From: Eli Zaretskii Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2020 10:28:06 +0000 (+0200) Subject: Update Antinews in the Emacs manual X-Git-Tag: emacs-27.0.90~189 X-Git-Url: http://git.eshelyaron.com/gitweb/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=5efe795659df95637126eed47abd3b86dc0662a1;p=emacs.git Update Antinews in the Emacs manual * doc/emacs/anti.texi (Antinews): Rewrite for Emacs 27. * doc/emacs/emacs.texi (Top): Update the "Antiniews" item of the top-level menu. --- diff --git a/doc/emacs/anti.texi b/doc/emacs/anti.texi index 6cf573ea279..f8466acce83 100644 --- a/doc/emacs/anti.texi +++ b/doc/emacs/anti.texi @@ -4,103 +4,112 @@ @c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions. @node Antinews -@appendix Emacs 25 Antinews +@appendix Emacs 26 Antinews @c Update the emacs.texi Antinews menu entry with the above version number. For those users who live backwards in time, here is information -about downgrading to Emacs version 25.3. We hope you will enjoy the +about downgrading to Emacs version 26.3. We hope you will enjoy the greater simplicity that results from the absence of many @w{Emacs @value{EMACSVER}} features. @itemize @bullet @item -Emacs no longer defaults to requiring the GnuTLS library when you -build it. Those who want the TLS functionality built-in will have to -explicitly request it at build time---or forever hold their peace. We -decided that having the TLS functionality doesn't justify annoying -users or package builders with error messages about libgnutls absence. -We also decided that if you do build with GnuTLS, we will allow -versions of the library older than 2.12.2, as that version will become -less and less available/popular as you move farther back in time. +Emacs no longer uses @acronym{GMP}, the GNU Multiple Precision +library, and doesn't support Lisp integers greater than +@code{most-positive-fixnum} or smaller than +@code{most-negative-fixnum}. We now have only one kind of a Lisp +integer. This simplifies many Lisp programs that use integers, and +makes integer calculations always fast. If you want larger values, +use Lisp floats, as Emacs has done since day one. @item -For similar reasons, we've reverted back to building our own version -of @command{movemail} that retrieves POP3 mail as clear text via -insecure channels. As you move back in time, the availability of -secure alternatives to POP3 will diminish, and we are only keen to -support that. We've also removed the @option{--with-mailutils} -configure-time option, as it no longer makes sense for the observable -past. +Emacs no longer supports HarfBuzz as the engine for shaping complex +text. As you move back in time, we will gradually shed off all traces +of support for complex text shaping, and this is one step in that +direction. @item -We have removed support for @command{systemd} and similar services: we -no longer provide a user init file for enabling Emacs support via -those services, and we removed from the Emacs server the -socket-launching support important for Emacs client operation under -these services. Again, these services will lose popularity as you -move back in time, so the code supporting them will be just dead code, -bloating Emacs unnecessarily. +We have removed support for building with the Jansson library, and +consequently the native support for JSON parsing is gone. The +importance of JSON decreases as we go back in time, so for now using +the Lisp code for handling it should be good enough; in one of the +past Emacs versions, we intend to remove even that, as useless bloat. + +The library for supporting JSONRPC applications was removed for the +same reason. @item -Reproducible builds of Emacs are no longer supported, as past -development will make that unnecessary. +The ``portable dumper'' feature is gone. We are once again using the +field-proven ``unexec'' way of dumping Emacs. With that, the hope for +being able to re-dump your customized Emacs session is also gone: why +would anyone want to record their random customization experiments on +disk, and restore them the next time they start Emacs? And true +Emacsers don't restart their Emacs sessions anyway. @item -The @option{--fg-daemon} is gone, leaving only @option{--daemon}. No -need to procrastinate on the dilemma whether you do or do not want the -new shiny ``headless Emacs'' thingy. Hail, simplicity! +We dropped the support for @acronym{XDG}-style configuration +directories and the @env{XDG_CONFIG_HOME} environment variable. +There's once again only one place where Emacs looks for its init +files: the @file{~/.emacs.d} directory, with the @file{~/.emacs} file +as fallback. We think this will go a long way towards preventing +confusion among users who for some reason have @env{XDG_CONFIG_HOME} +set, thus risking to have their init files randomly spread between two +places. In one of the past Emacs versions, we intend to further +simplify this, removing the @file{~/.emacs.d} place and leaving only +@file{~/.emacs}; stay tuned. + +For similar reasons, we've removed the ``early init'' file. You can +now again use all the tricks you want to initialize variables like +@code{package-user-dir} and @code{package-load-list} just in time for +the packages to load. + +@command{emacsclient} no longer supports @acronym{XDG}-style directory +trees, either. @item -As text terminals supporting true color will lose ground as you move -back in time, we've removed support for 24-bit colors on text -terminals. If you want colors on a text terminal, you should be fine -with just 8 of them. (Truth being told, we think text terminals -should be monochrome, but you will have to keep downgrading to older -Emacs versions to have that feature back.) +TLS connections are back to their lenient security settings. We +decide that too tight security settings are an annoyance for users, +and make little sense considering the world-wide tendency to have less +and less network security problems as we move back in time (those +issues will be completely gone when networks disappear in some distant +past). @item -Emacs 25.3 no longer supports magic signatures of the form -@samp{#!/usr/bin/env @var{interpreter}} in scripts. Moving back in -time means you are getting closer to the ideal of the original Unix -design where all the interpreters lived in a single directory -@file{/bin}, so this fancy feature is simply becoming unnecessary -ballast. +The @code{server-after-make-frame-hook} hook was deleted, in +preparation for removing the entire daemon business in some past Emacs +version. You will be glad to learn that setting up the GUI +customizations of your sessions is now once again as easy as it ever +was, with just the @code{after-make-frame-functions} to use. @item -The double-buffering feature of Emacs display on X has been removed. -We decided that its complexity and a few random surprising -side-effects aren't justified by the gains, even though those gains -were hailed in some quarters. Yes, Emacs 25.3 will flicker in some -use cases, but we are sure Emacs users will be able to suck it, as -they have been doing for years. Since this feature is gone, we've -also removed the @code{inhibit-double-buffering} frame parameter, -which is now unnecessary. +The @code{flex} completion style was removed. We feel that it +unnecessarily complicates the Emacs user experience, and therefore +will continue to remove other tricky completion styles, until in some +past Emacs version we get to a single original style Emacs pioneered +decades ago. Long live simplicity; down with complications! @item -Non-breaking hyphens and ASCII characters displayed instead of -unsupported quote characters are now again displayed using the -@code{escape-glyph} face. We think having a single face instead of 3 -different ones will make Emacs customization a much simpler job for -users. For the same reason, we've removed the -@code{header-line-highlight} face, leaving just @code{highlight} for -any element of the Emacs display besides the mode line. +The optional display of the fill-column indicator is no longer +supported. With the display sizes becoming smaller and smaller as you +move back in time, we feel that the display itself will always show +you where to fill or wrap your text, and do this much more easily and +reliably than eny such display indicator. @item -You can no longer disable attempts of recovery from fatal exceptions -such as C stack overflows and fatal signals. Since the recovery -included in Emacs is reliable enough, we decided there was no reason -to put your edits in danger of becoming lost when these situations -happen. The variables @code{attempt-stack-overflow-recovery} and -@code{attempt-orderly-shutdown-on-fatal-signal} are therefore removed. +We removed the features that made visiting large files easier. Thus, +Emacs will no longer suggest visiting a large file literally, nor will +offer the @code{so-long} mode to deal with overly-long lines. We +decided that this simplification is worthwhile, given the general +tendency of having very large files a rarity as we move back in time. @item -The @code{list-timers} command was removed, as we decided timers are -not a user-level feature, and therefore users should not be allowed to -mess with them. Ask an Emacs Lisp guru near you for help if you have -a runaway timer in your session. (Of course, as you move back in -time, such runaway timers will become less and less frequent, and -actually timers might start shutting down automatically, as they -cannot cope with time reversal.) +We have removed the feature that displayed echo-area messages without +hiding content of the active minibuffer. This should prevent user +confusion from having two unrelated pieces of text staring at them, +with no clear separation between them. Users with good memories (and +Emacs users are all expected to be of that kind) will have no trouble +keeping the minibuffer text in their minds, and typing the responses +without actually seeing the prompts. @item Horizontal scrolling using the mouse or touchpad has been removed. In @@ -110,14 +119,20 @@ horizontal scrolling is the first step towards its complete removal in prior Emacs versions. @item -We have found the @option{--tramp} option of @command{emacsclient} too -risky and too complicated, so we removed it to simplify the client -code and its usage. +The @code{main-thread} variable and @code{list-threads} were removed, +and @code{thread-join} no longer returns the result of the finished +thread. We intend to remove the support for Lisp threads in some past +Emacs version, so we continue removing the associated complexities and +features as we go back in time. @item -The @code{display-raw-bytes-as-hex} variable is gone, so raw bytes can -only be displayed as octal escapes. Emacs users should be able to -convert from octal to any other base in their sleep! +Tab bar and window tab-lines were removed. This should make the Emacs +display simpler and less cluttered, and help those users who disable +menu bar and tool bar in their GUI sessions. The fashion to provide +tabs in every GUI application out there is gaining less and less +popularity as we move back in time, and will completely disappear at +some past point; removing the tabs from Emacs is the step in that +direction. @item Displaying line numbers for a buffer is only possibly using add-on @@ -129,42 +144,15 @@ Consequently, @code{display-line-numbers-mode} was removed. @item On our permanent quest for simplifying Emacs, we've removed the -support for passing command-line arguments and options to Emacs via -the @option{--alternate-editor} option of @command{emacsclient} and -@env{ALTERNATE_EDITOR} environment variable. There's only one True -Emacs---the one that comes up when invoked as @kbd{emacs}, no need for -all those fancy options! - -@item -The complication known as ``single-line horizontal scrolling'' is no -longer with you in Emacs 25.3. This feature was a bow to ``other -editors''; instead, let those other editors bow to Emacs by hscrolling -the entire window at all times. Repeat after me: ``The Emacs way is -the Only Way!'' - -@item -The fancy case conversions of non-ASCII characters used in several -locales, like Turkish and Greek, are removed, leaving the relations -between upper and lower letter-case simple again, as they were in -7-bit ASCII. Likewise with ligatures that turn into multiple -characters when their letter-case changes---gone. - -@item -Enchant is no longer supported by @code{ispell-buffer} and similar -spell-checking commands. As Enchant will gradually disappear while -you move back in time, its support will become unnecessary anyway. - -@item -Tramp lost its support for Google Drive repositories. Cloud storage -is on its way to extinction as you move back in time, thus making this -feature redundant. +support for changing the font size by turning the mouse wheel. @item Several commands, deemed to be unnecessary complications, have been -removed. Examples include @code{replace-buffer-contents} and -@code{apropos-local-variable}. +removed. Examples include @code{make-empty-file}, +@code{font-lock-refontify}, @code{xref-find-definitions-at-mouse}, +@code{make-frame-on-monitor}, and @code{diff-buffers}. @item To keep up with decreasing computer memory capacity and disk space, many -other functions and files have been eliminated in Emacs 25.3. +other functions and files have been eliminated in Emacs 26.3. @end itemize diff --git a/doc/emacs/emacs.texi b/doc/emacs/emacs.texi index 1368f3e2980..9a635218187 100644 --- a/doc/emacs/emacs.texi +++ b/doc/emacs/emacs.texi @@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ Appendices * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation. * Emacs Invocation:: Hairy startup options. * X Resources:: X resources for customizing Emacs. -* Antinews:: Information about Emacs version 25. +* Antinews:: Information about Emacs version 26. * Mac OS / GNUstep:: Using Emacs under macOS and GNUstep. * Microsoft Windows:: Using Emacs on Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS. * Manifesto:: What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix!