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Date: 18 April 1981 02:35-EST
From: Richard M. Stallman <RMS at MIT-AI>
Subject: M-$ ^R Correct Word Spelling
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
The new M-$ command, implemented by Klotz, calls the spell program
on the word before or around the cursor. If the spell program
thinks the word is misspelled, EMACS prints a list of suggested
correct spellings, numbered with digits, and you can ask to replace
the word with one of them by typing the corresponding digit.
For more info, see the function's self-documentation.
Date: 10 APR 1981 0158-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: default for Auto Save Filenames on ITS
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
The default FN1 for auto save filenames on ITS is now
_SAVnn, where nn is the buffer number of the buffer being saved.
The buffer number is the number printed by C-X C-B at the
beginning of the line describing the buffer. This is so that
auto saves from different buffers do not clobber each other.
In older versions of EMACS, which do not have the feature just
installed to insert the nn, the default will be _SAV00.
If you set Auto Save Filenames yourself you will not see the change
unless you set the FN1 to something six characters long ending in 00.
Date: 7 APR 1981 0239-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: Name changes coming up
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
M-X Occur -> M-X List Matching Lines
M-X How Many -> M-X Count Occurrences
M-X Keep Lines -> M-X Delete Non-Matching Lines
M-X Flush Lines -> M-X Delete Matching Lines
M-X View Available Space -> M-X What Available Space
The old names (on the left) will still be accepted.
Date: 30 MAR 1981 0349-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: EMACS 155 (now NE on AI)
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
*) The function names ^R Set Bounds Region, ^R Set Bounds Full,
and ^R Set Bounds Page have been changed. The new function names are:
^R Narrow Bounds to Region, ^R Widen Bounds, and ^R Narrow Bounds to Page.
The old names still work, for now. The purpose is to make the functions
show up when expected in an Apropos.
*) You can now turn auto save mode on and off safely by setting the
variable Auto Save Mode. This is compatible with all other minor modes.
*) The mode line says "narrow" when you have narrowed down.
Date: 11 MAR 1981 2356-EST
From: KMP at MIT-AI (Kent M. Pitman)
Sent-by: RMS at MIT-AI
Subject: New Lisp Indentation Format
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
In Emacs 154 (now NE on all sites), a new Lisp indentation style is in use.
The changes have been provided for the following reasons:
* To increase the ease with which stylized ``LispMachine-style'' Lisp
indentation can be obtained in a user-programmable way.
* To lessen loss of screen space due to indentation. This indenter is much
more conservative about the amount of indent it gives to many kinds of
expressions.
* To enhance error checking. Many kinds of Lisp forms (DO, PROG,
LET, LAMBDA, ...) have some number of leading forms, treated specially,
followed by some trailing forms, called the body. Common forms of this
type will now have expressions in their bodies indented slightly
differently than their leading expressions to accentuate the separation.
eg,
(DO ((X 0 (1+ X)))
((= X 10.))
(PRINT X))
What follows is information about how customized indentation.
* How Indentation is Decided
The old indentation algorithm is first run, and a tentative indentation
is computed. Then a hook is run to allow selection of a different
indentation if appropriate.
* User-Level Variables
Lisp ... Indent where the '...' is replaced by the name of a Lisp operator,
defines a special indentation method for that operator. Eg,
Lisp PROG Indent controls how PROG's indent. The value of variables
may be a string, in which case they will be called to compute
the indentation (argument conventions and return values to be discussed
later) or a number indicating one of several common operations.
n description
-4 or less undefined
-3 don't indent any special way unless the value of
Lisp Indent DEFanything dictates that we should.
This is the default for unknown functions.
-2 don't indent any special way.
-1 indent as a DEF-form. If this is the 2nd line of the
definition, indent specially. Otherwise, indent under
preceding line.
0 or more indent as a special form, assuming that this form
has n leading expressions before its body. (eg, LET
and LAMBDA have 1 special expression for the bound
variable list, PROGN has none, DO has 2). These
special fields are indented normally. The first
expression following these special ones is indented
specially. Expressions after that are indented
under the previous line as normal.
The variable Lisp PROG Indent is initially defined to run code so that PROG
tags can line up right-justified. Variables corresponding to several
of the common Lisp special forms are set up with non-negative values
corresponding to the indentation style suggested by their semantics.
Lisp Indent DEFanything, if nonzero, will cause all operator names
beginning with 'DEF' to default to definitional form style indentation
(corresponding to a Lisp DEF... Indent variable of -1). Setting this
to 0 will cause 'DEF...' operators to be indented specially only if
they have associated Lisp ... Indent variables set up to cause such
special indentation.
Lisp Indent Offset (default 0), if nonzero, indent this many columns past
the most recent unclosed "(" rather than worrying about indentation
relative to arguments (this also bypasses special form hackery).
If 0, normal Lispy indentation rules apply.
NOTE: Although this variable has been present for a long time,
it has changed slightly. It used to measure offset from the
right side of the paren. Now it measures offset from the left
of the paren. The change was made to provide greater flexibility
since formerly it was impossible to say you wanted to indent
just after the hanging open paren.
Lisp Special Indent Offset (default 2), is the offset from the hanging
"(" which special form indentation uses. Eg, with the default setting,
Emacs will indent under the "E" of "DEFUN".
* Low-Level Variables (primarily of interest to Emacs implementors)
Lisp Indent Language contains a string (default "LISP") which is used
to decide which lisp-like language is to be used. Other hooks key
off of this string; ie, if the Indent Language is LISP, variables
like LISP Indent Offset and Lisp PROG Indent will be looked for.
If the language were Muddle, variables such as Muddle Indent Offset and
Muddle PROG Indent would be looked for instead. Currently, Muddle mode
doesn't use this feature, but perhaps it will in the near future.
In the remainder of this description, only Lisp ... variables
since they are the only ones which are currently useful to most users,
but implementors should bear in mind that similar variables for
other dialects may be defined if a local variable
Lisp Indent Language is created with the appropriate dialect
name as its contents.
Lisp Indentation Hook holds the function which tries to determine how
special forms should be indented. All of the effects described
farther down in this description are dependent on its containing
the default value. If you do not like the action of this hook,
you may wish to put a null string in this variable to keep it
from doing anything -- effectively nullifying most of the changes
described in this text.
* Extension Conventions (for sophisticated users only)
Lisp Indentation Hook (or Muddle Indentation Hook or ...) must be
defined and must contain a string. Its args (,) are the
position in the buffer of the most recent unclosed "(" and
the buffer position of the beginning of the line to be indented.
The buffer position of the cursor at the time the tab was typed
is stored as an offset from Z in qZ, so Z-qZ is that buffer position.
The hook should NOT modify the buffer. If it returns 0 or no value,
it will be assumed that the horizontal cursor position (given by
fsshpos) is to be used as the indetnation level. Hence, to indent
under the "O" in PROG, it is sufficient to jump to that character in
the buffer and return. Replacement of the pointer to the appropriate
line will happen automatically later. If it returns nonzero, that
value will be assumed to be the desired indentation. Returning
negative values is undefined.
Lisp ... Indent variables containing strings to be executed observe the
same argument conventions as the Lisp Indentation Hook would.
Date: 2 MAR 1981 1235-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: Changes in EMACS 154 (now NE on AI)
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
Incompatible changes (indicated by two *'s at beginning of item):
EVARS file and local mode list format,
Visit File Save Old vs. Inhibit Write,
Meaning of argument to C-X C-V or C-X C-F,
Meaning of Exit Hook,
Format of Prefix Char List.
*** Use ***
**) Visit File Save Old now controls whether visiting a new file causes
the old one to be saved. If this variable is zero, the old file is
not saved. If it is -1, then the old file is automatically saved. If
the variable is 1, then you are asked whether to save. The default
value is 1. This variable replaces the old distinction between C-X
C-R and C-X C-V, which are now identical commands.
The variable Inhibit Write is no longer used for anything, though
it still exists to keep some old programs from bombing. Find File
Inhibit Write no longer exists at all.
**) True read-only visiting is now implemented. An argument to the
file-visiting command (C-X C-V or C-X C-F) is used to request this.
Either the buffer or the file can be read-only. A read-only buffer
means that you can't insert or delete anything. A read-only file
means you can change the text in the buffer, but it will not be saved
in the file unless you insist. To insist, you type C-X C-S and answer
"Y" to confirm; absolutely nothing else will cause the read-only file
to be saved.
Normally what you get is a read-only file, whose buffer can be edited.
The command C-X C-Q (^R Set Read-Only File) can be used to switch
between the three modes (ordinary, read-only buffer, and read-only
file).
*) New self-documentation for recursive editing levels.
When you are inside a recursive editing level, Help ? mentions this
and tells you how to abort and how to exit, as well as listing the
Help options available. A new Help option, Help R, gives the full
description of the command that got you into the recursive editing
level.
*) If the variable Auto Save All Buffers is nonzero, each auto save
will save whichever buffers need to be saved. It is up to you to make
sure that the buffers are saved in different places, either by using
Auto Save Visited File, or by giving each buffer a different value of
Auto Save Filename (perhaps automatically in a Buffer Creation Hook).
*) EMACS remembers the current version number of each visited file,
and displays this in the mode line and in the printout from List
Buffers.
*) The Delete File command asks for confirmation if it is not sure
that you know what default filenames were applied to the filename you
specified.
*) M-X View Available Space prints out how many pages of space are
available in EMACS for more buffers or more libraries.
*) The character "#" now has the syntax of a prefix character in Lisp
mode.
*) ^R Indent for Comment now does not move comments that start with a
single semicolon in column 0.
*** Customization ***
**) The format of EVARS files and local mode lines has been changed to
allow variable values to be multi-line strings.
The value specified for a variable should now be either a number or a
string enclosed in doublequote characters. Indentation before the
number or before the string is ignored. To include a doublequote
character in the contents of the string, quote it with a character.
Except for peculiar cases, old EVARS files and local modes lists still
work. Peculir cases include string values which happen to begin with
spaces followed by a doublequote, or spaces followed by a digit.
The change applies only to values of variables. Lines which specify
definitions for command characters are still single lines of TECO
code.
*) So that certain common forms of customization will not need to use
FS flags, there are now variables which you can use instead of certain
FS flags which people often set. Setting the variable sets the FS
flag. Setting the FS flag explicitly also works, but the value of the
variable does not change, so it is best not to mix the two styles of
use.
Here is a complete list of variables which control FS flags. Not all
of these are new.
Auto Save Interval FS ^R MDLY
Bottom Display Margin FS %BOTTOM
Case Search FS BOTHCASE
Cursor Centering Point FS %CENTER
Display Mode Line Inverse FS INVMOD
Display Overprinting FS ^H PRINT and FS ^M PRINT
Echo Area Height FS ECHO LINES
End of Buffer Display Margin FS %END
Error Messages in Echo Area FS ECHO ERRORS
Fill Column FS ADLINE
Overwrite Mode FS ^R REPLACE
SAIL Character Mode FS SAIL
System Output Holding FS TT PAGE (Twenex only)
Top Display Margin FS %TOP
*** Extension ***
**) The format of the value of the variable Prefix Char List is
changed. This should only affect people who create their own prefix
characters. The purpose of the change is to allow for prefix
characters whose dispatch tables are kept in variables rather than in
q-registers. The new format of the value is: any number of lines,
with a CRLF after each line, one line per prefix character.
Each line contains the name to be printed for the prefix character,
followed by two spaces, and the TECO expression which evaluates to the
dispatch table for the prefix character. Look at the initial value of
this variable if this is not clear.
**) & Exit EMACS now calls the Exit Hook in addition to auto saving and
optional explicit saving. The Exit Hook used to override them.
*) The TECO feature FS SUPERIOR is now fully exploited by EMACS.
Superiors can tell an EMACS to make space in the buffer, or to visit a
file, by following the protocol described near the end of TECORD.
*) M-X Describe can be given a precomma argument, which should be the
character number of a ^R command being described. This is passed
along to any documentation-macros contained in the documentation
string.
*) FS TAB WIDTH now controls the distance between tab stops on
display. By setting this to 10, you can view a file the way it would
look on Multics.
*) On Twenex, Return from Inferior Hook is called on return from an
inferior if Exit Hook is called before starting the inferior.
Date: 17 AUG 1980 0144-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: Another change to SCRIBE mode.
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
"@;" at the front of the line will also make the line
a paragraph-separator, just like @begin and @end.
Put "@;" (the SCRIBE no-op command) at the front of
any line (such as @quotation[, @example[, or a line
of just a closing delimiter) which should not be
filled in with the surrounding lines.
Also, SCRIBE mode is now defined on ITS as well as Twenex.
Date: 13 AUG 1980 0219-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: SPLIT library for editing very big files.
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
There is a new library SPLIT for operating
on files too big to load into EMACS.
It contains a command Split File which
divides such a large file into small enough subfiles,
and another command Unsplit File for putting the subfiles
back together.
On ITS, the subfiles made from FOO <anything> are called
FOO 1, FOO 2, FOO 3, etc. Unsplit Files looks for the
same names to recombine.
On Twenex, the file FOO.anything.version is split into
FOO.1.1, FOO.2.1, etc. After these have been edited
to get FOO.1.3, FOO.2.2 (for example), Unsplit File
combines those into a new version of FOO.anything
The subfiles are made about 50,000 words long,
and are divided at line boundaries.
There is no limit to the size of file which can be split.
Date: 10 AUG 1980 0557-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
EMACS 150 has the function Compare Windows, which is
what used to be in LSPUTL under the name Window SRCCOM.
It's very useful. Also, now you can quit it at any time
and the pointers in both windows are advanced as far as
the comparison has gone.
The character "@" at the front of a line no longer indicates
a paragraph gap line by default. In SCRIBE mode (which exists
on Twenex), the strings "@begin" and "@end" are recognized
as paragraph-separating lines, but not other lines which start
with "@". This is so that there is no problem with the many
SCRIBE commands that are used within a paragraph.
Date: 27 JUL 1980 0218-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: printing terminals
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
TECO 1008 makes it possible to customize how cursor motion
is indicated by EMACS on printing terminals.
EMACS will still handle motion within one line or down
only one screen line by backspacing or printing the characters
moved over.
Other cursor motion can be handled by the string of TECO commands
stored in FS ^R TTM1. It is up to you to define it.
I hope you will come up with useful ideas for what to put there
and try them out. Then eventually I will look at what you've done
and install something.
Date: 26 JUL 1980 0121-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
The library OUTLIN is now called OUTLINE on Twenex systems.
The variable Mail Reader, which holds the name of the library
to use for reading mail, is now called Mail Reader Library.
On Twenex, there is also Mail Reader Program. Set the former
if you use an EMACS library to read mail, or set the latter
if you use a separate program to read mail.
Date: 25 JUL 1980 0405-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: LSPUTL library.
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
Boyer@SRI has contributed a few useful functions.
Window SRCCOM compares the text in window 1 with that in window 2,
moving to the next difference. Useful with things other than Lisp also.
Find Pat searches for lists that contain several specified strings.
^R Extract Sublist replaces a list with one of its sublists.
Date: 23 JUL 1980 1603-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
The obsolete duplicate function names
Alter Options, Edit ..D, ^R Find File, and & Macro Get Full Name
are being flushed. The new names (which already work) are
Edit Options, Edit Syntax Table, Find File, and & Macro Name.
Date: 23 JUL 1980 0023-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
Reap File now only accepts one filename to reap.
It used to accept any number of filenames, terminated
by a null argument. The change is to make it more like
most other commands.
Date: 13 July 1980 22:15-EDT
From: Eugene C. Ciccarelli <ECC at MIT-AI>
Subject: Word Abbrev mode
To: WORDAB at MIT-AI
Here are some further details on the new WORDAB library, for those who
might be doing lower-than-normal-level hacking:
* Note that List Word Abbrevs, Insert Word Abbrevs, and Edit Word
Abbrevs all take string arguments, though the one to Edit Word
Abbrevs is ignored. (There just to catch assumptions people make
from analogy to the others and since it makes sense. But there are
problems with its implementation.)
* A "1," numeric argument to Define Word Abbrevs tells it to kill all
word abbrevs before defining, but only after ensuring that the
definition list syntax is ok.
* Incremental saving should be "truer" -- e.g. abbrevs defined with
Define Word Abbrevs (and Edit Word Abbrevs which calls it) will
even be saved in the incremental list. Word abbrev macros will
also be saved. People probably haven't noticed the anomalies
regarding incremental saving -- at least no one's complained.
* If anyone cares, the variable QWABL Definitions is gone.
* Since no one voiced any objections, the Word Abbrev Mode Hook
variable is gone. The WORDAB Setup Hook is used to tailor what
keys get connected. (Or if you need functionality like the old
hook, you can replace the variable macro on Word Abbrev Mode,
currently trivial.)
* Have lots of abbrevs? M-X List Word Abbrevs -- it lists abbrevs as
they are found, rather than building the entire list first, then typing.
You can also flush the list by typing ahead. If you want to build
a kind of lister yourself, note that Insert Word Abbrevs is
the basic function, and takes a "1," numeric argument telling it to
list as it goes.
* If you are interested in providing your own abbrev-saving
mechanism, note the variable Word Abbrevs Modified.
* Another new variable is Last Word Abbrev Defined, with the name
of the abbrev variable. This is used by Attach Word Abbrev
Keyboard Macro, and maybe could have other uses.
* Finally: not in WORDAB now, but under consideration: Abbrevs are
now defined by funny-named variables, e.g. X ab * Abbrev. I
would like to have these not be variables any more, but instead
reside in the q-vector in q-register .E. Does anyone currently
depend on abbrevs defined as variables? E.g. anybody using abbrevs
that are local variables of a file?
Date: 13 July 1980 22:14-EDT
From: Eugene C. Ciccarelli <ECC at MIT-AI>
Subject: Word Abbrev mode
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS at MIT-AI
There is a new version of the WORDAB library with the following
changes. This is now installed on AI, soon to move elsewhere.
For details on new commands, see their on-line documentation.
* M-X Word Abbrev Apropos has been replaced by M-X List Word Abbrevs
with a string argument. M-X Insert Word Abbrevs can also take a
string argument.
* Keys (C-X C-A, etc.) are connected when the library is loaded, and stay
connected outside of Word Abbrev mode: you can define and expand
manually if the system is too slow for automatic expansion to be
tolerated. Also, there is a new command M-X Expand Word Abbrevs in
Region (queries like M-X Query Replace).
* New option variable, Save Word Abbrevs, controls whether exiting EMACS
will cause abbrevs to be saved if necessary. 1 => save all abbrevs
on exit, -1 => just save incrementals, with default 0.
* M-X Edit Word Abbrevs lets you re-edit to correct syntax errors.
The error messages should be clearer too.
* You can have word abbrev "macros", keyboard macros (or Teco code if
you prefer) that can be "attached" to normal abbrevs, so that after
those abbrevs expand, their attached macros are run. E.g.
"textmode" could expand to "-*-Text-*-" and then do a M-X Text Mode
automatically. Describe M-X Attach Word Abbrev Keyboard Macro for
details.
One final question: does anyone use abbrevs that are local to a file?
KMP@MIT-MC 07/12/80 03:53:25 Re: Minor changes to TAGS package
To: INFO-EMACS-RECIPIENTS
If qTags Find File is set to 2 instead of 1, it now means to force use
of Find File always (rather than preferring to recycle the *TagSearch*
buffer where possible). This allows a user to override the recent changes
to the Tags Find File behavior. You are not recommended to make this change
unless you find yourself annoyed by the default behavior. -kmp
Date: 30 JUN 1980 0956-EDT
From: KMP at MIT-MC (Kent M. Pitman)
Subject: New Emacs library for TeX users -- TeXmac
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
CC: RLB at MIT-MC, INFO-TEX at MIT-MC, RIVEST at MIT-ML
I have created and installed a library called TeXmac for use in Emacs
to support useful operations on TeX code. Currently, the following
macros are all it contains:
[1] M-X Setup Indented TeX Display
This macro will take a normally indented expression in a variable
width region and set it up so that it will be output aligned similarly
by TeX. *Only* the beginnings of lines will line up right. Example:
The region must be placed around the area that is to be set up.
This macro is primarily for setting up indented Lisp code in a variable
width font. Requires a \noflash macro to be defined (see [3] below)
[2] M-X UnSetup Indented TeX Display
This macro will convert a region of the buffer which has had
M-X Setup Indented TeX Display run across it and turn it back into
normally indented text. The cursor may be placed generally anywhere
touching the \vbox{...} which is to be converted back.
[3] M-X Insert TeXmac Aux Macros
Inserts macro definition for \noflash macro used by the output of
M-X Setup Indented TeX Display. If the \noflash macro is found to be
of general use to the TeX community, it may be moved into one of the
TeX libraries, but for now you'll have to manually include its definition
by running this macro at the top of your file.
Date: 29 June 1980 19:12-EDT
From: Earl A. Killian <EAK at MIT-AI>
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The default EMACS init file has been changed to use Find File
rather than Visit File to read in the file specified in the
command line, if the variable Tags Find File is nonzero.
Date: 27 June 1980 12:28-EDT
From: Kent M. Pitman <KMP at MIT-MC>
Subject: Modifications to TAGS
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
The following changes have been made in the Emacs TAGS library:
People who do 1m.vTags Find File (default 0, same as before) will
now find that TAGS search over large tag libraries will not run out
of core. Now what happens if Tags Find File is nonzero is a buffer
named *TagSearch* is used as a temporary during the search if the
file being searched is not already in core. This affects only
M-X Tags Search, C-., and M-X Tags Query Replace. (If you do a search
that uses this facility, you are advised to use M-X Rename Buffer to
change the buffer name if you don't want the next such search to recycle
that space.)
Doing 0m.vTags Search Verbose (default 1) will suppress the filenames
from printing out as M-X Tags Search moves from file to file.
M-X Tags Query Replace is not affected, since it is presumably more
interactive anyway; if there are enough people who want the same or another
flag to affect that macro, as well, it can probably be arranged.
Some minor bug fixes. Tags will no longer accidentally err out due to
finding something in an invalid field in the tags file.
-kmp
Date: 6 JUN 1980 0555-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
PURIFY has been changed to allow blank pages
and pages containing just comments in library source files.
They are ignored. This should facilitate putting local modes lists
in such files.
KMP@MIT-MC 05/06/80 00:40:58 Re: MODLIN/TIME feature added
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
Users of the MODLIN mode-line handler can do
1 m.vTime Only
in an init file if they would rather have only the time and not the date
in the mode line. The default is still to get both date and time. For more
info, send me net-mail. -kmp
Date: 15 Apr 1980 0557-EST
From: RWK at MIT-XX
Subject: New SLOWLY library
To: info-emacs at MIT-AI
There is a new version of the SLOWLY library, with an improved incremental
search. This one only narrows the screen for searching when the item
searched for is offscreen. This means that when you search for something
onscreen, you don't end up doing a redisplay just to put the item found
at the top of the screen.
-------
Date: 11 APR 1980 0605-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: Journal file feature
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
EMACS can now write journal files which record all your commands
so that they can be replayed later after a system crash or other lossage.
Documentation for this feature can be found in AI:RMS;JRNDOC >.
This file is in SCRIBE input format but is probably comprehensible.
Date: 4 APR 1980 0542-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
In EMACS 145, M-X and C-M-X will prompt for the command name
with M-X and C-M-X rather than MM and :MM.
this is so that the prompts will be understandable without
reference to TECO, which users may not know anything about.
These prompts can be overridden with the variables
Read Command Prompt and Instant Command Prompt, as before.
Date: 3 APR 1980 0805-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: EMACS 145
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
EMACS 145 is now installed as NE on AI.
For the most part it merely incorporates the patches for 144.
However, there are these new minor features:
View Buffer now takesthe name of the buffer to be viewed.
A null argument means to view the selected buffer, as before.
Also, Backspace moves back by screens, as in View File
(which is used as a subroutine).
A new command, Insert Buffer, inserts the contents of another
buffer into the selected one.
A new command, Make Space, tries to free up space.
It offers to empty out the kill ring, to empty the undo
memory, and to delete the EMACS buffers created automatically
by TAGS, INFO, RMAIL, etc. (a separate offer for each such buffer).
Even if you say "no" to each of these offers, it frees up some
internal objects which you will not miss.
Backtrace now has a new command, ".", which returns to any frame
at any PC. First select the frame to return to, then type ".".
You can then position point at the PC to return to, in a
recursive editing level.
The commands List Commands, List Subroutines and List ^R Commands
have been flushed to save space, on the grounds that their output
has become so verbose that nobody would want to use them.
You can get a similar effect from doing Apropos with a null argument.
Date: 28 MAR 1980 0854-EST
From: ECC at MIT-AI (Eugene C. Ciccarelli)
Subject: Word Abbrev Mode
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Minor changes, mostly fixes and a few new variables to make things easier
for users with init and EVARS files. Currently only on the ITS machines,
but soon to move to others.
1. A second C-X U (^R Unexpand Last Word) undoes the first one.
2. M-X Word Abbrev Mode without an argument will toggle the mode.
3. M-X Read Word Abbrev File can read in two kinds of definition file
formats: the default fast-loading kind, and the human-readable kind (the
one you see with M-X List Word Abbrevs). M-X Write Word Abbrev File will
write human-readable format files if the Readable Word Abbrev Files option
variable is set to 1.
4. Setting the Only Global Abbrevs option variable to 1 will cause only
global abbrevs to be used. Using only global abbrevs is faster, simpler
and some people find it more appropriate.
5. You can specify additional characters, e.g. the digits, that should
cause expansion. See the description of the M-X Make These Characters
Expand command. (Users with AI terminals: you can make Top-characters be
expanders too.)
Please send bugs to BUG-WORDAB@MIT-AI.
Date: 5 FEB 1980 1251-EST
From: EAK at MIT-AI (Earl A. Killian)
Testing.
Date: 13 JAN 1980 2042-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: View Buffer
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The way to exit from View Buffer while moving point into the screenful
that is presently on the screen is now Return instead of C-C.
Date: 9 JAN 1980 0324-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The Set Key function will now ask for confirmation.
Also, it really works to use prefix characters to
specify the key to be redefined.
Date: 7 December 1979 05:06-EST
From: Eugene C. Ciccarelli <ECC at MIT-MC>
Subject: WORDAB problems
To: Info-Emacs-News at MIT-AI
The installation problem that Scott reported should be solved. If
anyone else encounters any difficulties at all with WORDAB, please
mail to ECC@MIT-MC. One thing mentioned before has been changed: the
commands MM Define Word Abbrevs, MM Insert Word Abbrevs, and MM Kill
All Word Abbrevs have not gone away since they are used more than I
thought they'd be.
Another note, geographical: the installations of WORDAB have occurred
on the ITS machines, BBND, and MIT-XX.
Date: 6 December 1979 22:47-EST
From: Eugene C. Ciccarelli <ECC at MIT-MC>
Subject: New WORDAB release
To: INFO-EMACS-NEWS at MIT-AI
A new version of the WORDAB (Word Abbrev Mode) library has been
installed. This new version is a minor change from XWORDA library
which has been in use for quite a while among several users. The old
version of the WORDAB library will be available for a while as OWORDA.
The major changes that uses of the old WORDAB library will see are:
1. The format used for files of saved abbrev definitions is
different, less human readable but much faster to load. For users
with old-style format files, the MM Read Word Abbrev File will
perform a conversion and rewrite the file in the new format. (The old
file will be copied, just in case, to WORDAB ODEFNS on ITS,
WORDAB.ODEFNS.0 on Tenex/Twenex sites.)
2. Multiple-line expansions are supported.
3. MM Edit Word Abbrevs has a slightly different format, to allow
the more general expansions, e.g. multiple-line. Basically, if you
have a double-quote character (") inside an expansion, it will be
doubled (""), to distinguish it from the double-quotes that surround
the entire expansion.
4. There is a new command, MM Word Abbrev Apropos, that will list
some (not all) of the abbrevs currently defined. Like MM Apropos,
it takes a string argument to match against the defined abbrevs: any
abbrev containing that string, or having an expansion containing that
string, will be listed.
5. Some commands went away, to leave a simpler looking user
interface. These commands were: MM Define Word Abbrevs, MM Insert
Word Abbrevs, MM Kill All Word Abbrevs, and MM Incremental Word
Abbrev Apropos. If this bothers anyone, contact me. (There are some
subroutine available to do the job, for instance.)
Date: 23 NOV 1979 0550-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: ^R Exchange Characters, etc.
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
In EMACS 141, all these functions will be renamed
to things like ^R Transpose Characters.
This should go better with commands like C-T, M-T, etc.
Date: 23 NOV 1979 0530-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: EMACS 141 change
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Revert File with an argument will revert to the last version
of the visited file, ignoring any auto save files made since then
if you are autosaving under separate filenames.
A precomma argument will make it not require confirmation.
Date: 23 NOV 1979 0528-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: EMACS 141 changes
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
In EMACS 141, there will be these changes:
* Whether the parenthesis matching display feature beeps if there
is no matching parenthesis is controlled by the new variable
QPermit Unmatched Paren. If it is 1, unmatched parens are permitted
(no beep) in all major modes. If it is 0, they are never permitted
(always beep). If it is -1, they are permitted except in Lisp mode
(because Lisp mode sets the variable to 0 if it was -1!).
The initial setting is -1.
Also, mismatched parens, as in "[)", will always beep if the matching
display feature is turned on.
* Help N prints out the file EMACS NEWS of EMACS change information.
* C-X = will now print out the total size of the file in characters
as well as its other information. It should be self-explanatory.
* In M-X and C-M-X, just "I " as the start of a command will expand
automatically into "Insert ". This is in addition to "V" for "View,
"L" for "List", "K" for Kill and "E" for Edit. My intention is to
rename the commands that do one of these sorts of things to start with
the "standard" word for that type of operation, to make the command
names easier to remember.
* Get Date has been renamed to Insert Date.
Alter Options has been renamed to Edit Options.
Edit ..D has been renamed to Edit Syntax Table.
The first two of these changes are examples of the policy
described in the previous section.
* The function Auto Save Mode will no longer set the number
of versions to be kept or the number of characters between saves.
Its argument will only say whether to turn the mode on or off.
Those other parameters are the values of the variables
QAuto Save Max and QAuto Save Interval. The first one already
existed; the second one is new.
* Write File and Set Visited Filename now run the Visit File Hook,
if there is one, but give it an argument of 1 to distinguish themselves
from an actual Visit File.
Also, these changes have been made in other libraries:
In KBDMAC, there is now C-U C-X Q. It causes a recursive editing level
to be entered when the macro is defined and again when the macro is run.
Thus, at that point in the macro, you can do a different thing each time
around.
In PAGE, there are several changes:
* ^R Go to Page is now ^R Goto Page, so as to resemble the other commands,
and lives by default on C-X C-P instead of on M-G. M-G and C-M-G are
no longer changed by the package.
* C-X C-P when you are looking at the whole buffer
will now narrow to just the page that point is in.
* Print File Directory has been renamed to View Page Directory.
(After all, a file directory is something entirely else).
Make File Directory has been renamed to Insert Page Directory.
* Trying to move to a nonexistent page will get an error, but
will leave you in the first or last page with the correct page
number in the mode line.
Date: 23 NOV 1979 0416-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: Reap File and Clean Directory
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Giving a nonzero precomma argument to these
will make them ignore the don't-reap bit.
Date: 23 NOV 1979 0239-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: Reap File and Clean Directory
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
These ITS-only functions will now never delete any file whose
don't-reap bit is set.
Date: 10 NOV 1979 0302-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: EMACS 140
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
EMACS 140 now exists.
C-X C-S does a real save now even in auto save mode.
C-U C-X C-S is the way to ask for an "auto" save.
C-M-X (^R Instant Extended Command) won't actually start
the command until you type a CR. Before, it was unpredictable
whether a Space or Altmode would actually start the command.
A library can now contain a macro & Kill <libname> Library to be
run when that library is killed (by Kill Libraries).
Twenex users: if the system doesn't know a terminal type for
your terminal, you can use the Set Terminal Type command
to specify it to EMACS.
RMS@AI Here is what has changed in version 139 since version 135:
* Tab Stop Definitions works differently now.
The value of this variable is now just a string, not a buffer,
so you can set it more easily in an init file or with a local modes list.
Also, the two lines it is supposed to contain have been interchanged.
This means that now it is the second line which can usually just be blank.
When that happens, you are allowed to omit the CRLFs, which is an
additional convenience in setting the variable.
You can still set it with Edit Tab Stops.
* C-X C-T now runs ^R Exchange Lines.
* The variable Lisp ) Hack has been renamed to Display Matching Paren.
It is now -1 by default. Text and TECO modes turn it off locally, but
you can have a Text Mode Hook or TECO Mode Hook to turn it back on if
you like. Whenever the feature is on, it will now apply automatically
to all characters which have the syntax of ")" in ..D. This uses the
new FS ^R PAREN feature of TECO.
* There is now a new standard way to get out of subsystems and
recursive editing modes: the character C-]. All recursive editing
modes (except minibuffers) will automatically support C-], and all
subsystems ought to support C-]. For example, C-] while editing a
message to send will exit and not send the message. If there is some
way to resume the command you aborted, C-] will tell you. For
example, after aborting a message, it will tell you how to resume
editing it so that you do not lose what you had typed in.
* The new Undo command will undo many sorts of gross changes to the
buffer. You do not have to give it immediately after the change
occurs. However, only the last gross change can be undone in this
way. Not all changes can be undone. However, Undo always tells you
what sort of change it plans to undo, and asks for confirmation.
Also, Undo can be undone by a second Undo, so it is safe to try it out.
* The C-X C-E command has been deleted. To get auto-save to save as
the visited filename, set QAuto Save Visited File nonzero and use
C-X C-V. A zero setting of QInhibit Write now means that C-X C-V
was used.
* Auto save can now be used when you are not visiting any file, but it
will never be on by default at such times. You must use M-X Auto Save
to turn it on. If you do C-X C-S when you are not visiting a file, it
will ask you for filenames to save under.
* Using Rubout or C-D with an argument now saves on the kill ring.
* A CRLF will now appear to be a single character when you move over
it with C-F or C-B.
* M-K is now ^R Kill Sentence. It kills the sentence containing
point, or the one following point if point is between sentences.
* C-M-X is now an alternative version of M-X which does not read any
arguments for the command itself. As soon as you terminate the
command name the command is executed, and it reads its own arguments.
This has the advantage that any special processing on these arguments
(if they are command names or filenames) can take place. It has two
disadvantages: you can't rub out from the arguments back into the
command name, and the command is not saved in the ring buffer of
commands for access with C-X Altmode.
* EVARS files are now better documented, and allow you to specify C-X
subcommands and to include comment lines.
* The mode line will no longer contain the name of the selected buffer
when that is the same as the first filename of the file you are
visiting.
* When you ask for the documentation of a command, and it tells you
about another command, it will tell you what that command is in your
current environment, rather than what it is in the standard
environment. For example, when M-Q tells you about the ^R Set Fill
Column command, it will normally say "C-X F", but if you move that
command elsewhere it will say wherever it actually is.
* The SORT library contains commands for sorting the region line by
line, paragraph by paragraph, or page by page.
The BCPL library implements BCPL mode. The BLSLIB library implements
BLISS mode. Unfortunately, there is no documentation for either of
those modes outside of their self-documentation.
* The Apropos command will omit mention of subroutines if you give it
a numeric argument. Help A invokes it this way. This is to avoid
confusing new users with them.
* ^R Just One Space is now available but not on any key by default.
It is like the M-\ command but leaves one space (or how ever many the
argument is).
* The commands Make Local Q-register and Kill Local Q-register now
allow you to make TECO FS flags local. To make the flag FS CTLMTA
local, just specify "FS CTLMTA" as the "q-register name" argument.
* You can now set any variable conveniently with the Set Variable
command, and put commands on characters conveniently with the Set Key
command.
* C-M-V with just a minus sign as argument scrolls the other window a
full screen backwards.
* M-X Revert File now asks for confirmation.
* Commands M-X Delete File, M-X Copy File and M-X Rename File now
exist for performing those operations. They take one or two string
arguments, as in M-X Copy File<from><to><cr>. These should not be
needed in TECO code since the ED, E_ and EN commands exist.
Changed Names and Eliminated Commands
* The commands ^R Set Column, ^R End Comment, ^R MM Via Mini and
^R Mini Visited File have been flushed.
* The commands Make Variable, Set Variable Comment, Make Dispatch
String and Make Prefix Character now have "&" in front of their names.
All commands names which used to start with "^^" now start with "&"
instead. & Macro Get Full Name is now called & Macro Name.
* The command List One File has been flushed. List Library can now be
used to list the contents of libraries already loaded as well as
libraries not loaded. The command Variable Apropos has been flushed.
The command List Variables now takes a string argument which is a
substring to match on. If the argument is null, all variables are
listed. Thus, List Variables can be used for either purpose.
* The commands RMAIL and ^R RMAIL have been flushed in favor of the
Read Mail command, which uses a variable to decide which library to
use for reading the mail.
* ^R Execute Completed MM Command has been renamed ^R Extended
Command, but the old name has been kept around for the sake of
libraries which refer to it.
Date: 6 NOV 1979 0212-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
C-X C-S will be changed to do a real save always.
C-U C-X C-S will explicitly request an auto save.
KMP@MIT-MC 11/02/79 17:55:47
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
For those of you with VT100 terminals if you run in ANSII mode, the
VT100 library, which you can get via
MM Load LibraryVT100
will set up the keypad to do pretty reasonable things as follows:
(1) Keypad digits and minus are args to the next command automatically.
[Normal digits in main key area are self-inserting still].
(2) Comma will eventually be an arg separator for advanced commands that
take precomma args. I haven't coded this yet.
(3) Dot runs ^R Documentation like ^_H or Top-H would normally do.
(4) Arrows go vertically up, down, back and forth, independent of what
you define ^B,^F,^N,or ^P to do ...
(5) PF1-4 run macros you can define. They are initially undefined.
(6) Enter followed by a PF-key will read characters like the ^X(...^X) does
up until the next ^X), C-M-C, or Enter that you type. You can abort
a definition by doing ^].
Sorry for the length of the message, but hopefully this will be of interest
to enough of you to make it worthwhile.
Interestingly enuf, this will not work on AI. No, I am not boycotting -- I
just don't know what the new Emacs over there has done and I am nearly sure
that my stuff is wholely incompatible at this point ... when the new emacs
works its way back over to MC (which is happening slowly now), I will work
on an all-ITS compatible version of the handler.
-kmp
Date: 2 NOV 1979 1752-EST
From: rms at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Sent-by: SHIM0 at MIT-AI
Subject: Tab Stop Definitions
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The value of this variable is now just a string, not a buffer,
so you can set it more easily in an init file or with a local modes list.
Also, the two lines it is supposed to contain have been interchanged.
This means that now it is the second line which can usually just be blank.
When that happens, you are allowed to omit the CRLFs, which is an
additional convenience in setting the variable.
You can still set it with Edit Tab Stops.
Date: 2 NOV 1979 0227-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: Lisp ) Hack on by default in EMACS 139.
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The variable Lisp ) Hack has been renamed to Display Matching Paren.
It is now -1 by default. Text and TECO modes turn it off locally, but
you can have a Text Mode Hook or TECO Mode Hook to turn it back on if
you like. Whenever the feature is on, it will now apply automatically
to all characters which have the syntax of ")" in ..D. This uses the
new FS ^R PAREN feature of TECO.
Also, C-X C-T is now ^R Exchange Lines.
Date: 11 OCT 1979 1841-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: FS TTY MAC$ and dumped EMACS environments
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
If you use FS TTY MAC$, make sure you put an impure string in it.
Strings in libraries don't work, because FS TTY MAC$ is run
at startup time before the libraries are loaded.
Date: 3 OCT 1979 2349-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Ok, in the next version Auto Fill Mode, Atom Word Mode and
Auto Save Mode and Overwrite Mode commands will toggle the modes.
Date: 6 SEP 1979 1550-EDT
From: BRIAN at MIT-AI (Brian C. Smith)
Subject: Phrase macros
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
I have put a simple library of PHRASE macros (meant to be analogous to
the word and sentence macros) onto EMACS;PHRASE :EJ on all ITS machines.
Loading PHRASE gives you
^R Forward Phrase -- on Control-comma
^R Backward Phrase -- on Meta-comma
^R Mark Phrase -- on Control-Meta-comma
^R Delete Phrase -- on Control-X comma
A phrase is taken to be text plus the following punctuation. They all do
sensible things with arguments. The search string defining a phrase
boundary is kept in the user modifiable variable qPhrase Delimiters.
See the auto-documentation. Bugs to BRIAN@AI.
Date: 25 JUN 1979 1628-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The change to save as a new version on Twenex has been approved.
You will still be able to save as a fixed visited version
if you use C-X C-W <cr>.
Answers to the question are in EMACS;VERSIO ANSWER.
Date: 23 JUN 1979 2352-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Tenex and Twenex people:
would it be a good idea for C-X C-S and Save All Files
to clobber the version number to 0 before saving?
The effect of this is that if you visit a file specifying
an explicit version number, then saving it will make a new
version instead of rewriting the same version visited.
Date: 19 JUN 1979 1511-EDT
From: RICH at MIT-AI (Charles Rich)
Subject: outline mode
To: PGA at MIT-AI, INFO-E at MIT-AI
CC: brian at MIT-ML
Such a package has been evolving for a while. The first version
was written by Mitch Marcus. I repackaged it as an EMACS
library, and Brian Smith has been improving it since. I have
copied a middle-aged version to EMACS;OUTLIN :EJ and the source
to EMACS1;OUTLIN > for those who want to try it out. Get
documentation by the usual method (MM apropos$outline).
I am not currently working on this macro package, so please
do not send any bug messages to me. I would be quite happy
to put this project up for adoption, but before you go
charging off I recommend checking with Brian Smith. I think
his experimental version is superior in many ways to the
one I have released.
Yours in hacking, Chuck Rich.
pga@MIT-ML (Sent by GYRO@MIT-ML) 06/19/79 14:47:47
To: info-emacs at MIT-MC
COMSAT@MIT-ML 06/19/79 14:45:30 Re: Msg of 14:45:25
To: GYRO at MIT-ML
CC: MAIL-MAINTAINERS at MIT-ML
WARNING - "INFO-EMACS" at MIT-ML is an unknown recipient.
Your message is being returned:
-------
OUTLINES
I) Has anyone considered (or is there hiding somewhere) an EMACS submode
for outline writing?
A) It would know about
1) Outline levels (I am on level I.A)
2) Entry numbers (I am on entry number I.A.1)
A) Commands might be:
1) Increment Outline Level
a) Sets outline down one level
b) Chooses the correct character string from the
heading string and sets the left margin so
auto-fill does the right thing
2) Decrement Outline Level
a) Sets outline up one level
b) As above
3) Start Outline Entry
a) Outputs the string which preceeds an entry, in
this case ' a) '
b) Invoked by tab?
4) Set Heading String, sets a variable which provides
an appropriate string for each level.
5) Set Indent Increment, sets a variable which decides
how far to increment the indent on each change in
outline level
6) Insert New Entry, does a Start Outline Entry, but
relabels all the entries on the current level by
incrementing them so that the new entry can be inserted.
B) That's the rough idea. Any comments?
^_
Date: 10 MAY 1979 1917-EDT
From: rms at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Sent-by: ___002 at MIT-AI
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The change to incremental search echo area display
has been unanimously approved.
Date: 10 MAY 1979 0122-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Do you think it would be a good idea for incremental search
to display its direction and status in the echo area only
and leave the normal mode line in place? Ie,
EMACS (Mode) ...
Failing I-Search: FOO
Date: 12 APR 1979 0319-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: EMACS 133 is NE on AI
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
This version is not going to be installed on ML, MC or DM.
There are significant changes:
*) The self documentation features now know about names for the
built-in TECO ^R command definitions. For example, Apropos of "Line"
will now show ^R Open Line on C-O. You can't actually call those
commands by those names, unless you load the library BARE; this
library is temporarily loaded by the documentation commands that need
it. MM& Load BARE loads BARE and causes BARE to remain loaded until
its caller returns.
*) C-U C-Y differs from plain C-Y in that it leaves point before
the un-killed text and the mark after.
*) C-U C-L causes the line point is on to be redisplayed.
Actual numeric arguments (not just C-U) still specify
a line to display point on.
*) C-; and M-; (^R Indent for Comment) now inserts the comment
terminator as well as the comment starter, leaving point in between
them. M-N and M-P (^R Down Comment Line, and .. Up ..), have been
modified for this behavior.
*) M-G and M-Q (^R Fill Paragraph and ^R Fill Region) now by default
remove excess spaces such as are produced by filling.
*) Return now will not gobble a blank line followed by a nonblank
line.
*) C-K will now treat a blank line as if it were empty, killing
through the CRLF instead of to it. More specifically, if point is
followed by a CRLF with only whitespace in between, C-K will kill
through the CRLF.
*) M-[ and M-] (^R Backward Paragraph, and ... Forward ...), now treat
"\" at the front of a line just like "." and "-", for the sake of TEX
files. This special treatment is that if those characters are
declared (using QParagraph Delimiter) to start paragraphs, then
whenever a paragraph starts for that reason, that paragraph is only
one line long.
*) You can now put MM Query Replace on a character. It will read its
arguments in the echo area.
*) Errors in auto-saving will type out "(Auto Save Error!)".
*) ^R Indent Nested (the definition of Tab in certain modes) now does
something useful with negative arguments. It indents the line more
than the previous line, (* (ABS ARGUMENT) (MAX 1 QIndent Increment))
spaces more. QIndent Increment is not initially defined.
*) There is now an autoloading definition for C-X ( which loads in
KBDMAC and transfers to it. People need no longer load KBDMAC in
their init files. You will now see "Def" in the mode line while
defining a keyboard macro.
*) Exiting from the top-level ^R invocation now returns to EMACS's
superior. To exit from it back to TECO command level, do
1MM Top Level. This will advise you to re-enter ^R mode by doing
:M..L. Returning to the superior will now clear out the mode line
completely.
*) Creating a new buffer initializes it in the same mode as the
previous selected buffer. This uses the new @F^G command in TECO.
*) Making variables like QAuto Fill Mode local now works
straightforwardly; it is no longer necessary to deal with the crock
Switch Modes Process Options, which no longer exists. These variables
have been equipped with macros which are run whenever their values
change. Thus, simply doing 1UAuto Fill Mode is enough to turn on
the mode. MM & Process Options no longer exists. A side effect of
this is that buffer switching is much faster. This uses the new
FS VAR MACRO feature of TECO. QProcess Options Hook no longer
exists; instead, you must make macros to be run when your variables'
values change. This will be documented in CONV later.
*) Instead of calling MM & Set Mode Line, macros should simply do
1FS Mode Change, which will cause MM & Set Mode Line to be called
when the mode line comes up for redisplay. Thus, multiple reasons for
calling it will not cause it to be called more than once.
QSet Mode Line Hook still exists and works as before.
Date: 2 APR 1979 2350-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
All three changes, to CR, C-K and M-Q, have been approved.
Those of you who use C-K for getting rid of blanks should
read about M-\.
Date: 2 APR 1979 0443-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Also, do you think that M-Q should by default flush excess spaces?
This would be a little slower, and might sometimes do the wrong thing
to double spaces at ends of sentences.
Date: 2 APR 1979 0344-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
What do you think of these changes, suggested by EAK:
1) C-K would not consider blanks when deciding whether
it was at the end of a line. In other words, C-K when point
was followed by blanks and a CRLF would kill through thr CRLF.
2) CR would not gobble up a blank line followed by a nonblank one.
In other words, typing text with CR's at the end of a paragraph
would not use up the blank line separating it from the next paragraph.
I can imagine that 2) might bother people who on terminals without
insert/delete line are used to inserting several lines of text by
first making the lines with C-O and then filling in the text.
Do people actually use that technique?
Date: 5 Mar 1979 1514-PST
From: Rubenstein at SUMEX-AIM
Subject: Changes to PAGE library
To: info-emacs at AI
The go to next and go to previous page commands have been moved to C-X ]
and C-X [, respectively. These commands were previously page handling
commands but are now replaced by the commands from the page library.
Also, if you like ^R String Search instead of the default Incremental
Search, the PAGE library remembers that. If you use some other search,
or you put your search on a character other than C-S or M-S, then you
will get a message saying that PAGE cannot find your search. In that
case, you must do M.M^R My Search$ M.VReal Search Macro$ for the PAGE
search to work right. Then you can put ^R PAGE search$ and ^R PAGE
Reverse Search$ on whatever characters you want.
Also, if ^R PAGE Search is given a precomma arg, it macros that
instead of Q$Real Search Macro$. Thus, other macros can use this
facility to do things to the whole buffer, closing the bounds when finished.
Comments, questions, etc. to Rubenstein @ Sumex-AIM
-------
Date: 1 Mar 1979 1430-PST
From: Rubenstein at SUMEX-AIM
Subject: New PAGE library
To: info-emacs at AI
I've just finished a library of EMACS macros to handle pages in an
intelligent manner (it turns out to be look very similar to the way E
(SAIL's display editor) handles them). The page number appears in the
mode line, and commands are available to go to a specific page, go to
next or previous page, insert pagemark, and Join pages.
The file is AI:EMACS;PAGE :EJ, and documentation is in the INFO tree,
Topic EMACS.Page handling (INFO;PAGE >)
Bugs, comments -=> Rubenstein@Sumex or STEW@MIT-*
-------
JLK@MIT-MC 01/25/79 11:37:07
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
I have flushed the TEMACS macro library. Instead there are now the libraries:
SCRLIN - macros for moving over screen lines instead of text lines.
Automatically sets up ^A, ^E, ^N, ^P. On non-display consoles,
these macros revert to text line movers.
DELIM - macros for moving over balanced pairs of []{}()<>"'.
Sets up C-[, C-], C-(, C-), etc. to move over pairs (forward or back).
JLKMAC - Mostly defines setup hooks for JLK.
Anybody currently using TEMACS probably wants to simply load SCRLIN or DELIM.
Other people who wanted to try out screen line moving or delimiter moving,
but didn't want to get screwed by JLK's hacks, now have a chance.
Date: 15 DEC 1978 0309-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
I would like to flush ^R Make Insertion Command.
Who uses it?
It is not on any key in the default environment.
Date: 10 DEC 1978 0019-EST
From: MOON at MIT-AI (David A. Moon)
Subject: DIRED 152 ([DIRE] 96) installed (ITS only)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
A new version of DIRED has been installed. The following changes exist:
The $ command complements the don't-reap attribute of the file, which
displays as a $ to the left of the creation date.
The X command now does what meta-X does in the default environment, use Q to exit.
The Help key now gives information on Dired.
Files whose FN1 begins with an underscore are considered temporary; this
applies to MM Clean and MM Reap also.
The H command been's changed a bit; I think it still works.
Date: 29 NOV 1978 2025-EST
From: MOON at MIT-AI (David A. Moon)
Subject: New NE exists
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
A new TS NE has been installed which contains changes relevant to
users of ^R Character Search and ^R String Search (the default
incremental search is not affected.) The bugs in the ^F feature
have been fixed, and Word Search (entered by ^W in String Search)
has been introduced; try it. Better ways to get into it are solicited.
Date: 20 NOV 1978 0207-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
C-X 4 improved yet again:
if you are already in two-window mode,
it will go to the other window and select the buffer, file or tag.
Also, C-X 4 never displays anything in the other window until
you have finished saying what you want selected there.
Date: 19 NOV 1978 0203-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
EMACS 129 is now NE.
There is a new command ^X4 which enters two window mode
and then lets you select a specific buffer, file or tag.
Follow the ^X4 with B and a buffer name, F or ^F and a file name,
or T or . and a tag name.
Meta-' (^R Upcase Digit) now works on all keyboards.
The first time you use it, it asks you to type the digits
1, 2, ... 9, 0 holding down the shift key so it can tell
what your keyboard looks like. For then on it works automatically.
If you don't recall, this command finds the last digit
on the current or previous line and shifts the character.
It is for when you forget to use the shift key.
Date: 16 NOV 1978 2136-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
I find that the people who like the ^X2 change are
those who usually use ^X^F, most of whom set Tags Find File to 1.
The people who don't like the change are those who do not use
^X^F, and they never set Tags Find File. So I will make ^X2
depend on Tags Find File. However, if you don't use ^X^F,
I recommend that you start.
I will also put in a command that does ^X2 and ^X^F, some time.
RWK@MIT-MC 11/16/78 12:04:03 Re: JLS's note re ^X2 vs. Slow terminal usage.
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
The SLOWLY library is shortly going to have exactly what JLS was looking for.
I.e ^R Narrow Display which will take an argument to say how much of the
screen to use. A negative argument will mean to use the bottom of the screen
instead of the top.
Also, SLOWLY has ^R Slow Incremental Search, which uses a narrowed part of
the screen for the search (say, a single line, or a couple lines) for it's
redisplay of what's been found so far, and then displays the rest of the
context when the search is exited.
It will also have a version of & Minibuffer which uses the bottom or
the top of the screen as you wish. So you can use the top of your
screen for editing, and the bottom part of your screen for minibuffers.
Since I'm trying to get this stuff ready to go with the tapes RMS is going to
take with him to the West Coast, I'm going to need volunteers to test this
stuff thouroughly before then, on both ITS and TWENEX. If you use slow
terminals and would like to volenteer, send me a note; I should have it
finished and documented sometime tonight.
ECC@MIT-MC 11/16/78 04:19:20 Re: WORDAB library
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
A few bugs have been fixed (tab echoing, some bugs inhibiting proper upper-
casing) and a small feature installed regarding upper-casing:
If you type an abbrev all in caps, e.g. "FOO", and it expands to more
than one word, e.g. "find outer otter", then the default is the old
action: just capitalize each word, e.g. "Find Outer Otter". However,
if the variable WORDAB All Caps is non-zero, the entire expansion is
upper-cased, e.g. "FIND OUTER OTTER", which may be much more convenient
for those editing all-uppercase code for instance.
Please let us know in the next couple of days if there are any bugs in
the new fixes/feature as RMS wants to make a tape of working libraries
for the outside world.
Date: 14 NOV 1978 0037-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: New KBDMAC features
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
A repeat count of zero means repeat forever (until an error).
C-X) with a repeat count executes the macro that many times right away,
counting defining the macro as one time.
C-X Q lets you define macros that work like Query Replace.
All are documented in INFO under EMACS KBDMAC.
Date: 10 NOV 1978 0119-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
When making a variable local its name must now be written in full.
This change is a result of fixing a bug that made it impossible
to create a variable whose name was an abbreviation of some
other variable's name.
Date: 6 NOV 1978 0341-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
It now works well to use the name of a machine instead
of DSK: in source filenames in a tag table file.
This is because the TECO feature that canonicalizes them,
so that EMACS will realize that DSK:FOO;BAR > and
AI:FOO;BAR > are the same file when you are on AI.
Date: 6 NOV 1978 0339-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: New in EMACS 127
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
1) ^X[ and ^X], new, move to the previous and next page boundary.
^X^P will now always mark the page that point is in.
2) Query Replace and Replace String, when Case Replace is set,
will now preserve case only if the string to be replaced
contains no upper-case letters. Thus, you can use Query Replace
to change something to lower case without turning off Case Replace.
You can also use it to convert something to upper case, since
the case-preservation works by upcasing only. Anything you specify
as upper case in the string to replace with will always go in
as upper case.
3) Meta-' is now ^R Upcase Digit, which finds the last 7, 8 or 9
on the current line before point, or the previous line, and
replaces it with a ', ( or ).
4) ^Z and ^X^C, ^R Return to Superior, will now do an auto save
first if auto saving is on.
5) ^X Altmode, ^R Re-execute Minibuffer, will now print out
the command that is to be re-executed and ask you for confirmation
in the form of a Y or N.
6) M-G and M-Q, which use ^R Fill Region, will now work better
when a Fill Prefix has been established (with ^X.).
7) It now works to set Underline Begin and Underline End
to strings longer than one character.
8) Visiting a file now calls the value of Visit File Hook
if that value is nonzero. The call is done after all the
normal work of visiting.
9) Local modes in a file can now include local ^R commands.
Simply use, for example, .^RA instead of the variable name
to bind control-A.
Date: 6 NOV 1978 0240-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
EMACS in TECO 709 is now installed on all machines.
All init files have been renamed.
A new EMACS version (127) will appear as NE soon.
Everyone, please do not make any changes to the EMACS
sources for the next month without checking with me
in advance. A new distribution tape is being prepared.
Date: 6 NOV 1978 0206-EST
From: rms at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Sent-by: HIC at MIT-AI
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
With NE, the "right" name of the default init file is EMACS;* EMACS.
EMACS;.EMACS (INIT) will continue to exist, but you should
switch your init files over to referring to the file by the new name.
Date: 3 NOV 1978 0840-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: KBDMAC library
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Use ^X( to start defining a keyboard macro, and ^X) to end the definition.
^XE executes the last keyboard macro defined. An argument serves
as a repeat count.
To save a keyboard macro for a longer time, use MM Name Kbd Macro.
It takes as a string argument the name to use for an MM command to define
to run the macro, and reads from the terminal a ^R command to define.
Type Return or Rubout if you don't want to define a ^R command.
Use a null string argument if you don't want to define an MM command
(though you should always define one, even if your intended use is
as via the ^R command).
View Kbd Macro will print out the contents of a keyboard macro,
reading the ^R command from the terminal. You can give ^XE as
the ^R command to view the last macro defined.
^X commands can be used as the ^R commands to put macros on.
However, you aren't allowed to clobber any already defined command
this way, unless the definition is another keyboard macro or
similar thing.
Date: 1 NOV 1978 1706-EST
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
FOR NE, LIBRARIES CALLED .EMACS :EJ SHOULD BE
CHANGED OVER TO LIBRARIES WHICH GO UNDER THE SAME
NAME AS INIT FILES. THIS INVOLVES CHANGING THE
& SETUP MACROS IN A SPECIFIC WAY DOCUMENTED
IN EMACS;CONV >
Date: 1 NOV 1978 0022-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
NE now resides in TECO 708. This means that you can use
the library KBDMAC to get keyboard macros
(your keystrokes are remembered and replayed).
Also, the new init file scheme is installed,
so your init file must be called <xuname> EMACS
on your home directory.
Date: 20 SEP 1978 1710-EDT
From: EAK at MIT-AI (Earl A. Killian)
Subject: new function in TAGS: MM Args
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
TAGS now contains MM Argstag which prints all the comments before tag.
For assembly language programs this is usually a subroutine description
giving the arguments and results. Someone might want to hack it to
know about LISP mode and print the argument list in addition to the comments.
Date: 13 SEP 1978 0143-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: New command Compile for compiling your program.
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
MM Compile will compile the program you are editing.
Unless given a numeric argument, it first offers to write
out any files that have been changed.
Then it compiled the visited file in whatever way is appropriate
for the major mode you are in. This method of compilation can
be overridden by setting the variable Compile Command to a TECO
command string to perform the compilation. It can expect the
name of the visited file to be in Q1 and in the default file names.
Most compilation methods will involve valretting commands to DDT.
They normally leave you in DDT so you can load up or test the program.
A string argument to MM Compile is stuck into the compilation command
so as to be useful for specifying extra switches or an output file.
Thus, in a MIDAS program, MM Compile/T would give MIDAS the /T
switch, and MM CompileFOO;_ would put FOO;_ at the front of the
command string, thus putting the binary on FOO;. User-supplied
compilation methods can't be vouched for, but ought to try to do this.
MM Compile is available only in NE, as yet.
It will not self-document properly until the next EMACS version.
Date: 13 SEP 1978 0059-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
1) You can now have local character redefintions in files.
They look almost like ordinary local modes,
except that you use the name of tha character (such as, "...^RD")
as the variable name, and some TECO code to come up with the
value instead of a literal string. For example, this
;Local Modes:
;Mode:MIDAS
;...D: M.M ^R Down List
;End:
willset up a mode like MIDAS mode except that C-M-D retains
its normal definition instead of MIDAS mode's redefinition
(This mode is good for editing Lisp machine microcode).
2) Dump Environment has been greatly improved by EAK.
The documentation in CONV has not been updated yet, but
its self-documentation is informative.
3) Compile One Macro has been renamed TCompile.
Date: 2 SEP 1978 2140-EDT
From: MOON at MIT-AI (David A. Moon)
Subject: Changes to ^V, string-search
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
In the next Emacs, the following changes will exist.
If you define the variable Next Screen Context Lines, it will be the
number of lines of overlap used by c-V (^R Next Screen) and m-V (^R
Previous Screen). The default remains 2.
In Character Search and String Search (note that these are different
from the default search, Incremental Search), the ^F feature now
will put the cursor Next Screen Context Lines down from the top
instead of at the very top. If you don't like this, complain
and I'll flush it.
String Search now obeys its numeric argument (a long-standing bug fix).
String Search has two new features inspired by Multics Emacs. Typing
^Y will yank in the default without flushing what you've already typed.
Compare this with ^D. Typing ^W will put you in word-search mode, in
which the words you type will be found regardless of what punctuation
and white-space characters lie between them. meta-F's definition of
"word" is used, thus Atom Word Mode applies, but in Text Mode punctuation
is considered part of the adjacent word. Currently word-search
only finds exact matches, (e.g. searching for "to and fro" doesn't find
"grotto and frobs"). If anyone thinks it should be the other way, I can
change it.
Date: 26 AUG 1978 1952-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: New NE
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
There is a new NE with these changes:
1) The word case-conversion commands do not move the cursor
when given a negative argument.
2) C-M-V scrolls the other window, just like C-V.
No argument scrolls a full screen; an argument is the number of lines
to scroll by.
3) C-X 2 the first time gives you the same buffer in both windows,
instead of creating a buffer named W2.
4) M-X now no longer echoes if you type everything ahead.
Date: 23 AUG 1978 0249-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
Often, people want to specify the exact name of a tag
instead of just a part of the name, because they know
there will be ambiguity.
I am thinking of arranging to have a character which
would mean the beginning or end of the tag name
when typed in the argument to Meta-..
It would probably be impossible to use that character
itself in a tag. Do you like this idea?
What character would you like?
Date: 18 Aug 1978 1120-EDT
From: CICCARELLI at BBN-TENEXD (Eugene Ciccarelli)
Subject: Auto Save Mode
To: INFO-EMACS at AI
Earl Killian and I are designing a new Auto Save Mode (probably to be
put in the TMACS library). Anyone interested (e.g. uses my version in the
CSRLIB library, is dissatisfied with other Auto Save modes, or is just a
hacker) is invited to read and comment on the design ideas, which are in
the following files:
MC: ECC; AUTOSA IDEAS
[BBND]<Ciccarelli>Auto-Save.Ideas.0
[BBNE]<EKillian>Auto-Save.Ideas;0
Or, if accessing one of these files is impossible/inconvenient, I can
mail a copy to anyone requesting.
Comments or suggestions about these ideas can be mailed to ECC@MC,
EAK@MC, Ciccarelli@BBND, or EKillian@BBNE.
- Gene Ciccarelli
-------
Date: 9 AUG 1978 0306-EDT
From: ECC at MIT-MC (Eugene C. Ciccarelli)
Subject: New Word Abbrev Mode ^R Command
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
CC: Ciccarelli at BBN-TENEXD
The WORDAB and XWORDA libraries now have a new command, which was
suggested by KMP: ^R Inverse Add Mode Word Abbrev, which is put on ^X -
(previously unused in the default EMACS environment). I think people will
find this a very useful command to complement ^X^A.
This command has an opposite sense from ^X^A (^R Add Mode Word
Abbrev), namely: you define an expansion for the word before point. (For
instance: you thought you had an abbrev "foo", but "foo" didn't expand.
So you type ^X -, "Find Outer Otter", return, and thus define the abbrev
"foo".) You can give ^X - a numeric argument, which means the abbrev to
be defined is n words back. ^X - will end by expanding the abbrev.
Date: 31 JUL 1978 2141-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The library NCASE contains the experimental word case conversion
commands, and puts them on M-L, M-C, and M-U unless
you supply an NCASE Setup Hook.
They apply to the previous word when the last character typed
was not control, meta, or altmode.
In addition, when given in the middle of a word, they apply
to the whole word.
Please take the trouble to try them out. If you try them
long enough to get used to them, I'll be interested in hearing
how each of those two changes affects their convenience of use.
Date: 31 JUL 1978 2017-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: Answering questions about changing EMACS.
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
When I ask for people's opinions on a possible change to EMACS,
I don't just want to get a "yes" or a "no". Such answers don't
really help me. I don't regard the answers as votes, and I don't
just count the "yes" and "no" answers. What I am looking for
by asking these questions is an idea of which segments of the
user community will be helped and which will be hurt. I want
to know what it is about a user that determines what his
opinion will be. For this, I need more information in answers.
In addition, a lot of people just say "Don't change it. I don't
think anything should ever be changed". Such a statement does
not address the question I have asked, which is whether the changed
command would be better than the existing one. Since I have already
decided that it is better to make improvements than never change
anything, such statements are wasted breath.
Some replies to my latest question (about case-conversion commands)
which did supply some information are those which say "Don't change them.
Typing M-B is easy enough". These replies generally come from
people who use Meta-keyboards, and it is logical that they should
have that opinion. A few came from people whose keyboard usage
I do not know, but would like to find out, since how easy
people on non-Meta keyboards regard the typing of M-B is
clearly the center of the issue.
I will probably make the changed case commands available
in a library for people to try out.
Date: 25 JUL 1978 0016-EDT
From: RWK at MIT-MC (Robert W. Kerns)
Subject: Incremental search and redisplay
To: INFO-300 at MIT-MC
CC: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
The SLOWLY library is a library (maintained by me, more or less) for
slow terminals. Currently it contains just one feature, a version of
^R Incremental Search and ^R Reverse Search which limit re-display while
searching to a fixed number of lines at the top of the screen. The default
is to use only one line, but it may be changed by giving Q$Slow Search Lines Used$ a value other than 1 (use M.V to create it).
If MM Load Library$SLOWLY$$ is used to load this library, it will
put these macros on ^S and ^R IFF your OSPEED is unknown or slower than
1200.
For more info, see me. If you have any other ideas, I might be willing to
implement them, so send them too...
Date: 15 JUL 1978 0358-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
EMACS 125 is now NE on all ITS machines.
The only visible differences are:
C-= and C-X = now run a different command which
prints, not just the hpos, but the vpos, the
octal code for the next character, point both
absolutely and as a percentage of the total size,
and the virtual buffer boundaries if any.
C-T at the end of a line with no argument will
exchange the previous two characters.
Date: 13 JUL 1978 2224-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
.EMACS (INIT) files which are libraries work fine in EMACS 124.
These libraries MUST have & Setup .EMACS Library commands in them.
Full details are in EMACS;CONV > and are accessible through INFO.
Date: 12 JUL 1978 0000-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
The default EMACS init file wil now set Inhibit Write from
Find File Inhibit Write, and if a file is visited under JCL control
that too will use Find File Inhibit Write.
Date: 6 JUL 1978 0445-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
NE has become E on all ITS systems.
An additional new feature, for printing terminals,
is that Help M prints what on a display would be in the mode line.
Date: 3 JUL 1978 0440-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
Subject: .EMACS (INIT) files which are :EJable libraries
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
These files will have to do all the initialization
themselves, so their & Setup macros will have to
load in and jump to the default init file.
In addition, the feature may require some tweaking
to get working right, for which I would appreciate the
help of someone who has such an init library, since I don't.
Date: 3 JUL 1978 0138-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
EMACS 124 is now NE on AI.
Tabular Text Mode and Indented Text Mode are now gone as
major modes. Instead, there are Edit tabular Text and
Edit Indented Text, which are commands that call ^R
recursively with the appropriate things rebound.
They are the first examples of "submodes", which are
commands that call ^R recursively on the buffer
with auto-saving still turned on. When you are inside
a submode, the name of the submode appears inside square-brackets
after the name of the major mode.
A few commands concerning q-registers, which were not in the default
enviroment but used by TECMAC, have been deleted.
The library purifier now no longer converts uparrow-L to
a control-L. You were already told to change the uparrow-L's
to control-L's, with preceding ^]^Q's when they were at the
beginnings of lines.
*** If you have a start-up library instead of just an init file,
you can now call that library the same thing you would call the
init file. EMACS can tell what kind of file it is.
Soon, EMACS will stop looking for .EMACS :EJ.
Please wait for me to move this version off of AI.
ECC@MIT-MC 07/01/78 20:48:32 Re: Word Abbrev Mode
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
When defining an abbrev for the last N words, ^X ^A (^R Add Mode Word
Abbrev) now works slightly differently (better, I think -- a good
suggestion by KMP): the abbrev's expansion includes only up to the end of
the last word -- and not any break characters following it (but preceding
point). This lets you not worry about whether you've typed a space or
something after the word you want to abbreviate.
For the times when you want to include break characters before or
following a string of words, you can give ^X^A an argument of 0, telling
it to use the region. (This is as it always was.)
JLK@MIT-MC 06/30/78 11:16:30
To: info-emacs at MIT-AI
People that have init files which check FS LISPT"N to see if they should
load LISPT, should check FS %OPLSP "N and the XJNAME of the job instead.
Date: 29 JUN 1978 1124-EDT
From: rich at MIT-AI (Charles Rich)
Sent-by: HES at MIT-AI
Subject: New E
To: INFO-E at MIT-AI
If you have an .EMACS :EJ file make sure
that the setup macro is called
& Setup .EMACS Library
The word Library is compulsory in the new
emacs, and it was not necessary in the old
version.
Many people have been losing on this.
Date: 28 JUN 1978 1642-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
I would like to make ^R Execute Completed MM Command
available from non-^R subsystems such as RMAIL, INFO, Backtrace, etc.
Since Meta-prefixes aren't available, M-X can't be the way to get it.
It has to be put on an ASCII character.
Does anyone have a suggestion for what character to use?
The one that makes sense to use is "X", but it has the problem
of meaning "eXit" already. Since "Q" also means exit, it would
be possible to reuse "X". Does that sound like a good idea?
Date: 28 JUN 1978 1635-EDT
From: RMS at MIT-AI (Richard M. Stallman)
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-AI
EMACS 123 is now installed as E.
ECC@MIT-MC 06/26/78 03:01:09 Re: Word Abbrev Mode
To: INFO-EMACS at MIT-MC
NWORDA and XWORDA versions of Word Abbrev Mode (only runnable in NE) are
allow much faster buffer- and mode-switching now. Also, there is a
new, special kind of abbrev expander for Tab which should help LISP and
TECO users who have had trouble: it won't expand if Tab is not inserting
space at point.
Did anyone use the $Untouched by Word Abbrev$ or $Word Abbrev Hook$
variables? If so, please contact me.