 characters inserted exactly at a boundary of an extent should go into the | |
2841 extent or out of it, now work correctly. | |
2842 | |
2843 The `extent-data' slot has been generalized/replaced with a property list, | |
2844 so it's easier to attach arbitrary data to extent objects. | |
2845 | |
2846 The `event-modifiers' and `event-modifier-bits' functions work on motion | |
2847 events as well as other mouse and keyboard events. | |
2848 | |
2849 Forms-mode uses fonts and read-only regions. | |
2850 | |
2851 The behavior of the -geometry command line option should be correct now. | |
2852 | |
2853 The `iconic' screen parameter works when passed to x-create-screen. | |
2854 | |
2855 The user's manual now documents Lucid Emacs 19.9. | |
2856 | |
2857 The relocating buffer allocator is turned on by default; this means that when | |
2858 buffers are killed, their storage will be returned to the operating system, | |
2859 and the size of the emacs process will shrink. | |
2860 | |
2861 CAVEAT: code which contains calls to certain `face' accessor functions will | |
2862 need to be recompiled by version 19.9 before it will work. The functions | |
2863 whose callers must be recompiled are: face-font, face-foreground, | |
2864 face-background, face-background-pixmap, and face-underline-p. The symptom | |
2865 of this problem is the error "Wrong type argument, arrayp, #<face ... >". | |
2866 The .elc files generated by version 19.9 will work in 19.6 and 19.8, but | |
2867 older .elc files which contain calls to these functions will not work in 19.9. | |
2868 | |
2869 Work In Progress: | |
2870 | |
2871 - We have been in the process of internationalizing Lucid Emacs. This code is | |
2872 ***not*** ready for general use yet. However, the code is included (and | |
2873 turned off by default) in this release. | |
2874 | |
2875 - If you define I18N2 at compile-time, then sorting/collation will be done | |
2876 according to the locale returned by setlocale(). | |
2877 | |
2878 - If you define I18N3 at compile-time, then all messages printed by lemacs | |
2879 will be filtered through the gettext() library routine, to enable the use | |
2880 of locale-specific translation catalogues. The current implementation of | |
2881 this is quite dependent on Solaris 2, and has a very large impact on | |
2882 existing code, therefore we are going to be making major changes soon. | |
2883 (You'll notice calls to `gettext' and `GETTEXT' scattered around much of | |
2884 the lisp and C code; ignore it, this will be going away.) | |
2885 | |
2886 - If you define I18N4 at compile-time, then lemacs will internally use a | |
2887 wide representation of characters, enabling the use of large character | |
2888 sets such as Kanji. This code is very OS dependent: it requires X11R5, | |
2889 and several OS-supplied library routines for reading and writing wide | |
2890 characters (getwc(), putwc(), and a few others.) Performance is also a | |
2891 problem. This code is also scheduled for a major overhaul, with the | |
2892 intent of improving performance and portability. | |
2893 | |
2894 Our eventual goal is to merge with MULE, or at least provide the same base | |
2895 level of functionality. If you would like to help out with this, let us | |
2896 know. | |
2897 | |
2898 - Other work-in-progress includes Motif drag-and-drop support, ToolTalk | |
2899 support, and support for embedding an Emacs widget inside another | |
2900 application (where it can function as that other application's text-entry | |
2901 area). This code has not been extensively tested, and may (or may not) | |
2902 have portability problems, but it's there for the adventurous. Comments, | |
2903 suggestions, bug reports, and especially fixes are welcome. But have no | |
2904 expectations that this experimental code will work at all. | |
2905 | |
2906 | |
2907 ** Major Differences Between 19.6 and 19.8 | |
2908 ========================================== | |
2909 | |
2910 There were almost no differences between versions 19.6 and 19.7; version 19.7 | |
2911 was a bug-fix release that was distributed with Energize 2.1. | |
2912 | |
2913 Lucid Emacs 19.8 represents the first stage of the Lucid Emacs/Epoch merger. | |
2914 The redisplay engine now in lemacs is an improved descendant of the Epoch | |
2915 redisplay. As a result, many bugs have been eliminated, and several disabled | |
2916 features have been re-enabled. Notably: | |
2917 | |
2918 Selective display (and outline-mode) work. | |
2919 | |
2920 Horizontally split windows work. | |
2921 | |
2922 The height of a line is the height of the tallest font displayed on that line; | |
2923 it is possible for a screen to display lines of differing heights. (Previously, | |
2924 the height of all lines was the height of the tallest font loaded.) | |
2925 | |
2926 There is lisp code to scale fonts up and down, for example, to load the next- | |
2927 taller version of a font. | |
2928 | |
2929 There is a new internal representation for lisp objects, giving emacs-lisp 28 | |
2930 bit integers and a 28 bit address space, up from the previous maximum of 26. | |
2931 We expect eventually to increase this to 30 bit integers and a 32 bit address | |
2932 space, eliminating the need for DATA_SEG_BITS on some architectures. (On 64 | |
2933 bit machines, add 32 to all of these numbers.) | |
2934 | |
2935 GC performance is improved. | |
2936 | |
2937 Various X objects (fonts, colors, cursors, pixmaps) are accessible as first- | |
2938 class lisp objects, with finalization. | |
2939 | |
2940 An alternate interface to embedding images in the text is provided, called | |
2941 "annotations." You may create an "annotation margin" which is whitespace at | |
2942 the left side of the screen that contains only annotations, not buffer text. | |
2943 | |
2944 When using XPM files, one can specify the values of logical color names to be | |
2945 used when loading the files. | |
2946 | |
2947 It is possible to resize windows by dragging their modelines up and down. More | |
2948 generally, it is possible to add bindings for mouse gestures on the modelines. | |
2949 | |
2950 There is support for playing sound files on HP machines. | |
2951 | |
2952 ILISP version 5.5 is included. | |
2953 | |
2954 The Common Lisp #' read syntax is supported (#' is to "function" as ' is to | |
2955 "quote".) | |
2956 | |
2957 The `active-p' slot of menu items is now evaluated, so one can put arbitrary | |
2958 lisp code in a menu to decide whether that item should be selectable, rather | |
2959 than doing this with an `activate-menubar-hook'. | |
2960 | |
2961 The X resource hierarchy has changed slightly, to be more consistent. It used | |
2962 to be | |
2963 argv[0] SCREEN-NAME pane screen | |
2964 ApplicationShell EmacsShell Paned EmacsFrame | |
2965 | |
2966 now it is | |
2967 | |
2968 argv[0] shell pane SCREEN-NAME | |
2969 ApplicationShell EmacsShell Paned EmacsFrame | |
2970 | |
2971 The Lucid Emacs sources have been largely merged with FSF version 19; this | |
2972 means that the lisp library contains the most recent releases of various | |
2973 packages, and many new features of FSF 19 have been incorporated. | |
2974 | |
2975 Because of this, the lemacs sources should also be substantially more portable. | |
2976 | |
2977 | |
2978 ** Major Differences Between 19.4 and 19.6 | |
2979 ========================================== | |
2980 | |
2981 There were almost no differences between versions 19.4 and 19.5; we fixed | |
2982 a few minor bugs and repacked 19.4 as 19.5 for a CD-ROM that we gave away | |
2983 as a trade show promotion. | |
2984 | |
2985 The primary goal of the 19.6 release is stability, rather than improved | |
2986 functionality, so there aren't many user-visible changes. The most notable | |
2987 changes are: | |
2988 | |
2989 - The -geometry command-line option now correctly overrides geometry | |
2990 specifications in the resource database. | |
2991 - The `width' and `height' screen-parameters work. | |
2992 - Font-lock-mode considers the comment start and end characters to be | |
2993 a part of the comment. | |
2994 - The lhilit package has been removed. Use font-lock-mode instead. | |
2995 - vm-isearch has been fixed to work with isearch-mode. | |
2996 - new versions of ispell and calendar. | |
2997 - sccs.el has menus. | |
2998 | |
2999 Lots of bugs were fixed, including the problem that lemacs occasionally | |
3000 grabbed the keyboard focus. | |
3001 | |
3002 Also, as of Lucid Emacs 19.6 and Energize 2.0 (shipping now) it is possible | |
3003 to compile the public release of Lucid Emacs with support for Energize; so | |
3004 now Energize users will be able to build their own Energize-aware versions | |
3005 of lemacs, and will be able to use newer versions of lemacs as they are | |
3006 released to the net. (Of course, this is not behavior covered by your | |
3007 Energize support contract; you do it at your own risk.) | |
3008 | |
3009 I have not incorporated all portability patches that I have been sent since | |
3010 19.4; I will try to get to them soon. However, if you need to make any | |
3011 changes to lemacs to get it to compile on your system, it would be quite | |
3012 helpful if you would send me context diffs (diff -c) against version 19.6. | |
3013 | |
3014 | |
3015 ** Major Differences Between 19.3 and 19.4 | |
3016 ========================================== | |
3017 | |
3018 Prototypes have been added for all functions. Emacs compiles in the strict | |
3019 ANSI modes of lcc and gcc, so portability should be vastly improved. | |
3020 | |
3021 Many many many many core leaks have been plugged, especially in screen | |
3022 creation and deletion. | |
3023 | |
3024 The float support reworked to be more portable and ANSI conformant. This | |
3025 resulted in these new configuration parameters: HAVE_INVERSE_HYPERBOLIC, | |
3026 HAVE_CBRT, HAVE_RINT, FLOAT_CHECK_ERRNO, FLOAT_CATCH_SIGILL, | |
3027 FLOAT_CHECK_DOMAIN. Let us know if you had to change the defaults on your | |
3028 architecture. | |
3029 | |
3030 The SunOS unexec has been rewritten, and now works with either static or | |
3031 dynamic libraries, depending on whether -Bstatic or -Bdynamic were specified | |
3032 at link-time. | |
3033 | |
3034 Small (character-sized) bitmaps can be mixed in with buffer text via the new | |
3035 functions set-extent-begin-glyph and set-extent-end-glyph. (This is actually | |
3036 a piece of functionality that Energize has been using for a while, but we've | |
3037 just gotten around to making it possible to use it without Energize. See how | |
3038 nice we are? Go buy our product.) | |
3039 | |
3040 If compiled with Motif support, one can pop up dialog boxes from emacs lisp. | |
3041 We encourage someone to contribute Athena an version of this code; it | |
3042 shouldn't be much work. | |
3043 | |
3044 If dialog boxes are available, then y-or-n-p and yes-or-no-p use dialog boxes | |
3045 instead of the minibuffer if invoked as a result of a command that was | |
3046 executed from a menu instead of from the keyboard. | |
3047 | |
3048 Multiple screen support works better; check out doc of get-screen-for-buffer. | |
3049 | |
3050 The default binding of backspace is the same as delete. (C-h is still help.) | |
3051 | |
3052 A middle click while the minibuffer is active does completion if you click on | |
3053 a highlighted completion, otherwise it executes the global binding of button2. | |
3054 | |
3055 New versions of Barry Warsaw's c++-mode and syntax.c. Font-lock-mode works | |
3056 with C++ mode now. | |
3057 | |
3058 The semantics of activate-menubar-hook has changed; the functions are called | |
3059 with no arguments now. | |
3060 | |
3061 `truename' no longer hacks the automounter; use directory-abbrev-alist instead. | |
3062 | |
3063 Most minibuffer handling has been reimplemented in emacs-lisp. | |
3064 | |
3065 There is now a builtin minibuffer history mechanism which replaces gmhist. | |
3066 | |
3067 | |
3068 ** Major Differences Between 19.2 and 19.3 | |
3069 ========================================== | |
3070 | |
3071 The ISO characters have correct case and syntax tables now, so the word-motion | |
3072 and case-converting commands work sensibly on them. | |
3073 | |
3074 If you set ctl-arrow to an integer, you can control exactly which characters | |
3075 are printable. (There will be a less crufty way to do this eventually.) | |
3076 | |
3077 Menubars can now be buffer local; the function set-screen-menubar no longer | |
3078 exists. Look at GNUS and VM for examples of how to do this, or read | |
3079 menubar.el. | |
3080 | |
3081 When emacs is reading from the minibuffer with completions, any completions | |
3082 which are visible on the screen will highlight when the mouse moves over them; | |
3083 clicking middle on a completion is the same as typing it at the minibuffer. | |
3084 Some implications of this: The *Completions* buffer is always mousable. If | |
3085 you're using the completion feature of find-tag, your source code will be | |
3086 mousable when you type M-. Dired buffers will be mousable as soon as you | |
3087 type ^X^F. And so on. | |
3088 | |
3089 The old isearch code has been replaced with a descendant of Dan LaLiberte's | |
3090 excellent isearch-mode; it is more customizable, and generally less bogus. | |
3091 You can search for "composed" characters. There are new commands, too; see | |
3092 the doc for ^S, or the NEWS file. | |
3093 | |
3094 A patched GNUS 3.14 is included. | |
3095 | |
3096 The user's manual now documents Lucid Emacs 19.3. | |
3097 | |
3098 A few more modes have mouse and menu support. | |
3099 | |
3100 The startup code should be a little more robust, and give you more reasonable | |
3101 error messages when things aren't installed quite right (instead of the | |
3102 ubiquitous "cannot open DISPLAY"...) | |
3103 | |
3104 Subdirectories of the lisp directory whose names begin with a hyphen or dot | |
3105 are not automatically added to the load-path, so you can use this to avoid | |
3106 accidentally inflicting experimental software on your users. | |
3107 | |
3108 I've tried to incorporate all of the portability patches that were sent to | |
3109 me; I tried to solve some of the problems in different ways than the | |
3110 patches did, so let me know if I missed something. | |
3111 | |
3112 Some systems will need to define NEED_STRDUP, NEED_REALPATH, HAVE_DREM, or | |
3113 HAVE_REMAINDER in config.h. Really this should be done in the appropriate | |
3114 s- or m- files, but I don't know which systems need these and which don't. | |
3115 If yours does, let me know which file it should be in. | |
3116 | |
3117 Check out these new packages: | |
3118 | |
3119 blink-paren.el: causes the matching parenthesis to flash on and off whenever | |
3120 the cursor is sitting on a paren-syntax character. | |
3121 | |
3122 pending-del.el: Certain commands implicitly delete the highlighted region: | |
3123 Typing a character when there is a highlighted region replaces | |
3124 that region with the typed character. | |
3125 | |
3126 font-lock.el: A code-highlighting package, driven off of syntax tables, so | |
3127 that it understands block comments, strings, etc. The | |
3128 insertion hook is used to fontify text as you type it in. | |
3129 | |
3130 shell-font.el: Displays your shell-buffer prompt in boldface. |