Mercurial > hg > xemacs-beta
diff nt/PROBLEMS @ 318:afd57c14dfc8 r21-0b57
Import from CVS: tag r21-0b57
author | cvs |
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date | Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:45:36 +0200 |
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children | 03446687b7cc |
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--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/nt/PROBLEMS Mon Aug 13 10:45:36 2007 +0200 @@ -0,0 +1,177 @@ + -*- mode:outline -*- + +This file describes various problems that have been encountered in +running XEmacs on Windows 95, 98 and NT. It has been updated for +XEmacs 21.0. + +This is the first release of XEmacs on Windows. In testing it has +proved to be extremely stable in general use (but see the gnus and +subprocess problems below), but not all features or packages work +correctly yet. + +Use `C-c C-f' to move to the next equal level of outline, and +`C-c C-b' to move to previous equal level. `C-h m' will give more +info about the Outline mode. + +Also, Try finding the things you need using one of the search commands +XEmacs provides (e.g. `C-s'). + +General advice: + Remember your .emacs file! ~\.emacs is your Emacs init file. If + you observe strange problems, invoke XEmacs with the `-q' option + and see if you can repeat the problem. + + +* Problems with running XEmacs +============================== +** Conflicts with FSF NTEmacs + +Depending on how it is installed, FSF NTEmacs may setup various EMACS* +variables in your environment. The presence of these variables may +cause XEmacs to fail at startup, cause you to see corrupted +doc-strings, or cause other random problems. + +You should remove these variables from your environment. These +variables are not required to run FSF NTEmacs if you start it by +running emacs.bat. + +** XEmacs can't find my .emacs file + +XEmacs looks for your .emacs in your "home" directory. XEmacs decides +that your "home" directory is, in order of preference: + +- The value of the HOME environment variable, if the variable exists. +- The value of the HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment variables, if + these variables both exist. +- The directory that XEmacs was started from. + +** XEmacs can't find any packages + +The directory tree under which XEmacs looks for your packages is set +at compile-time, and defaults to C:\Program Files\XEmacs\Packages. The +variable configure-package-path holds the actual value that was +compiled into your copy of XEmacs. + +The compile-time default location can be overridden by the +EMACSPACKAGEPATH environment variable or by the +SOFTWARE\GNU\XEmacs\EMACSPACKAGEPATH registry entry. You should check +that these variables, if they exist, point to the actual location of +your package tree. + +** XEmacs sometimes crashes when using gnus + +This is a known bug in this release of XEmacs on Windows. + +If you want to use gnus anyway, you should minimize any possible data +loss by saving any modified buffers before you start and ensuring that +you haven't set gnus-use-dribble-file to nil or disabled the normal +XEmacs auto-save mechanism. + +** XEmacs doesn't die when shutting down Windows 95 or 98 + +When shutting down Windows 95 or 98 you may see a dialog that says + "xemacs / You must quit this program before you quit Windows". +It is safe to + "Click OK to quit the program and Windows", +but you won't be offered a chance to save any modified XEmacs buffers. + +* Look and feel +=============== +** Key bindings + +The C-z, C-x, C-c, and C-v keystrokes have traditional uses in both +emacs and Windows programs. XEmacs binds these keys to their +traditional emacs uses, and provides Windows 3.x style bindings for +the Cut, Copy and Paste functions. + + Function XEmacs binding + -------- -------------- + Undo C-_ + Cut C-Insert + Copy C-Insert + Paste Sh-Del + +You can rebind keys to make XEmacs more Windows-compatible; for +example, to bind C-z to undo: + + (global-set-key [(control z)] 'undo) + +Rebindind C-x and C-c is trickier because by default these are prefix +keys in XEmacs. See the "Key Bindings" node in the XEmacs manual. + +** Behaviour of selected regions + +Selected regions behave differently in XEmacs from typical Windows +programs. The pc-select package provides various functions to enable +the standard Windows behaviour for selected regions (eg mark via +shift-arrow, self-inserting deletes region, etc). + +** Limitations on the use of the AltGr key. + +In some locale and OS combinations you can't generate M-AltGr-key or +C-M-AltGr-key sequences at all. + +To generate C-AltGr-key or C-M-AltGr-key sequences you must use the +right-hand Control key and you must press it *after* AltGr. + +These limitations arise from fundamental problems in the way that the +win32 API reports AltGr key events. There isn't anything that XEmacs +can do to work round these problems that it isn't already doing. + +You may want to create alternative bindings if any of the standard +XEmacs bindings require you to use some combination of Control or Meta +and AltGr. + + +* Features not fully supported in this release +============================================== +** Limited support for subprocesses + +Attempting to use call-process to run a 16bit program gives a +"Spawning child process: Exec format error". For example shell-command +fails under Windows 95 and 98 if you use command.com or any other +16bit program as your shell. + +XEmacs may incorrectly quote your call-process command if it contains +double quotes, backslashes or spaces. + +start-process and functions that rely on it are supported under Windows 95, +98 and NT. However, starting a 16bit program that requires keyboard input +may cause XEmacs to hang or crash under Windows 95 and 98, and will leave +the orphaned 16bit program consuming all available CPU time. + +Sending signals to subprocesses started by call-process or by +start-process fails with a "Cannot send signal to process" error under +Windows 95 and 98. As a side effect of this, quitting XEmacs while it +is still running subprocesses causes it to crash under Windows 95 and +98. + +** Changing fonts from the Options menu + +The "Font" and "Size" entries on the Options menu don't work yet. This +will be fixed in a future release. In the meantime, you can either +change face fonts with customize or manually; for example: + + (set-face-font 'default "Lucida Console:Regular:10::Western") + (set-face-font 'modeline "MS Sans Serif:Regular:10::Western") + +Font weight and style and character set must be supplied in English as +above. Common weights and styles are "Regular", "Regular Italic", +"Bold" and "Bold Italic". Common character sets are "Western", +"Central European" and "OEM/DOS". + +Windows 95 only comes with one fixed-width font that is suitable for +use by XEmacs, namely "Courier New". + +** No MULE support + +This release of XEmacs on Windows does not contain MULE support. MULE +support has not been a priority for the XEmacs on Windows developers. + +** Printing + +This release of XEmacs on Windows does not support printing natively. + +You can use the lpr-command and lpr-switches variables to specify an +external print program. +