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-rw-r--r--doc/misc/ChangeLog6
-rw-r--r--doc/misc/faq.texi154
2 files changed, 112 insertions, 48 deletions
diff --git a/doc/misc/ChangeLog b/doc/misc/ChangeLog
index 9cfa372f462..e811ecdbd0d 100644
--- a/doc/misc/ChangeLog
+++ b/doc/misc/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
12009-06-14 Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
2
3 * faq.texi (Status of Emacs): Re-order with most recent releases first.
4 (New in Emacs 23): New section.
5 (Handling C-s and C-q with flow control): Add xref.
6
12009-06-13 Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> 72009-06-13 Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
2 8
3 * faq.texi (Setting up a customization file): Grammar fix. 9 * faq.texi (Setting up a customization file): Grammar fix.
diff --git a/doc/misc/faq.texi b/doc/misc/faq.texi
index a290da2fcd5..d790699c52c 100644
--- a/doc/misc/faq.texi
+++ b/doc/misc/faq.texi
@@ -941,9 +941,10 @@ status of its latest version.
941@menu 941@menu
942* Origin of the term Emacs:: 942* Origin of the term Emacs::
943* Latest version of Emacs:: 943* Latest version of Emacs::
944* New in Emacs 20:: 944* New in Emacs 23::
945* New in Emacs 21::
946* New in Emacs 22:: 945* New in Emacs 22::
946* New in Emacs 21::
947* New in Emacs 20::
947@end menu 948@end menu
948 949
949@node Origin of the term Emacs 950@node Origin of the term Emacs
@@ -981,63 +982,84 @@ conventions}).
981 982
982Emacs @value{VER} is the current version as of this writing. A version 983Emacs @value{VER} is the current version as of this writing. A version
983number with two components (e.g. @samp{22.1}) indicates a released 984number with two components (e.g. @samp{22.1}) indicates a released
984version; three components (e.g. @samp{23.0.50}) indicate a development 985version; three components indicate a development
985version. 986version (e.g. @samp{23.0.50} is what will eventually become @samp{23.1}).
987
988Because Emacs undergoes many changes before a release, the version
989number of a development version is not especially meaningful. It is
990better to refer to the date on which the sources were retrieved from the
991development repository.
992
993The following sections list some of the major new features in the last
994few Emacs releases. For full details of the changes in any version of
995Emacs, type @kbd{C-h C-n} (@kbd{M-x view-emacs-news}). As of Emacs 22,
996you can give this command a prefix argument to read about which features
997were new in older versions.
998
999@node New in Emacs 23
1000@section What is different about Emacs 23?
1001@cindex Differences between Emacs 22 and Emacs 23
1002@cindex Emacs 23, new features in
1003@cindex Recently introduced features
1004@cindex Default features
986 1005
987@node New in Emacs 20 1006@itemize
988@section What is different about Emacs 20?
989@cindex Differences between Emacs 19 and Emacs 20
990@cindex Emacs 20, new features in
991 1007
992To find out what has changed in recent versions, type @kbd{C-h C-n} 1008@cindex Anti-aliased fonts
993(@kbd{M-x view-emacs-news}). The oldest changes are at the bottom of 1009@cindex Freetype fonts
994the file, so you might want to read it starting there, rather than at 1010@item
995the top. 1011Emacs has a new font code that can use multiple font backends,
1012including freetype and fontconfig. Emacs can use the Xft library for
1013anti-aliasing, and the otf and m17n libraries for complex text layout and
1014text shaping.
996 1015
997The differences between Emacs versions 18 and 19 was rather dramatic; 1016@cindex Unicode
998the introduction of frames, faces, and colors on windowing systems was 1017@cindex Character sets
999obvious to even the most casual user. 1018@item
1019The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode. Several new
1020language environments have been added.
1000 1021
1001There are differences between Emacs versions 19 and 20 as well, but many 1022@cindex Multi-tty support
1002are more subtle or harder to find. Among the changes are the inclusion 1023@cindex X and tty displays
1003of MULE code for languages that use non-Latin characters and for mixing 1024@item
1004several languages in the same document; the ``Customize'' facility for 1025Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in the same session
1005modifying variables without having to use Lisp; and automatic conversion 1026(@samp{multi-tty}).
1006of files from Macintosh, Microsoft, and Unix platforms.
1007 1027
1008A number of older Lisp packages, such as Gnus, Supercite and the 1028@cindex Daemon mode
1009calendar/diary, have been updated and enhanced to work with Emacs 20, 1029@item
1010and are now included with the standard distribution. 1030Emacs can be started as a daemon in the background.
1011 1031
1032@cindex NeXTSTEP port
1033@cindex GNUstep port
1034@cindex Mac OS X Cocoa
1035@item
1036There is a new NeXTSTEP port of Emacs. This supports GNUstep and Mac OS
1037X (via the Cocoa libraries). The Carbon port of Emacs, which supported
1038Mac OS X in Emacs 22, has been removed.
1012 1039
1013@node New in Emacs 21 1040@cindex Directory-local variables
1014@section What is different about Emacs 21? 1041@item
1015@cindex Differences between Emacs 20 and Emacs 21 1042Directory-local variables can now be defined, in a similar manner to
1016@cindex Emacs 21, new features in 1043file-local variables.
1017@cindex Recently introduced features
1018 1044
1019@cindex Variable-size fonts 1045@item
1020@cindex Toolbar support 1046Transient Mark mode (@pxref{Highlighting a region}) is on by default.
1021Emacs 21 features a thorough rewrite of the display engine. The new 1047
1022display engine supports variable-size fonts, images, and can play sounds 1048@end itemize
1023on platforms which support that. As a result, the visual appearance of 1049
1024Emacs, when it runs on a windowed display, is much more reminiscent of 1050@noindent
1025modern GUI programs, and includes 3D widgets (used for the mode line and 1051Other changes include: support for serial port access; D-Bus bindings; a
1026the scroll bars), a configurable and extensible toolbar, tooltips 1052new Visual Line mode for line-motion; improved completion; a new mode
1027(a.k.a.@: balloon help), and other niceties. 1053(@samp{DocView}) for viewing of PDF, PostScript, and DVI documents; nXML
1054mode (for editing XML documents) is included; VC has been updated for
1055newer version control systems; etc. As always, consult the @file{NEWS}
1056file for more information.
1028 1057
1029@cindex Colors on text-only terminals
1030@cindex TTY colors
1031In addition, Emacs 21 supports faces on text-only terminals. This means
1032that you can now have colors when you run Emacs on a GNU/Linux console
1033and on @code{xterm} with @kbd{emacs -nw}.
1034 1058
1035@node New in Emacs 22 1059@node New in Emacs 22
1036@section What is different about Emacs 22? 1060@section What is different about Emacs 22?
1037@cindex Differences between Emacs 21 and Emacs 22 1061@cindex Differences between Emacs 21 and Emacs 22
1038@cindex Emacs 22, new features in 1062@cindex Emacs 22, new features in
1039@cindex Recently introduced features
1040@cindex Default features
1041 1063
1042@itemize 1064@itemize
1043@cindex GTK+ Toolkit 1065@cindex GTK+ Toolkit
@@ -1129,8 +1151,44 @@ In addition, Emacs 22 now includes the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual
1129(@pxref{Emacs Lisp documentation}) and the Emacs Lisp Intro. 1151(@pxref{Emacs Lisp documentation}) and the Emacs Lisp Intro.
1130@end itemize 1152@end itemize
1131 1153
1132Many other changes have been made in Emacs 22, use @kbd{C-h n} to get a 1154
1133full list. 1155@node New in Emacs 21
1156@section What is different about Emacs 21?
1157@cindex Differences between Emacs 20 and Emacs 21
1158@cindex Emacs 21, new features in
1159
1160@cindex Variable-size fonts
1161@cindex Toolbar support
1162Emacs 21 features a thorough rewrite of the display engine. The new
1163display engine supports variable-size fonts, images, and can play sounds
1164on platforms which support that. As a result, the visual appearance of
1165Emacs, when it runs on a windowed display, is much more reminiscent of
1166modern GUI programs, and includes 3D widgets (used for the mode line and
1167the scroll bars), a configurable and extensible toolbar, tooltips
1168(a.k.a.@: balloon help), and other niceties.
1169
1170@cindex Colors on text-only terminals
1171@cindex TTY colors
1172In addition, Emacs 21 supports faces on text-only terminals. This means
1173that you can now have colors when you run Emacs on a GNU/Linux console
1174and on @code{xterm} with @kbd{emacs -nw}.
1175
1176
1177@node New in Emacs 20
1178@section What is different about Emacs 20?
1179@cindex Differences between Emacs 19 and Emacs 20
1180@cindex Emacs 20, new features in
1181
1182The differences between Emacs versions 18 and 19 were rather dramatic;
1183the introduction of frames, faces, and colors on windowing systems was
1184obvious to even the most casual user.
1185
1186There are differences between Emacs versions 19 and 20 as well, but many
1187are more subtle or harder to find. Among the changes are the inclusion
1188of MULE code for languages that use non-Latin characters and for mixing
1189several languages in the same document; the ``Customize'' facility for
1190modifying variables without having to use Lisp; and automatic conversion
1191of files from Macintosh, Microsoft, and Unix platforms.
1134 1192
1135@c ------------------------------------------------------------ 1193@c ------------------------------------------------------------
1136@node Common requests 1194@node Common requests
@@ -3985,7 +4043,7 @@ smart enough to move it to another name).
3985@end itemize 4043@end itemize
3986 4044
3987For further discussion of this issue, read the file @file{etc/PROBLEMS} 4045For further discussion of this issue, read the file @file{etc/PROBLEMS}
3988(in the Emacs source directory when you unpack the Emacs distribution). 4046(@pxref{File-name conventions}).
3989 4047
3990@node Binding C-s and C-q 4048@node Binding C-s and C-q
3991@section How do I bind @kbd{C-s} and @kbd{C-q} (or any key) if these keys are filtered out? 4049@section How do I bind @kbd{C-s} and @kbd{C-q} (or any key) if these keys are filtered out?