1 files changed, 24 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index 02de66b355f..d53e0d25f78 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -1228,6 +1228,30 @@ instead of to utf-8.  Before this change, Emacs would sometimes
 mishandle file names containing these control characters.
 
 +++
+** 'file-attributes', 'file-symlink-p' and 'make-symbolic-link' no
+longer quietly mutate the target of a local symbolic link, so that
+Emacs can access and copy them reliably regardless of their contents.
+The following changes are involved.
+
+*** 'file-attributes' and 'file-symlink-p' no longer prepend "/:" to
+symbolic links whose targets begin with "/" and contain ":".  For
+example, if a symbolic link "x" has a target "/y:z", (file-symlink-p
+"x") now returns "/y:z" rather than "/:/y:z".
+
+*** 'make-symbolic-link' no longer looks for file name handlers when
+creating a local symbolic link.  For example, (make-symbolic-link
+"/y:z" "x") now creates a symlink to "/y:z" instead of failing.
+
+*** 'make-symbolic-link' now expands a link target with leading "~"
+only when the optional third arg is an integer, as when invoked
+interactively.  For example, (make-symbolic-link "~y" "x") now creates
+a link with target the literal string "~y"; to get the old behavior,
+use (make-symbolic-link (expand-file-name "~y") "x").  To avoid this
+expansion in interactive use, you can now prefix the link target with
+"/:".  For example, (make-symbolic-link "/:~y" "x" 1) now creates a
+link to literal "~y".
+
++++
 ** Module functions are now implemented slightly differently; in
 particular, the function 'internal--module-call' has been removed.
 Code that depends on undocumented internals of the module system might