These files are plain text and might be used by non-Emacs apps.
They’re mostly ASCII, so just use straight quotes.
** Getting control to the debugger
-`Fsignal' is a very useful place to put a breakpoint in. All Lisp
+'Fsignal' is a very useful place to put a breakpoint in. All Lisp
errors go through there. If you are only interested in errors that
-would fire the debugger, breaking at `maybe_call_debugger' is useful.
+would fire the debugger, breaking at 'maybe_call_debugger' is useful.
It is useful, when debugging, to have a guaranteed way to return to
the debugger at any time. When using X, this is easy: type C-z at the
handle SIGINT stop nopass
-After this `handle' command, SIGINT will return control to GDB. If
-you want the C-g to cause a QUIT within Emacs as well, omit the `nopass'.
+After this 'handle' command, SIGINT will return control to GDB. If
+you want the C-g to cause a QUIT within Emacs as well, omit the 'nopass'.
-A technique that can work when `handle SIGINT' does not is to store
+A technique that can work when 'handle SIGINT' does not is to store
the code for some character into the variable stop_character. Thus,
set stop_character = 29
makes Control-] (decimal code 29) the stop character.
Typing Control-] will cause immediate stop. You cannot
use the set command until the inferior process has been started.
-Put a breakpoint early in `main', or suspend the Emacs,
+Put a breakpoint early in 'main', or suspend the Emacs,
to get an opportunity to do the set command.
Another technique for get control to the debugger is to put a
When Emacs is running in a terminal, it is sometimes useful to use a separate
terminal for the debug session. This can be done by starting Emacs as usual,
-then attaching to it from gdb with the `attach' command which is explained in
+then attaching to it from gdb with the 'attach' command which is explained in
the node "Attach" of the GDB manual.
On MS-Windows, you can start Emacs in its own separate terminal by
** Examining Lisp object values.
When you have a live process to debug, and it has not encountered a
-fatal error, you can use the GDB command `pr'. First print the value
-in the ordinary way, with the `p' command. Then type `pr' with no
+fatal error, you can use the GDB command 'pr'. First print the value
+in the ordinary way, with the 'p' command. Then type 'pr' with no
arguments. This calls a subroutine which uses the Lisp printer.
-You can also use `pp value' to print the emacs value directly.
+You can also use 'pp value' to print the emacs value directly.
-To see the current value of a Lisp Variable, use `pv variable'.
+To see the current value of a Lisp Variable, use 'pv variable'.
-Note: It is not a good idea to try `pr', `pp', or `pv' if you know that Emacs
+Note: It is not a good idea to try 'pr', 'pp', or 'pv' if you know that Emacs
is in deep trouble: its stack smashed (e.g., if it encountered SIGSEGV
-due to stack overflow), or crucial data structures, such as `obarray',
-corrupted, etc. In such cases, the Emacs subroutine called by `pr'
+due to stack overflow), or crucial data structures, such as 'obarray',
+corrupted, etc. In such cases, the Emacs subroutine called by 'pr'
might make more damage, like overwrite some data that is important for
debugging the original problem.
-Also, on some systems it is impossible to use `pr' if you stopped
-Emacs while it was inside `select'. This is in fact what happens if
+Also, on some systems it is impossible to use 'pr' if you stopped
+Emacs while it was inside 'select'. This is in fact what happens if
you stop Emacs while it is waiting. In such a situation, don't try to
-use `pr'. Instead, use `s' to step out of the system call. Then
-Emacs will be between instructions and capable of handling `pr'.
+use 'pr'. Instead, use 's' to step out of the system call. Then
+Emacs will be between instructions and capable of handling 'pr'.
-If you can't use `pr' command, for whatever reason, you can use the
-`xpr' command to print out the data type and value of the last data
+If you can't use 'pr' command, for whatever reason, you can use the
+'xpr' command to print out the data type and value of the last data
value, For example:
p it->object
xpr
You may also analyze data values using lower-level commands. Use the
-`xtype' command to print out the data type of the last data value.
+'xtype' command to print out the data type of the last data value.
Once you know the data type, use the command that corresponds to that
type. Here are these commands:
[...]
}
-Now we can use `pr' to print the frame parameters:
+Now we can use 'pr' to print the frame parameters:
(gdb) pp $->param_alist
((background-mode . light) (display-type . color) [...])
The Emacs C code heavily uses macros defined in lisp.h. So suppose
we want the address of the l-value expression near the bottom of
-`add_command_key' from keyboard.c:
+'add_command_key' from keyboard.c:
XVECTOR (this_command_keys)->contents[this_command_key_count++] = key;
XVECTOR is a macro, so GDB only knows about it if Emacs has been compiled with
preprocessor macro information. GCC provides this if you specify the options
-`-gdwarf-N' (where N is 2 or higher) and `-g3'. In this case, GDB can
+'-gdwarf-N' (where N is 2 or higher) and '-g3'. In this case, GDB can
evaluate expressions like "p XVECTOR (this_command_keys)".
When this information isn't available, you can use the xvector command in GDB
(gdb) p &$
$4 = (int *) 0x411008
-Here's a related example of macros and the GDB `define' command.
-There are many Lisp vectors such as `recent_keys', which contains the
+Here's a related example of macros and the GDB 'define' command.
+There are many Lisp vectors such as 'recent_keys', which contains the
last 300 keystrokes. We can print this Lisp vector
p recent_keys
pr
-But this may be inconvenient, since `recent_keys' is much more verbose
-than `C-h l'. We might want to print only the last 10 elements of
-this vector. `recent_keys' is updated in keyboard.c by the command
+But this may be inconvenient, since 'recent_keys' is much more verbose
+than 'C-h l'. We might want to print only the last 10 elements of
+this vector. 'recent_keys' is updated in keyboard.c by the command
XVECTOR (recent_keys)->contents[recent_keys_index] = c;
-So we define a GDB command `xvector-elts', so the last 10 keystrokes
+So we define a GDB command 'xvector-elts', so the last 10 keystrokes
are printed by
xvector-elts recent_keys recent_keys_index 10
document xvector-elts
Prints a range of elements of a Lisp vector.
xvector-elts v n i
- prints `i' elements of the vector `v' ending at the index `n'.
+ prints 'i' elements of the vector 'v' ending at the index 'n'.
end
** Getting Lisp-level backtrace information within GDB
-The most convenient way is to use the `xbacktrace' command. This
+The most convenient way is to use the 'xbacktrace' command. This
shows the names of the Lisp functions that are currently active.
-If that doesn't work (e.g., because the `backtrace_list' structure is
+If that doesn't work (e.g., because the 'backtrace_list' structure is
corrupted), type "bt" at the GDB prompt, to produce the C-level
backtrace, and look for stack frames that call Ffuncall. Select them
one by one in GDB, by typing "up N", where N is the appropriate number
optimizations might be involved if "M-x redraw-display RET", or even just
typing "M-x", causes Emacs to correct the bad display.) Since the cursor
blinking feature triggers periodic redisplay cycles, we recommend disabling
-`blink-cursor-mode' before invoking `trace-redisplay', so that you have less
+'blink-cursor-mode' before invoking 'trace-redisplay', so that you have less
clutter in the trace. You can also have up to 30 last trace messages dumped to
-standard error by invoking the `dump-redisplay-history' command.
+standard error by invoking the 'dump-redisplay-history' command.
To find the code paths which were taken by the display engine, search xdisp.c
for the trace messages you see.
-The command `dump-glyph-matrix' is useful for producing on standard error
+The command 'dump-glyph-matrix' is useful for producing on standard error
stream a full dump of the selected window's glyph matrix. See the function's
doc string for more details. If you are debugging redisplay issues in
-text-mode frames, you may find the command `dump-frame-glyph-matrix' useful.
+text-mode frames, you may find the command 'dump-frame-glyph-matrix' useful.
-Other commands useful for debugging redisplay are `dump-glyph-row' and
-`dump-tool-bar-row'.
+Other commands useful for debugging redisplay are 'dump-glyph-row' and
+'dump-tool-bar-row'.
If you run Emacs under GDB, you can print the contents of any glyph matrix by
just calling that function with the matrix as its argument. For example, the
following command will print the contents of the current matrix of the window
-whose pointer is in `w':
+whose pointer is in 'w':
(gdb) p dump_glyph_matrix (w->current_matrix, 2)
Building Emacs like that activates many assertions which scrutinize
display code operation more than Emacs does normally. (To see the
-code which tests these assertions, look for calls to the `eassert'
+code which tests these assertions, look for calls to the 'eassert'
macros.) Any assertion that is reported to fail should be investigated.
When you debug display problems running emacs under X, you can use
-the `ff' command to flush all pending display updates to the screen.
+the 'ff' command to flush all pending display updates to the screen.
The src/.gdbinit file defines many useful commands for dumping redisplay
related data structures in a terse and user-friendly format:
- `ppt' prints value of PT, narrowing, and gap in current buffer.
- `pit' dumps the current display iterator `it'.
- `pwin' dumps the current window 'win'.
- `prow' dumps the current glyph_row `row'.
- `pg' dumps the current glyph `glyph'.
- `pgi' dumps the next glyph.
- `pgrow' dumps all glyphs in current glyph_row `row'.
- `pcursor' dumps current output_cursor.
+ 'ppt' prints value of PT, narrowing, and gap in current buffer.
+ 'pit' dumps the current display iterator 'it'.
+ 'pwin' dumps the current window 'win'.
+ 'prow' dumps the current glyph_row 'row'.
+ 'pg' dumps the current glyph 'glyph'.
+ 'pgi' dumps the next glyph.
+ 'pgrow' dumps all glyphs in current glyph_row 'row'.
+ 'pcursor' dumps current output_cursor.
-The above commands also exist in a version with an `x' suffix which takes an
-object of the relevant type as argument. For example, `pgrowx' dumps all
-glyphs in its argument, which must be of type `struct glyph_row'.
+The above commands also exist in a version with an 'x' suffix which takes an
+object of the relevant type as argument. For example, 'pgrowx' dumps all
+glyphs in its argument, which must be of type 'struct glyph_row'.
Since redisplay is performed by Emacs very frequently, you need to place your
breakpoints cleverly to avoid hitting them all the time, when the issue you are
debugging did not (yet) happen. Here are some useful techniques for that:
- . Put a breakpoint at `Fredraw_display' before running Emacs. Then do
+ . Put a breakpoint at 'Fredraw_display' before running Emacs. Then do
whatever is required to reproduce the bad display, and invoke "M-x
redraw-display". The debugger will kick in, and you can set or enable
breakpoints in strategic places, knowing that the bad display will be
redrawn from scratch.
. For debugging incorrect cursor position, a good place to put a breakpoint is
- in `set_cursor_from_row'. The first time this function is called as part of
- `redraw-display', Emacs is redrawing the minibuffer window, which is usually
+ in 'set_cursor_from_row'. The first time this function is called as part of
+ 'redraw-display', Emacs is redrawing the minibuffer window, which is usually
not what you want; type "continue" to get to the call you want. In general,
- always make sure `set_cursor_from_row' is called for the right window and
+ always make sure 'set_cursor_from_row' is called for the right window and
buffer by examining the value of w->contents: it should be the buffer whose
display you are debugging.
- . `set_cursor_from_row' is also a good place to look at the contents of a
- screen line (a.k.a. "glyph row"), by means of the `pgrow' GDB command. Of
+ . 'set_cursor_from_row' is also a good place to look at the contents of a
+ screen line (a.k.a. "glyph row"), by means of the 'pgrow' GDB command. Of
course, you need first to make sure the cursor is on the screen line which
- you want to investigate. If you have set a breakpoint in `Fredraw_display',
- as advised above, move cursor to that line before invoking `redraw-display'.
+ you want to investigate. If you have set a breakpoint in 'Fredraw_display',
+ as advised above, move cursor to that line before invoking 'redraw-display'.
. If the problem happens only at some specific buffer position or for some
specific rarely-used character, you can make your breakpoints conditional on
. You can also make the breakpoints conditional on what object is being used
for producing glyphs for display. The it->method member has the value
GET_FROM_BUFFER for displaying buffer contents, GET_FROM_STRING for
- displaying a Lisp string (e.g., a `display' property or an overlay string),
- GET_FROM_IMAGE for displaying an image, etc. See `enum it_method' in
+ displaying a Lisp string (e.g., a 'display' property or an overlay string),
+ GET_FROM_IMAGE for displaying an image, etc. See 'enum it_method' in
dispextern.h for the full list of values.
** Following longjmp call.
Recent versions of glibc (2.4+?) encrypt stored values for setjmp/longjmp which
-prevents GDB from being able to follow a longjmp call using `next'. To
+prevents GDB from being able to follow a longjmp call using 'next'. To
disable this protection you need to set the environment variable
LD_POINTER_GUARD to 0.
the GDB Graphical Interface node of the Emacs manual). There are also some
features available just for debugging Emacs:
-1) The command gud-pp is available on the tool bar (the `pp' icon) and
+1) The command gud-pp is available on the tool bar (the 'pp' icon) and
allows the user to print the s-expression of the variable at point,
in the GUD buffer.
-2) Pressing `p' on a component of a watch expression that is a lisp object
+2) Pressing 'p' on a component of a watch expression that is a lisp object
in the speedbar prints its s-expression in the GUD buffer.
3) The STOP button on the tool bar is adjusted so that it sends SIGTSTP
** Debugging what happens while preloading and dumping Emacs
-Debugging `temacs' is useful when you want to establish whether a
-problem happens in an undumped Emacs. To run `temacs' under a
-debugger, type "gdb temacs", then start it with `r -batch -l loadup'.
+Debugging 'temacs' is useful when you want to establish whether a
+problem happens in an undumped Emacs. To run 'temacs' under a
+debugger, type "gdb temacs", then start it with 'r -batch -l loadup'.
-If you need to debug what happens during dumping, start it with `r -batch -l
+If you need to debug what happens during dumping, start it with 'r -batch -l
loadup dump' instead. For debugging the bootstrap dumping, use "loadup
bootstrap" instead of "loadup dump".
emacs -xrm "emacs.synchronous: true"
-Setting a breakpoint in the function `x_error_quitter' and looking at
+Setting a breakpoint in the function 'x_error_quitter' and looking at
the backtrace when Emacs stops inside that function will show what
code causes the X protocol errors.
- Run Emacs under a debugger and put a breakpoint inside the
primitive function which, when called from Lisp, triggers the X
protocol errors. For example, if the errors happen when you
- delete a frame, put a breakpoint inside `Fdelete_frame'.
+ delete a frame, put a breakpoint inside 'Fdelete_frame'.
- When the breakpoint breaks, step through the code, looking for
calls to X functions (the ones whose names begin with "X" or
"Xt" or "Xm").
- - Insert calls to `XSync' before and after each call to the X
+ - Insert calls to 'XSync' before and after each call to the X
functions, like this:
XSync (f->output_data.x->display_info->display, 0);
- where `f' is the pointer to the `struct frame' of the selected
+ where 'f' is the pointer to the 'struct frame' of the selected
frame, normally available via XFRAME (selected_frame). (Most
functions which call X already have some variable that holds the
- pointer to the frame, perhaps called `f' or `sf', so you shouldn't
+ pointer to the frame, perhaps called 'f' or 'sf', so you shouldn't
need to compute it.)
If your debugger can call functions in the program being debugged,
- you should be able to issue the calls to `XSync' without recompiling
+ you should be able to issue the calls to 'XSync' without recompiling
Emacs. For example, with GDB, just type:
call XSync (f->output_data.x->display_info->display, 0)
Either way, systematically step through the code and issue these
calls until you find the first X function called by Emacs after
- which a call to `XSync' winds up in the function
- `x_error_quitter'. The first X function call for which this
+ which a call to 'XSync' winds up in the function
+ 'x_error_quitter'. The first X function call for which this
happens is the one that generated the X protocol error.
- You should now look around this offending X call and try to figure
** If the symptom of the bug is that Emacs fails to respond
-Don't assume Emacs is `hung'--it may instead be in an infinite loop.
+Don't assume Emacs is 'hung'--it may instead be in an infinite loop.
To find out which, make the problem happen under GDB and stop Emacs
once it is not responding. (If Emacs is using X Windows directly, you
can stop Emacs by typing C-z at the GDB job. On MS-Windows, run Emacs
whatever Emacs is doing and let you perform the steps described
below.)
-Then try stepping with `step'. If Emacs is hung, the `step' command
-won't return. If it is looping, `step' will return.
+Then try stepping with 'step'. If Emacs is hung, the 'step' command
+won't return. If it is looping, 'step' will return.
If this shows Emacs is hung in a system call, stop it again and
examine the arguments of the call. If you report the bug, it is very
If Emacs is in an infinite loop, try to determine where the loop
starts and ends. The easiest way to do this is to use the GDB command
-`finish'. Each time you use it, Emacs resumes execution until it
-exits one stack frame. Keep typing `finish' until it doesn't
+'finish'. Each time you use it, Emacs resumes execution until it
+exits one stack frame. Keep typing 'finish' until it doesn't
return--that means the infinite loop is in the stack frame which you
just tried to finish.
-Stop Emacs again, and use `finish' repeatedly again until you get back
-to that frame. Then use `next' to step through that frame. By
+Stop Emacs again, and use 'finish' repeatedly again until you get back
+to that frame. Then use 'next' to step through that frame. By
stepping, you will see where the loop starts and ends. Also, examine
the data being used in the loop and try to determine why the loop does
not exit when it should.
On GNU and Unix systems, you can also trying sending Emacs SIGUSR2,
-which, if `debug-on-event' has its default value, will cause Emacs to
+which, if 'debug-on-event' has its default value, will cause Emacs to
attempt to break it out of its current loop and into the Lisp
debugger. This feature is useful when a C-level debugger is not
conveniently available.
17:i
:r -l loadup (or whatever)
-It is necessary to refer to the file `nmout' to convert
+It is necessary to refer to the file 'nmout' to convert
numeric addresses into symbols and vice versa.
It is useful to be running under a window system.
The dribble file contains all characters read by Emacs from the
terminal, and the termscript file contains all characters it sent to
-the terminal. The use of the directory `~/' prevents interference
+the terminal. The use of the directory '~/' prevents interference
with any other user.
If you have irreproducible display problems, put those two expressions
another Emacs without clobbering those files, and use it to examine them.
An easy way to see if too much text is being redrawn on a terminal is to
-evaluate `(setq inverse-video t)' before you try the operation you think
+evaluate '(setq inverse-video t)' before you try the operation you think
will cause too much redrawing. This doesn't refresh the screen, so only
newly drawn text is in inverse video.
If you encounter bugs whereby Emacs built with LessTif grabs all mouse
and keyboard events, or LessTif menus behave weirdly, it might be
-helpful to set the `DEBUGSOURCES' and `DEBUG_FILE' environment
+helpful to set the 'DEBUGSOURCES' and 'DEBUG_FILE' environment
variables, so that one can see what LessTif was doing at this point.
For instance
emacs &
causes LessTif to print traces from the three named source files to a
-file in `/usr/tmp' (that file can get pretty large). The above should
+file in '/usr/tmp' (that file can get pretty large). The above should
be typed at the shell prompt before invoking Emacs, as shown by the
last line above.
** Debugging problems which happen in GC
-The array `last_marked' (defined on alloc.c) can be used to display up
+The array 'last_marked' (defined on alloc.c) can be used to display up
to 500 last objects marked by the garbage collection process.
Whenever the garbage collector marks a Lisp object, it records the
-pointer to that object in the `last_marked' array, which is maintained
-as a circular buffer. The variable `last_marked_index' holds the
-index into the `last_marked' array one place beyond where the pointer
+pointer to that object in the 'last_marked' array, which is maintained
+as a circular buffer. The variable 'last_marked_index' holds the
+index into the 'last_marked' array one place beyond where the pointer
to the very last marked object is stored.
The single most important goal in debugging GC problems is to find the
Lisp data structure that got corrupted. This is not easy since GC
changes the tag bits and relocates strings which make it hard to look
-at Lisp objects with commands such as `pr'. It is sometimes necessary
+at Lisp objects with commands such as 'pr'. It is sometimes necessary
to convert Lisp_Object variables into pointers to C struct's manually.
-Use the `last_marked' array and the source to reconstruct the sequence
+Use the 'last_marked' array and the source to reconstruct the sequence
that objects were marked. In general, you need to correlate the
-values recorded in the `last_marked' array with the corresponding
+values recorded in the 'last_marked' array with the corresponding
stack frames in the backtrace, beginning with the innermost frame.
-Some subroutines of `mark_object' are invoked recursively, others loop
+Some subroutines of 'mark_object' are invoked recursively, others loop
over portions of the data structure and mark them as they go. By
looking at the code of those routines and comparing the frames in the
-backtrace with the values in `last_marked', you will be able to find
-connections between the values in `last_marked'. E.g., when GC finds
+backtrace with the values in 'last_marked', you will be able to find
+connections between the values in 'last_marked'. E.g., when GC finds
a cons cell, it recursively marks its car and its cdr. Similar things
happen with properties of symbols, elements of vectors, etc. Use
these connections to reconstruct the data structure that was being
Let's say these commands print "/dev/ttyp4" and "xterm", respectively.
Now start Emacs (the normal, windowed-display session, i.e. without
-the `-nw' option), and invoke "M-x gdb RET emacs RET" from there. Now
+the '-nw' option), and invoke "M-x gdb RET emacs RET" from there. Now
type these commands at GDB's prompt:
(gdb) set args -nw -t /dev/ttyp4
directed to the xterm window you opened above.
Similar arrangement is possible on a character terminal by using the
-`screen' package.
+'screen' package.
On MS-Windows, you can start Emacs in its own separate terminal by
setting the new-console option before running Emacs under GDB:
- cd ..; src/temacs
-(Note that this runs `temacs' instead of the usual `emacs' executable.
+(Note that this runs 'temacs' instead of the usual 'emacs' executable.
This avoids problems with dumping Emacs mentioned above.)
Some malloc debugging libraries might print lots of false alarms for
bitfields used by Emacs in some data structures. If you want to get
rid of the false alarms, you will have to hack the definitions of
-these data structures on the respective headers to remove the `:N'
+these data structures on the respective headers to remove the ':N'
bitfield definitions (which will cause each such field to use a full
int).
'debug_print'.
For example, start and run Emacs in the debugger until it is waiting
-for user input. Then click on the `Break' button in the debugger to
-halt execution. Emacs should halt in `ZwUserGetMessage' waiting for
-an input event. Use the `Call Stack' window to select the procedure
-`w32_msp_pump' up the call stack (see below for why you have to do
+for user input. Then click on the 'Break' button in the debugger to
+halt execution. Emacs should halt in 'ZwUserGetMessage' waiting for
+an input event. Use the 'Call Stack' window to select the procedure
+'w32_msp_pump' up the call stack (see below for why you have to do
this). Open the QuickWatch window and enter
"debug_print(Vexec_path)". Evaluating this expression will then print
-out the contents of the Lisp variable `exec-path'.
+out the contents of the Lisp variable 'exec-path'.
If QuickWatch reports that the symbol is unknown, then check the call
-stack in the `Call Stack' window. If the selected frame in the call
+stack in the 'Call Stack' window. If the selected frame in the call
stack is not an Emacs procedure, then the debugger won't recognize
Emacs symbols. Instead, select a frame that is inside an Emacs
-procedure and try using `debug_print' again.
+procedure and try using 'debug_print' again.
If QuickWatch invokes debug_print but nothing happens, then check the
thread that is selected in the debugger. If the selected thread is
-- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- "Is it legal for a `struct interval' to have a total_length field of
+ "Is it legal for a 'struct interval' to have a total_length field of
zero?"
"We can't be arrested for it as far as I know, but it is definitely
invalid for an interval to have zero length."
Re: patch for woman (woman-topic-at-point)
"Sorry for the long message. I wanted to make the problem clear
-also for people not familiar with `woman'."
+also for people not familiar with 'woman'."
"Most hackers, I take?
For a moment there I thought you had a patch that you could put on
a woman, and it would make her come right to the topic at point
The precise conditions for copying and modification are stated in the
document "GNU General Public License," a copy of which is required to
be distributed with every copy of GNU Emacs. It is usually in a file
-named `COPYING' in the same directory as this file. These conditions
+named 'COPYING' in the same directory as this file. These conditions
are designed to make sure that everyone who has a copy of GNU Emacs
(including modified versions) has the freedom to redistribute and
change it.
Emacs has been run on GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and on many
Unix systems, on a variety of types of cpu, as well as on MSDOS,
-Windows and MacOS. See the file `etc/MACHINES' in the Emacs
+Windows and MacOS. See the file 'etc/MACHINES' in the Emacs
distribution for a full list of machines that GNU Emacs has been tested
on, with machine-specific installation notes and warnings.
GNU Emacs is distributed with no warranty (see the General Public
-License for full details, in the file `COPYING' in this directory (see
+License for full details, in the file 'COPYING' in this directory (see
above)), and neither I nor the Free Software Foundation promises any
kind of support or assistance to users. The foundation keeps a list
of people who are willing to offer support and assistance for hire.
Your donations will help to support the development of additional GNU
software. GNU/Linux systems (variants of GNU, based on the kernel
Linux) have millions of users, but there is still much to be done.
-For more information on GNU, see the file `GNU' in this directory (see
+For more information on GNU, see the file 'GNU' in this directory (see
above).
Richard M Stallman
matches the request. etags.c uses implicit tag names when possible, in
order to reduce the size of the tags file.
An implicit tag name is deduced from the pattern by discarding the
-last character if it is one of ` \f\t\n\r()=,;', then taking all the
+last character if it is one of ' \f\t\n\r()=,;', then taking all the
rightmost consecutive characters in the pattern which are not one of
those.
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
from this software without specific prior written permission.
-THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY
+THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
supported, has been removed. Consult older versions of this file if
you are interested in this information.
-The `configure' script uses the configuration name, and the results of
+The 'configure' script uses the configuration name, and the results of
testing the system, to decide which options to use in src/config.h and
elsewhere (eg Makefiles).
If you add support for a new configuration, add a section to this
-file, and edit the `configure.ac' source as needed.
+file, and edit the 'configure.ac' source as needed.
Some obsolete platforms are unsupported beginning with Emacs 23.1. See
the list at the end of this file.
On Solaris, do not use /usr/ucb/cc. Use /opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc. Make
sure that /usr/ccs/bin and /opt/SUNWspro/bin are in your PATH before
/usr/ucb. (Most free software packages have the same requirement on
- Solaris.) With this compiler, use `/opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc -E' as the
+ Solaris.) With this compiler, use '/opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc -E' as the
preprocessor. If this inserts extra whitespace into its output (see
- the PROBLEMS file) then add the option `-Xs'.
+ the PROBLEMS file) then add the option '-Xs'.
To build a 64-bit Emacs (with larger maximum buffer size) on a
Solaris system which supports 64-bit executables, specify the -m64
A typical error message might be something like
- No fonts match `-*-fixed-medium-r-*--6-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1'
+ No fonts match ‘-*-fixed-medium-r-*--6-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1’
This happens because some X resource specifies a bad font family for
Emacs to use. The possible places where this specification might be are:
tells Emacs what are the directories where it should look for Lisp
files. Emacs cannot work with subdirs.el compressed, since the
Auto-compress mode it needs for this will not be loaded until later,
-when your .emacs file is processed. (The package `fontset.el' is
+when your .emacs file is processed. (The package 'fontset.el' is
required to set up fonts used to display text on window systems, and
it's loaded very early in the startup procedure.)
This is known to happen when Emacs is compiled with MinGW GCC 4.6.1
with the -O2 option (which is the default in the Windows build). The
reason is a bug in MinGW GCC 4.6.1; to work around, either add the
-`-fno-omit-frame-pointer' switch to GCC or compile without
-optimizations (`--no-opt' switch to the configure.bat script).
+'-fno-omit-frame-pointer' switch to GCC or compile without
+optimizations ('--no-opt' switch to the configure.bat script).
** Emacs crashes in x-popup-dialog.
This can happen if the dialog widget cannot find the font it wants to
use. You can work around the problem by specifying another font with
-an X resource--for example, `Emacs.dialog*.font: 9x15' (or any font that
+an X resource--for example, 'Emacs.dialog*.font: 9x15' (or any font that
happens to exist on your X server).
** Emacs crashes when you use Bibtex mode.
This happens if your system puts a small limit on stack size. You can
-prevent the problem by using a suitable shell command (often `ulimit')
+prevent the problem by using a suitable shell command (often 'ulimit')
to raise the stack size limit before you run Emacs.
-Patches to raise the stack size limit automatically in `main'
+Patches to raise the stack size limit automatically in 'main'
(src/emacs.c) on various systems would be greatly appreciated.
-** Error message `Symbol's value as variable is void: x', followed by
+** Error message 'Symbol’s value as variable is void: x', followed by
a segmentation fault and core dump.
This has been tracked to a bug in tar! People report that tar erroneously
if a binary built against a shared libungif is run on a system with an
older version.
-** Emacs aborts inside the function `tparam1'.
+** Emacs aborts inside the function 'tparam1'.
This can happen if Emacs was built without terminfo support, but the
terminal's capabilities use format that is only supported by terminfo.
Emacs prints a warning when loading a .elc file which is older
than the corresponding .el file.
-Alternatively, if you set the option `load-prefer-newer' non-nil,
+Alternatively, if you set the option 'load-prefer-newer' non-nil,
Emacs will load whichever version of a file is the newest.
*** Watch out for the EMACSLOADPATH environment variable
built-in primitive beginning with Emacs 21.1. We don't have a patch
for epop3 to fix it, but perhaps a newer version of epop3 corrects that.
-*** Buffers from `with-output-to-temp-buffer' get set up in Help mode.
+*** Buffers from 'with-output-to-temp-buffer' get set up in Help mode.
Changes in Emacs 20.4 to the hooks used by that function cause
problems for some packages, specifically BBDB. See the function's
documentation for the hooks involved. BBDB 2.00.06 fixes the problem.
*** The Hyperbole package causes *Help* buffers not to be displayed in
-Help mode due to setting `temp-buffer-show-hook' rather than using
-`add-hook'. Using `(add-hook 'temp-buffer-show-hook 'help-mode-finish)'
+Help mode due to setting 'temp-buffer-show-hook' rather than using
+'add-hook'. Using '(add-hook 'temp-buffer-show-hook 'help-mode-finish)'
after loading Hyperbole should fix this.
** Keyboard problems
Some users have reported that M-| suffers from "keyboard ghosting".
This can't be fixed by Emacs, as the keypress never gets passed to it
at all (as can be verified using "xev"). You can work around this by
-typing `ESC |' instead.
+typing 'ESC |' instead.
*** "Compose Character" key does strange things when used as a Meta key.
You are probably using a shell that doesn't support job control, even
though the system itself is capable of it. Either use a different shell,
-or set the variable `cannot-suspend' to a non-nil value.
+or set the variable 'cannot-suspend' to a non-nil value.
** Mailers and other helper programs
*** movemail compiled with POP support can't connect to the POP server.
-Make sure that the `pop' entry in /etc/services, or in the services
+Make sure that the 'pop' entry in /etc/services, or in the services
NIS map if your machine uses NIS, has the same port number as the
entry on the POP server. A common error is for the POP server to be
listening on port 110, the assigned port for the POP3 protocol, while
*** RMAIL gets error getting new mail.
RMAIL gets new mail from /usr/spool/mail/$USER using a program
-called `movemail'. This program interlocks with /bin/mail using
+called 'movemail'. This program interlocks with /bin/mail using
the protocol defined by /bin/mail.
There are two different protocols in general use. One of them uses
-the `flock' system call. The other involves creating a lock file;
-`movemail' must be able to write in /usr/spool/mail in order to do
+the 'flock' system call. The other involves creating a lock file;
+'movemail' must be able to write in /usr/spool/mail in order to do
this. You control which one is used by defining, or not defining,
the macro MAIL_USE_FLOCK in config.h.
IF YOU DON'T USE THE FORM OF INTERLOCKING THAT IS NORMAL ON YOUR
If your system uses the lock file protocol, and fascist restrictions
prevent ordinary users from writing the lock files in /usr/spool/mail,
-you may need to make `movemail' setgid to a suitable group such as
-`mail'. To do this, use the following commands (as root) after doing the
+you may need to make 'movemail' setgid to a suitable group such as
+'mail'. To do this, use the following commands (as root) after doing the
make install.
chgrp mail movemail
remote disk is full. It is due to a bug in NFS (or certain NFS
implementations), and there is apparently nothing Emacs can do to
detect the problem. Emacs checks the failure codes of all the system
-calls involved in writing a file, including `close'; but in the case
+calls involved in writing a file, including 'close'; but in the case
where the problem occurs, none of those system calls fails.
** PSGML conflicts with sgml-mode.
*** Self-documentation messages are garbled.
-This means that the file `etc/DOC' doesn't properly correspond
+This means that the file 'etc/DOC' doesn't properly correspond
with the Emacs executable. Redumping Emacs and then installing the
corresponding pair of files should fix the problem.
-*** Programs running under terminal emulator do not recognize `emacs'
+*** Programs running under terminal emulator do not recognize 'emacs'
terminal type.
The cause of this is a shell startup file that sets the TERMCAP
*** In Shell mode, you get a ^M at the end of every line.
This happens to people who use tcsh, because it is trying to be too
-smart. It sees that the Shell uses terminal type `unknown' and turns
+smart. It sees that the Shell uses terminal type 'unknown' and turns
on the flag to output ^M at the end of each line. You can fix the
problem by adding this to your .cshrc file:
The way to set this up may vary on non-GNU systems.
*** Visiting files in some auto-mounted directories causes Emacs to print
-`Error reading dir-locals: (file-error "Read error" "is a directory" ...'
+'Error reading dir-locals: (file-error "Read error" "is a directory" ...'
This can happen if the auto-mounter mistakenly reports that
.dir-locals.el exists and is a directory. There is nothing Emacs can
do about this, but you can avoid the issue by adding a suitable entry
-to the variable `locate-dominating-stop-dir-regexp'. For example, if
+to the variable 'locate-dominating-stop-dir-regexp'. For example, if
the problem relates to "/smb/.dir-locals.el", set that variable
to a new value where you replace "net\\|afs" with "net\\|afs\\|smb".
(The default value already matches common auto-mount prefixes.)
*** Attempting to visit remote files via ange-ftp fails.
If the error message is "ange-ftp-file-modtime: Specified time is not
-representable", then this could happen when `lukemftp' is used as the
+representable", then this could happen when 'lukemftp' is used as the
ftp client. This was reported to happen on Debian GNU/Linux, kernel
-version 2.4.3, with `lukemftp' 1.5-5, but might happen on other
+version 2.4.3, with 'lukemftp' 1.5-5, but might happen on other
systems as well. To avoid this problem, switch to using the standard
ftp client. On a Debian system, type
*** Dired is very slow.
-This could happen if invocation of the `df' program takes a long
+This could happen if invocation of the 'df' program takes a long
time. Possible reasons for this include:
- - ClearCase mounted filesystems (VOBs) that sometimes make `df'
+ - ClearCase mounted filesystems (VOBs) that sometimes make 'df'
response time extremely slow (dozens of seconds);
- slow automounters on some old versions of Unix;
- - slow operation of some versions of `df'.
+ - slow operation of some versions of 'df'.
To work around the problem, you could either (a) set the variable
-`directory-free-space-program' to nil, and thus prevent Emacs from
-invoking `df'; (b) use `df' from the GNU Coreutils package; or
+'directory-free-space-program' to nil, and thus prevent Emacs from
+invoking 'df'; (b) use 'df' from the GNU Coreutils package; or
(c) use CVS, which is Free Software, instead of ClearCase.
*** ps-print commands fail to find prologue files ps-prin*.ps.
4 _rld_text_resolve(0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0)
["/comp2/mtibuild/v73/workarea/v7.3/rld/rld_bridge.s":175, 0xfb6032c]
-(`rld' is the dynamic linker.) We don't know why this
+('rld' is the dynamic linker.) We don't know why this
happens, but setting the environment variable LD_BIND_NOW to 1 (which
forces the dynamic linker to bind all shared objects early on) seems
to work around the problem.
If your spell-checking program is Aspell, it has been reported that if
you have a personal configuration file (normally ~/.aspell.conf), it
-can cause this error. Remove that file, execute `ispell-kill-ispell'
+can cause this error. Remove that file, execute 'ispell-kill-ispell'
in Emacs, and then try spell-checking again.
* Runtime problems related to font handling
** Font Lock displays portions of the buffer in incorrect faces.
-By far the most frequent cause of this is a parenthesis `(' or a brace
-`{' in column zero. Font Lock assumes that such a paren is outside of
+By far the most frequent cause of this is a parenthesis '(' or a brace
+'{' in column zero. Font Lock assumes that such a paren is outside of
any comment or string. This is of course not true in general, but the
vast majority of well-formatted program source files don't have such
parens, and therefore this assumption is used to allow optimizations
If you don't use large buffers, or have a very fast machine which
makes the delays insignificant, you can avoid the incorrect
fontification by setting the variable
-`font-lock-beginning-of-syntax-function' to a nil value. (This must
+'font-lock-beginning-of-syntax-function' to a nil value. (This must
be done _after_ turning on Font Lock.)
Another alternative is to avoid a paren in column zero. For example,
emacs.waitForWM: false
-to your X resources. Alternatively, add `(wait-for-wm . nil)' to a
+to your X resources. Alternatively, add '(wait-for-wm . nil)' to a
frame's parameter list, like this:
(modify-frame-parameters nil '((wait-for-wm . nil)))
-(this should go into your `.emacs' file).
+(this should go into your '.emacs' file).
** Underlines appear at the wrong position.
Examples are the 7x13 font on XFree86 prior to version 4.1, or the jmk
neep font from the Debian xfonts-jmk package prior to version 3.0.17.
To circumvent this problem, set x-use-underline-position-properties
-to nil in your `.emacs'.
+to nil in your '.emacs'.
To see what is the value of UNDERLINE_POSITION defined by the font,
-type `xlsfonts -lll FONT' and look at the font's UNDERLINE_POSITION property.
+type 'xlsfonts -lll FONT' and look at the font's UNDERLINE_POSITION property.
** When using Exceed, fonts sometimes appear too tall.
** Subscript/superscript text in TeX is hard to read.
-If `tex-fontify-script' is non-nil, tex-mode displays
+If 'tex-fontify-script' is non-nil, tex-mode displays
subscript/superscript text in the faces subscript/superscript, which
are smaller than the normal font and lowered/raised. With some fonts,
nested superscripts (say) can be hard to read. Switching to a
(composed into a single quasi-character) and they will be written back
correctly as UTF-8, assuming you don't break the composed sequences.
If you read such characters from UTF-16 or UTF-7 data, they are
-substituted with the Unicode `replacement character', and you lose
+substituted with the Unicode 'replacement character', and you lose
information.
** Accented ISO-8859-1 characters are displayed as | or _.
when they are really ASCII fonts. In particular the schumacher-clean
fonts have this bug in some versions of X.
-To see what glyphs are included in a font, use `xfd', like this:
+To see what glyphs are included in a font, use 'xfd', like this:
xfd -fn -schumacher-clean-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-c-60-iso8859-1
If this shows only ASCII glyphs, the font is indeed the source of the problem.
The solution is to remove the corresponding lines from the appropriate
-`fonts.alias' file, then run `mkfontdir' in that directory, and then run
-`xset fp rehash'.
+'fonts.alias' file, then run 'mkfontdir' in that directory, and then run
+'xset fp rehash'.
-** The `oc-unicode' package doesn't work with Emacs 21.
+** The 'oc-unicode' package doesn't work with Emacs 21.
This package tries to define more private charsets than there are free
slots now. The current built-in Unicode support is actually more
-flexible. (Use option `utf-translate-cjk-mode' if you need CJK
+flexible. (Use option 'utf-translate-cjk-mode' if you need CJK
support.) Files encoded as emacs-mule using oc-unicode aren't
generally read correctly by Emacs 21.
*** Using X Window System, control-shift-leftbutton makes Emacs hang.
-Use the shell command `xset bc' to make the old X Menu package work.
+Use the shell command 'xset bc' to make the old X Menu package work.
*** C-SPC fails to work on Fedora GNU/Linux (or with fcitx input method).
-Fedora Core 4 steals the C-SPC key by default for the `iiimx' program
+Fedora Core 4 steals the C-SPC key by default for the 'iiimx' program
which is the input method for some languages. It blocks Emacs users
-from using the C-SPC key for `set-mark-command'.
+from using the C-SPC key for 'set-mark-command'.
-One solutions is to remove the `<Ctrl>space' from the `Iiimx' file
-which can be found in the `/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults' directory.
+One solutions is to remove the '<Ctrl>space' from the 'Iiimx' file
+which can be found in the '/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults' directory.
However, that requires root access.
-Another is to specify `Emacs*useXIM: false' in your X resources.
+Another is to specify 'Emacs*useXIM: false' in your X resources.
-Another is to build Emacs with the `--without-xim' configure option.
+Another is to build Emacs with the '--without-xim' configure option.
The same problem happens on any other system if you are using fcitx
(Chinese input method) which by default use C-SPC for toggling. If
you want to use fcitx with Emacs, you have two choices. Toggle fcitx
by another key (e.g. C-\) by modifying ~/.fcitx/config, or be
-accustomed to use C-@ for `set-mark-command'.
+accustomed to use C-@ for 'set-mark-command'.
*** Link-time optimization with clang doesn't work on Fedora 20.
As of May 2014, Fedora 20 has broken LLVMgold.so plugin support in clang
-(tested with clang-3.4-6.fc20) - `clang --print-file-name=LLVMgold.so'
-prints `LLVMgold.so' instead of full path to plugin shared library, and
-`clang -flto' is unable to find the plugin with the following error:
+(tested with clang-3.4-6.fc20) - 'clang --print-file-name=LLVMgold.so'
+prints 'LLVMgold.so' instead of full path to plugin shared library, and
+'clang -flto' is unable to find the plugin with the following error:
/bin/ld: error: /usr/bin/../lib/LLVMgold.so: could not load plugin library:
/usr/bin/../lib/LLVMgold.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file
This happens because some X configurations assign the Ctrl-Shift-t
combination the same meaning as the Multi_key. The offending
-definition is in the file `...lib/X11/locale/iso8859-1/Compose'; there
+definition is in the file '...lib/X11/locale/iso8859-1/Compose'; there
might be other similar combinations which are grabbed by X for similar
purposes.
-We think that this can be countermanded with the `xmodmap' utility, if
+We think that this can be countermanded with the 'xmodmap' utility, if
you want to be able to bind one of these key sequences within Emacs.
*** Under X, C-v and/or other keys don't work.
xmodmap -e 'add mod2 = Alt_R'
If the keyboard has just one key named Alt, then only one of those
-commands is needed. The modifier `mod2' is a reasonable choice if you
+commands is needed. The modifier 'mod2' is a reasonable choice if you
are using an unmodified MIT version of X. Otherwise, choose any
modifier bit not otherwise used.
is in the "Colors" section, rather than "Style".
Alternatively, if you do want the KDE defaults to apply to other
-applications, but not to Emacs, you could modify the file `Emacs.ad'
-(should be in the `/usr/share/apps/kdisplay/app-defaults/' directory)
+applications, but not to Emacs, you could modify the file 'Emacs.ad'
+(should be in the '/usr/share/apps/kdisplay/app-defaults/' directory)
so that it doesn't set the default background and foreground only for
Emacs. For example, make sure the following resources are either not
present or commented out:
*** KDE: Emacs hangs on KDE when a large portion of text is killed.
-This is caused by a bug in the KDE applet `klipper' which periodically
+This is caused by a bug in the KDE applet 'klipper' which periodically
requests the X clipboard contents from applications. Early versions
of klipper don't implement the ICCCM protocol for large selections,
which leads to Emacs being flooded with selection requests. After a
Timed out waiting for property-notify event
-A workaround is to not use `klipper'. Upgrading `klipper' to the one
+A workaround is to not use 'klipper'. Upgrading 'klipper' to the one
coming with KDE 3.3 or later also solves the problem.
*** CDE: Frames may cover dialogs they created when using CDE.
Unable to load color "grey95"
-(typically, in the `*Messages*' buffer), or something like this:
+(typically, in the '*Messages*' buffer), or something like this:
Error while displaying tooltip: (error Undefined color lightyellow)
knows. If someone debugs this and finds the precise cause, perhaps a
workaround can be found.
-*** An error message such as `X protocol error: BadMatch (invalid
+*** An error message such as 'X protocol error: BadMatch (invalid
parameter attributes) on protocol request 93'.
This comes from having an invalid X resource, such as
individually as well as to Emacs frames. If that is not what you
want, rewrite the resource.
-To check thoroughly for such resource specifications, use `xrdb
+To check thoroughly for such resource specifications, use 'xrdb
-query' to see what resources the X server records, and also look at
the user's ~/.Xdefaults and ~/.Xdefaults-* files.
*** Emacs running under X Window System does not handle mouse clicks.
-*** `emacs -geometry 80x20' finds a file named `80x20'.
+*** 'emacs -geometry 80x20' finds a file named '80x20'.
One cause of such problems is having (setq term-file-prefix nil) in
your .emacs file. Another cause is a bad value of EMACSLOADPATH in
People have reported kernel bugs in certain systems that cause Emacs
not to work with X if DISPLAY is set using a host name. But
-the problem does not occur if DISPLAY is set to `unix:0.0'. I think
+the problem does not occur if DISPLAY is set to 'unix:0.0'. I think
the bug has to do with SIGIO or FIONREAD.
You may be able to compensate for the bug by doing (set-input-mode nil nil).
see the message:
Error saving to X clipboard manager.
- If the problem persists, set `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
+ If the problem persists, set 'x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
As the message suggests, this problem occurs when Emacs thinks you
have a clipboard manager program running, but has trouble contacting it.
If you don't want to use a clipboard manager, you can set the
suggested variable. Or you can make Emacs not wait so long by
-reducing the value of `x-selection-timeout', either in .emacs or with
+reducing the value of 'x-selection-timeout', either in .emacs or with
X resources.
Sometimes this problem is due to a bug in your clipboard manager.
When you start Emacs you may see something like this:
(emacs:2286): LIBDBUSMENU-GTK-CRITICAL **: watch_submenu: assertion
-`GTK_IS_MENU_SHELL(menu)' failed
+'GTK_IS_MENU_SHELL(menu)' failed
This happens if the Emacs binary has been renamed. The cause is the Ubuntu
appmenu concept. It tries to track Emacs menus and show them in the top
"no XON/XOFF" in order for Emacs to work. (For example, on a VT220
you may select "No XOFF" in the setup menu.) Sometimes there is an
escape sequence that the computer can send to turn flow control off
-and on. If so, perhaps the termcap `ti' string should turn flow
-control off, and the `te' string should turn it on.
+and on. If so, perhaps the termcap 'ti' string should turn flow
+control off, and the 'te' string should turn it on.
Once the terminal has been told "no flow control", you may find it
needs more padding. The amount of padding Emacs sends is controlled
by the termcap entry for the terminal in use, and by the output baud
-rate as known by the kernel. The shell command `stty' will print
-your output baud rate; `stty' with suitable arguments will set it if
+rate as known by the kernel. The shell command 'stty' will print
+your output baud rate; 'stty' with suitable arguments will set it if
it is wrong. Setting to a higher speed causes increased padding. If
the results are wrong for the correct speed, there is probably a
problem in the termcap entry. You must speak to a local Unix wizard
If you work in an environment where a majority of terminals of a
certain type are flow control hobbled, you can use the function
-`enable-flow-control-on' to turn on this flow control avoidance scheme
+'enable-flow-control-on' to turn on this flow control avoidance scheme
automatically. Here is an example:
(enable-flow-control-on "vt200" "vt300" "vt101" "vt131")
Some versions of rlogin (and possibly telnet) do not pass flow
control characters to the remote system to which they connect.
On such systems, emacs on the remote system cannot disable flow
-control on the local system. Sometimes `rlogin -8' will avoid this problem.
+control on the local system. Sometimes 'rlogin -8' will avoid this problem.
One way to cure this is to disable flow control on the local host
(the one running rlogin, not the one running rlogind) using the
If scrolling is slow but Emacs thinks it is fast, the usual reason is
that the termcap entry for the terminal you are using does not
-specify any padding time for the `al' and `dl' strings. Emacs
+specify any padding time for the 'al' and 'dl' strings. Emacs
concludes that these operations take only as much time as it takes to
send the commands at whatever line speed you are using. You must
-fix the termcap entry to specify, for the `al' and `dl', as much
+fix the termcap entry to specify, for the 'al' and 'dl', as much
time as the operations really take.
Currently Emacs thinks in terms of serial lines which send characters
is happening and then discarded quickly by the terminal.
Most bit-map terminals provide commands for inserting or deleting
-multiple lines at once. Define the `AL' and `DL' strings in the
+multiple lines at once. Define the 'AL' and 'DL' strings in the
termcap entry to say how to do these things, and you will have
fast output without wasted padding characters. These strings should
each contain a single %-spec saying how to send the number of lines
to be scrolled. These %-specs are like those in the termcap
-`cm' string.
+'cm' string.
-You should also define the `IC' and `DC' strings if your terminal
+You should also define the 'IC' and 'DC' strings if your terminal
has a command to insert or delete multiple characters. These
take the number of positions to insert or delete as an argument.
-A `cs' string to set the scrolling region will reduce the amount
+A 'cs' string to set the scrolling region will reduce the amount
of motion you see on the screen when part of the screen is scrolled.
** You type Control-H (Backspace) expecting to delete characters.
-Put `stty dec' in your .login file and your problems will disappear
+Put 'stty dec' in your .login file and your problems will disappear
after a day or two.
The choice of Backspace for erasure was based on confusion, caused by
overprint. I do not wish to propagate this confusion by conforming
to it.
-For this reason, I believe `stty dec' is the right mode to use,
+For this reason, I believe 'stty dec' is the right mode to use,
and I have designed Emacs to go with that. If there were a thousand
other control characters, I would define Control-h to delete as well;
but there are not very many other control characters, and I think
that providing the most mnemonic possible Help character is more
-important than adapting to people who don't use `stty dec'.
+important than adapting to people who don't use 'stty dec'.
If you are obstinate about confusing buggy overprinting with deletion,
you can redefine Backspace in your .emacs file:
"colors".
In addition to the "Co" capability, Emacs needs the "op" (for
-``original pair'') capability, which tells how to switch the terminal
+"original pair") capability, which tells how to switch the terminal
back to the default foreground and background colors. Emacs will not
use colors if this capability is not defined. If your terminal entry
doesn't provide such a capability, try using the ANSI standard escape
Finally, the "NC" capability (terminfo name: "ncv") tells Emacs which
attributes cannot be used with colors. Setting this capability
incorrectly might have the effect of disabling colors; try setting
-this capability to `0' (zero) and see if that helps.
+this capability to '0' (zero) and see if that helps.
Emacs uses the database entry for the terminal whose name is the value
-of the environment variable TERM. With `xterm', a common terminal
-entry that supports color is `xterm-color', so setting TERM's value to
-`xterm-color' might activate the color support on an xterm-compatible
+of the environment variable TERM. With 'xterm', a common terminal
+entry that supports color is 'xterm-color', so setting TERM's value to
+'xterm-color' might activate the color support on an xterm-compatible
emulator.
Beginning with version 22.1, Emacs supports the --color command-line
for using the ANSI-standard escape sequences that support 8 colors.
Some modes do not use colors unless you turn on the Font-lock mode.
-Some people have long ago set their `~/.emacs' files to turn on
+Some people have long ago set their '~/.emacs' files to turn on
Font-lock on X only, so they won't see colors on a tty. The
recommended way of turning on Font-lock is by typing "M-x
global-font-lock-mode RET" or by customizing the variable
-`global-font-lock-mode'.
+'global-font-lock-mode'.
** Unexpected characters inserted into the buffer when you start Emacs.
See e.g. <URL:http://debbugs.gnu.org/11129>
This occurs when Emacs tries to query the terminal to see what
capabilities it supports, and gets confused by the answer.
To avoid it, set xterm-extra-capabilities to a value other than
-`check' (the default). See that variable's documentation (in
+'check' (the default). See that variable's documentation (in
term/xterm.el) for more details.
* Runtime problems specific to individual Unix variants
The solution is to find out what key on your keyboard produces the Meta
modifier, and use that key instead. Try all of the keys to the left
-and to the right of the space bar, together with the `x' key, and see
+and to the right of the space bar, together with the 'x' key, and see
which combination produces "M-x" in the echo area. You can also use
-the `xmodmap' utility to show all the keys which produce a Meta
+the 'xmodmap' utility to show all the keys which produce a Meta
modifier:
xmodmap -pk | egrep -i "meta|alt"
A more convenient way of finding out which keys produce a Meta modifier
-is to use the `xkbprint' utility, if it's available on your system:
+is to use the 'xkbprint' utility, if it's available on your system:
xkbprint 0:0 /tmp/k.ps
-This produces a PostScript file `/tmp/k.ps' with a picture of your
+This produces a PostScript file '/tmp/k.ps' with a picture of your
keyboard; printing that file on a PostScript printer will show what
keys can serve as Meta.
-The `xkeycaps' also shows a visual representation of the current
+The 'xkeycaps' also shows a visual representation of the current
keyboard settings. It also allows to modify them.
*** GNU/Linux: slow startup on Linux-based GNU systems.
People using systems based on the Linux kernel sometimes report that
-startup takes 10 to 15 seconds longer than `usual'.
+startup takes 10 to 15 seconds longer than 'usual'.
This is because Emacs looks up the host name when it starts.
Normally, this takes negligible time; the extra delay is due to
**** Networked Case.
-First, make sure the files `/etc/hosts' and `/etc/host.conf' both
-exist. The first line in the `/etc/hosts' file should look like this
+First, make sure the files '/etc/hosts' and '/etc/host.conf' both
+exist. The first line in the '/etc/hosts' file should look like this
(replace HOSTNAME with your host name):
127.0.0.1 HOSTNAME
-Also make sure that the `/etc/host.conf' files contains the following
+Also make sure that the '/etc/host.conf' files contains the following
lines:
order hosts, bind
multi on
Any changes, permanent and temporary, to the host name should be
-indicated in the `/etc/hosts' file, since it acts a limited local
+indicated in the '/etc/hosts' file, since it acts a limited local
database of addresses and names (e.g., some SLIP connections
dynamically allocate ip addresses).
The solution described in the networked case applies here as well.
However, if you never intend to network your machine, you can use a
-simpler solution: create an empty `/etc/host.conf' file. The command
-`touch /etc/host.conf' suffices to create the file. The `/etc/hosts'
+simpler solution: create an empty '/etc/host.conf' file. The command
+'touch /etc/host.conf' suffices to create the file. The '/etc/hosts'
file is not necessary with this approach.
*** GNU/Linux: Emacs on a tty switches the cursor to large blinking block.
This was reported to happen on some GNU/Linux systems which use
ncurses version 5.0, but could be relevant for other versions as well.
-These versions of ncurses come with a `linux' terminfo entry, where
+These versions of ncurses come with a 'linux' terminfo entry, where
the "cvvis" capability (termcap "vs") is defined as "\E[?25h\E[?8c"
(show cursor, change size). This escape sequence switches on a
blinking hardware text-mode cursor whose size is a full character
cursor instead of the hardware cursor.
To this end, run "infocmp linux > linux-term", edit the file
-`linux-term' to make both the "cnorm" and "cvvis" capabilities send
+'linux-term' to make both the "cnorm" and "cvvis" capabilities send
the sequence "\E[?25h\E[?17;0;64c", and then run "tic linux-term" to
produce a modified terminfo entry.
Alternatively, if you want a blinking underscore as your Emacs cursor,
-set the `visible-cursor' variable to nil in your ~/.emacs:
+set the 'visible-cursor' variable to nil in your ~/.emacs:
(setq visible-cursor nil)
Still other way is to change the "cvvis" capability to send the
$ kbdcontrol -d >emacs.kbd
Edit emacs.kbd, and give the key you want to be the Meta key the
-definition `meta'. For instance, if your keyboard has a ``Windows''
+definition 'meta'. For instance, if your keyboard has a "Windows"
key with scan code 105, change the line for scan code 105 in emacs.kbd
to look like this
christos@theory.tn.cornell.edu says:
The problem is that in your .cshrc you have something that tries to
-execute `tty`. If you are not running the shell on a real tty then
+execute 'tty'. If you are not running the shell on a real tty then
tty will print "not a tty". Csh expects one word in some places,
but tty is giving it back 3.
Even better, move things that set up terminal sections out of .cshrc
and into .login.
-*** HP/UX: `Pid xxx killed due to text modification or page I/O error'.
+*** HP/UX: 'Pid xxx killed due to text modification or page I/O error'.
On HP/UX, you can get that error when the Emacs executable is on an NFS
file system. HP/UX responds this way if it tries to swap in a page and
*** AIX: Trouble using ptys.
People often install the pty devices on AIX incorrectly.
-Use `smit pty' to reinstall them properly.
+Use 'smit pty' to reinstall them properly.
*** AIXterm: Your Delete key sends a Backspace to the terminal.
This makes your Backspace key send DEL (ASCII 127).
*** AIX: If linking fails because libXbsd isn't found, check if you
-are compiling with the system's `cc' and CFLAGS containing `-O5'. If
+are compiling with the system's 'cc' and CFLAGS containing '-O5'. If
so, you have hit a compiler bug. Please make sure to re-configure
-Emacs so that it isn't compiled with `-O5'.
+Emacs so that it isn't compiled with '-O5'.
*** AIX 4.3.x or 4.4: Compiling fails.
This could happen if you use /bin/c89 as your compiler, instead of
-the default `cc'. /bin/c89 treats certain warnings, such as benign
+the default 'cc'. /bin/c89 treats certain warnings, such as benign
redefinitions of macros, as errors, and fails the build. A solution
-is to use the default compiler `cc'.
+is to use the default compiler 'cc'.
*** AIX 4: Some programs fail when run in a Shell buffer
with an error message like No terminfo entry for "unknown".
On AIX, many terminal type definitions are not installed by default.
-`unknown' is one of them. Install the "Special Generic Terminal
+'unknown' is one of them. Install the "Special Generic Terminal
Definitions" to make them defined.
** Solaris
This happens when Emacs was built on some other version of Solaris.
Rebuild it on Solaris 8.
-*** When using M-x dbx with the SparcWorks debugger, the `up' and `down'
+*** When using M-x dbx with the SparcWorks debugger, the 'up' and 'down'
commands do not move the arrow in Emacs.
-You can fix this by adding the following line to `~/.dbxinit':
+You can fix this by adding the following line to '~/.dbxinit':
dbxenv output_short_file_name off
*** Irix: Trouble using ptys, or running out of ptys.
-The program mkpts (which may be in `/usr/adm' or `/usr/sbin') needs to
+The program mkpts (which may be in '/usr/adm' or '/usr/sbin') needs to
be set-UID to root, or non-root programs like Emacs will not be able
to allocate ptys reliably.
** File selection dialog opens in incorrect directories
Invoking the file selection dialog on Windows 7 or later shows a
-directory that is different from what was passed to `read-file-name'
-or `x-file-dialog' via their arguments.
+directory that is different from what was passed to 'read-file-name'
+or 'x-file-dialog' via their arguments.
This is due to a deliberate change in behavior of the file selection
dialogs introduced in Windows 7. It is explicitly described in the
** Setting w32-pass-rwindow-to-system and w32-pass-lwindow-to-system to nil
does not prevent the Start menu from popping up when the left or right
-``Windows'' key is pressed.
+"Windows" key is pressed.
This was reported to happen when XKeymacs is installed. At least with
XKeymacs Version 3.47, deactivating XKeymacs when Emacs is active is
To bind keys that produce non-ASCII characters with modifiers, you
must specify raw byte codes. For instance, if you want to bind
-META-a-grave to a command, you need to specify this in your `~/.emacs':
+META-a-grave to a command, you need to specify this in your '~/.emacs':
(global-set-key [?\M-\340] ...)
** Files larger than 4GB report wrong size in a 32-bit Windows build
Files larger than 4GB cause overflow in the size (represented as a
-32-bit integer) reported by `file-attributes'. This affects Dired as
-well, since the Windows port uses a Lisp emulation of `ls', which relies
-on `file-attributes'.
+32-bit integer) reported by 'file-attributes'. This affects Dired as
+well, since the Windows port uses a Lisp emulation of 'ls', which relies
+on 'file-attributes'.
** Playing sound doesn't support the :data method
-Sound playing is not supported with the `:data DATA' key-value pair.
-You _must_ use the `:file FILE' method.
+Sound playing is not supported with the ':data DATA' key-value pair.
+You _must_ use the ':file FILE' method.
** Typing Alt-Shift has strange effects on MS-Windows.
** Accessing remote files with ange-ftp hangs the MS-Windows version of Emacs.
-If the FTP client is the Cygwin port of GNU `ftp', this appears to be
+If the FTP client is the Cygwin port of GNU 'ftp', this appears to be
due to some bug in the Cygwin DLL or some incompatibility between it
and the implementation of asynchronous subprocesses in the Windows
port of Emacs. Specifically, some parts of the FTP server responses
The solution is to downgrade to an older version of the Cygwin DLL
(version 1.3.2 was reported to solve the problem), or use the stock
-Windows FTP client, usually found in the `C:\WINDOWS' or 'C:\WINNT'
+Windows FTP client, usually found in the 'C:\WINDOWS' or 'C:\WINNT'
directory. To force ange-ftp use the stock Windows client, set the
-variable `ange-ftp-ftp-program-name' to the absolute file name of the
+variable 'ange-ftp-ftp-program-name' to the absolute file name of the
client's executable. For example:
(setq ange-ftp-ftp-program-name "c:/windows/ftp.exe")
If you want to stick with the Cygwin FTP client, you can work around
-this problem by putting this in your `.emacs' file:
+this problem by putting this in your '.emacs' file:
(setq ange-ftp-ftp-program-args '("-i" "-n" "-g" "-v" "--prompt" "")
work when an antivirus package is installed.
The solution is to switch the antivirus software to a less aggressive
-mode (e.g., disable the ``auto-protect'' feature), or even uninstall
+mode (e.g., disable the "auto-protect" feature), or even uninstall
or disable it entirely.
** Pressing the mouse button on MS-Windows does not give a mouse-2 event.
events with the modifiers Right-Alt and Left-Ctrl. Since Emacs cannot
distinguish AltGr from an explicit Right-Alt and Left-Ctrl
combination, whenever it sees Right-Alt and Left-Ctrl it assumes that
-AltGr has been pressed. The variable `w32-recognize-altgr' can be set
+AltGr has been pressed. The variable 'w32-recognize-altgr' can be set
to nil to tell Emacs that AltGr is really Ctrl and Alt.
** Under some X-servers running on MS-Windows, Emacs's display is incorrect.
problem lies in the X-server settings.
There are reports that you can solve the problem with Exceed by
-running `Xconfig' from within NT, choosing "X selection", then
+running 'Xconfig' from within NT, choosing "X selection", then
un-checking the boxes "auto-copy X selection" and "auto-paste to X
selection".
** Configuration
-*** `configure' warns ``accepted by the compiler, rejected by the preprocessor''.
+*** 'configure' warns "accepted by the compiler, rejected by the preprocessor".
This indicates a mismatch between the C compiler and preprocessor that
configure is using. For example, on Solaris 10 trying to use
CC=/opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc (the Sun Studio compiler) together with
CPP=/usr/ccs/lib/cpp can result in errors of this form (you may also
-see the error ``"/usr/include/sys/isa_defs.h", line 500: undefined control'').
+see the error '"/usr/include/sys/isa_defs.h", line 500: undefined control').
The solution is to tell configure to use the correct C preprocessor
for your C compiler (CPP="/opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc -E" in the above
** Compilation
-*** Building Emacs over NFS fails with ``Text file busy''.
+*** Building Emacs over NFS fails with "Text file busy".
This was reported to happen when building Emacs on a GNU/Linux system
(Red Hat Linux 6.2) using a build directory automounted from Solaris
(SunOS 5.6) file server, but it might not be limited to that
configuration alone. Presumably, the NFS server doesn't commit the
files' data to disk quickly enough, and the Emacs executable file is
-left ``busy'' for several seconds after Emacs has finished dumping
+left "busy" for several seconds after Emacs has finished dumping
itself. This causes the subsequent commands which invoke the dumped
Emacs executable to fail with the above message.
force the NFS server to use 1KB blocks, which was reported to fix the
problem albeit at a price of slowing down file I/O. You can force 1KB
blocks by specifying the "-o rsize=1024,wsize=1024" options to the
-`mount' command, or by adding ",rsize=1024,wsize=1024" to the mount
+'mount' command, or by adding ",rsize=1024,wsize=1024" to the mount
options in the appropriate system configuration file, such as
-`/etc/auto.home'.
+'/etc/auto.home'.
Alternatively, when Make fails due to this problem, you could wait for
a few seconds and then invoke Make again. In one particular case,
to work around the problem.
Similar problems can happen if your machine NFS-mounts a directory
-onto itself. Suppose the Emacs sources live in `/usr/local/src' and
-you are working on the host called `marvin'. Then an entry in the
-`/etc/fstab' file like the following is asking for trouble:
+onto itself. Suppose the Emacs sources live in '/usr/local/src' and
+you are working on the host called 'marvin'. Then an entry in the
+'/etc/fstab' file like the following is asking for trouble:
marvin:/usr/local/src /usr/local/src ...options.omitted...
-The solution is to remove this line from `/etc/fstab'.
+The solution is to remove this line from '/etc/fstab'.
*** Building a 32-bit executable on a 64-bit GNU/Linux architecture.
to detect the shell correctly. Try "make SHELL=cmd.exe", or if that
fails, try running make from Cygwin bash instead.
-*** Building `ctags' for MS-Windows with the MinGW port of GCC fails.
+*** Building 'ctags' for MS-Windows with the MinGW port of GCC fails.
This might happen due to a bug in the MinGW header assert.h, which
-defines the `assert' macro with a trailing semi-colon. The following
+defines the 'assert' macro with a trailing semi-colon. The following
patch to assert.h should solve this:
*** include/assert.h.orig Sun Nov 7 02:41:36 1999
The precise file names depend on the compiler version, so we
cannot easily arrange to supply them.
-*** `tparam' reported as a multiply-defined symbol when linking with ncurses.
+*** 'tparam' reported as a multiply-defined symbol when linking with ncurses.
This problem results from an incompatible change in ncurses, in
version 1.9.9e approximately. This version is unable to provide a
*** "No rule to make target" with Ubuntu 8.04 make 3.81-3build1
Compiling the lisp files fails at random places, complaining:
-"No rule to make target `/path/to/some/lisp.elc'".
+"No rule to make target '/path/to/some/lisp.elc'".
The causes of this problem are not understood. Using GNU make 3.81 compiled
from source, rather than the Ubuntu version, worked.
See <URL:http://debbugs.gnu.org/327>, <URL:http://debbugs.gnu.org/821>.
** Dumping
-*** Segfault during `make bootstrap' under the Linux kernel.
+*** Segfault during 'make bootstrap' under the Linux kernel.
In Red Hat Linux kernels, "Exec-shield" functionality is enabled by
default, which creates a different memory layout that can break the
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/exec-shield
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space
-Or, on x86, you can try using the `setarch' command when running
+Or, on x86, you can try using the 'setarch' command when running
temacs, like this:
setarch i386 -R ./temacs --batch --load loadup [dump|bootstrap]
*** temacs prints "Pure Lisp storage exhausted".
This means that the Lisp code loaded from the .elc and .el files during
-`temacs --batch --load loadup dump' took up more space than was allocated.
+'temacs --batch --load loadup dump' took up more space than was allocated.
This could be caused by
1) adding code to the preloaded Lisp files
*** OpenBSD 4.0 macppc: Segfault during dumping.
-The build aborts with signal 11 when the command `./temacs --batch
+The build aborts with signal 11 when the command './temacs --batch
--load loadup bootstrap' tries to load files.el. A workaround seems
to be to reduce the level of compiler optimization used during the
build (from -O2 to -O1). It is possible this is an OpenBSD
This was reported to happen when Emacs is built in a directory mounted
via NFS, for some combinations of NFS client and NFS server.
-Usually, the file `emacs' produced in these cases is full of
-binary null characters, and the `file' utility says:
+Usually, the file 'emacs' produced in these cases is full of
+binary null characters, and the 'file' utility says:
emacs: ASCII text, with no line terminators
(Make sure the patch is current; some older patch versions still have the bug.)
You should install the other patches recommended by Sun for your host, too.
You can obtain Sun patches from ftp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/;
-look for files with names ending in `.PatchReport' to see which patches
+look for files with names ending in '.PatchReport' to see which patches
are currently recommended for your host.
On Solaris 2.6, Emacs is said to work with Motif when Solaris patch
*** MS-Windows NT/95: Problems running Perl under Emacs
-`perl -de 0' just hangs when executed in an Emacs subshell.
+'perl -de 0' just hangs when executed in an Emacs subshell.
The fault lies with Perl (indirectly with Windows NT/95).
The problem is that the Perl debugger explicitly opens a connection to
*** When compiling with DJGPP on MS-Windows NT or later, "config msdos" fails.
If the error message is "VDM has been already loaded", this is because
-Windows has a program called `redir.exe' that is incompatible with a
+Windows has a program called 'redir.exe' that is incompatible with a
program by the same name supplied with DJGPP, which is used by
-config.bat. To resolve this, move the DJGPP's `bin' subdirectory to
+config.bat. To resolve this, move the DJGPP's 'bin' subdirectory to
the front of your PATH environment variable.
*** When Emacs compiled with DJGPP runs on Windows 2000 and later, it cannot
string "dosuser", which is the default username set up by the DJGPP
startup file DJGPP.ENV.)
-This happens when the functions `user-login-name' and
-`user-real-login-name' return different strings for your username as
+This happens when the functions 'user-login-name' and
+'user-real-login-name' return different strings for your username as
Emacs sees it. To correct this, make sure both USER and USERNAME
environment variables are set to the same value. Windows 2000 and
later sets USERNAME, so if you want to keep that, make sure USER is
"Wrong type of argument: internal-facep, msdos-menu-active-face"
-This can happen if you define an environment variable `TERM'. Emacs
+This can happen if you define an environment variable 'TERM'. Emacs
on MSDOS uses an internal terminal emulator which is disabled if the
-value of `TERM' is anything but the string "internal". Emacs then
+value of 'TERM' is anything but the string "internal". Emacs then
works as if its terminal were a dumb glass teletype that doesn't
-support faces. To work around this, arrange for `TERM' to be
+support faces. To work around this, arrange for 'TERM' to be
undefined when Emacs runs. The best way to do that is to add an
[emacs] section to the DJGPP.ENV file which defines an empty value for
-`TERM'; this way, only Emacs gets the empty value, while the rest of
+'TERM'; this way, only Emacs gets the empty value, while the rest of
your system works as before.
*** MS-DOS: Emacs crashes at startup.
the djgpp faq for configuration hints.
*** Emacs compiled with DJGPP for MS-DOS/MS-Windows cannot access files
-in the directory with the special name `dev' under the root of any
-drive, e.g. `c:/dev'.
+in the directory with the special name 'dev' under the root of any
+drive, e.g. 'c:/dev'.
This is an unfortunate side-effect of the support for Unix-style
device names such as /dev/null in the DJGPP runtime library. A
*** twm: A position you specified in .Xdefaults is ignored, using twm.
twm normally ignores "program-specified" positions.
-You can tell it to obey them with this command in your `.twmrc' file:
+You can tell it to obey them with this command in your '.twmrc' file:
UsePPosition "on" #allow clients to request a position
Emacs or of interest to Emacs users, and the file of dumped docstrings
for Emacs functions and variables.
-`forms-d2.dat' is an example data file used by forms-d2.el.
-
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE INFORMATION FOR IMAGE FILES
File: emacs.icon
Emacs supports certain termcap strings that are not described in the
4.2 manual but appear to be standard in system V. The one exception
-is `cS', which I invented.
+is 'cS', which I invented.
-`AL' insert several lines. Takes one parameter, the number of
+'AL' insert several lines. Takes one parameter, the number of
lines to be inserted. You specify how to send this parameter
- using a %-construct, just like the cursor positions in the `cm'
+ using a %-construct, just like the cursor positions in the 'cm'
string.
-`DL' delete several lines. One parameter.
+'DL' delete several lines. One parameter.
-`IC' insert several characters. One parameter.
+'IC' insert several characters. One parameter.
-`DC' delete several characters. One parameter.
+'DC' delete several characters. One parameter.
-`rp' repeat a character. Takes two parameters, the character
+'rp' repeat a character. Takes two parameters, the character
to be repeated and the number of times to repeat it.
- Most likely you will use `%.' for sending the character
+ Most likely you will use '%.' for sending the character
to be repeated. Emacs interprets a padding spec with a *
as giving the amount of padding per repetition.
WARNING: Many terminals have a command to repeat the
*last character output* N times. This means that the character
will appear N+1 times in a row when the command argument is N.
- However, the `rp' string's parameter is the total number of
+ However, the 'rp' string's parameter is the total number of
times wanted, not one less. Therefore, such repeat commands
- may be used in an `rp' string only if you use Emacs's special
- termcap operator `%a-c\001' to subtract 1 from the repeat count
+ may be used in an 'rp' string only if you use Emacs's special
+ termcap operator '%a-c\001' to subtract 1 from the repeat count
before substituting it into the string. It is probably safe
to use this even though the Unix termcap does not accept it
- because programs other than Emacs probably won't look for `rp'
+ because programs other than Emacs probably won't look for 'rp'
anyway.
-`cs' set scroll region. Takes two parameters, the vertical
+'cs' set scroll region. Takes two parameters, the vertical
positions of the first line to include in the scroll region
and the last line to include in the scroll region.
Both parameters are origin-zero. The effect of this
This is not the same convention that Emacs version 16 used.
That is because I was led astray by unclear documentation
of the meaning of %i in termcap strings. Since the termcap
- documentation for `cs' is also unclear, I had to deduce the
+ documentation for 'cs' is also unclear, I had to deduce the
correct parameter conventions from what would make the VT-100's
- `cs' string work properly. From an incorrect assumption about
- %i, I reached an incorrect conclusion about `cs', but the result
+ 'cs' string work properly. From an incorrect assumption about
+ %i, I reached an incorrect conclusion about 'cs', but the result
worked correctly on the VT100 and ANSI terminals. In Emacs
- version 17, both `cs' and %i work correctly.
+ version 17, both 'cs' and %i work correctly.
The version 16 convention was to pass, for the second parameter,
the line number of the first line beyond the end of the
scroll region.
-`cS' set scroll region. Differs from `cs' in taking parameters
+'cS' set scroll region. Differs from 'cs' in taking parameters
differently. There are four parameters:
1. Total number of lines on the screen.
2. Number of lines above desired scroll region.
4. Total number of lines on the screen, like #1.
This is because an Ambassador needs the parameters like this.
-`cr', `do', `le'
+'cr', 'do', 'le'
Emacs will not attempt to use ^M, ^J or ^H for cursor motion
unless these capabilities are present and say to use those
characters.
-`km' Says the terminal has a Meta key.
+'km' Says the terminal has a Meta key.
Defining these strings is important for getting maximum performance
from your terminal.
-Make sure that the `ti' string sets all modes needed for editing
+Make sure that the 'ti' string sets all modes needed for editing
in Emacs. For example, if your terminal has a mode that controls
wrap at the end of the line, you must decide whether to specify
-the `am' flag in the termcap entry; whichever you decide, the `ti'
+the 'am' flag in the termcap entry; whichever you decide, the 'ti'
string should contain commands to set the mode that way.
-(Emacs also sends the `vs' string after the `ti' string.
+(Emacs also sends the 'vs' string after the 'ti' string.
You can put the mode-setting commands in either one of them.)
*** Specific Terminal Types ***
give too little padding for clear-screen. 7.2 msec per line is right.
These are the strings whose padding you probably should change:
:al=1*\E[L:dl=1*\E[M:cd=7.2*\E[J:cl=7.2*\E[H\E[J:
-I have sometimes seen `\E[2J' at the front of the `ti' string;
+I have sometimes seen '\E[2J' at the front of the 'ti' string;
this is a clear-screen, very slow, and it can cause you to get
Control-s sent by the terminal at startup. I recommend removing
-the `\E[2J' from the `ti' string.
-The `ti' or `vs' strings also usually need stuff added to them, such as
+the '\E[2J' from the 'ti' string.
+The 'ti' or 'vs' strings also usually need stuff added to them, such as
\E[>33;52;54h\E[>30;37;38;39l
-You might want to add the following to the `te' or `ve' strings:
+You might want to add the following to the 'te' or 've' strings:
\E[>52l\E[>37h
The following additional capabilities will improve performance:
:AL=1*\E[%dL:DL=1*\E[%dM:IC=4\E[%d@:DC=4\E[%dP:rp=1*%.\E[%a-c\001%db:
is present in the termcap entry.
Watch out for termcap entries for VT100's that fail to specify
-the `sf' string, or that omit the padding needed for the `sf' and `sr'
+the 'sf' string, or that omit the padding needed for the 'sf' and 'sr'
strings (2msec per line affected). What you need is
:sf=2*^J:sr=2*\EM:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:
-The Concept-100 and Concept-108 have many modes that `ti' strings
+The Concept-100 and Concept-108 have many modes that 'ti' strings
often fail to initialize. If you have problems on one of these
terminals, that is probably the place to fix them. These terminals
-can support an `rp' string.
+can support an 'rp' string.
Watch out on HP terminals for problems with standout disappearing on
part of the mode line. These problems are due to the absence of
:sg#0: which some HP terminals need.
-The vi55 is said to require `ip=2'.
+The vi55 is said to require 'ip=2'.
The Sun console should have these capabilities for good performance.
:AL=\E[%dL:DL=\E[%dM:IC=\E[%d@:DC=\E[%dP:
define port flow control disable
On System V, in the terminfo database, various terminals may have
-the `xt' flag that should not have it. `xt' should be present only
+the 'xt' flag that should not have it. 'xt' should be present only
for the Teleray 1061 or equivalent terminal.
-In particular, System V for the 386 often has `xt' for terminal type
+In particular, System V for the 386 often has 'xt' for terminal type
AT386 or AT386-M, which is used for the console. You should delete
this flag. Here is how:
You can get a copy of the terminfo "source" for at386 using the
-command: `infocmp at386 >at386.tic'. Edit the file at386.tic and remove
-the `xt' flag. Then compile the new entry with: `tic at386.tic'.
+command: 'infocmp at386 >at386.tic'. Edit the file at386.tic and remove
+the 'xt' flag. Then compile the new entry with: 'tic at386.tic'.
It is also reported that these terminal types sometimes have the wrong
reverse-scroll string. It should be \E[T, but sometimes is given as \E[S.
functions don't go through Ffuncall/funcall_lambda/exec_byte_code but instead
stay within exec_byte_code.
-** Add new `switch' byte-code
+** Add new 'switch' byte-code
This byte-code would take one argument from the stack (the object to test)
and one argument from the constant-pool (a switch table, implemented as an
eq-hashtable) and would jump to the "label" contained in the hashtable.
-Then add a `case' special-form that can be compiled to this byte-code.
+Then add a 'case' special-form that can be compiled to this byte-code.
This would behave just like cl-case, but instead of expanding to cond+eq it
would be its own special form and would be compiled specially.
-Then change pcase to use `case' when applicable.
+Then change pcase to use 'case' when applicable.
Then change the byte-compiler to recognize (cond ((eq x 'foo) bar) ...)
-and turn it into a `case' for more efficient execution.
+and turn it into a 'case' for more efficient execution.
** Improve the byte-compiler to recognize immutable (lexical) bindings
and get rid of them if they're used only once and/or they're bound to
defsubst can often end up generating things like
(funcall (lambda (arg) (body)) actual) which then get optimized to
(let ((arg actual)) (body)) but should additionally get optimized further
-when `actual' is a constant/copyable expression.
+when 'actual' is a constant/copyable expression.
** Add an "indirect goto" byte-code and use it for local lambda expressions.
E.g. when you have code like
(funcall foo toto)
(blabla (funcall foo titi))))
-turn those `funcalls' into jumps and their return into indirect jumps back.
+turn those 'funcalls' into jumps and their return into indirect jumps back.
** Compile efficiently local recursive functions
** Check what minor modes don't use define-minor-mode and convert them
to use it.
-** Convert all defvars with leading `*' in the doc-strings into defcustoms
+** Convert all defvars with leading '*' in the doc-strings into defcustoms
of appropriate :type and :group.
-** Remove any leading `*'s from defcustom doc-strings.
+** Remove any leading '*'s from defcustom doc-strings.
[done?] [A lot of them are in CC Mode.]
** Remove unnecessary autoload cookies from defcustoms.
** Add a defcustom that supplies a function to name numeric backup files,
like make-backup-file-name-function for non-numeric backup files.
-** `dired-mode' should specify the semantics of `buffer-modified-p' for
-dired buffers and DTRT WRT `auto-revert-mode'.
+** 'dired-mode' should specify the semantics of 'buffer-modified-p' for
+dired buffers and DTRT WRT 'auto-revert-mode'.
** Check uses of prin1 for error-handling.
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2008-08/msg00456.html
*** Several text-property planes
This would get us rid of font-lock-face property (and I'd be happy to
get rid of char-property-alias-alist as well) since font-lock would
-simply use the `face' property in the `font-lock' plane.
+simply use the 'face' property in the 'font-lock' plane.
-Basically `put-text-property' and friends would take an extra argument PLANE
+Basically 'put-text-property' and friends would take an extra argument PLANE
(maybe the best backward-compatible way to do that is to make it so that
PROPERTY can be a cons cell (PLANE . PROP)). So font-lock would
do (put-text-property start end '(font-lock . face) value).
All the properties coming from the various planes would get merged via an Elisp
-function (so it can merge `face' differently than `keymap' or it could give
+function (so it can merge 'face' differently than 'keymap' or it could give
different priorities to different planes (we could imagine enabling/disabling
planes)). The merging would not happen lazily while looking up properties but
-instead it would take place eagerly in `add-text-properties'. This is based on
+instead it would take place eagerly in 'add-text-properties'. This is based on
the idea that it's much more frequent to lookup properties than to
modify them. Also, when properties are looked up during redisplay, we
generally can't run Elisp code, whereas we generally can do that when
Currently overlays are implemented as (two) sorted singly linked lists (one
for overlays_before some position and one for overlay_after that
position, for some quirky definition of "before" and "after").
-The function `overlay-recenter' changes the position used for the split
+The function 'overlay-recenter' changes the position used for the split
(and is called internally in various situations).
Each overlay is itself implemented with two markers (which keep track of
** Give Tar mode all the features of Archive mode.
-** Create a category of errors called `process-error'
+** Create a category of errors called 'process-error'
for some or all errors associated with using subprocesses.
-** Maybe reinterpret `parse-error' as a category of errors
+** Maybe reinterpret 'parse-error' as a category of errors
and put some other errors under it.
** Make byte-compile warn when a doc string is too wide.
customization buffers.
** Emacs Lisp mode could put an overlay on the defun for every
- function that has advice. The overlay could have `after-text' like
+ function that has advice. The overlay could have 'after-text' like
" [Function has advice]". It might look like (defun foo [Function
has advice] (x y) The overlay could also be a button that you could
use to view the advice.
H-S-C-M-s-double-wheel-up, ...
** Beefed-up syntax-tables.
-*** recognize multi-character syntactic entities like `begin' and `end'.
+*** recognize multi-character syntactic entities like 'begin' and 'end'.
*** nested string-delimiters (for PostScript's (foo(bar)baz) strings).
*** support for infix operators (with precedence).
*** support for the $ (paired delimiter) in parse-partial-sexp.
** Make monochrome images display using the foreground and background
colors of the applicable faces.
-** Make `format-time-string' preserve text properties like `format'.
+** Make 'format-time-string' preserve text properties like 'format'.
** Optionally make the cursor a little thinner at the end of a line
or the end of the buffer.
the XPMs so that the color versions work generally. (Requires care
with the color used for the transparent regions.)
-** Convenient access to the `values' variable. It would be nice to have an
+** Convenient access to the 'values' variable. It would be nice to have an
interface that would show you the printed reps of the elements of the
list in a menu, let you select one of the values, and put it into some
- other variable, without changing the value of `values'.
+ other variable, without changing the value of 'values'.
** (Controlled by a flag) make open and close syntax match exactly,
- i.e. `(' doesn't match `]'.
+ i.e. '(' doesn't match ']'.
-** Specify parameter ID-FORMAT in all calls to `file-attributes' and
- `directory-files-and-attributes' where attributes UID or GID are used.
+** Specify parameter ID-FORMAT in all calls to 'file-attributes' and
+ 'directory-files-and-attributes' where attributes UID or GID are used.
Whenever possible, use value 'string.
When done, change meaning of default value from 'integer to 'string.
If value 'integer is used nowhere, remove the parameter ID-FORMAT from
- the definition of `file-attributes' and `directory-files-and-attributes'
+ the definition of 'file-attributes' and 'directory-files-and-attributes'
and from the calls.
** Make language-info-alist customizable. Currently a user can customize
- only the variable `current-language-environment'.
+ only the variable 'current-language-environment'.
** Improve language environment handling so that Emacs can fit
better to a users locale. Currently Emacs uses utf-8 language
characters and phrase boundaries, sentence endings, collation for
sorting (at least for unicodes), HTTP Accept-language, patterns for
directory listings and compilation messages, yes-or-no replies,
- common menu items when the toolkit supports it ... `locale-info'
+ common menu items when the toolkit supports it ... 'locale-info'
needs extending for LC_COLLATE &c. [fx started on this.]
** Eliminate the current restriction on header printing by ps-print.
Info, but also with regard to namespace), and give the value of
lisp expressions, e.g auto-mode-alist, the right face.
-** Possibly make `list-holidays' eval items in the calendar-holidays variable.
+** Possibly make 'list-holidays' eval items in the calendar-holidays variable.
See thread
<http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2006-02/msg01034.html>.
[rgm@gnu.org will look at this after 22.1]
** Cleanup all the GC_ mark bit stuff -- there is no longer any distinction
since the mark bit is no longer stored in the Lisp_Object itself.
-** Refine the `predicate' arg to read-file-name.
+** Refine the 'predicate' arg to read-file-name.
Currently, it mixes up the predicate to apply when doing completion and the
one to use when terminating the selection.
* Other known bugs:
-** `make-frame' forgets unhandled parameters, at least for X11 frames.
+** 'make-frame' forgets unhandled parameters, at least for X11 frames.
** a two-char comment-starter whose two chars are symbol constituents will
not be noticed if it appears within a word.
This shows the different kinds of messages compile recognizes by default and
how they are rendered. It is intended both to help you decide which matchers
you need and as a test of the matchers. Move the mouse over a colored part or
-use `compilation-message-face', to see how much text was actually matched.
+use 'compilation-message-face', to see how much text was actually matched.
Note that the following example line should NOT be highlighted:
Compilation started at Sat Jul 8 15:19:25
The important part is the symbol(s) line at the beginning of each entry.
-These are the symbols you can customize `compilation-error-regexp-alist' for,
+These are the symbols you can customize 'compilation-error-regexp-alist' for,
to match the messages shown in that entry. A few complex cases have more than
one symbol, which should be selected together.
* Directory tracking
-Directories are matched via `compilation-directory-matcher'. Files which are
+Directories are matched via 'compilation-directory-matcher'. Files which are
not shown as full paths are searched for relative to the directory where the
message was issued.
Entering directory `/a/b/c'
Leaving directory `/a/b/c'
-gmake[2]: Entering directory `/a/b/c'
+make[2]: Entering directory '/a/b/c'
+make[2]: Leaving directory '/a/b/c'
makepp: Leaving directory `/a/b/c'
tic -o ../ ./eterm-color.ti
The compiled file is used by lisp/term.el, so if it is moved term.el
-needs to be changed. terminfo requires it to be stored in an `e'
+needs to be changed. terminfo requires it to be stored in an 'e'
subdirectory (the first character of the file name).
<indent>Most of the time, you need not do anything to get these features
to work. If you visit a file that has been written out in
<italic>text/enriched</italic> format, it will automatically be decoded, Emacs will
-enter `enriched-mode' while visiting it, and whenever you save it
+enter 'enriched-mode' while visiting it, and whenever you save it
it will be saved in the same format it was read in.
If you wish to create a new file, however, you will need to turn
<fixed><indent>M-x format-decode-buffer RET text/enriched RET</indent></fixed></indent>
-
+
<x-bg-color><param>blue</param><x-color><param>white</param><bold>WHAT IS ENCODED</bold></x-color></x-bg-color>
<indent>You can add faces either with the menu or with <fixed>M-o.</fixed> The face is
applied to the current region. If you are using
-`transient-mark-mode' and the region is not active, then the face
+'transient-mark-mode' and the region is not active, then the face
applies to whatever you type next. Any face can have colors. If
this is its lone attribute, the face is put on the color submenus
of the "Text Properties" menu.</indent>
-<indent><nofill>Several styles of justification are possible, the simplest being <italic>unfilled.
-</italic>This means that your lines will be left as you write them.
+<indent><nofill>Several styles of justification are possible, the simplest being <italic>unfilled.
+</italic>This means that your lines will be left as you write them.
This paragraph is unfilled.</nofill>
<flushright> <italic>FlushRight</italic> makes each line flush with the right margin instead.
This paragraph is FlushRight.</flushright>
-
<flushboth><italic>FlushBoth </italic>regions, which are sometimes called "fully justified"
are aligned evenly on both edges, so that the text on the page has
-a smooth appearance as in a book or newspaper article.
+a smooth appearance as in a book or newspaper article.
Unfortunately this does not look as nice with a fixed-width font
as it does in a proportionally-spaced printed document; the extra
-spaces that are needed on the screen can make it hard to read. </flushboth>
+spaces that are needed on the screen can make it hard to read.</flushboth>
-<center>
+<center>
<bold>Center</bold>
M-j or the "Text Properties" menu also can be used to change
justification.
-
+
</center><flushboth>Note that justification can only change at hard newlines, because
-that is the unit over which filling gets done. </flushboth></indent>
+that is the unit over which filling gets done.</flushboth></indent>
<x-bg-color><param>blue</param><x-color><param>white</param><bold>EXCERPTS</bold></x-color></x-bg-color>
<excerpt><indent>This is an example of an excerpt. You can use them for quoted
parts of other people's email messages and the like. It is just a
-face, which is the same as the `italic' face by default.</indent></excerpt>
+face, which is the same as the 'italic' face by default.</indent></excerpt>
<x-bg-color><param>blue</param><x-color><param>white</param><bold>THE FILE FORMAT</bold></x-color></x-bg-color>
+ Notice and re-fill when window changes widths (optionally).
-+ Deal with the `category' text-property in a smart way.
++ Deal with the 'category' text-property in a smart way.
+ Interface w/ Gnus, VM, RMAIL. Maybe Info too? </indent>(Gnus 5.9 copes
\e[35mlisp/org/org.el\e[1;36m:\e[0m21047\e[1;36m:\e[0m (\e[1;31morg-element-map\e[0m
* git-grep
- with `[diff "lisp"] xfuncname = "^(\\(.*)$"' in .gitconfig
- and `*.el diff=lisp' in .gitattributes
+ with '[diff "lisp"] xfuncname = "^(\\(.*)$"' in .gitconfig
+ and '*.el diff=lisp' in .gitattributes
git --no-pager grep -inH -p -e "org-element-map"
lisp/org/org.el\e[36m=\e[m20969\e[36m=\e[m(defun org-fill-paragraph (&optional justify)
separate, optional packages such as: texlive-lang-cyrillic,
texlive-lang-czechslovak, texlive-lang-german, and texlive-lang-polish.
-Type `make all' (or `make pdf') to generate PDF versions of all the cards.
-For PostScript format, use `make ps'.
+Type 'make all' (or 'make pdf') to generate PDF versions of all the cards.
+For PostScript format, use 'make ps'.
To only generate the cards for a specific language, use e.g.
-`make french' or `make french-ps'. As mentioned above, you may need
+'make french' or 'make french-ps'. As mentioned above, you may need
to install extra TeX packages for some languages.
PDF and PS copies of these cards are also available at
projects / emacs.git / commitdiff