[PATCH] New version of FAQ

This is a major revision of the FAQ. There is no point in sending a diff as it's longer than the file itself. The section on Troubleshooting (now 2.3) has been completely written and includes a lot of stuff that is not properly documented anywhere else. A fair amount of obsolete info has been deleted and I've incorporated the comments that people (mostly Stephen T) made. Former chapter 3 has been split up in two. What were formerly chapters 5 and 6 no longer exist as such; the info in them has undergone a diaspora :) to other chapters. A great deal of other rearranging has occurred [how about them passives that implicitly disclaim all responsibility? :] and hopefully stuff should be much easier to locate. I also rewrote the section on the authors of XEmacs, including lots of info on who wrote specific subsections. However, this is certainly not complete; I hope people will look over this and fix it up as necessary. Also, questions 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 (among others) need some definite updating and questions 4.4.1, 5.2.1, 5.3.2 and 7.0.1 are not written at all. ben \input texinfo.tex ＠c -*- mode: texinfo; coding: iso-2022-8 -*- ＠c %**start of header ＠setfilename ../info/xemacs-faq.info ＠settitle Frequently asked questions about XEmacs ＠setchapternewpage off ＠c %**end of header ＠finalout ＠titlepage ＠title XEmacs FAQ ＠subtitle Frequently asked questions about XEmacs ＠* Last Modified: $Date: 2004/07/05 10:42:30 $ ＠sp 1 ＠author Ben Wing <ben＠(a)xemacs.org&gt; ＠author Tony Rossini <rossini＠(a)u.washington.edu&gt; ＠author Chuck Thompson <cthomp＠(a)xemacs.org&gt; ＠author Steve Baur <steve＠(a)xemacs.org&gt; ＠author Andreas Kaempf <andreas＠(a)sccon.com&gt; ＠author Christian Nyb＠o{} <chr＠(a)mediascience.no&gt; ＠author Sandra Wambold <wambold＠(a)xemacs.org&gt; ＠page ＠end titlepage ＠ifinfo ＠dircategory XEmacs Editor ＠direntry * FAQ: (xemacs-faq). XEmacs FAQ. ＠end direntry ＠end ifinfo ＠node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir) ＠top XEmacs FAQ This is the guide to the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list---a compendium of questions and answers pertaining to one of the finest programs ever written. XEmacs is much more than just a Text Editor. This FAQ is freely redistributable. This FAQ is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. If you have a Web browser, the official hypertext version is at ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org/FAQ/xemacs-faq.html} ＠ifset CANONICAL ＠html This document is available in several different formats: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item ＠uref{xemacs-faq.txt, As a single ASCII file}, produced by ＠code{makeinfo --no-headers} ＠item ＠uref{xemacs-faq.dvi, As a .dvi file}, as used with ＠uref{http://www.tug.org, TeX.} ＠item As a PostScript file ＠uref{xemacs-faq-a4.ps, in A4 format}, as well as in ＠uref{xemacs-faq-letter.ps, letter format} ＠item In html format, ＠uref{xemacs-faq_1.html, split by chapter}, or in ＠uref{xemacs-faq.html, one monolithic} document. ＠item The canonical version of the FAQ is the texinfo document ＠uref{xemacs-faq.texi, man/xemacs-faq.texi}. ＠item If you do not have makeinfo installed, you may ＠uref{xemacs-faq.info, download the faq} in info format, and install it in ＠file{<XEmacs library directory>/info/}. For example in ＠file{/usr/local/lib/xemacs-21.4/info/}. ＠end itemize ＠end html ＠end ifset ＠c end ifset points to CANONICAL ＠menu * Introduction:: Introduction, Policy, Credits. * Installation:: Installation and Troubleshooting. * Display Subsystems:: Basic Display-Related Subsystems. * External Subsystems:: Interfacing with the OS and External Devices. * Internet:: Connecting to the Internet. * Advanced:: Advanced Customization Using XEmacs Lisp. * Current Events:: What the Future Holds. * Legacy Versions:: New information about old XEmacsen. ＠detailmenu --- The Detailed Node Listing --- 1 Introduction, Policy, Credits * Q1.0.1:: What is XEmacs? * Q1.0.2:: What is the current version of XEmacs? * Q1.0.3:: Where can I find it? * Q1.0.4:: Are binaries available? * Q1.0.5:: Why another version of Emacs? * Q1.0.6:: Why haven't XEmacs and GNU Emacs merged? * Q1.0.7:: Where can I get help? * Q1.0.8:: Where are the mailing lists archived? * Q1.0.9:: How do you pronounce XEmacs? * Q1.0.10:: What does XEmacs look like? * Q1.0.11:: Where can I obtain a printed copy of the XEmacs User's Manual? 1.1: Versions for Different Operating Systems * Q1.1.1:: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs? * Q1.1.2:: Is there a port of XEmacs to Microsoft Windows? * Q1.1.3:: Can I build XEmacs on MS Windows with X support? Do I need to? * Q1.1.4:: What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs? * Q1.1.5:: What are the differences between the various MS Windows emacsen? * Q1.1.6:: Is there a port of XEmacs to the Macintosh? * Q1.1.7:: Is there a port of XEmacs to NextStep? * Q1.1.8:: Is there a port of XEmacs to OS/2? * Q1.1.9:: How does the port cope with differences in the Windows user interface? 1.2: Policies * Q1.2.1:: What is the FAQ editorial policy? * Q1.2.2:: How do I become a beta tester? * Q1.2.3:: How do I contribute to XEmacs itself? 1.3: Credits * Q1.3.1:: Who wrote XEmacs? * Q1.3.2:: Who contributed to this version of the FAQ? * Q1.3.3:: Who contributed to the FAQ in the past? 1.4: Internationalization * Q1.4.1:: What is the status of internationalization support aka MULE (including Asian language support? * Q1.4.2:: How can I help with internationalization? * Q1.4.3:: How do I type non-ASCII characters? * Q1.4.4:: Can XEmacs messages come out in a different language? * Q1.4.5:: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/XEmacs * Q1.4.6:: How do I portably code for MULE/XEmacs? * Q1.4.7:: How about Cyrillic modes? * Q1.4.8:: Does XEmacs support Unicode? * Q1.4.9:: How does XEmacs display Unicode? 1.5: Getting Started * Q1.5.1:: What is an ＠file{init.el} or ＠file{.emacs} and is there a sample one? * Q1.5.2:: Where do I put my ＠file{init.el} file? * Q1.5.3:: Can I use the same ＠file{init.el} with the other Emacs? * Q1.5.4:: Any good XEmacs tutorials around? * Q1.5.5:: May I see an example of a useful XEmacs Lisp function? * Q1.5.6:: And how do I bind it to a key? * Q1.5.7:: What's the difference between a macro and a function? * Q1.5.8:: What is ＠code{Custom}? 2 Installation and Troubleshooting * Q2.0.1:: Where do I find external libraries? * Q2.0.2:: How do I figure out which packages to install? * Q2.0.3:: I don't need no steenkin' packages. Do I? * Q2.0.4:: How do I specify the paths that XEmacs uses for finding files? * Q2.0.5:: Running XEmacs without installing * Q2.0.6:: XEmacs is too big * Q2.0.7:: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood" (NEW) 2.1: Unix Installation (Also Relevant to Cygwin, MinGW) * Q2.1.1:: Libraries in non-standard locations * Q2.1.2:: Why can't I strip XEmacs? * Q2.1.3:: Compiling XEmacs with Netaudio. * Q2.1.4:: Problems with Linux and ncurses. 2.2: Windows Installation (Windows, Cygwin, MinGW) * Q2.2.1:: What exactly are all the different ways to build XEmacs under Windows? * Q2.2.2:: What compiler/libraries do I need to compile XEmacs? * Q2.2.3:: How do I compile the native port? * Q2.2.4:: What do I need for Cygwin? * Q2.2.5:: How do I compile under Cygwin? * Q2.2.6:: How do I compile using MinGW (aka ＠samp{the -mno-cygwin flag to gcc})? * Q2.2.7:: How do I compile with X support? * Q2.2.8:: Cygwin XEmacs won't start -- cygXpm-noX4.dll was not found (NEW) 2.3: General Troubleshooting * Q2.3.1:: Help! XEmacs just crashed on me! * Q2.3.2:: XEmacs crashes and I compiled it myself. * Q2.3.3:: How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger * Q2.3.4:: I get a cryptic error message when trying to do something. * Q2.3.5:: XEmacs hangs when I try to do something. * Q2.3.6:: I get an error message when XEmacs is running in batch mode. * Q2.3.7:: The keyboard or mouse is not working properly, or I have some other event-related problem. * Q2.3.8:: ＠kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken? * Q2.3.9:: How do I debug process-related problems? * Q2.3.10:: XEmacs is outputting lots of X errors. * Q2.3.11:: After upgrading, XEmacs won't do `foo' any more! 2.4: Startup-Related Problems * Q2.4.1:: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal! * Q2.4.2:: XEmacs won't start on Windows. * Q2.4.3:: XEmacs won't start without network. * Q2.4.4:: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts? * Q2.4.5:: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers. * Q2.4.6:: XEmacs 21.1 on Windows used to spawn an ugly console window on every startup. Has that been fixed? 3 Basic Display-Related Subsystems * Q3.0.1:: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys? * Q3.0.2:: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down? * Q3.0.3:: Globally binding ＠kbd{Delete}? * Q3.0.4:: How to map ＠kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard? * Q3.0.5:: How can you type in special characters in XEmacs? * Q3.0.6:: Can I turn on ＠dfn{sticky} modifier keys? * Q3.0.7:: How do I map the arrow keys? * Q3.0.8:: HP Alt key as Meta. * Q3.0.9:: Why does edt emulation not work? * Q3.0.10:: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode? 3.1: The Mouse * Q3.1.1:: How can I turn off Mouse pasting? * Q3.1.2:: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons? * Q3.1.3:: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list. * Q3.1.4:: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3? * Q3.1.5:: How I can set XEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is? 3.2: Textual Fonts and Colors * Q3.2.1:: How do I specify a font? * Q3.2.2:: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts? * Q3.2.3:: How can I set color options from ＠file{init.el}? * Q3.2.4:: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region? * Q3.2.5:: How can I limit color map usage? * Q3.2.6:: My tty supports color, but XEmacs doesn't use them. * Q3.2.7:: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in XEmacs? * Q3.2.8:: How do I display non-ASCII characters? * Q3.2.9:: Font selections in don't get saved after ＠code{Save Options}. 3.3: The Menubar and Toolbar * Q3.3.1:: How do I get rid of the menu (or menubar)? * Q3.3.2:: Can I customize the basic menubar? * Q3.3.3:: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu ＠code{Buffers List}? * Q3.3.4:: Resources like ＠code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working? * Q3.3.5:: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar? * Q3.3.6:: ＠samp{Can't instantiate image error...} in toolbar 3.4: Scrollbars and Scrolling * Q3.4.1:: How can I disable the scrollbar? * Q3.4.2:: How can one use resources to change scrollbar colors? * Q3.4.3:: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this? * Q3.4.4:: Scrolling one line at a time. * Q3.4.5:: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes? * Q3.4.6:: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off? 3.5: The Modeline * Q3.5.1:: How can I make the modeline go away? * Q3.5.2:: How do you have XEmacs display the line number in the modeline? * Q3.5.3:: How do I get XEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline? * Q3.5.4:: How can one change the modeline color based on the mode used? 3.6: The Cursor * Q3.6.1:: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker? * Q3.6.2:: Is there a way to get back the block cursor? * Q3.6.3:: Can I make the cursor blink? 3.7: Text Selections * Q3.7.1:: How do I select a rectangular region? * Q3.7.2:: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections? * Q3.7.3:: How do I get that typing on an active region removes it? * Q3.7.4:: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch? * Q3.7.5:: How do I turn off highlighting after ＠kbd{C-x C-p} (mark-page)? * Q3.7.6:: The region disappears when I hit the end of buffer while scrolling. * Q3.7.7:: Why is killing so slow? * Q3.7.8:: Why does ＠kbd{M-w} take so long? 3.8: Buffers, Text Editing * Q3.8.1:: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way? * Q3.8.2:: How do I insert today's date into a buffer? * Q3.8.3:: How do I get a single minibuffer frame? * Q3.8.4:: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt? * Q3.8.5:: How can I get XEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default? 3.9: Editing Source Code * Q3.9.1:: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock? * Q3.9.2:: How do I get ＠samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default? * Q3.9.3:: Where do I get the latest CC Mode? * Q3.9.4:: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode? * Q3.9.5:: How do you make XEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly? 4 Interfacing with the Operating System and External Devices * Q4.0.1:: Where is a list of X resources? * Q4.0.2:: How can I detect a color display? * Q4.0.3:: How can I get the icon to just say ＠samp{XEmacs}? * Q4.0.4:: How can I have the window title area display the full path? * Q4.0.5:: ＠samp{xemacs -name junk} doesn't work? * Q4.0.6:: ＠samp{-iconic} doesn't work. 4.1: Microsoft Windows * Q4.1.1:: Does XEmacs rename all the ＠samp{win32-*} symbols to ＠samp{w32-*}? * Q4.1.2:: How do I get Windows Explorer to associate a file type with XEmacs? 4.2: Printing * Q4.2.1:: What do I need to change to make printing work? * Q4.2.2:: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer? * Q4.2.3:: Getting ＠kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer. * Q4.2.4:: Can you print under MS Windows? 4.3: Sound * Q4.3.1:: How do I turn off the sound? * Q4.3.2:: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep? * Q4.3.3:: What's NAS, how do I get it? * Q4.3.4:: Sunsite sounds don't play. 4.4: Running an Interior Shell, Invoking Subprocesses * Q4.4.1:: What is an interior shell? * Q4.4.2:: How do I start up a second shell buffer? * Q4.4.3:: Telnet from shell filters too much * Q4.4.4:: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode. * Q4.4.5:: XEmacs complains "No such file or directory, diff" 4.5: Multiple Device Support * Q4.5.1:: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display? * Q4.5.2:: Can I really connect to a running XEmacs after calling up over a modem? How? * Q4.5.3:: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame? * Q4.5.4:: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent XEmacs is a client? * Q4.5.5:: Is there a way to start a new XEmacs if there's no gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient? 4.6: TeX * Q4.6.1:: Is there something better than LaTeX mode? * Q4.6.2:: What is AUCTeX? Where do you get it? * Q4.6.3:: Problems installing AUCTeX. * Q4.6.4:: How do I turn off current chapter from AUCTeX modeline? 4.7: Other Unbundled Packages * Q4.7.1:: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in XEmacs? * Q4.7.2:: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets? * Q4.7.3:: Is there a MatLab mode? 4.8: Environments Built Around XEmacs * Q4.8.1:: What are SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop? * Q4.8.2:: How do I start the Sun Workshop support in XEmacs 21? * Q4.8.3:: What is/was Energize? * Q4.8.4:: What is Infodock? 5 Connecting to the Internet * Q5.0.1:: How do I set up VM to retrieve mail from a remote site using POP? * Q5.0.2:: How do I get VM to filter mail for me? * Q5.0.3:: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail? * Q5.0.4:: How do I get my outgoing mail archived? * Q5.0.5:: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How can I tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"? * Q5.0.6:: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM? * Q5.0.7:: Remote mail reading with VM. * Q5.0.8:: rmail or VM gets an error incorporating new mail. * Q5.0.9:: How do I make VM stay in a single frame? * Q5.0.10:: How do I make VM or mh-e display graphical smilies? * Q5.0.11:: Customization of VM not covered in the manual, or here. 5.1: Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus * Q5.1.1:: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus, Quassia Gnus, argh! * Q5.1.2:: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame? * Q5.1.3:: How do I customize the From line? 5.2: Other Mail and News * Q5.2.1:: What are the various packages for reading mail? * Q5.2.2:: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages? * Q5.2.3:: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines? * Q5.2.4:: Why isn't this ＠code{movemail} program working? * Q5.2.5:: Movemail is also distributed by Netscape? Can that cause problems? * Q5.2.6:: Movemail on Linux does not work 5.3: FTP Access * Q5.3.1:: Can I edit files on other hosts? * Q5.3.2:: What is EFS? 5.4: Web Browsing with W3 * Q5.4.1:: What is W3? * Q5.4.2:: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall? * Q5.4.3:: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables? 6 Advanced Customization Using XEmacs Lisp * Q6.0.1:: How can I get two instances of info? * Q6.0.2:: How do I add new Info directories? 6.1: Emacs Lisp and ＠file{init.el} * Q6.1.1:: What version of Emacs am I running? * Q6.1.2:: How can I evaluate Emacs-Lisp expressions? * Q6.1.3:: ＠code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly. * Q6.1.4:: How can I add directories to the ＠code{load-path}? * Q6.1.5:: How to check if a lisp function is defined? * Q6.1.6:: Can I force the output of ＠code{(face-list)} to a buffer? 6.2: Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques * Q6.2.1:: What is the difference in key sequences between XEmacs and GNU Emacs? * Q6.2.2:: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events? * Q6.2.3:: Could you explain ＠code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail? * Q6.2.4:: What is the performance hit of ＠code{let}? * Q6.2.5:: What is the recommended use of ＠code{setq}? * Q6.2.6:: What is the typical misuse of ＠code{setq}? * Q6.2.7:: I like the ＠code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down? * Q6.2.8:: I like recursion, does it slow things down? * Q6.2.9:: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer? * Q6.2.10:: ＠code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents! * Q6.2.11:: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there 6.3: Mathematics * Q6.3.1:: What are bignums, ratios, and bigfloats in Lisp? * Q6.3.2:: XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers! * Q6.3.3:: Bignums are really slow! * Q6.3.4:: Equal bignums don't compare as equal! What gives? 7 What the Future Holds * Q7.0.1:: What new features will be in XEmacs soon? * Q7.0.2:: What's new in XEmacs 21.4? * Q7.0.3:: What's new in XEmacs 21.1? * Q7.0.4:: What's new in XEmacs 20.4? * Q7.0.5:: What's new in XEmacs 20.3? * Q7.0.6:: What's new in XEmacs 20.2? 8 New information about old XEmacsen * Q8.0.1:: Gnus 5.10 won't display smileys in XEmacs 21.1. ＠end detailmenu ＠end menu ＠node Introduction, Installation, Top, Top ＠unnumbered 1 Introduction, Policy, Credits Learning XEmacs is a lifelong activity. Even people who have used Emacs for years keep discovering new features. Therefore this document cannot be complete. Instead it is aimed at the person who is either considering XEmacs for their own use, or has just obtained it and is wondering what to do next. It is also useful as a reference to available resources. The previous maintainer of the FAQ was ＠email{rossini＠(a)biostat.washington.edu, Anthony Rossini}, who started it, after getting tired of hearing JWZ complain about repeatedly having to answer questions. ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org, Ben Wing} then took over and did a massive update reorganizing the whole thing. At this point Anthony took back over, but then had to give it up again. Some of the other contributors to this FAQ are listed later in this document. The previous version was converted to hypertext format, and edited by ＠email{steve＠(a)xemacs.org, Steven L. Baur}. It was converted back to texinfo by ＠email{hniksic＠(a)xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic}. The FAQ was then maintained by ＠email{andreas＠(a)sccon.com, Andreas Kaempf}, who passed it on to ChristianNyb＠o{}, and then to ＠email{wambold＠(a)xemacs.org,Sandra Wambold}. The current version of the FAQ has been heavily redone by ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org, Ben Wing}. If you notice any errors or items which should be added or amended to this FAQ please send email to ＠email{xemacs-beta＠(a)xemacs.org}. Include ＠samp{XEmacs FAQ} on the Subject: line. ＠menu * Q1.0.1:: What is XEmacs? * Q1.0.2:: What is the current version of XEmacs? * Q1.0.3:: Where can I find it? * Q1.0.4:: Are binaries available? * Q1.0.5:: Why another version of Emacs? * Q1.0.6:: Why haven't XEmacs and GNU Emacs merged? * Q1.0.7:: Where can I get help? * Q1.0.8:: Where are the mailing lists archived? * Q1.0.9:: How do you pronounce XEmacs? * Q1.0.10:: What does XEmacs look like? * Q1.0.11:: Where can I obtain a printed copy of the XEmacs User's Manual? 1.1: Versions for Different Operating Systems * Q1.1.1:: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs? * Q1.1.2:: Is there a port of XEmacs to Microsoft Windows? * Q1.1.3:: Can I build XEmacs on MS Windows with X support? Do I need to? * Q1.1.4:: What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs? * Q1.1.5:: What are the differences between the various MS Windows emacsen? * Q1.1.6:: Is there a port of XEmacs to the Macintosh? * Q1.1.7:: Is there a port of XEmacs to NextStep? * Q1.1.8:: Is there a port of XEmacs to OS/2? * Q1.1.9:: How does the port cope with differences in the Windows user interface? 1.2: Policies * Q1.2.1:: What is the FAQ editorial policy? * Q1.2.2:: How do I become a beta tester? * Q1.2.3:: How do I contribute to XEmacs itself? 1.3: Credits * Q1.3.1:: Who wrote XEmacs? * Q1.3.2:: Who contributed to this version of the FAQ? * Q1.3.3:: Who contributed to the FAQ in the past? 1.4: Internationalization * Q1.4.1:: What is the status of internationalization support aka MULE (including Asian language support? * Q1.4.2:: How can I help with internationalization? * Q1.4.3:: How do I type non-ASCII characters? * Q1.4.4:: Can XEmacs messages come out in a different language? * Q1.4.5:: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/XEmacs * Q1.4.6:: How do I portably code for MULE/XEmacs? * Q1.4.7:: How about Cyrillic modes? * Q1.4.8:: Does XEmacs support Unicode? * Q1.4.9:: How does XEmacs display Unicode? 1.5: Getting Started * Q1.5.1:: What is an ＠file{init.el} or ＠file{.emacs} and is there a sample one? * Q1.5.2:: Where do I put my ＠file{init.el} file? * Q1.5.3:: Can I use the same ＠file{init.el} with the other Emacs? * Q1.5.4:: Any good XEmacs tutorials around? * Q1.5.5:: May I see an example of a useful XEmacs Lisp function? * Q1.5.6:: And how do I bind it to a key? * Q1.5.7:: What's the difference between a macro and a function? * Q1.5.8:: What is ＠code{Custom}? ＠end menu ＠unnumberedsec 1.0: Introduction ＠node Q1.0.1, Q1.0.2, Introduction, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.1: What is XEmacs? XEmacs is a powerful, highly customizable open source text editor and application development system, with full GUI support. It is protected under the GNU Public License and related to other versions of Emacs, in particular GNU Emacs. Its emphasis is on modern graphical user interface support and an open software development model, similar to Linux. XEmacs has an active development community numbering in the hundreds (and thousands of active beta testers on top of this), and runs on all versions of MS Windows, on Linux, and on nearly every other version of Unix in existence. Support for XEmacs has been supplied by Sun Microsystems, University of Illinois, Lucid, ETL/Electrotechnical Laboratory, Amdahl Corporation, BeOpen, and others, as well as the unpaid time of a great number of individual developers. ＠node Q1.0.2, Q1.0.3, Q1.0.1, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.2: What is the current version of XEmacs? XEmacs versions 21.4.* are releases made from the current stable sources. XEmacs versions 21.5.* (which will be released as 22.0) are releases made from the development sources. Check at ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org} for the current minor version. XEmacs 20.4, released in February 1998, was the last release of v20. XEmacs 19.16, released in November, 1997. was the last release of v19, and was also the last version without international language support. ＠node Q1.0.3, Q1.0.4, Q1.0.2, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.3: Where can I find it? The canonical source and binaries can be found via anonymous FTP at: ＠example ＠uref{ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/} ＠end example ＠node Q1.0.4, Q1.0.5, Q1.0.3, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.4: Are binaries available? MS Windows binaries are available at ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Download/win32/} for the native versions of 21.4 and 21.1. Cygwin binaries are now available as part of the standard Cygwin installation process. XEmacs also comes pre-built as part of many Linux distributions, such as Red Hat and SuSE. Otherwise, you will need to build XEmacs yourself or get your system administrator to do it. Generally, this is not a difficult process under Unix, as XEmacs has been tested under all of the common Unix versions and comes with an extensive configure script that is able to automatically detect most aspects of the configuration of your particular system. ＠node Q1.0.5, Q1.0.6, Q1.0.4, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.5: Why another version of Emacs? For a detailed description of the differences between GNU Emacs and XEmacs and a detailed history of XEmacs, check out the ＠example ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org/About/XEmacsVsGNUemacs.html, NEWS file} ＠end example However, here is a list of some of the reasons why we think you might consider using it: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item It looks nicer. ＠item The XEmacs maintainers are generally more receptive to suggestions than the GNU Emacs maintainers. ＠item Many more bundled packages than GNU Emacs. ＠item Binaries are available for many common operating systems. ＠item Face support on TTY's. ＠item A built-in toolbar. ＠item Better Motif compliance. ＠item Some internationalization support (including full MULE support, if compiled with it). ＠item Variable-width fonts. ＠item Variable-height lines. ＠item Marginal annotations. ＠item ToolTalk support. ＠item XEmacs can be used as an Xt widget, and can be embedded within another application. ＠item Horizontal and vertical scrollbars (using real toolkit scrollbars). ＠item Better APIs (and performance) for attaching fonts, colors, and other properties to text. ＠item The ability to embed arbitrary graphics in a buffer. ＠item Completely compatible (at the C level) with the Xt-based toolkits. ＠end itemize ＠node Q1.0.6, Q1.0.7, Q1.0.5, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.6: Why haven't XEmacs and GNU Emacs merged? There are currently irreconcilable differences in the views about technical, programming, design, legal and organizational matters between Richard Stallman (RMS) and the XEmacs development team which provide little hope for a merge to take place in the short-term future. Numerous attempts at merging have been made over the years, starting from the early days of Lucid Emacs (in 1991), but have always ultimately broken down. From the XEmacs perspective, the most intractable issues appear to be legal and organizational, specifically: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item RMS requires "legal papers" to be signed for all contributions of code to GNU Emacs over 10 lines or so, transferring the copyright and all legal rights to the code to the Free Software Foundation. XEmacs does not and has never required this, since it has the practical effect of discouraging individual and in particular corporate contributions -- corporations will almost never sign away their legal rights to code since it makes it impossible to reuse the code in any product that whose license is not compatible with the GNU General Public License. Since RMS has shown no inclination to compromise on this issue, a merge would require that most of the existing XEmacs code would need to be thrown away and rewritten -- something the XEmacs developers are understandably reluctant to do. ＠item A repeated stumbling block in the merge talks has been the issue of organizational control over the resulting product. RMS has made it clear that he intends to have final say over design issues in a merged Emacs. Unfortunately, RMS and the XEmacs developers have repeatedly clashed over design decisions, and RMS' insistence on getting his way in such disagreements was the very reason for the split in the first place. This same issue has come up again and again in merge talks and we have never been able to come to a satisfactory resolution. To the extent that RMS is willing to compromise at all, it appears to be of a purely political rather than technical nature -- "If we support this feature of yours, we also get to support this other feature of mine." The XEmacs developers cannot see how such a process would lead to anything but a mess of incompatible things hodgepodged together. ＠item Because of the years of separate development, distinct and incompatible interfaces have developed and merging would be extremely difficult even with the above non-technical issues resolved. The problem has been exacerbated by the issue of legal papers -- because XEmacs code is not "kosher" from RMS' perspective, he discourages developers from even looking at it out of legal concerns. Although it is still possible to read the XEmacs documentation and run the program, the practical effect of this prohibition has been to strongly discourage code-sharing and cooperative development -- although a great deal of GNU Emacs code has been incorporated into XEmacs, practically none has gone the other direction. ＠end itemize If you have a comment to add regarding the merge, it is a good idea to avoid posting to the newsgroups, because of the very heated flamewars that often result. Mail your questions to ＠email{xemacs-beta＠(a)xemacs.org} and ＠email{emacs-devel＠(a)gnu.org}. ＠node Q1.0.7, Q1.0.8, Q1.0.6, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.7: Where can I get help? Probably the easiest way, if everything is installed, is to use Info, by pressing ＠kbd{C-h i}, or looking for an Info item on the Help Menu. ＠kbd{M-x apropos} can be used to look for particular commands. For items not found in the manual, try reading this FAQ ＠comment , examining the regular GNU Emacs FAQ (which can be ＠comment found with the Emacs 19 distribution) as well as at ＠comment ＠uref{http://www.eecs.nwu.edu/emacs/faq/} and reading the Usenet group comp.emacs.xemacs. If you choose to post to a newsgroup, ＠strong{please use comp.emacs.xemacs}. Please do not post XEmacs related questions to gnu.emacs.help. If you cannot post or read Usenet news, there is a corresponding mailing list ＠email{xemacs-news＠(a)xemacs.org} which is available. It can be subscribed to via the Mailman Web interface or by sending mail to to ＠email{xemacs-news-request＠(a)xemacs.org} with ＠samp{subscribe} in the body of the message. See also ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Lists/#xemacs-news}. To cancel a subscription, you may use the ＠email{xemacs-news-request＠(a)xemacs.org} address or the Web interface. Send a message with a subject of ＠samp{unsubscribe} to be removed. ＠node Q1.0.8, Q1.0.9, Q1.0.7, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.8: Where are the mailing lists archived? The archives can be found at ＠uref{http://list-archive.xemacs.org} ＠node Q1.0.9, Q1.0.10, Q1.0.8, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.9: How do you pronounce XEmacs? The most common pronounciation is ＠samp{Eks eemax}. ＠node Q1.0.10, Q1.0.11, Q1.0.9, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.10: What does XEmacs look like? Screen snapshots are available at ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org/About/Screenshots/index.html} as part of the XEmacs website. ＠node Q1.0.11, Q1.1.1, Q1.0.10, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.11: Where can I obtain a printed copy of the XEmacs User's Manual? Pre-printed manuals are not available. If you are familiar with TeX, you can generate your own manual from the XEmacs sources. HTML and Postscript versions of XEmacs manuals are available from the XEmacs web site at ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/index.html}. ＠unnumberedsec 1.1: Versions for Different Operating Systems ＠node Q1.1.1, Q1.1.2, Q1.0.11, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.1: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs? No. The name ＠dfn{XEmacs} is unfortunate in the sense that it is ＠strong{not} an X Window System-only version of Emacs. XEmacs has full color support on a color-capable character terminal. ＠node Q1.1.2, Q1.1.3, Q1.1.1, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.2: Is there a port of XEmacs to Microsoft Windows? Yes. Beginning with release 21.0, XEmacs has worked under MS Windows and is fully-featured and actively developed. A group of dedicated developers actively maintains and improves the Windows-specific portions of the code. Some of the core developers, in fact, use Windows as their only development environment, and some features, such as printing, actually work better on Windows than native Unix. The mailing list at ＠email{xemacs-nt＠(a)xemacs.org} is dedicated to that effort (please use the -request address to subscribe). (Despite its name, XEmacs actually works on all versions of Windows.) The list name is misleading, as XEmacs supports and has been compiled on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP, and all newer versions of Windows. The MS Windows-specific code is based on Microsoft Win32 API, and will not work on MS Windows 3.x or on MS-DOS. XEmacs also supports the Cygwin and MinGW development and runtime environments, where it also uses native Windows code for graphical features. In addition, under Cygwin it is possible to compile XEmacs to use an X server (and XFree86 is available as part of the standard Cygwin installation). ＠node Q1.1.3, Q1.1.4, Q1.1.2, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.3: Can I build XEmacs on MS Windows with X support? Do I need to? Yes, you can, but no you do not need to. In fact, we recommend that you use a native-GUI version unless you have a specific need for an X version. ＠node Q1.1.4, Q1.1.5, Q1.1.3, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.4: What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs? To answer the second part of the question: No, you, you don't need Cygwin or MinGW to build or to run XEmacs. But if you have them and want to use them, XEmacs supports these environments. (One important reason to support Cygwin is that it lets the MS Windows developers test out their code in a Unix environment without actually having to have a Unix machine around. For this reason alone, Cygwin support is likely to remain supported for a long time in XEmacs. Same goes for the X support under Cygwin, for the same reasons. MinGW support, on the other hand, depends on volunteers to keep it up to date; but this is generally not hard.) Cygwin is a set of tools providing Unix-like API on top of Win32. It makes it easy to port large Unix programs without significant changes to their source code. It is a development environment as well as a runtime environment. When built with Cygwin, XEmacs supports all display types -- TTY, X & Win32 GUI, and can be built with support for all three simultaneously. If you build with Win32 GUI support then the Cygwin version uses the majority of the Windows-specific code, which is mostly related to display. If you want to build with X support you need X libraries (and an X server to display XEmacs on); see ＠ref{Q2.2.7}. TTY and Win32 GUI require no additional libraries beyond what comes standard with Cygwin. The advantages of the Cygwin version are that it integrates well with the Cygwin environment for existing Cygwin users; uses configure so building with different features is very easy; and actively supports X & TTY. Furthermore, the entire Cygwin environment and compiler are free, whereas Visual C++ costs money. The disadvantage is that it requires the whole Cygwin environment, whereas the native port requires only a suitable MS Windows compiler. Also, it follows the Unix filesystem and process model very closely (some will undoubtedly view this as an advantage). See ＠uref{http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/} for more information on Cygwin. MinGW is a collection of header files and import libraries that allow one to use GCC under the Cygwin environment to compile and produce exactly the same native Win32 programs that you can using Visual C++. Programs compiled with MinGW make use of the standard Microsoft runtime library ＠file{MSVCRT.DLL}, present on all Windows systems, and look, feel, and act like a standard Visual-C-produced application. (The only difference is the compiler.) This means that, unlike a standardly-compiled Cygwin application, no extra runtime support (e.g. Cygwin's ＠file{cygwin1.dll}) is required. This, along with the fact that GCC is free (and works in a nice Unix-y way in a nice Unix-y environment, for those die-hard Unix hackers out there), is the main advantage of MinGW. It is also potentially faster than Cygwin because it has less overhead when calling Windows, but you lose the POSIX emulation layer, which makes Unix programs harder to port. (But this is irrelevant for XEmacs since it's already ported to Win32.) See ＠uref{http://www.mingw.org/} for more information on MinGW. ＠node Q1.1.5, Q1.1.6, Q1.1.4, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.5: What are the differences between the various MS Windows emacsen? XEmacs, Win-Emacs, DOS Emacs, NT Emacs, this is all very confusing. Could you briefly explain the differences between them? Here is a recount of various Emacs versions running on MS Windows: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item XEmacs ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Beginning with XEmacs 19.12, XEmacs' architecture was redesigned in such a way to allow clean support of multiple window systems. At this time the TTY support was added, making X and TTY the first two "window systems" supported by XEmacs. The 19.12 design is the basis for the current native MS Windows code. ＠item Some time during 1997, David Hobley (soon joined by Marc Paquette) imported some of the NT-specific portions of GNU Emacs, making XEmacs with X support compile under Windows NT, and creating the "X" port. ＠item Several months later, Jonathan Harris sent out initial patches to use the Win32 API, thus creating the native port. Since then, various people have contributed, including Kirill M. Katsnelson (contributed support for menubars, subprocesses and network, as well as loads of other code), Andy Piper (ported XEmacs to Cygwin environment, contributed Windows unexec, Windows-specific glyphs and toolbars code, and more), Ben Wing (loads of improvements; primary MS Windows developer since 2000), Jeff Sparkes (contributed scrollbars support) and many others. ＠end itemize ＠item NT Emacs ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item NT Emacs was an early version of GNU Emacs 19 modified to compile and run under MS Windows 95 and NT using the native Win32 API. It was written by Geoff Voelker, and has long since been incorporated into the mainline GNU Emacs distribution. ＠end itemize ＠item Win-Emacs ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Win-Emacs was a port of Lucid Emacs 19.6 to MS Windows using X compatibility libraries. Win-Emacs was written by Ben Wing. The MS Windows code never made it back to Lucid Emacs, and its creator (Pearl Software) has long since gone out of business. ＠end itemize ＠item GNU Emacs for DOS ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item GNU Emacs features support for MS-DOS and DJGPP (D.J. Delorie's DOS port of GCC). Such an Emacs is heavily underfeatured, because it does not support long file names, lacks proper subprocesses support, and is far too big compared with typical DOS editors. ＠end itemize ＠item GNU Emacs compiled with Win32 ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Starting with version 19.30, it has been possible to compile GNU Emacs under MS Windows using the DJGPP compiler and X libraries. The result is very similar to GNU Emacs compiled under MS DOS, only it works somewhat better because it runs in 32-bit mode, makes use of all the system memory, supports long file names, etc. ＠end itemize ＠end itemize ＠node Q1.1.6, Q1.1.7, Q1.1.5, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.6: Is there a port of XEmacs to the Macintosh? Yes. XEmacs 21.5 (perhaps 21.4 also?) works on MacOS X, although it certainly will not feel very much like a Mac application as it has no Mac-specific code in it. There is also a port of XEmacs 19.14 that works on all recent versions of MacOS, from 8.1 through MacOS X, by ＠email{pjarvis＠(a)ispchannel.com, Pitts Jarvis}. It runs in an equivalent of TTY mode only (one single Macintosh window, 25 colors), but has a large number of Mac-specific additions. It's available at ＠uref{http://homepage.mac.com/pjarvis/xemacs.html}. ＠node Q1.1.7, Q1.1.8, Q1.1.6, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.7: Is there a port of XEmacs to NextStep? Carl Edman, apparently no longer at ＠email{cedman＠(a)princeton.edu}, did the port of GNU Emacs to NeXTstep and expressed interest in doing the XEmacs port, but never went any farther. ＠node Q1.1.8, Q1.1.9, Q1.1.7, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.8: Is there a port of XEmacs to OS/2? No, but Alexander Nikolaev <avn_1251＠(a)mail.ru&gt; is working on it. ＠node Q1.1.9, Q1.2.1, Q1.1.8, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.1.9: How does the port cope with differences in the Windows user interface? The XEmacs (and Emacs in general) user interface is pretty different from what is expected of a typical MS Windows program. How does the MS Windows port cope with it? As a general rule, we follow native MS Windows conventions as much as possible. 21.4 is a fairly complete Windows application, supporting native printing, system file dialog boxes, tool tips, etc. In cases where there's a clear UI conflict, we currently use normal Unix XEmacs behavior by default, but make sure the MS Windows "look and feel" (mark via shift-arrow, self-inserting deletes region, Alt selects menu items, etc.) is easily configurable (respectively: using the variable ＠code{shifted-motion-keys-select-region} in 21.4 and above [it's in fact the default in these versions], or the ＠file{pc-select} package; using the ＠file{pending-del} package; and setting the variable ＠code{menu-accelerator-enabled} to ＠code{menu-force} in 21.4 and above). In fact, if you use the sample ＠file{init.el} file as your init file, you will get all these behaviors automatically turned on. In future versions, some of these features might be turned on by default in the MS Windows environment. ＠unnumberedsec 1.2: Policies ＠node Q1.2.1, Q1.2.2, Q1.1.9, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.1: What is the FAQ editorial policy? The FAQ is actively maintained and modified regularly. All links should be up to date. Unfortunately, some of the information is out of date -- a situation which the FAQ maintainer is working on. All submissions are welcome, please e-mail submissions to ＠email{faq＠(a)xemacs.org, XEmacs FAQ maintainers}. Please make sure that ＠samp{XEmacs FAQ} appears on the Subject: line. If you think you have a better way of answering a question, or think a question should be included, we'd like to hear about it. Questions and answers included into the FAQ will be edited for spelling and grammar and will be attributed. Answers appearing without attribution are either from versions of the FAQ dated before May 1996 or are from previous FAQ maintainers. Answers quoted from Usenet news articles will always be attributed, regardless of the author. ＠node Q1.2.2, Q1.2.3, Q1.2.1, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.2: How do I become a beta tester? Send an email message to ＠email{xemacs-beta-request＠(a)xemacs.org} with the line ＠samp{subscribe} in the body of the message. Be prepared to get your hands dirty, as beta testers are expected to identify problems as best they can. ＠node Q1.2.3, Q1.3.1, Q1.2.2, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.2.3: How do I contribute to XEmacs itself? It depends on the knowledge and time you possess. If you are able, by all means become a beta tester (＠pxref{Q1.2.2}). If you are a programmer, try to build XEmacs and see if you can improve it. Otherwise, you can still help by using XEmacs as your everyday editor (for pre-built binary versions, ＠pxref{Q1.0.4}) and reporting bugs you find to the mailing list. Another area where we need help is the documentation: We need good documentation for building XEmacs and for using it. This FAQ is a small step in that direction. Ben Wing ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org} writes: ＠quotation BTW if you have a wish list of things that you want added, you have to speak up about it! More specifically, you can do the following if you want a feature added (in increasing order of usefulness): ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item Make a posting about a feature you want added. ＠item Become a beta tester and make more postings about those same features. ＠item Convince us that you're going to use the features in some cool and useful way. ＠item Come up with a clear and well-thought-out API concerning the features. ＠item Write the code to implement a feature and send us a patch. ＠end itemize (not that we're necessarily requiring you to write the code, but we can always hope :) ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 1.3: Credits ＠node Q1.3.1, Q1.3.2, Q1.2.3, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.1: Who wrote XEmacs? XEmacs is the result of the time and effort of many people, and the active developers have changed over time. There are two major components of the XEmacs effort -- writing the code itself and providing all the support work (testing the code, releasing beta and final versions, handling patches, reading bug reports, maintaining the web site, managing the mailing lists, etc. etc.). Neither component would work without the other. ＠subheading CODING The primary code contributor over the years has been Ben Wing (active since late 1992). Between 1991 and 1995, large amounts of coding was contributed by Jamie Zawinski and Chuck Thompson. Many other people have authored major subsystems or otherwise contributed large amounts of code, including Andy Piper, Hrvoje Niksic, Jerry James, Jonathan Harris, Kyle Jones, Martin Buchholz, Michael Sperber, Olivier Galibert, Richard Mlynarik, Stig, William Perry and plenty of others. Primary XEmacs-specific subsystems and their authors: ＠table ＠asis ＠item Objects ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Conversion from 26-bit to 28-bit pointers and integers, lrecords, lcrecords: Richard Mlynarik, 1994 ＠item Conversion to 32-bit pointers and 31-bit integers: Kyle Jones, Martin Buchholz ＠item Portable dumper, object descriptions: Olivier Galibert ＠item KKCC (new garbage collector), ephemerons, weak boxes: Michael Sperber and students ＠item Random object work (object equal and hash methods, weak lists, lcrecord lists, bit vectors, dynarr, blocktype, opaque, string resizing): Ben Wing ＠item profiling: Ben Wing ＠item Some byte-compilation and hash-table improvements: Martin Buchholz ＠item Bignum: Jerry James ＠end itemize ＠item Internationalization/Mule ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item mostly Ben Wing; many ideas for future work, Stephen Turnbull ＠end itemize ＠item I/O ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Basic event/event-stream implementation: Jamie Zawinski ＠item Most event work since 1994: Ben Wing ＠item Asynchronous stuff (async timeouts, signals, quit-checking): Ben Wing ＠item Process method abstraction, Windows process work: Kirill Katsnelson ＠item Misc-user events, async timeouts, most quit-checking and signal code, most other work since 1994: Ben Wing ＠item Lstreams: Ben Wing ＠end itemize ＠item Display ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Redisplay mechanism: implementation, Chuck Thompson; additional work, lots of people ＠item Glyphs: mostly Ben Wing ＠item Specifiers: Ben Wing ＠item Extents: initial implementation, someone at Lucid; rewrite, 1994, Ben Wing ＠item Widgets: Andy Piper ＠item JPEG/PNG/TIFF image converters: Ben Wing, William Perry, Jareth Hein, others (see comment in ＠file{glyphs-eimage.c}) ＠item Menus: Jamie Zawinski, someone at Lucid (Lucid menus) ＠item Scrollbars: Chuck Thompson, ??? (Lucid scrollbar) ＠item Multi-device/device-independence work (console/device/etc methods): Ben Wing, prototype by chuck thompson ＠item Faces: first implementation, Jamie Zawinski; second, chuck; third, Ben Wing ＠item Fonts/colors: first implementation, Jamie Zawinski; further work, Ben Wing ＠item Toolbars: implementation, chuck, much interface work, Ben Wing ＠item Gutters, tabs: andy piper ＠end itemize ＠item Device subsystems ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item X Windows: Jamie Zawinksi, Ben Wing, others ＠item GTK: William Perry, Malcolm Purvis ＠item MS Windows: initial implementation, Jonathan Harris; some more work, Andy Piper, Ben Wing ＠item TTY: Chuck Thompson, Ben Wing ＠item Cygwin: Andy Piper ＠end itemize ＠item Misc ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Configure: initial porting from fsf, Chuck Thompson; conversion to autoconf 2, much rewriting, Martin Buchholz ＠item Most initialization-related code: Ben Wing ＠item Internals manual, much of Lisp manual: Ben Wing ＠item FSF synching: initial sync with FSF 19, Richard Mlynarik, further work, Ben Wing ＠end itemize ＠end table ＠subheading SUPPORT Currently, support duties are handled by many different people. Release managers have been ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Stephen Turnbull (April 2001 - present, 21.x - 21.x?) ＠item Vin Shelton? ＠item Steve Youngs (July 2002 - present??, 21.x - 21.x?) ＠item Martin Buchholz (December 1998 - May 2001, 21.x - 21.x?) ＠item Steve Baur (early 1997 - November 1998, 19.15 - 21.0) ＠item Chuck Thompson (June 1994 - September 1996, 19.11 - 19.14) ＠item Jamie Zawinski (April 1991 - June 1994, 19.0 - 19.10) ＠end itemize The recent overlapping dates are intentional, since two or three trees are maintained simultaneously at any point. Other major support work: ＠itemize ＠minus ＠item Adrian Aichner wrote and maintains the web site. ＠item Stephen Turnbull has produced many of the beta and semi-stable releases and has attempted to be the "face" of XEmacs on the newsgroups and mailing lists. ＠item Steve Youngs currently produces the beta releases (???). ＠item Steve Youngs, Ville Skytta, and now Norbert Koch have taken turns maintaining the packages. ＠item Vin Shelton maintains the stable releases. ＠item Testing - #### Norbert, Adrian, ??? ＠end itemize Portraits and email of some of the major developers: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item ＠email{andy＠(a)xemacs.org, Andy Piper} ＠html <br><img src="wing.gif" alt="Portrait of Ben Wing"><br> ＠end html ＠item ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org, Ben Wing} ＠html <br><img src="wing.gif" alt="Portrait of Ben Wing"><br> ＠end html ＠item ＠email{cthomp＠(a)xemacs.org, Chuck Thompson} ＠html <br><img src="cthomp.jpeg" alt="Portrait of Chuck Thompson"><br> ＠end html ＠item ＠email{hniksic＠(a)xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic} ＠html <br><img src="hniksic.jpeg" alt="Portrait of Hrvoje Niksic"><br> ＠end html ＠item ＠email{jwz＠(a)jwz.org, Jamie Zawinski} ＠html <br><img src="jwz.gif" alt="Portrait of Jamie Zawinski"><br> ＠end html ＠item ＠email{martin＠(a)xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz} ＠html <br><img src="mrb.jpeg" alt="Portrait of Martin Buchholz"><br> ＠end html ＠item ＠email{mly＠(a)adoc.xerox.com, Richard Mlynarik} ＠item ＠email{stephen＠(a)xemacs.org, Stephen Turnbull} ＠item ＠email{steve＠(a)xemacs.org, Steve Baur} ＠html <br><img src="steve.gif" alt="Portrait of Steve Baur"><br> ＠end html ＠end itemize Many other people have contributed to XEmacs; this is partially enumerated in the ＠samp{About XEmacs} option in the Help menu. ＠node Q1.3.2, Q1.3.3, Q1.3.1, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.2: Who contributed to this version of the FAQ? The current version of this FAQ was created by ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org, Ben Wing}. ＠node Q1.3.3, Q1.4.1, Q1.3.2, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.3.3: Who contributed to the FAQ in the past? This is only a partial list, as many names were lost in a hard disk crash some time ago. ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item ＠email{steve＠(a)xemacs.org, SL Baur} ＠item ＠email{hniksic＠(a)xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic} ＠item ＠email{binge＠(a)aloft.att.com, Curtis.N.Bingham} ＠item ＠email{bruncott＠(a)dormeur.inria.fr, Georges Brun-Cottan} ＠item ＠email{rjc＠(a)cogsci.ed.ac.uk, Richard Caley} ＠item ＠email{cognot＠(a)ensg.u-nancy.fr, Richard Cognot} ＠item ＠email{daku＠(a)nortel.ca, Mark Daku} ＠item ＠email{wgd＠(a)martigny.ai.mit.edu, William G. Dubuque} ＠item ＠email{eeide＠(a)cs.utah.edu, Eric Eide} ＠item ＠email{af＠(a)biomath.jussieu.fr, Alain Fauconnet} ＠item ＠email{cflatter＠(a)nrao.edu, Chris Flatters} ＠item ＠email{ginsparg＠(a)adra.com, Evelyn Ginsparg} ＠item ＠email{hall＠(a)aplcenmp.apl.jhu.edu, Marty Hall} ＠item ＠email{dkindred＠(a)cmu.edu, Darrell Kindred} ＠item ＠email{dmoore＠(a)ucsd.edu, David Moore} ＠item ＠email{arup+＠(a)cmu.edu, Arup Mukherjee} ＠item ＠email{nickel＠(a)prz.tu-berlin.de, Juergen Nickelsen} ＠item ＠email{powell＠(a)csl.ncsa.uiuc.edu, Kevin R. Powell} ＠item ＠email{dworkin＠(a)ccs.neu.edu, Justin Sheehy} ＠item ＠email{stig＠(a)hackvan.com, Stig} ＠item ＠email{Aki.Vehtari＠(a)hut.fi, Aki Vehtari} ＠end itemize ＠unnumberedsec 1.4: Internationalization ＠node Q1.4.1, Q1.4.2, Q1.3.3, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.1: What is the status of internationalization support aka MULE (including Asian language support? Both the stable and development versions of XEmacs include internationalization support (aka MULE). MULE currently (21.4) works on UNIX and Linux systems. It is possible to build with MULE on Windows systems, but if you really need MULE on Windows, it is recommended that you build and use the development (21.5) version, and deal with the instability of the development tree. Binaries compiled without MULE support run faster than MULE capable XEmacsen. ＠node Q1.4.2, Q1.4.3, Q1.4.1, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.2: How can I help with internationalization? If you would like to help, you may want to join the ＠email{xemacs-mule＠(a)xemacs.org} mailing list. Especially needed are people who speak/write languages other than English, who are willing to use XEmacs/MULE regularly, and have some experience with Elisp. Translations of the TUTORIAL and man page are welcome, and XEmacs does support multilingual menus, but we have few current translations. ＠xref{Q1.2.2, How do I become a Beta Tester?}. ＠node Q1.4.3, Q1.4.4, Q1.4.2, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.3: How do I type non-ASCII characters? ＠xref{Q3.0.5, How can you type in special characters in XEmacs?}, in part 3 of this FAQ, for some simple methods that also work in non-MULE builds of XEmacs (but only for one-octet coded character sets, and mostly for ISO 8859/1). Many of the methods available for Cyrillic (＠pxref{Q1.4.7, How about Cyrillic modes?}) work without MULE. MULE has more general capabilities. ＠xref{Q1.4.5, Please explain the various input methods in MULE/XEmacs}. ＠xref{Q3.2.8, How do I display non-ASCII characters?}, which covers display of non-ASCII characters. ＠node Q1.4.4, Q1.4.5, Q1.4.3, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.4: Can XEmacs messages come out in a different language? The message-catalog support was written but is badly bit-rotted. XEmacs 20 and 21 did ＠emph{not} support it, and early releases of XEmacs 22 will not either. However, menubar localization ＠emph{does} work. To enable it, add to your ＠file{Emacs} file entries like this: ＠example Emacs*XlwMenu.resourceLabels: True Emacs*XlwMenu.file.labelString: Fichier Emacs*XlwMenu.openInOtherWindow.labelString: In anderem Fenster oeffnen ＠end example The name of the resource is derived from the non-localized entry by removing punctuation and capitalizing as above. ＠node Q1.4.5, Q1.4.6, Q1.4.4, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.5: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/XEmacs Mule supports a wide variety of input methods. There are three basic classes: Lisp implementations, generic platform support, and library interfaces. ＠emph{Lisp implementations} include Quail, which provides table-driven input methods for almost all the character sets that Mule supports (including all of the ISO 8859 family, the Indic languages, Thai, and so on), and SKK, for Japanese. (SKK also supports an interface to an external "dictionary server" process.) Quail supports both typical "dead-key" methods (eg, in the "latin-1-prefix" method, ＠kbd{" a} produces ä, LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS), and the complex dictionary-based phonetic methods used for Asian ideographic languages like Chinese. Lisp implementations can be less powerful (but they are not perceptibly inefficient), and of course are not portable to non-Emacs applications. The incompatibility can be very annoying. On the other hand, they require no special platform support or external libraries, so if you can display the characters, Mule can input them for you and you can edit, anywhere. ＠emph{Generic platform support} is currently limited to the X Input Method (XIM) framework, although support for MSIME (for MS Windows) is planned, and IIIMF (Sun's Internet-Intranet Input Method Framework) support is extremely desirable. XIM is enabled at build time by use of the ＠samp{--with-xim} flag to ＠code{configure}. For use of XIM, see your platform documentation. However, normally the input method you use is specified via the ＠samp{LANG} and ＠samp{XMODIFIERS} environment variables. Of course, input skills are portable across most applications. However, especially in modern GUI systems the habit of using bucky bits has fallen into sad disuse, and many XIM systems are poorly configured for use with Emacs. For example, the kinput2 input manager (a separate process providing an interface between Japanese dictionary servers such as Canna and Wnn, and the application) tends to gobble up keystrokes generating Meta characters. This means that to edit while using an XIM input method, you must toggle the input method off every time you want to use ＠kbd{M-f}. Your mileage may vary. ＠emph{Library interfaces} are most common for Japanese, although Wnn supports Chinese (traditional and simplified) and Korean. There are Chinese and Korean input servers available, but we do not know of any patches for XEmacs to use them directly. You can use them via IM-enabled terminals, by manipulating the terminal coding systems. We describe only the Japanese-oriented systems here. The advantage of these systems is that they are very powerful, and on platforms where they are available there is typically a wide range of applications that support them. Thus your input skills are portable across applications. Mule provides built-in interfaces to the following input methods: Wnn4, Wnn6, Canna, and SJ3. These can be configured at build time. There are patches available (no URL, sorry) to support the SKK server, as well. Wnn and SJ3 use the ＠code{egg} user interface. The interface for Canna is specialized to Canna. Wnn supports Japanese, Chinese and Korean. It is made by OMRON and Kyôto University. It is a powerful and complex system. Wnn4 is free and Wnn6 is not. Wnn uses grammatical hints and probability of word association, so in principle Wnn can be cleverer than other methods. Canna, made by NEC, supports only Japanese. It is a simple and powerful system. Canna uses only grammar, but its grammar and dictionary are quite sophisticated. So for standard modern Japanese, Canna seems cleverer than Wnn4. In addition, the UNIX version of Canna is free (now there is a Microsoft Windows version). SJ3, by Sony, supports only Japanese. Egg consists of following parts: ＠enumerate ＠item Input character Translation System (ITS) layer. It translates ASCII inputs to Kana/PinYin/Hangul characters. ＠item Kana/PinYin/Hangul to Kanji transfer layer. The interface layer to network Kana-Kanji server (Wnn and Sj3). ＠end enumerate These input methods are modal. They have a raw (alphabet) mode, a phonetic input mode, and Kana-Kanji transfer mode. However there are mode-less input methods for Egg and Canna. ＠samp{boiled-egg} is a mode-less input method running on Egg. For Canna, ＠samp{canna.el} has a tiny boiled-egg-like command, ＠code{(canna-boil)}, and there are some boiled-egg-like utilities. Much of this information was provided by ＠email{morioka＠(a)jaist.ac.jp, MORIOKA Tomohiko}. ＠node Q1.4.6, Q1.4.7, Q1.4.5, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.6: How do I portably code for MULE/XEmacs? MULE has evolved rapidly over the last few years, and the original third party patch (for GNU Emacs 19), GNU Emacs 20+, and XEmacs 20+ have quite different implementations. The APIs also vary although recent versions of XEmacs have tended to converge to the GNU Emacs standard. MULE implementations are going to continue to evolve. Both GNU Emacs and XEmacs are working hard on Unicode support, which will involve new APIs and probably variations on old ones. For XEmacs 22, the old ISO 2022-based system for recognizing encodings will be replaced by a much more flexible system, which should improve accuracy of automatic coding detections, but will also involve new APIs. ＠email{morioka＠(a)jaist.ac.jp, MORIOKA Tomohiko} writes: ＠quotation The application implementor must write separate code for these mule variants. [Please don't hesitate to report these variants to us; they are not, strictly speaking, bugs, but they give third-party developers the same kind of creepy-crawly feeling. We'll do what we can. -- Ed.] MULE and the next version of Emacs are similar but the symbols are very different---requiring separate code as well. Namely we must support 3 kinds of mule variants and 4 or 5 or 6 kinds of emacs variants... (;_;) I'm shocked, so I wrote a wrapper package called ＠code{emu} to provide a common interface. [There is an XEmacs package of APEL which provides much more comprehensive coverage. Be careful, however; APEL has problems of its own. -- Ed.] I have the following suggestions about dealing with mule variants: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item ＠code{(featurep 'mule)} ＠code{t} on all mule variants ＠item ＠code{(boundp 'MULE)} is ＠code{t} on only MULE. Maybe the next version of Emacs will not have this symbol. ＠item MULE has a variable ＠code{mule-version}. Perhaps the next version of Emacs will have this variable as well. ＠end itemize Following is a sample to distinguish mule variants: ＠lisp (if (featurep 'mule) (cond ((boundp 'MULE) ;; for original Mule ) ((string-match "XEmacs" emacs-version) ;; for XEmacs with Mule ) (t ;; for next version of Emacs )) ;; for old emacs variants ) ＠end lisp ＠end quotation ＠node Q1.4.7, Q1.4.8, Q1.4.6, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.7: How about Cyrillic modes? ＠email{ilya＠(a)math.ohio-state.edu, Ilya Zakharevich} writes: ＠quotation There is a cyrillic mode in the file ＠file{mysetup.zip} in ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠uref{ftp://ftp.math.ohio-state.edu/pub/users/ilya/emacs/}. This is a modification to ＠email{ava＠(a)math.jhu.ed, Valery Alexeev's} ＠file{russian.el} which can be obtained from ＠end quotation ＠uref{http://www.math.uga.edu/~valery/russian.el}. ＠email{d.barsky＠(a)ee.surrey.ac.uk, Dima Barsky} writes: ＠quotation There is another cyrillic mode for both GNU Emacs and XEmacs by ＠email{manin＠(a)camelot.mssm.edu, Dmitrii (Mitya) Manin} at ＠iftex ＠end iftex ＠uref{http://kulichki-lat.rambler.ru/centrolit/manin/cyr.el}. ＠c Link above, <URL:http://camelot.mssm.edu/~manin/cyr.el> was dead. ＠c Changed to russian host instead ＠end quotation ＠email{rebecca.ore＠(a)op.net, Rebecca Ore} writes: ＠quotation The fullest resource I found on Russian language use (in and out of XEmacs) is ＠uref{http://www.ibiblio.org/sergei/Software/Software.html} ＠end quotation ＠node Q1.4.8, Q1.4.9, Q1.4.7, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.8: Does XEmacs support Unicode? Partially, as an external encoding for files, processes, and terminals. It does not yet support Unicode fonts ＠ref{Q1.4.9, How does XEmacs display Unicode??} To get Unicode support, you need a Mule-enabled XEmacs. Install Mule-UCS from packages in the usual way. Put ＠example (require 'un-define) (set-coding-priority-list '(utf-8)) (set-coding-category-system 'utf-8 'utf-8) ＠end example in your init file to enable the UTF-8 coding system. You may wish to view the documentation of ＠code{set-coding-priority-list} if you find that files that are not UTF-8 are being mis-recognized as UTF-8. Install standard national fonts (not Unicode fonts) for all character sets you use. See ＠ref{Q1.4.9, How does XEmacs display Unicode??}. Mule-UCS also supports 16-bit forms of Unicode (UTF-16). It does not support 31-bit forms of Unicode (UTF-32 or UCS-4). ＠node Q1.4.9, Q1.5.1, Q1.4.8, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.4.9: How does XEmacs display Unicode? Mule doesn't have a Unicode charset internally, so there's nothing to bind a Unicode registry to. It would not be straightforward to create, either, because Unicode is not ISO 2022-compatible. You'd have to translate it to multiple 96x96 pages. This means that Mule-UCS uses ordinary national fonts for display. This is not really a problem, except for those languages that use the Unified Han characters. The problem here is that Mule-UCS maps from Unicode code points to national character sets in a deterministic way. By default, this means that Japanese fonts are tried first, then Chinese, then Korean. To change the priority ordering, use the command `un-define-change-charset-order'. It also means you can't use Unicode fonts directly, at least not without extreme hackery. You can run -nw with (set-terminal-coding-system 'utf-8) if you really want a Unicode font for some reason. Real Unicode support will be introduced in XEmacs 22.0. ＠unnumberedsec 1.5: Getting Started ＠node Q1.5.1, Q1.5.2, Q1.4.9, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.1: What is an ＠file{init.el} or ＠file{.emacs} and is there a sample one? The ＠file{init.el} or ＠file{.emacs} file is used to customize XEmacs to your tastes. Starting in 21.4, the preferred location for the init file is ＠file{~/.xemacs/init.el}; in previous versions, it was ＠file{~/.emacs}. 21.4 still accepts the old location, but the first time you run it, it will ask to migrate your file to the new location. If you answer yes, the file will be moved, and a "compatibility" ＠file{.emacs} file will be placed in the old location so that you can still run older versions of XEmacs, and versions of GNU Emacs, which expect the old location. The ＠file{.emacs} file present is just a stub that loads the real file in ＠file{~/.xemacs/init.el}. No two init files are alike, nor are they expected to be alike, but that's the point. The XEmacs distribution contains an excellent starter example in the ＠file{etc/} directory called ＠file{sample.init.el} (starting in 21.4) or ＠file{sample.emacs} in older versions. Copy this file from there to ＠file{~/.xemacs/init.el} (starting in 21.4) or ＠file{~/.emacs} in older versions, where ＠samp{~} means your home directory, of course. Then edit it to suit. You may bring the ＠file{sample.init.el} or ＠file{sample.emacs} file into an XEmacs buffer from the menubar. (The menu entry for it is always under the ＠samp{Help} menu, but its location under that has changed in various versions. Recently, look under the ＠samp{Samples} submenu.) To determine the location of the ＠file{etc/} directory type the command ＠kbd{C-h v data-directory ＠key{RET}}. ＠node Q1.5.2, Q1.5.3, Q1.5.1, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.2: Where do I put my ＠file{init.el} file? ＠file{init.el} is the name of the init file starting with 21.4, and is located in the subdirectory ＠file{.xemacs/} of your home directory. In prior versions, the init file is called ＠file{.emacs} and is located in your home directory. Your home directory under Windows is determined by the ＠samp{HOME} environment variable. If this is not set, it defaults to ＠samp{C:\}. To set this variable, modify ＠file{AUTOEXEC.BAT} under Windows 95/98, or select ＠samp{Control Panel->System->Advanced->Environment Variables...} under Windows NT/2000. ＠node Q1.5.3, Q1.5.4, Q1.5.2, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.3: Can I use the same ＠file{init.el} with the other Emacs? Yes. The sample ＠file{init.el} included in the XEmacs distribution will show you how to handle different versions and flavors of Emacs. ＠node Q1.5.4, Q1.5.5, Q1.5.3, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.4: Any good XEmacs tutorials around? There's the XEmacs tutorial available from the Help Menu under ＠samp{Help->Tutorials}, or by typing ＠kbd{C-h t}. To check whether it's available in a non-english language, type ＠kbd{C-u C-h t TAB}, type the first letters of your preferred language, then type ＠key{RET}. ＠comment There's an Emacs Lisp tutorial at ＠comment ＠comment ＠example ＠comment ＠uref{ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/emacs-lisp-intro-1.04.tar.gz}. ＠comment ＠end example ＠comment ＠comment ＠email{erik＠(a)petaxp.rug.ac.be, Erik Sundermann} has made a tutorial web ＠comment page at ＠comment ＠iftex ＠comment ＠* ＠comment ＠end iftex ＠comment ＠uref{http://petaxp.rug.ac.be/~erik/xemacs/}. ＠node Q1.5.5, Q1.5.6, Q1.5.4, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.5: May I see an example of a useful XEmacs Lisp function? The following function does a little bit of everything useful. It does something with the prefix argument, it examines the text around the cursor, and it's interactive so it may be bound to a key. It inserts copies of the current word the cursor is sitting on at the cursor. If you give it a prefix argument: ＠kbd{C-u 3 M-x double-word} then it will insert 3 copies. ＠lisp (defun double-word (count) "Insert a copy of the current word underneath the cursor" (interactive "*p") (let (here there string) (save-excursion (forward-word -1) (setq here (point)) (forward-word 1) (setq there (point)) (setq string (buffer-substring here there))) (while (>= count 1) (insert string) (decf count)))) ＠end lisp The best way to see what is going on here is to let XEmacs tell you. Put the code into an XEmacs buffer, and do a ＠kbd{C-h f} with the cursor sitting just to the right of the function you want explained. Eg. move the cursor to the SPACE between ＠code{interactive} and ＠samp{"*p"} and hit ＠kbd{C-h f} to see what the function ＠code{interactive} does. Doing this will tell you that the ＠code{*} requires a writable buffer, and ＠code{p} converts the prefix argument to a number, and ＠code{interactive} allows you to execute the command with ＠kbd{M-x}. ＠node Q1.5.6, Q1.5.7, Q1.5.5, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.6: And how do I bind it to a key? To bind to a key do: ＠lisp (global-set-key "\C-cd" 'double-word) ＠end lisp Or interactively, ＠kbd{M-x global-set-key} and follow the prompts. ＠node Q1.5.7, Q1.5.8, Q1.5.6, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.7: What's the difference between a macro and a function? Quoting from the Lisp Reference (a.k.a ＠dfn{Lispref}) Manual: ＠dfn{Macros} enable you to define new control constructs and other language features. A macro is defined much like a function, but instead of telling how to compute a value, it tells how to compute another Lisp expression which will in turn compute the value. We call this expression the ＠dfn{expansion} of the macro. Macros can do this because they operate on the unevaluated expressions for the arguments, not on the argument values as functions do. They can therefore construct an expansion containing these argument expressions or parts of them. Do not confuse the two terms with ＠dfn{keyboard macros}, which are another matter, entirely. A keyboard macro is a key bound to several other keys. Refer to manual for details. ＠node Q1.5.8, , Q1.5.7, Introduction ＠unnumberedsubsec Q1.5.8: What is ＠code{Custom}? ＠code{Custom} is a system for customizing XEmacs options. You can access ＠code{Advanced (Customize)} from the ＠code{Options} menu or invoking one of customize commands by typing eg. ＠kbd{M-x customize}, ＠kbd{M-x customize-face}, ＠kbd{M-x customize-variable} or ＠kbd{M-x customize-apropos}. There is also new ＠samp{browser} mode for Customize. Try it out with ＠kbd{M-x customize-browse} ＠node Installation, Display Subsystems, Introduction, Top ＠unnumbered 2 Installation and Troubleshooting This is part 2 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This section is devoted to Installation, Maintenance and Troubleshooting. ＠menu * Q2.0.1:: Where do I find external libraries? * Q2.0.2:: How do I figure out which packages to install? * Q2.0.3:: I don't need no steenkin' packages. Do I? * Q2.0.4:: How do I specify the paths that XEmacs uses for finding files? * Q2.0.5:: Running XEmacs without installing * Q2.0.6:: XEmacs is too big * Q2.0.7:: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood" (NEW) 2.1: Unix Installation (Also Relevant to Cygwin, MinGW) * Q2.1.1:: Libraries in non-standard locations * Q2.1.2:: Why can't I strip XEmacs? * Q2.1.3:: Compiling XEmacs with Netaudio. * Q2.1.4:: Problems with Linux and ncurses. 2.2: Windows Installation (Windows, Cygwin, MinGW) * Q2.2.1:: What exactly are all the different ways to build XEmacs under Windows? * Q2.2.2:: What compiler/libraries do I need to compile XEmacs? * Q2.2.3:: How do I compile the native port? * Q2.2.4:: What do I need for Cygwin? * Q2.2.5:: How do I compile under Cygwin? * Q2.2.6:: How do I compile using MinGW (aka ＠samp{the -mno-cygwin flag to gcc})? * Q2.2.7:: How do I compile with X support? * Q2.2.8:: Cygwin XEmacs won't start -- cygXpm-noX4.dll was not found (NEW) 2.3: General Troubleshooting * Q2.3.1:: Help! XEmacs just crashed on me! * Q2.3.2:: XEmacs crashes and I compiled it myself. * Q2.3.3:: How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger * Q2.3.4:: I get a cryptic error message when trying to do something. * Q2.3.5:: XEmacs hangs when I try to do something. * Q2.3.6:: I get an error message when XEmacs is running in batch mode. * Q2.3.7:: The keyboard or mouse is not working properly, or I have some other event-related problem. * Q2.3.8:: ＠kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken? * Q2.3.9:: How do I debug process-related problems? * Q2.3.10:: XEmacs is outputting lots of X errors. * Q2.3.11:: After upgrading, XEmacs won't do `foo' any more! 2.4: Startup-Related Problems * Q2.4.1:: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal! * Q2.4.2:: XEmacs won't start on Windows. * Q2.4.3:: XEmacs won't start without network. * Q2.4.4:: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts? * Q2.4.5:: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers. * Q2.4.6:: XEmacs 21.1 on Windows used to spawn an ugly console window on every startup. Has that been fixed? ＠end menu ＠unnumberedsec 2.0: Installation (General), Packages ＠node Q2.0.1, Q2.0.2, Installation, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.1: Where do I find external libraries? All external libraries used by XEmacs can be found at the XEmacs FTP site ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠uref{http://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/aux/}. The library versions available here are known to work with XEmacs. (Newer versions will probably work as well but we can't guarantee it.) We try to keep the libraries up-to-date but may not always succeed. If you want to make sure of getting the latest version, check the canonical locations below. The canonical locations (at the time of this writing) are as follows: ＠subheading Databases: These DBM implementations are supported by XEmacs: native dbm (provided by OS), GDBM, and Berkeley DB version 1, 2 and 3. ＠example GDBM is the GNU DBM library, compatible with the Unix dbm library. gdbm-1.8.3.tar.gz ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gdbm/ http://www.gnu.org/software/gdbm/gdbm.html configure flag: --with-database=gnudbm Berkeley DB is provided by Sleepycat Software. db-4.1.25.tar.gz http://www.sleepycat.com/ configure flag: --with-database=berkdb OpenLDAP is an implementation of the LDAP X.500 Directory protocol. openldap-2.1.12.tgz http://www.openldap.org/ configure flag: --with-ldap ＠end example ＠subheading Image Format Libraries: ＠example `compface' is an old library for viewing X-Faces in messages. It is no longer being maintained and has been frozen for 10 years or so, but still works. It should be compiled with the same options that X11 was compiled with on your system. The version of this library at xemacs.org includes the `xbm2xface.pl' script, written by ＠email{stig＠(a)hackvan.com, Stig}, which may be useful when generating your own xface. compface.tar.gz ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/faces/compface/ configure flag: --with-xface The JPEG image format library jpegsrc.v6b.tar.gz ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/jpeg/ http://www.ijg.org/ configure flag: --with-jpeg The TIFF image format library tiff-v3.4-tar.gz ftp://ftp.sgi.com/graphics/tiff/ configure flag: --with-tiff The XPM image format library xpm-3.4k.tar.gz ftp://koala.inria.fr/pub/xpm/ http://www.inria.fr/koala/lehors/xpm.html configure flag: --with-xpm The PNG image format library libpng-1.2.15.tar.gz http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/ configure flag: --with-png The ZLIB compression library is used by the PNG library. A GZIP coding system is also available, in XEmacs 21.5 and onward. zlib-1.1.4.tar.gz http://www.gzip.org/zlib/ ＠end example ＠subheading Other Multimedia: ＠example Network Audio System (NAS) is a client-server sound library for X. nas-1.6.src.tar.gz ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/audio/nas/ http://radscan.com/nas.html configure flag: --with-nas Enlightened Sound Daemon (ESD) is yet another sound system. esound-0.2.8.tar.gz http://www.tux.org/~ricdude/EsounD.html Netpbm is a collection of programs that XEmacs might use at runtime. netpbm-1mar1994.tar.gz netpbm-9.2.tar.gz ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/graphics/convert/ Xaw3d is designed to be a drop-in replacement for the Athena widget library that `looks cooler'. Xaw3d-1.5.tar.gz ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/widgets/Xaw3d/ ＠end example ＠subheading Internationalization: ＠example Canna is a Japanese language input method. Canna has not been updated since 1996. Canna35b2.tar.gz cfw35f1p.exe (Canna on W95) http://www.nec.co.jp/canna/ (in Japanese) http://www.nec.co.jp/canna/c-down.html (download site, for those not able to read Japanese) configure flag: --with-canna Wnn is a multi-language mule input method. Wnn4 is the free version, while Wnn6 is the commercial version. Wnn4.2.tar.gz ftp://ftp.omronsoft.co.jp/pub/Wnn6/ (commercial version) Wnn4 appears completely orphaned; searches on google turn up XEmacs' own site first. However, here is a (very old) site with some info on WNN: http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/tomoko-y/biwa/root/wnn_e.html configure flag: --with-wnn Mew is a multi-lingual mailreader. mew-1.94.2.tar.gz http://www.mew.org/ kterm is a multi-lingual terminal emulator with special support for Asian languages with large character sets. kterm-6.2.0.tar.gz ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/applications/ ispell is a spelling checker with support for multiple languages. ispell-3.2.06.tar.gz http://ficus-www.cs.ucla.edu/ficus-members/geoff/ispell.html http://www.kdstevens.com/~stevens/ispell-page.html SKK (Simple Kana-to-Kanji) is a simple input method for Japanese. It has been modified to work with XEmacs. skk-8.6x.tar.gz X11 fonts for numerous languages. intlfonts-1.2.tar.gz http://www.gnu.org/directory/localization/intlfonts.html ＠end example ＠subheading Miscellaneous: ＠example ncurses is the standard free software curses library. ncurses-5.3.tar.gz http://dickey.his.com/ncurses/ncurses.html ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses/ ＠end example ＠subheading Developer Tools: ＠example CVS is the version control system used by XEmacs to manage the sources. cvs-1.11.5.tar.gz http:/www.cvshome.org/ bzip2 is a compressor that compresses much better than gzip. bzip2-1.0.2.tar.gz http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/ texi2html is a script that converts Texinfo pages to HTML. texi2html-1.64.tar.gz http://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/~obachman/Texi2html/ Gnats is a bug tracking system. Red Hat recommends using GNATS 4.0 for any new installations (see the beta below). gnats-3.113.tar.gz gnats-3.999.2.tar.gz cern_wwwgnats_v2.0-beta.tar.gz (WWW front end to Gnats) http://sources.redhat.com/gnats/ Use autoconf to generate `configure' from `configure.in'. NOTE: There is a more recent series, 2.5x, that XEmacs doesn't currently work with. autoconf-2.13.tar.gz http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/ Use the `applypatch' program from the makepatch package to apply patches to upgrade from one beta release to another. Use this if you have a slow or expensive connection to the Net. makepatch-2.00_09.tar.gz http://www.squirrel.nl/people/jvromans/ ＠end example ＠node Q2.0.2, Q2.0.3, Q2.0.1, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.2: How do I figure out which packages to install? Many people really liked the old way that packages were bundled and do not want to mess with packages at all. You can grab all the packages at once like you used to with old XEmacs versions. Download the file ＠file{xemacs-sumo.tar.gz} For an XEmacs compiled with Mule you also need ＠file{xemacs-mule-sumo.tar.gz} from the ＠file{packages} directory on your XEmacs mirror archive. N.B. They are called 'Sumo Tarballs' for good reason. They are currently about 15MB and 2.3MB (gzipped) respectively. Install them by ＠code{cd $prefix/lib/xemacs ; gunzip -c <tarballname> | tar xf -} See README.packages for more detailed installation instructions. As the Sumo tarballs are not regenerated as often as the individual packages, it is recommended that you use the automatic package tools afterwards to pick up any recent updates. ＠node Q2.0.3, Q2.0.4, Q2.0.2, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.3: I don't need no steenkin' packages. Do I? Strictly speaking, no. XEmacs will build and install just fine without any packages installed. However, only the most basic editing functions will be available with no packages installed, so installing packages is an essential part of making your installed XEmacs _useful_. ＠node Q2.0.4, Q2.0.5, Q2.0.3, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.4: How do I specify the paths that XEmacs uses for finding files? You can specify what paths to use by using a number of different flags when running configure. See the section MAKE VARIABLES in the top-level file INSTALL in the XEmacs distribution for a listing of those flags. Most of the time, however, the simplest fix is: ＠strong{do not} specify paths as you might for GNU Emacs. XEmacs can generally determine the necessary paths dynamically at run time. The only path that generally needs to be specified is the root directory to install into. That can be specified by passing the ＠code{--prefix} flag to configure. For a description of the XEmacs install tree, please consult the ＠file{NEWS} file. ＠node Q2.0.5, Q2.0.6, Q2.0.4, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.5: Running XEmacs without installing How can I just try XEmacs without installing it? XEmacs will run in place without requiring installation and copying of the Lisp directories, and without having to specify a special build-time flag. It's the copying of the Lisp directories that requires so much space. XEmacs is largely written in Lisp. A good method is to make a shell alias for xemacs: ＠example alias xemacs=/i/xemacs-20.2/src/xemacs ＠end example (You will obviously use whatever directory you downloaded the source tree to instead of ＠file{/i/xemacs-20.2}). This will let you run XEmacs without massive copying. ＠node Q2.0.6, Q2.0.7, Q2.0.5, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.6: XEmacs is too big The space required by the installation directories can be reduced dramatically if desired. Gzip all the .el files. Remove all the packages you'll never want to use. Remove the TexInfo manuals. Remove the Info (and use just hardcopy versions of the manual). Remove most of the stuff in etc. Remove or gzip all the source code. Gzip or remove the C source code. Configure it so that copies are not made of the support lisp. These are all Emacs Lisp source code and bytecompiled object code. You may safely gzip everything named *.el here. You may remove any package you don't use. ＠emph{Nothing bad will happen if you delete a package that you do not use}. You must be sure you do not use it though, so be conservative at first. Any package with the possible exceptions of xemacs-base, and EFS are candidates for removal. Ask yourself, ＠emph{Do I ever want to use this package?} If the answer is no, then it is a candidate for removal. First, gzip all the .el files. Then go about package by package and start gzipping the .elc files. Then run XEmacs and do whatever it is you normally do. If nothing bad happens, then remove the package. You can remove a package via the PUI interface (＠code{M-x pui-list-packages}, then press ＠kbd{d} to mark the packages you wish to delete, and then ＠kbd{x} to delete them. Another method is to do ＠code{M-x package-get-delete-package}. ＠node Q2.0.7, Q2.1.1, Q2.0.6, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.0.7: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood" (NEW) A typical error: FTP Error: USER request failed; 500 AUTH not understood. Thanks to giacomo boffi ＠email{giacomo.boffi＠(a)polimi.it} who recommends on comp.emacs.xemacs: tell your ftp client to not attempt AUTH authentication (or do not use FTP servers that don't understand AUTH) and notes that you need to add an element (often "-u") to `efs-ftp-program-args'. Use M-x customize-variable, and verify the needed flag with `man ftp' or other local documentation. ＠unnumberedsec 2.1: Unix Installation (Also Relevant to Cygwin, MinGW) ＠node Q2.1.1, Q2.1.2, Q2.0.7, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.1: Libraries in non-standard locations I have x-faces, jpeg, xpm etc. all in different places. I've tried space-separated, comma-separated, several --site-libraries, all to no avail. ＠example --site-libraries='/path/one /path/two /path/etc' ＠end example ＠node Q2.1.2, Q2.1.3, Q2.1.1, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.2: Why can't I strip XEmacs? ＠email{cognot＠(a)fronsac.ensg.u-nancy.fr, Richard Cognot} writes: ＠quotation Because of the way XEmacs (and every other Emacsen, AFAIK) is built. The link gives you a bare-boned emacs (called temacs). temacs is then run, preloading some of the lisp files. The result is then dumped into a new executable, named xemacs, which will contain all of the preloaded lisp functions and data. Now, during the dump itself, the executable (code+data+symbols) is written on disk using a special unexec() function. This function is obviously heavily system dependent. And on some systems, it leads to an executable which, although valid, cannot be stripped without damage. If memory serves, this is especially the case for AIX binaries. On other architectures it might work OK. The Right Way to strip the emacs binary is to strip temacs prior to dumping xemacs. This will always work, although you can do that only if you install from sources (as temacs is ＠file{not} part of the binary kits). ＠end quotation ＠email{nat＠(a)nataa.fr.eu.org, Nat Makarevitch} writes: ＠quotation Here is the trick: ＠enumerate ＠item [ ./configure; make ] ＠item rm src/xemacs ＠item strip src/temacs ＠item make ＠item cp src/xemacs /usr/local/bin/xemacs ＠item cp lib-src/DOC-19.16-XEmacs ＠iftex \ ＠* ＠end iftex /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.16/i586-unknown-linuxaout ＠end enumerate ＠end quotation ＠node Q2.1.3, Q2.1.4, Q2.1.2, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.3: Compiling XEmacs with Netaudio. What is the best way to compile XEmacs with the netaudio system, since I have got the netaudio system compiled but installed at a weird place, I am not root. Also in the READMEs it does not say anything about compiling with the audioserver? You should only need to add some stuff to the configure command line. To tell it to compile in netaudio support: ＠samp{--with-sound=both}, or ＠samp{--with-sound=nas} if you don't want native sound support for some reason.) To tell it where to find the netaudio includes and libraries: ＠example --site-libraries=WHATEVER --site-includes=WHATEVER ＠end example Then (fingers crossed) it should compile and it will use netaudio if you have a server running corresponding to the X server. The netaudio server has to be there when XEmacs starts. If the netaudio server goes away and another is run, XEmacs should cope (fingers crossed, error handling in netaudio isn't perfect). BTW, netaudio has been renamed as it has a name clash with something else, so if you see references to NAS or Network Audio System, it's the same thing. It also might be found at ＠uref{ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/audio/nas/}. ＠node Q2.1.4, Q2.2.1, Q2.1.3, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.1.4: Problems with Linux and ncurses. On Linux 1.3.98 with termcap 2.0.8 and the ncurses that came with libc 5.2.18, XEmacs 20.0b20 is unable to open a tty device: ＠example src/xemacs -nw -q Initialization error: ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex Terminal type `xterm' undefined (or can't access database?) ＠end example ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes: ＠quotation Your ncurses configuration is messed up. Your /usr/lib/terminfo is a bad pointer, perhaps to a CD-ROM that is not inserted. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 2.2: Windows Installation (Windows, Cygwin, MinGW) ＠node Q2.2.1, Q2.2.2, Q2.1.4, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.1: What exactly are all the different ways to build XEmacs under Windows? XEmacs can be built in several ways in the MS Windows environment. The standard way is what we call the "native" port. It uses the Win32 API and has no connection with X whatsoever -- it does not require X libraries to build, nor does it require an X server to run. The native port is the most reliable version and provides the best graphical support. Almost all development is geared towards this version, and there is little reason not to use it. The second way to build is the Cygwin port. It takes advantage of Cygnus emulation library under Win32. ＠xref{Q1.1.4, What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?}, for more information. A third way is the MinGW port. It uses the Cygwin environment to build but does not require it at runtime. ＠xref{Q1.1.4, What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?}, for more information. Finally, you might also be able to build the non-Cygwin, non-MinGW "X" port. This was actually the first version of XEmacs that ran under MS Windows, and although the code is still in XEmacs, it's essentially orphaned and it's unlikely it will compile without a lot of work. If you want an MS Windows versin of XEmacs that supports X, use the Cygwin version. (The X support there is actively maintained, so that Windows developers can test the X support in XEmacs.) ＠node Q2.2.2, Q2.2.3, Q2.2.1, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.2: What compiler/libraries do I need to compile XEmacs? You need Visual C++ 4.2, 5.0, or 6.0 for the native version. (We have some beta testers currently trying to compile with VC.NET, aka version 7.0, but we can't yet report complete success.) For the Cygwin and MinGW versions, you need the Cygwin environment, which comes with GCC, the compiler used for those versions. ＠xref{Q1.1.4, What are Cygwin and MinGW, and do I need them to run XEmacs?}, for more information on Cygwin and MinGW. ＠node Q2.2.3, Q2.2.4, Q2.2.2, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.3: How do I compile the native port? Please read the file ＠file{nt/README} in the XEmacs distribution, which contains the full description. ＠node Q2.2.4, Q2.2.5, Q2.2.3, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.4: What do I need for Cygwin? You can find the Cygwin tools and compiler at: ＠uref{http://www.cygwin.com/} Click on the ＠samp{Install or update now!} link, which will download a file ＠file{setup.exe}, which you can use to download everything else. (You will need to pick a mirror site; ＠samp{mirrors.rcn.net} is probably the best.) You should go ahead and install everything -- you'll get various ancillary libraries that XEmacs needs or likes, e.g. XPM, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, etc. You can also get X Windows here, if you want to compile under X. If you want to compile without X, you will need the ＠file{xpm-nox} library, which must be specifically selected in the Cygwin netinstaller; it is not selected by default. The package has had various names. Currently it is called ＠file{cygXpm-noX4.dll}. ＠node Q2.2.5, Q2.2.6, Q2.2.4, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.5: How do I compile under Cygwin? Similar as on Unix; use the usual `configure' and `make' process. Some problems to watch out for: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item make sure HOME is set. This controls where you ＠file{init.el} file comes from; ＠item ＠samp{CYGWIN} needs to be set to ＠samp{tty} for process support to work; ＠item picking up some other grep or other UNIX-like tools can kill configure; ＠item static heap too small, adjust ＠file{src/sheap-adjust.h} to a more positive number; ＠item (Unconfirmed) The Cygwin version doesn't understand ＠file{//machine/path} type paths so you will need to manually mount a directory of this form under a unix style directory for a build to work on the directory; ＠item If you're building ＠strong{WITHOUT} X11, don't forget to change symlinks ＠file{/usr/lib/libXpm.a} and ＠file{/usr/lib/libXpm.dll.a} to point to the non-X versions of these libraries. By default they point to the X versions. So: ＠example /usr/lib/libXpm.a -> /usr/lib/libXpm-noX.a /usr/lib/libXpm.dll.a -> /usr/lib/libXpm-noX.dll.a ＠end example (This advice may now be obsolete because of the availability of the cygXpm-noX4.dll package from Cygwin. Send confirmation to ＠email{faq＠(a)xemacs.org}.) ＠item Other problems are listed in the ＠file{PROBLEMS} file, in the top-level directory of the XEmacs sources. ＠end itemize ＠node Q2.2.6, Q2.2.7, Q2.2.5, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.6: How do I compile using MinGW (aka ＠samp{the -mno-cygwin flag to gcc})? Similar to the method for Unix. Things to remember: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item Specify the target host on the command line for ＠file{./configure}, e.g. ＠samp{./configure i586-pc-mingw32}. ＠item Be sure that your build directory is mounted such that it has the same path either as a cygwin path (＠file{/build/xemacs}) or as a Windows path (＠file{c:\build\xemacs}). ＠item Build ＠samp{gcc -mno-cygwin} versions of the extra libs, i.e. ＠file{libpng}, ＠file{compface}, etc. ＠item Specify the target location of the extra libs on the command line to ＠file{configure}, e.g. ＠samp{./configure --site-prefixes=/build/libs i586-pc-mingw32}. ＠end itemize ＠node Q2.2.7, Q2.2.8, Q2.2.6, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.7: How do I compile with X support? To compile under Cygwin, all you need to do is install XFree86, which is available as part of the standard Cygwin installation. ＠uref{http://www.cygwin.com/}. Once installed, ＠file{configure} should automatically find the X libraries and compile with X support. As noted above, the non-Cygwin X support is basically orphaned, and probably won't work. But if it want to try, it's described in ＠file{nt/README} in some detail. Basically, you need to get X11 libraries from ＠uref{ftp://ftp.x.org}, and compile them. If the precompiled versions are available somewhere, we don't know of it. ＠node Q2.2.8, Q2.3.1, Q2.2.7, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.2.8: Cygwin XEmacs won't start -- cygXpm-noX4.dll was not found (NEW) The Cygwin binary distributed with the netinstaller uses an external DLL to handle XPM images (such as toolbar buttons). You may get an error like This application has failed to start because cygXpm-noX4.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem. Andy Piper <andy＠(a)xemacs.org&gt; sez: cygXpm-noX4 is part of the cygwin distribution under libraries or graphics, but is not installed by default. You need to run the cygwin setup again and select this package. Ie, reinstalling XEmacs won't help because it is not part of the XEmacs distribution. ＠unnumberedsec 2.3: General Troubleshooting ＠node Q2.3.1, Q2.3.2, Q2.2.8, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.1: Help! XEmacs just crashed on me! First of all, don't panic. Whenever XEmacs crashes, it tries extremely hard to auto-save all of your files before dying. (The main time that this will not happen is if the machine physically lost power or if you killed the XEmacs process using ＠code{kill -9}). The next time you try to edit those files, you will be informed that a more recent auto-save file exists. You can use ＠kbd{M-x recover-file} to retrieve the auto-saved version of the file. You can use the command ＠kbd{M-x recover-session} after a crash to pick up where you left off. Now, XEmacs is not perfect, and there may occasionally be times, or particular sequences of actions, that cause it to crash. If you can come up with a reproducible way of doing this (or even if you have a pretty good memory of exactly what you were doing at the time), the maintainers would be very interested in knowing about it. The best way to report a bug is using ＠kbd{M-x report-emacs-bug} (or by selecting ＠samp{Send Bug Report...} from the Help menu). If that won't work (e.g. you can't get XEmacs working at all), send ordinary mail to ＠email{xemacs-beta＠(a)xemacs.org}. ＠emph{MAKE SURE} to include the output from the crash, especially including the Lisp backtrace, as well as the XEmacs configuration from ＠kbd{M-x describe-installation} (or equivalently, the file ＠file{Installation} in the top of the build tree). Note that the developers do ＠emph{not} usually follow ＠samp{comp.emacs.xemacs} on a regular basis; thus, this is better for general questions about XEmacs than bug reports. If at all possible, include a C stack backtrace of the core dump that was produced. This shows where exactly things went wrong, and makes it much easier to diagnose problems. To do this under Unix, you need to locate the core file (it's called ＠file{core}, and is usually sitting in the directory that you started XEmacs from, or your home directory if that other directory was not writable). Then, go to that directory and execute a command like: ＠example gdb `which xemacs` core ＠end example and then issue the command ＠samp{where} to get the stack backtrace. You might have to use ＠code{dbx} or some similar debugger in place of ＠code{gdb}. If you don't have any such debugger available, complain to your system administrator. It's possible that a core file didn't get produced or the stack trace from gdb is garbage, in which case you're out of luck unless you can reproduce the bug. A nonexistent core file can happen in some circumstances on some operating systems, depending on what exactly triggered the crash. It's also possible, however, that your limits are set to turn them off. You may be able to reenable them using a command like ＠samp{unlimit coredumpsize} or ＠samp{ulimit -c}. (To find out how your limits are set, use the command ＠samp{limit}.) However, if you didn't explicitly set your limits this way, go complain to your system administrator and tell him not to disable core files by default. A garbaged stack trace can happen for various reasons. Some versions of gdb are broken on certain operating systems and aren't able to read the core file. It's also possible that the stack got overwritten during the crash. A very simple reason, however, is that your version of XEmacs was compiled without debugging information or had the debugging information stripped. A compilation with optimization can also result in partly or completely garbaged stack trace. In such cases, you will need to recompile XEmacs with debugging information and without optimization; ＠xref{Q2.3.3, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger}. Note also that core files currently don't work at all under Cygwin, and the only way to get a backtrace is to run XEmacs from gdb. If you cannot get a backtrace from the core dump, but can reproduce the problem, try running XEmacs under gdb. The goal is to get clean C and Lisp backtraces and submit a bug report including full configuration information as described above, as this will greatly assist in the process of tracking down the bug. However, even partial information is better than none. The process of getting backtraces from gdb is described in detail in ＠ref{Q2.3.3, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger}. If you're under Microsoft Windows, you're out of luck unless you happen to have a debugging aid installed on your system, for example Visual C++. In this case, the crash will result in a message giving you the option to enter a debugger (for example, by pressing ＠samp{Cancel}). Do this and locate the stack-trace window. (If your XEmacs was built without debugging information, the stack trace may not be very useful.) When making a problem report make sure that: ＠enumerate ＠item Report ＠strong{all} of the information output by XEmacs during the crash. ＠item You mention what O/S and Hardware you are running XEmacs on. ＠item What version of XEmacs you are running. ＠item What build options you are using. ＠item If the problem is related to graphics and you are running Unix, we will also need to know what version of the X Window System you are running, and what window manager you are using. ＠item If the problem happened on a TTY, please include the terminal type. ＠item Try very hard to get both C and Lisp backtraces, as described above. ＠end enumerate Much of the information above is automatically generated by ＠kbd{M-x report-emacs-bug}. Even more, and often useful, information can be generated by redirecting the output of ＠code{make} and ＠code{make check} to a file (＠file{beta.err} is the default used by ＠code{build-report}), and executing ＠kbd{M-x build-report}. ＠node Q2.3.2, Q2.3.3, Q2.3.1, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.2: XEmacs crashes and I compiled it myself. There have been a variety of reports of crashes due to compilers with buggy optimizers. If you are compiling with optimization, consider turning it off (＠pxref{Q2.3.3, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger}) and recompiling. Please see the ＠file{PROBLEMS} file that comes with XEmacs (it's in the top-level source directory) to read what it says about your platform. If you compiled XEmacs using ＠samp{--use-union-type} (or the option ＠samp{USE_UNION_TYPE} in ＠file{config.inc} under Windows), try recompiling again without it. The union type has been known to trigger compiler errors in a number of cases. ＠node Q2.3.3, Q2.3.4, Q2.3.2, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.3: How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger If XEmacs does crash on you, one of the most productive things you can do to help get the bug fixed is to poke around a bit with the debugger. Here are some hints: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item First of all, if the crash is at all reproducible, consider very strongly recompiling your XEmacs with debugging symbols and with no optimization (e.g. with GCC use the compiler flags ＠samp{-g -O0} -- that's an "oh" followed by a zero), and with the configure options ＠samp{--debug=yes} and ＠samp{--error-checking=all}. This will make your XEmacs run somewhat slower, but you are a lot more likely to catch the problem earlier (closer to its source). It makes it a lot easier to determine what's going on with a debugger. The way to control the compiler flags is with the configuration option ＠samp{--cflags}. If you have a recent version of 21.5, you should use ＠samp{--without-optimization} in preference to directly setting ＠samp{--cflags}. ＠item If it's not a true crash (＠emph{i.e.}, XEmacs is hung, or a zombie process), or it's inconvenient to run XEmacs again because XEmacs is already running or is running in batch mode as part of a bunch of scripts, you may be able to attach to the existing process with your debugger. Under Unix, the typical way to do this is to first use some variant of the ＠samp{ps} command to figure out the process ID of XEmacs, for example ＠samp{ps -auxww | grep xemacs} under a BSD variant, ＠samp{ps -elf | grep xemacs} under Linux or System V, or ＠samp{ps -aW | grep xemacs} under Cygwin. Then run ＠example gdb /path/to/xemacs/xemacs #### ＠end example Where ＠code{####} is the process id of your XEmacs. (If you're not sure, try using ＠samp{which xemacs}.) When gdb attaches, the xemacs will stop and you can type ＠samp{where} in gdb to get a stack trace as usual. To get things moving again, you can just type ＠samp{quit} in gdb. It'll tell you the program is running and ask if you want to quit anyways. Say ＠samp{y} and it'll quit and have your emacs continue from where it was at. If you're running another debugger, a similar method may work, or you may have to run the debugger first and then use the ＠code{attach} command or something similar. Under Microsoft Windows, use the menu item ＠samp{Build->Start Debug->Attach to Process...} and select the XEmacs process from the list given. ＠item If you're able to run XEmacs under a debugger and reproduce the crash, here are some things you can do: ＠item If XEmacs is hitting an assertion failure, put a breakpoint on ＠code{assert_failed()}. ＠item If XEmacs is hitting some weird Lisp error that's causing it to crash (e.g. during startup), put a breakpoint on ＠code{signal_1()}---this is declared static in ＠file{eval.c}. ＠item If XEmacs is outputting lots of X errors, put a breakpoint on ＠code{x_error_handler()}; that will tell you which call is causing them. Note that the result may not be very useful by default because X Windows normally operates asynchronously: A bunch of commands are buffered up and then sent to the server all at once. This greatly improves performance over a network but means that an error may not be reported until the server receives the commands, which can be long after XEmacs made the erroneous calls. For best results, you need to make the X server synchronous before getting the backtrace. This can be done by starting XEmacs with the ＠samp{-sync} option or executing the Lisp code ＠code{(x-debug-mode t)}. ＠item Internally, you will probably see lots of variables that hold objects of type ＠code{Lisp_Object}. These are references to Lisp objects. Printing them out with the debugger probably won't be too useful---you'll likely just see a number. To decode them, do this: ＠example call debug_print (OBJECT) ＠end example where ＠var{OBJECT} is whatever you want to decode (it can be a variable, a function call, etc.). This uses the Lisp printing routines to out a readable representation on the TTY from which the xemacs process was invoked. Under 21.5 and later, ＠code{dp} is defined as an easier-to-type equivalent of ＠code{debug_print}. You can also try ＠code{dpa} if you can't see the output from ＠code{debug_print} (this will return a string containing the output), or use ＠code{debug_p3} if ＠code{debug_print} itself triggers a crash (this is a less comprehensive but super-safe way to print out a Lisp object). ＠item If you want to get a Lisp backtrace showing the Lisp call stack, do this: ＠example call debug_backtrace () ＠end example Under 21.5 and later, ＠code{db} is defined as an easier-to-type equivalent of ＠code{debug_backtrace}. ＠item Using ＠code{debug_print} and ＠code{debug_backtrace} has two disadvantages - they can only be used with a running (including hung or zombie) xemacs process, and they do not display the internal C structure of a Lisp Object. Even if all you've got is a core dump, all is not lost. If you're using GDB, there are some macros in the file ＠file{src/.gdbinit} in the XEmacs source distribution that should make it easier for you to decode Lisp objects. This file is automatically read by gdb if gdb is run in the directory where xemacs was built, and contains these useful macros to inspect the state of xemacs: ＠table ＠code ＠item pobj Usage: pobj lisp_object ＠* Print the internal C representation of a lisp object. ＠item xtype Usage: xtype lisp_object ＠* Print the Lisp type of a lisp object. ＠item lbt Usage: lbt ＠* Print the current Lisp stack trace. Requires a running xemacs process. (It works by calling the db routine described above.) ＠item ldp Usage: ldp lisp_object ＠* Print a Lisp Object value using the Lisp printer. Requires a running xemacs process. (It works by calling the dp routine described above.) ＠item run-temacs Usage: run-temacs ＠* Run temacs interactively, like xemacs. Use this with debugging tools (like purify) that cannot deal with dumping, or when temacs builds successfully, but xemacs does not. ＠item dump-temacs Usage: dump-temacs ＠* Run the dumping part of the build procedure. Use when debugging temacs, not xemacs! Use this when temacs builds successfully, but xemacs does not. ＠item check-xemacs Usage: check-xemacs ＠* Run the test suite. Equivalent to 'make check'. ＠item check-temacs Usage: check-temacs ＠* Run the test suite on temacs. Equivalent to 'make check-temacs'. Use this with debugging tools (like purify) that cannot deal with dumping, or when temacs builds successfully, but xemacs does not. ＠end table If you are using Sun's ＠file{dbx} debugger, there is an equivalent file ＠file{src/.dbxrc}, which defines the same commands for dbx. ＠item If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're seeing stack traces with some of the innermost frames mangled, it may be due to dynamic linking. (This happens especially under Linux.) Consider reconfiguring with ＠samp{--dynamic=no}. Also, sometimes (again under Linux), stack backtraces of core dumps will have the frame where the fatal signal occurred mangled; if you can obtain a stack trace while running the XEmacs process under a debugger, the stack trace should be clean. ＠email{1CMC3466＠(a)ibm.mtsac.edu, Curtiss} suggests upgrading to ld.so version 1.8 if dynamic linking and debugging is a problem on Linux. ＠item If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're getting a completely mangled and bogus stack trace, it's probably due to one of the following: ＠enumerate a ＠item Your executable has been stripped. Bad news. Tell your sysadmin not to do this---it doesn't accomplish anything except to save a bit of disk space, and makes debugging much much harder. ＠item Your stack is getting trashed. Debugging this is hard; you have to do a binary-search type of narrowing down where the crash occurs, until you figure out exactly which line is causing the problem. Of course, this only works if the bug is highly reproducible. Also, in many cases if you run XEmacs from the debugger, the debugger can protect the stack somewhat. However, if the stack is being smashed, it is typically the case that there is a wild pointer somewhere in the program, often quite far from where the crash occurs. ＠item If your stack trace has exactly one frame in it, with address 0x0, this could simply mean that XEmacs attempted to execute code at that address, e.g. through jumping to a null function pointer. Unfortunately, under those circumstances, GDB under Linux doesn't know how to get a stack trace. (Yes, this is the fourth Linux-related problem I've mentioned. I have no idea why GDB under Linux is so bogus. Complain to the GDB authors, or to comp.os.linux.development.system.) Again, you'll have to use the narrowing-down process described above. ＠item You will get a Lisp backtrace output when XEmacs crashes, so you'll have something useful. ＠end enumerate ＠item If you compile with the newer gcc variants gcc-2.8 or egcs, you will also need gdb 4.17 or above. Earlier releases of gdb can't handle the debug information generated by the newer compilers. ＠item In versions of XEmacs before 21.2.27, ＠file{src/.gdbinit} was named ＠file{src/gdbinit}. This had the disadvantage of not being sourced automatically by gdb, so you had to set that up yourself. ＠item If you are running Microsoft Windows, the the file ＠file{nt/README} for further information about debugging XEmacs. ＠end itemize ＠node Q2.3.4, Q2.3.5, Q2.3.3, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.4: I get a cryptic error message when trying to do something. When I try to use some particular option of some particular package, I get a cryptic error message in the minibuffer. If the message went by too quickly, use ＠samp{Help->Recent Messages} from the menubar (or type ＠kbd{C-h l}) to see recent messages. If you can't figure out what's going on, select ＠samp{Options->Troubleshooting->Debug on Error} from the menubar (or type ＠kbd{M-:} then ＠kbd{(setq debug-on-error t)}) then try and make the error happen again. This will put in the debugger (you can get out of this and continue what you were doing before by typing ＠kbd{c}) and give you a backtrace that may be enlightening. If not, try reading through this FAQ; if that fails, you could try posting to ＠samp{comp.emacs.xemacs} (making sure to include the backtrace) and someone may be able to help. If you can identify which XEmacs Lisp source file the error is coming from you can get a more detailed stack backtrace by doing the following: ＠enumerate ＠item Visit the .el file in an XEmacs buffer. ＠item Issue the command ＠kbd{M-x eval-current-buffer}. ＠item Reproduce the error. ＠end enumerate For more information on debugging Lisp code, see ＠xref{Debugging,,, lispref, XEmacs Lisp Reference Manual}. ＠node Q2.3.5, Q2.3.6, Q2.3.4, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.5: XEmacs hangs when I try to do something. XEmacs might just be slow; some operations take a long time. XEmacs may also be waiting on a response from the network, for example when you are trying to send mail. You can usually interrupt XEmacs by typing ＠kbd{C-g}. If not (for example, Lisp code explicitly disabled this by setting ＠code{inhibit-quit}), you can use the "critical quit" mechanism by typing ＠kbd{Control-Shift-G}. This should also pop you into the debugger and give you a backtrace, which can tell you where the problem is (＠pxref{Q2.3.3, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger}). (Note that setting ＠code{debug-on-quit} or selecting ＠samp{Options->Troubleshooting->Debug on Quit} will also cause regular ＠kbd{C-g} to enter the debugger and give you a backtrace.) If you can't interrupt XEmacs this way, or for some reason XEmacs is not talking to the keyboard, you can try sending the ＠samp{SIGINT} signal using the ＠samp{kill} command. If the Lisp backtrace isn't enlightening, or if XEmacs is so hung that you can't interrupt it at all, you could try attaching to the process and getting a C stack backtrace. ＠xref{Q2.3.3, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger}. ＠node Q2.3.6, Q2.3.7, Q2.3.5, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.6: I get an error message when XEmacs is running in batch mode. Typically this happens when you are trying to compile some Elisp code. If you are doing this as part of XEmacs or the XEmacs packages, you should automatically get a backtrace, which can help you determine the source of the problem. In other cases, you can get equivalent results by setting the environment variable ＠samp{XEMACSDEBUG} to ＠samp{(setq stack-trace-on-error t load-always-display-messages t load-ignore-out-of-date-elc-files t load-show-full-path-in-messages t)} (this needs to be all on one line; to set an environment variable, use ＠samp{export XEMACSDEBUG='FOO'} under ＠samp{bash}, ＠samp{zsh}, etc. or ＠samp{setenv XEMACSDEBUG 'FOO'} under ＠samp{csh} and ＠samp{tcsh}). ＠samp{XEMACSDEBUG} specifies Lisp code that will be executed at startup time. If the backtrace is not sufficiently useful in helping you diagnose the problem, you should consider using a debugger such as GDB. ＠xref{Q2.3.3, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger}. You probably want to set a breakpoint on ＠code{signal_1}. Since such errors often occur during compiling, which is often triggered by a complex command run from a make suite, it may be easier to attach to the process once it's running. Under Microsoft Windows (and perhaps other operating systems), there is another useful trick you can do if you have configured with debugging support (configure option ＠samp{--debug} or setting ＠samp{DEBUG_XEMACS} in ＠file{nt/config.inc}). Set the environment variable ＠samp{XEMACSDEBUG} (as described above) to ＠samp{(setq debug-on-error t)}. Then, when an error occurs noninteractively, instead of trying to invoke the Lisp debugger (which obviously won't work), XEmacs will break out to a C debugger using ＠code{(force-debugging-signal t)}. ＠emph{NOTE}: This runs ＠code{abort()}!!! (As well as and after executing INT 3 under MS Windows, which should invoke a debugger if it's active.) This is guaranteed to kill XEmacs! (But in this situation, XEmacs is about to die anyway, and if no debugger is present, this will usefully dump core.) ＠node Q2.3.7, Q2.3.8, Q2.3.6, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.7: The keyboard or mouse is not working properly, or I have some other event-related problem. XEmacs has various facilities for debugging event handling. First, try setting the variable ＠code{debug-emacs-events} to non-zero. This will output various information showing which events are being received and how they are being translated. This may show you, for example, that a key command is getting intercepted using ＠code{key-translation-map}; this problem can otherwise be very tricky to debug. Under X, you can see exactly which events are being received from the window system by setting ＠code{x-debug-events} to non-zero. (The value ＠samp{1} gives you regular output, and ＠samp{2} gives you verbose output, including all parameters.) A similar facility exists under MS Windows: Set ＠code{debug-mswindows-events} to non-zero. (The value ＠samp{1} gives you regular output. The value ＠samp{2} gives you verbose output, including all parameters. The value ＠samp{3} gives you super-gorily-detailed output.) ＠node Q2.3.8, Q2.3.9, Q2.3.7, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.8: ＠kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken? ＠kbd{C-g} does work for most people in most circumstances. If it doesn't, there are two possible explanations: ＠enumerate ＠item XEmacs is hung in a way that prevents ＠kbd{C-g} from working. This can happen when code is wrapped with a binding of ＠code{inhibit-quit} to ＠code{t}; you should still be able interrupt XEmacs using "critical quit". On the other hand, XEmacs may be seriously wedged. (If you're lucky, sending ＠samp{SIGINT} to the XEmacs process will interrupt it.) ＠xref{Q2.3.5, XEmacs hangs when I try to do something.}. ＠item ＠kbd{C-g} is indeed broken on your system. To test, try executing ＠code{(while t)} from the ＠samp{*scratch*} buffer. If ＠kbd{C-g} doesn't interrupt, then it's broken. This used to happen with systems where ＠samp{SIGIO} was broken, but ＠samp{BROKEN_SIGIO} wasn't defined. However, there may not be very many such systems nowadays. ＠end enumerate ＠node Q2.3.9, Q2.3.10, Q2.3.8, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.9: How do I debug process-related problems? Under MS Windows, you can set the variable ＠code{debug-mswindows-process-command-lines} to non-＠samp{nil} to get information on exactly what is getting passed to a process. This can be useful in determining problems with quoting. (Under Unix, a process receives each argument separately, but under MS Windows a single command line is received, and arguments with spaces or other special characters in them must be quoted. Unfortunately this means that each process, potentially at least, has its own quoting conventions, and the code to process quoting conventions in ＠file{cmd.exe}, the Visual C++ startup code and the like is baroque and poorly documented. XEmacs uses the variable ＠code{mswindows-construct-process-command-line-alist} to construct a command line from a list of arguments based on the command to be run, but it is (and cannot be) a perfect solution.) ＠node Q2.3.10, Q2.3.11, Q2.3.9, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.10: XEmacs is outputting lots of X errors. If this is happening, we would very much like to know what's causing them. To find this out, see ＠ref{Q2.3.3, How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger}. Try to get both a C and Lisp backtrace, and send them along with the full error output to ＠email{xemacs-beta＠(a)xemacs.org}. ＠node Q2.3.11, Q2.4.1, Q2.3.10, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.3.11: After upgrading, XEmacs won't do `foo' any more! You have been used to doing `foo', but now when you invoke it (or click the toolbar button or select the menu item), nothing (or an error) happens. The simplest explanation is that you are missing a package that is essential to you. You can either track it down and install it (there is a list of packages and brief descriptions of their contents in ＠file{etc/PACKAGES}), or install the `Sumo Tarball' (＠pxref{Q2.0.2, How do I figure out which packages to install?}). ＠c #### should xref to XEmacs manual here ＠unnumberedsec 2.4: Startup-Related Problems ＠node Q2.4.1, Q2.4.2, Q2.3.11, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.1: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal! Help! I can not get XEmacs to display on my Envizex X-terminal! Try setting the ＠code{DISPLAY} variable using the numeric IP address of the host you are running XEmacs from. ＠node Q2.4.2, Q2.4.3, Q2.4.1, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.2: XEmacs won't start on Windows. XEmacs relies on a process called "dumping" to generate a working executable. Under MS-Windows this process effectively fixes the memory addresses of information in the executable. When XEmacs starts up it tries to reserve these memory addresses so that the dumping process can be reversed -- putting the information back at the correct addresses. Unfortunately some .DLLs (for instance the soundblaster driver) occupy memory addresses that can conflict with those needed by the dumped XEmacs executable. In this instance XEmacs will fail to start without any explanation. Note that this is extremely machine specific. 21.1.10 includes a fix for this that makes more intelligent guesses about which memory addresses will be free, and this should cure the problem for most people. 21.4 implements "portable dumping", which eliminates the problem altogether. We recommend you use the 21.4 binaries, but you can use the 21.1 binaries if you are very paranoid about stability. ＠xref{Q1.0.4, Are binaries available?}. ＠node Q2.4.3, Q2.4.4, Q2.4.2, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.3: XEmacs won't start without network. If XEmacs starts when you're on the network, but fails when you're not on the network, you may be missing a "localhost" entry in your ＠file{/etc/hosts} file. The file should contain an entry like: ＠example 127.0.0.1 localhost ＠end example Add that line, and XEmacs will be happy. ＠node Q2.4.4, Q2.4.5, Q2.4.3, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.4: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts? How can I avoid the startup warnings about deducing proper fonts? This is highly dependent on your installation, but try with the following font as your base font for XEmacs and see what it does: ＠format -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1 ＠end format More precisely, do the following in your resource file: ＠format Emacs.default.attributeFont: \ -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1 ＠end format If you just don't want to see the ＠samp{*Warnings*} buffer at startup time, you can set this: ＠lisp (setq display-warning-minimum-level 'error) ＠end lisp The buffer still exists; it just isn't in your face. ＠node Q2.4.5, Q2.4.6, Q2.4.4, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.5: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers. The following information comes from the ＠file{PROBLEMS} file that comes with XEmacs. If you're having troubles with HP/UX it is because HP/UX defines the modifiers wrong in X. Here is a shell script to fix the problem; be sure that it is run after VUE configures the X server. ＠example #! /bin/sh xmodmap 2> /dev/null - << EOF keysym Alt_L = Meta_L keysym Alt_R = Meta_R EOF xmodmap - << EOF clear mod1 keysym Mode_switch = NoSymbol add mod1 = Meta_L keysym Meta_R = Mode_switch add mod2 = Mode_switch EOF ＠end example ＠node Q2.4.6, , Q2.4.5, Installation ＠unnumberedsubsec Q2.4.6: XEmacs 21.1 on Windows used to spawn an ugly console window on every startup. Has that been fixed? Yes. The console was there because ＠file{temacs} (and in turn, ＠file{xemacs}) was a console application, and Windows typically creates a new console for a console process unless the creating process requests that one isn't created. This used to be fixed with ＠file{runemacs}, a small Windows application that existed merely to start ＠file{xemacs}, stating that it didn't want a console. XEmacs 21.4 fixes this cleanly by the virtue of being a true "GUI" application. The explanation of what that means is included for educational value. When building an application to be run in a Win32 environment, you must state which sub-system it is to run in. Valid subsystems include "console" and "gui". The subsystem you use affects the run time libraries linked into your application, the start up function that is run before control is handed over to your application, the entry point to your program, and how Windows normally invokes your program. (Console programs automatically get a console created for them at startup if their stdin/stdout don't point anywhere useful, which is the case when run from the GUI. This is a stupid design, of course -- instead, the console should get created only when the first I/O actually occurs! GUI programs have an equally stupid design: When called from ＠file{CMD.EXE}/(a)file{COMMAND.COM}, their stdin/stdout will be set to point nowhere useful, even though the command shell has its own stdin/stdout. It's as if someone who had learned a bit about stdio but had no actual knowledge of interprocess communication designed the scheme; unfortunately, the whole process-communication aspect of the Win32 API is equally badly designed.) For example, the entry point for a console app is "main" (which is what you'd expect for a C/C++ program), but the entry point for a "gui" app is "WinMain". This confuses and annoys a lot of programmers who've grown up on Unix systems, where the kernel doesn't really care whether your application is a gui program or not. For reasons not altogether clear, and are lost in the mists of time and tradition, XEmacs on Win32 started out as a console application, and therefore a console was automatically created for it. (It may have been made a console application partly because a console is needed in some circumstances, especially under Win95, to interrupt, terminate, or send signals to a child process, and because of the bogosity mentioned above with GUI programs and the standard command shell. Currently, XEmacs just creates and immediately hides a console when necessary, and works around the "no useful stdio" problem by creating its own console window as necessary to display messages in.) ＠node Display Subsystems, External Subsystems, Installation, Top ＠unnumbered 3 Basic Display-Related Subsystems This is part 3 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This section is devoted to the basic display-related capabilities of XEmacs, such as the keyboard, the mouse, fonts, colors, the modeline, etc. ＠menu * Q3.0.1:: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys? * Q3.0.2:: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down? * Q3.0.3:: Globally binding ＠kbd{Delete}? * Q3.0.4:: How to map ＠kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard? * Q3.0.5:: How can you type in special characters in XEmacs? * Q3.0.6:: Can I turn on ＠dfn{sticky} modifier keys? * Q3.0.7:: How do I map the arrow keys? * Q3.0.8:: HP Alt key as Meta. * Q3.0.9:: Why does edt emulation not work? * Q3.0.10:: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode? 3.1: The Mouse * Q3.1.1:: How can I turn off Mouse pasting? * Q3.1.2:: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons? * Q3.1.3:: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list. * Q3.1.4:: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3? * Q3.1.5:: How I can set XEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is? 3.2: Textual Fonts and Colors * Q3.2.1:: How do I specify a font? * Q3.2.2:: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts? * Q3.2.3:: How can I set color options from ＠file{init.el}? * Q3.2.4:: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region? * Q3.2.5:: How can I limit color map usage? * Q3.2.6:: My tty supports color, but XEmacs doesn't use them. * Q3.2.7:: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in XEmacs? * Q3.2.8:: How do I display non-ASCII characters? * Q3.2.9:: Font selections in don't get saved after ＠code{Save Options}. 3.3: The Menubar and Toolbar * Q3.3.1:: How do I get rid of the menu (or menubar)? * Q3.3.2:: Can I customize the basic menubar? * Q3.3.3:: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu ＠code{Buffers List}? * Q3.3.4:: Resources like ＠code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working? * Q3.3.5:: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar? * Q3.3.6:: ＠samp{Can't instantiate image error...} in toolbar 3.4: Scrollbars and Scrolling * Q3.4.1:: How can I disable the scrollbar? * Q3.4.2:: How can one use resources to change scrollbar colors? * Q3.4.3:: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this? * Q3.4.4:: Scrolling one line at a time. * Q3.4.5:: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes? * Q3.4.6:: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off? 3.5: The Modeline * Q3.5.1:: How can I make the modeline go away? * Q3.5.2:: How do you have XEmacs display the line number in the modeline? * Q3.5.3:: How do I get XEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline? * Q3.5.4:: How can one change the modeline color based on the mode used? 3.6: The Cursor * Q3.6.1:: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker? * Q3.6.2:: Is there a way to get back the block cursor? * Q3.6.3:: Can I make the cursor blink? 3.7: Text Selections * Q3.7.1:: How do I select a rectangular region? * Q3.7.2:: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections? * Q3.7.3:: How do I get that typing on an active region removes it? * Q3.7.4:: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch? * Q3.7.5:: How do I turn off highlighting after ＠kbd{C-x C-p} (mark-page)? * Q3.7.6:: The region disappears when I hit the end of buffer while scrolling. * Q3.7.7:: Why is killing so slow? * Q3.7.8:: Why does ＠kbd{M-w} take so long? 3.8: Buffers, Text Editing * Q3.8.1:: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way? * Q3.8.2:: How do I insert today's date into a buffer? * Q3.8.3:: How do I get a single minibuffer frame? * Q3.8.4:: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt? * Q3.8.5:: How can I get XEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default? 3.9: Editing Source Code * Q3.9.1:: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock? * Q3.9.2:: How do I get ＠samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default? * Q3.9.3:: Where do I get the latest CC Mode? * Q3.9.4:: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode? * Q3.9.5:: How do you make XEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly? ＠end menu ＠unnumberedsec 3.0: The Keyboard ＠node Q3.0.1, Q3.0.2, Display Subsystems, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.1: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys? As an example, say you want the ＠kbd{paste} key on a Sun keyboard to insert the current Primary X selection at point. You can accomplish this with: ＠lisp (define-key global-map [f18] 'x-insert-selection) ＠end lisp However, this only works if there is a current X selection (the selection will be highlighted). The functionality I like is for the ＠kbd{paste} key to insert the current X selection if there is one, otherwise insert the contents of the clipboard. To do this you need to pass arguments to ＠code{x-insert-selection}. This is done by wrapping the call in a 'lambda form: ＠lisp (global-set-key [f18] (lambda () (interactive) (x-insert-selection t nil))) ＠end lisp This binds the f18 key to a ＠dfn{generic} functional object. The interactive spec is required because only interactive functions can be bound to keys. For the FAQ example you could use: ＠lisp (global-set-key [(control ?.)] (lambda () (interactive) (scroll-up 1))) (global-set-key [(control ?;)] (lambda () (interactive) (scroll-up -1))) ＠end lisp This is fine if you only need a few functions within the lambda body. If you're doing more it's cleaner to define a separate function. ＠xref{Q3.0.2, How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down?}. ＠node Q3.0.2, Q3.0.3, Q3.0.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.2: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down? Add the following (Thanks to ＠email{mly＠(a)adoc.xerox.com, Richard Mlynarik} and ＠email{wayne＠(a)zen.cac.stratus.com, Wayne Newberry}) to ＠file{.emacs}: ＠lisp (defun scroll-up-one-line () (interactive) (scroll-up 1)) (defun scroll-down-one-line () (interactive) (scroll-down 1)) (global-set-key [(control ?.)] 'scroll-up-one-line) ; C-. (global-set-key [(control ?;)] 'scroll-down-one-line) ; C-; ＠end lisp The key point is that you can only bind simple functions to keys; you can not bind a key to a function that you're also passing arguments to. (＠pxref{Q3.0.1, How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys?} for a better answer). ＠node Q3.0.3, Q3.0.4, Q3.0.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.3: Globally binding ＠kbd{Delete}? I cannot manage to globally bind my ＠kbd{Delete} key to something other than the default. How does one do this? Answer: The problem is that many modes explicitly bind ＠kbd{Delete}. To get around this, try the following: ＠lisp (defun foo () (interactive) (message "You hit DELETE")) (define-key key-translation-map 'delete 'redirected-delete) (global-set-key 'redirected-delete 'foo) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.0.4, Q3.0.5, Q3.0.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.4: How to map ＠kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard? The following works in GNU Emacs 19: ＠lisp (global-set-key [help] 'help-command);; Help ＠end lisp The following works in XEmacs with the addition of shift: ＠lisp (global-set-key [(shift help)] 'help-command);; Help ＠end lisp But it doesn't work alone. This is in the file ＠file{PROBLEMS} which should have come with your XEmacs installation: ＠emph{Emacs ignores the ＠kbd{help} key when running OLWM}. OLWM grabs the ＠kbd{help} key, and retransmits it to the appropriate client using ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠code{XSendEvent}. Allowing Emacs to react to synthetic events is a security hole, so this is turned off by default. You can enable it by setting the variable ＠code{x-allow-sendevents} to t. You can also cause fix this by telling OLWM to not grab the help key, with the null binding ＠code{OpenWindows.KeyboardCommand.Help:}. ＠node Q3.0.5, Q3.0.6, Q3.0.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.5: How can you type in special characters in XEmacs? One way is to use the package ＠code{x-compose}. Then you can use sequences like ＠kbd{Compose " a} to get ä, etc. Another way is to use the ＠code{iso-insert} package. Then you can use sequences like ＠kbd{C-x 8 " a} to get ä, etc. ＠email{glynn＠(a)sensei.co.uk, Glynn Clements} writes: ＠quotation It depends upon your X server. Generally, the simplest way is to define a key as Multi_key with xmodmap, e.g. ＠c hey, show some respect, willya -- there's xkeycaps, isn't there? -- ＠c chr ;) ＠example xmodmap -e 'keycode 0xff20 = Multi_key' ＠end example You will need to pick an appropriate keycode. Use xev to find out the keycodes for each key. [NB: On a `Windows' keyboard, recent versions of XFree86 automatically define the right `Windows' key as Multi_key'.] Once you have Multi_key defined, you can use e.g. ＠example Multi a ' => á Multi e " => ë Multi c , => ç ＠end example etc. Also, recent versions of XFree86 define various AltGr-<key> combinations as dead keys, i.e. ＠example AltGr [ => dead_diaeresis AltGr ] => dead_tilde AltGr ; => dead_acute ＠end example etc. Running ＠samp{xmodmap -pk} will list all of the defined keysyms. ＠end quotation For the related problem of ＠emph{displaying} non-ASCII characters in a non-Mule XEmacs, ＠xref{Q3.2.8, How do I display non-ASCII characters?}. ＠node Q3.0.6, Q3.0.7, Q3.0.5, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.6: Can I turn on ＠dfn{sticky} modifier keys? Yes, with ＠code{(setq modifier-keys-are-sticky t)}. This will give the effect of being able to press and release Shift and have the next character typed come out in upper case. This will affect all the other modifier keys like Control and Meta as well. ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes: ＠quotation One thing about the sticky modifiers is that if you move the mouse out of the frame and back in, it cancels all currently ``stuck'' modifiers. ＠end quotation ＠node Q3.0.7, Q3.0.8, Q3.0.6, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.7: How do I map the arrow keys? ＠c New Say you want to map ＠kbd{C-＠key{right}} to forward-word: ＠email{sds＠(a)usa.net, Sam Steingold} writes: ＠quotation ＠lisp ; both XEmacs and Emacs (define-key global-map [(control right)] 'forward-word) ＠end lisp or ＠lisp ; Emacs only (define-key global-map [C-right] 'forward-word) ＠end lisp or ＠lisp ; ver > 20, both (define-key global-map (kbd "C-<right>") 'forward-word) ＠end lisp ＠end quotation ＠node Q3.0.8, Q3.0.9, Q3.0.7, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.8: HP Alt key as Meta. How can I make XEmacs recognize the Alt key of my HP workstation as a Meta key? Put the following line into a file and load it with xmodmap(1) before starting XEmacs: ＠example remove Mod1 = Mode_switch ＠end example ＠node Q3.0.9, Q3.0.10, Q3.0.8, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.9: Why does edt emulation not work? We don't know, but you can use tpu-edt emulation instead, which works fine and is a little fancier than the standard edt emulation. To do this, add the following line to your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (tpu-edt) ＠end lisp If you don't want it to replace ＠kbd{C-h} with an edt-style help menu add this as well: ＠lisp (global-set-key [(control h)] 'help-for-help) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.0.10, Q3.1.1, Q3.0.9, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.0.10: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode? Our recommended VI emulator is viper. To make viper-mode the default, add this to your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (viper-mode) ＠end lisp ＠email{kifer＠(a)CS.SunySB.EDU, Michael Kifer} writes: ＠quotation This should be added as close to the top of ＠file{init.el} as you can get it, otherwise some minor modes may not get viper-ized. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 3.1: The Mouse ＠node Q3.1.1, Q3.1.2, Q3.0.10, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.1: How can I turn off Mouse pasting? I keep hitting the middle mouse button by accident and getting stuff pasted into my buffer so how can I turn this off? Here is an alternative binding, whereby the middle mouse button selects (but does not cut) the expression under the mouse. Clicking middle on a left or right paren will select to the matching one. Note that you can use ＠code{define-key} or ＠code{global-set-key}. ＠lisp (defun mouse-set-point-and-select (event) "Sets the point at the mouse location, then marks following form" (interactive "＠＠e") (mouse-set-point event) (mark-sexp 1)) (define-key global-map [button2] 'mouse-set-point-and-select) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.1.2, Q3.1.3, Q3.1.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.2: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons? Use, for instance, ＠code{[(meta button1)]}. For example, here is a common setting for Common Lisp programmers who use the bundled ＠code{ilisp} package, whereby meta-button1 on a function name will find the file where the function name was defined, and put you at that location in the source file. [Inside a function that gets called by the lisp-mode-hook and ilisp-mode-hook] ＠lisp (local-set-key [(meta button1)] 'edit-definitions-lisp) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.1.3, Q3.1.4, Q3.1.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.3: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list. I do ＠kbd{C-x C-b} to get a list of buffers and the entries get highlighted when I move the mouse over them but clicking the left mouse does not do anything. Use the middle mouse button. ＠node Q3.1.4, Q3.1.5, Q3.1.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.4: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3? The following code will replace the default popup on button3: ＠lisp (global-set-key [button3] 'popup-buffer-menu) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.1.5, Q3.2.1, Q3.1.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.1.5: How I can set XEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is? By default XEmacs pastes X selections where the mouse pointer is. How do I disable this? Examine the function ＠code{mouse-yank}, by typing ＠kbd{C-h f mouse-yank ＠key{RET}}. To get XEmacs to paste at the text cursor, add this your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq mouse-yank-at-point t) ＠end lisp Starting with XEmacs-20.2 you can also change this with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Mouse->Yank At Point...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} mouse ＠key{RET}}. ＠unnumberedsec 3.2: Textual Fonts and Colors ＠node Q3.2.1, Q3.2.2, Q3.1.5, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.1: How do I specify a font? #### Update me. In 21.4 and above, you can use the "Options" menu to change the font. You can also do it in your init file, e.g. like this (for MS Windows): ＠display (set-face-font 'default "Lucida Console:Regular:10") (set-face-font 'modeline "MS Sans Serif:Regular:10") ＠end display ＠node Q3.2.2, Q3.2.3, Q3.2.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.2: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts? #### Update me. Note that you should use ＠samp{Emacs.} and not ＠samp{Emacs*} when setting face values. In ＠file{.Xresources}: ＠example Emacs.default.attributeFont: -*-*-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-m-*-*-* Emacs*menubar*font: fixed Emacs.modeline.attributeFont: fixed ＠end example This is confusing because ＠samp{default} and ＠samp{modeline} are face names, and can be found listed with all faces in the current mode by using ＠kbd{M-x set-face-font (enter) ?}. They use the face-specific resource ＠samp{attributeFont}. On the other hand, ＠samp{menubar} is a normal X thing that uses the resource ＠samp{font}. With Motif it ＠emph{may be} necessary to use ＠samp{fontList} ＠emph{instead of} ＠samp{font}. In ＠emph{non-Motif} configurations with Mule it ＠emph{is} necessary to use ＠samp{fontSet} instead of ＠samp{font}. (Sorry, there just is no simple recipe here.) ＠node Q3.2.3, Q3.2.4, Q3.2.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.3: How can I set color options from ＠file{init.el}? How can I set the most commonly used color options from my ＠file{init.el} instead of from my ＠file{.Xresources}? Like this: ＠lisp (set-face-background 'default "bisque") ; frame background (set-face-foreground 'default "black") ; normal text (set-face-background 'zmacs-region "red") ; When selecting w/ ; mouse (set-face-foreground 'zmacs-region "yellow") (set-face-font 'default "*courier-bold-r*120-100-100*") (set-face-background 'highlight "blue") ; Ie when selecting ; buffers (set-face-foreground 'highlight "yellow") (set-face-background 'modeline "blue") ; Line at bottom ; of buffer (set-face-foreground 'modeline "white") (set-face-font 'modeline "*bold-r-normal*140-100-100*") (set-face-background 'isearch "yellow") ; When highlighting ; while searching (set-face-foreground 'isearch "red") (setq x-pointer-foreground-color "black") ; Adds to bg color, ; so keep black (setq x-pointer-background-color "blue") ; This is color ; you really ; want ptr/crsr ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.2.4, Q3.2.5, Q3.2.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.4: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region? How can I set the background/foreground colors when highlighting a region? You can change the face ＠code{zmacs-region} either in your ＠file{.Xresources}: ＠example Emacs.zmacs-region.attributeForeground: firebrick Emacs.zmacs-region.attributeBackground: lightseagreen ＠end example or in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (set-face-background 'zmacs-region "red") (set-face-foreground 'zmacs-region "yellow") ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.2.5, Q3.2.6, Q3.2.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.5: How can I limit color map usage? I'm using Netscape (or another color grabber like XEmacs); is there any way to limit the number of available colors in the color map? Answer: No, but you can start Netscape before XEmacs, and it will use the closest available color if the colormap is full. You can also limit the number of colors Netscape uses, using the flags -mono, -ncols <#> or -install (for mono, limiting to <#> colors, or for using a private color map). If you have the money, another solution would be to use a truecolor or direct color video. ＠node Q3.2.6, Q3.2.7, Q3.2.5, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.6: My tty supports color, but XEmacs doesn't use them. XEmacs tries to automatically determine whether your tty supports color, but sometimes guesses wrong. In that case, you can make XEmacs Do The Right Thing using this Lisp code: ＠lisp (if (eq 'tty (device-type)) (set-device-class nil 'color)) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.2.7, Q3.2.8, Q3.2.6, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.7: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in XEmacs? ＠c New ＠email{jvillaci＠(a)wahnsinnig.extreme.indiana.edu, Juan Villacis} writes: ＠quotation There are several ways to do it. For example, you could specify a default pixmap image to use in your ＠file{~/.Xresources}, e.g., ＠example Emacs*EmacsFrame.default.attributeBackgroundPixmap: /path/to/image.xpm ＠end example and then reload ~/.Xresources and restart XEmacs. Alternatively, since each face can have its own pixmap background, a better way would be to set a face's pixmap within your XEmacs init file, e.g., ＠lisp (set-face-background-pixmap 'default "/path/to/image.xpm") (set-face-background-pixmap 'bold "/path/to/another_image.xpm") ＠end lisp and so on. You can also do this interactively via ＠kbd{M-x edit-faces}. ＠end quotation ＠node Q3.2.8, Q3.2.9, Q3.2.7, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.8: How do I display non-ASCII characters? ＠c New If you're using a Mule-enabled XEmacs, then display is automatic. If you're not seeing the characters you expect, either (1) you don't have appropriate fonts available or (2) XEmacs did not correctly detect the coding system (＠pxref{Recognize Coding, , , xemacs}). In case (1), install fonts as is customary for your platform. In case (2), you need to tell XEmacs explicitly what coding systems you're using. ＠ref{Specify Coding, , , xemacs}. If your XEmacs is not Mule-enabled, and for some reason getting a Mule-enabled XEmacs seems like the wrong thing to do, all is not lost. You can arrange it by brute force. In ＠file{event-Xt.c} (suppress the urge to look in this file---play Doom instead, because you'll survive longer), it is written: ＠quotation In a non-Mule world, a user can still have a multi-lingual editor, by doing ＠code{(set-face-font "-*-iso8859-2" (current-buffer))} for all their Latin-2 buffers, etc. ＠end quotation For the related problem of ＠emph{inputting} non-ASCII characters in a non-Mule XEmacs, ＠xref{Q3.0.5, How can you type in special characters in XEmacs?}. ＠node Q3.2.9, Q3.3.1, Q3.2.8, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.2.9: Font selections in don't get saved after ＠code{Save Options}. ＠email{mannj＠(a)ll.mit.edu, John Mann} writes: ＠quotation You have to go to Options->Frame Appearance and unselect ＠samp{Frame-Local Font Menu}. If this option is selected, font changes are only applied to the ＠emph{current} frame and do ＠emph{not} get saved when you save options. ＠end quotation Also, set the following in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq options-save-faces t) ＠end lisp ＠unnumberedsec 3.3: The Menubar and Toolbar ＠node Q3.3.1, Q3.3.2, Q3.2.9, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.1: How do I get rid of the menu (or menubar)? ＠lisp (set-specifier menubar-visible-p nil) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.3.2, Q3.3.3, Q3.3.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.2: Can I customize the basic menubar? For an extensive menubar, add this line to your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (load "big-menubar") ＠end lisp If you'd like to write your own, this file provides as good a set of examples as any to start from. The file is located in edit-utils package. ＠node Q3.3.3, Q3.3.4, Q3.3.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.3: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu ＠code{Buffers List}? Add the following to your ＠file{init.el} (suit to fit): ＠lisp (setq buffers-menu-max-size 20) ＠end lisp For no limit, use an argument of ＠samp{nil}. Starting with XEmacs-20.3 you can also change this with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Menu->Buffers Menu->Max Size...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} buffers-menu ＠key{RET}}. ＠node Q3.3.4, Q3.3.5, Q3.3.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.4: Resources like ＠code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working? I am trying to use a resource like ＠code{Emacs*menubar*font} to set the font of the menubar but it's not working. In Motif, the use of ＠samp{font} resources is obsoleted in order to support internationalization. If you are using the real Motif menubar, this resource is not recognized at all; you have to say: ＠example Emacs*menubar*fontList: FONT ＠end example If you are using the Lucid menubar, for backward compatibility with existing user configurations, the ＠samp{font} resource is recognized. Since this is not supported by Motif itself, the code is a kludge and the ＠samp{font} resource will be recognized only if the ＠samp{fontList} resource resource is unset. This means that the resource ＠example *fontList: FONT ＠end example will override ＠example Emacs*menubar*font: FONT ＠end example even though the latter is more specific. In non-Motif configurations using ＠samp{--with-mule} and ＠samp{--with-xfs} it ＠emph{is} necessary to use the ＠code{fontSet} resource ＠emph{instead of} the ＠code{font} resource. The backward compatibility kludge was never implemented for non-Motif builds. Example: ＠example *fontSet: FONT ＠end example ＠node Q3.3.5, Q3.3.6, Q3.3.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.5: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar? Try something like: ＠lisp (defun my-toggle-toolbar () (interactive) (set-specifier default-toolbar-visible-p (not (specifier-instance default-toolbar-visible-p)))) (global-set-key "\C-xT" 'my-toggle-toolbar) ＠end lisp There are redisplay bugs in 19.14 that may make the preceding result in a messed-up display, especially for frames with multiple windows. You may need to resize the frame before XEmacs completely realizes the toolbar is really gone. Thanks to ＠email{martin＠(a)xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz} for the correct code. ＠node Q3.3.6, Q3.4.1, Q3.3.5, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.3.6: ＠samp{Can't instantiate image error...} in toolbar ＠c New ＠email{expt＠(a)alanine.ram.org, Dr. Ram Samudrala} writes: I just installed the XEmacs (20.4-2) RPMS that I downloaded from ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org/}. Everything works fine, except that when I place my mouse over the toolbar, it beeps and gives me this message: ＠example Can't instantiate image (probably cached): [xbm :mask-file "/usr/include/X11/bitmaps/leftptrmsk :mask-data (16 16 <strange control characters> ... ＠end example ＠email{kyle_jones＠(a)wonderworks.com, Kyle Jones} writes: ＠quotation This is problem specific to some Chips and Technologies video chips, when running XFree86. Putting ＠code{Option "sw_cursor"} in ＠file{XF86Config} gets rid of the problem. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 3.4: Scrollbars ＠node Q3.4.1, Q3.4.2, Q3.3.6, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.4.1: How can I disable the scrollbar? To disable them for all frames, add the following line to your ＠file{.Xresources}: ＠example Emacs.scrollBarWidth: 0 ＠end example Or select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Frame Appearance->Scrollbars}. Remember to save options. To turn the scrollbar off on a per-frame basis, use the following function: ＠lisp (set-specifier scrollbar-width 0 (selected-frame)) ＠end lisp You can actually turn the scrollbars on at any level you want by substituting for (selected-frame) in the above command. For example, to turn the scrollbars off only in a single buffer: ＠lisp (set-specifier scrollbar-width 0 (current-buffer)) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.4.2, Q3.4.3, Q3.4.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.4.2: How can one use resources to change scrollbar colors? Here's a recap of how to use resources to change your scrollbar colors: ＠example ! Motif scrollbars Emacs*XmScrollBar.Background: skyblue Emacs*XmScrollBar.troughColor: lightgray ! Athena scrollbars Emacs*Scrollbar.Foreground: skyblue Emacs*Scrollbar.Background: lightgray ＠end example Note the capitalization of ＠code{Scrollbar} for the Athena widget. ＠node Q3.4.3, Q3.4.4, Q3.4.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.4.3: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this? When I move the scrollbar in an XEmacs window, it moves the point as well, which should not be the default behavior. Is this a bug or a feature? Can I disable it? The current behavior is a feature, not a bug. Point remains at the same buffer position as long as that position does not scroll off the screen. In that event, point will end up in either the upper-left or lower-left hand corner. This cannot be changed. ＠node Q3.4.4, Q3.4.5, Q3.4.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.4.4: Scrolling one line at a time. Can the cursor keys scroll the screen a line at a time, rather than the default half page jump? I tend it to find it disorienting. Use the following: ＠lisp (setq scroll-step 1) ＠end lisp You can also change this with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Windows->Scroll Step...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} windows ＠key{RET}}. ＠node Q3.4.5, Q3.4.6, Q3.4.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.4.5: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes? Do ＠code{(setq truncate-lines t)} in the mode-hooks for any modes in which you want lines truncated. More precisely: If ＠code{truncate-lines} is nil, horizontal scrollbars will never appear. Otherwise, they will appear only if the value of ＠code{scrollbar-height} for that buffer/window/etc. is non-zero. If you do ＠lisp (set-specifier scrollbar-height 0) ＠end lisp then horizontal scrollbars will not appear in truncated buffers unless the package specifically asked for them. ＠node Q3.4.6, Q3.5.1, Q3.4.5, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.4.6: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off? ＠code{auto-show-mode} controls whether or not a horizontal scrollbar magically appears when a line is too long to be displayed. This is enabled by default. To turn it off, put the following in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq auto-show-mode nil) (setq-default auto-show-mode nil) ＠end lisp ＠unnumberedsec 3.5: The Modeline ＠node Q3.5.1, Q3.5.2, Q3.4.6, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.5.1: How can I make the modeline go away? ＠lisp (set-specifier has-modeline-p nil) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.5.2, Q3.5.3, Q3.5.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.5.2: How do you have XEmacs display the line number in the modeline? Add the following line to your ＠file{init.el} file to display the line number: ＠lisp (line-number-mode 1) ＠end lisp Use the following to display the column number: ＠lisp (column-number-mode 1) ＠end lisp Or select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Line Number Mode} and/or ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Column Number Mode} Or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} editing-basics ＠key{RET}}. ＠node Q3.5.3, Q3.5.4, Q3.5.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.5.3: How do I get XEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline? Add the following line to your ＠file{init.el} file to display the time: ＠lisp (display-time) ＠end lisp See ＠code{Customize} from the ＠code{Options} menu for customization. ＠node Q3.5.4, Q3.6.1, Q3.5.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.5.4: How can one change the modeline color based on the mode used? You can use something like the following: ＠lisp (add-hook 'lisp-mode-hook (lambda () (set-face-background 'modeline "red" (current-buffer)))) ＠end lisp Then, when editing a Lisp file (i.e. when in Lisp mode), the modeline colors change from the default set in your ＠file{init.el}. The change will only be made in the buffer you just entered (which contains the Lisp file you are editing) and will not affect the modeline colors anywhere else. Notes: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item The hook is the mode name plus ＠code{-hook}. eg. c-mode-hook, c++-mode-hook, emacs-lisp-mode-hook (used for your ＠file{init.el} or a ＠file{xx.el} file), lisp-interaction-mode-hook (the ＠samp{*scratch*} buffer), text-mode-hook, etc. ＠item Be sure to use ＠code{add-hook}, not ＠code{(setq c-mode-hook xxxx)}, otherwise you will erase anything that anybody has already put on the hook. ＠item You can also do ＠code{(set-face-font 'modeline ＠var{font})}, eg. ＠code{(set-face-font 'modeline "*bold-r-normal*140-100-100*" (current-buffer))} if you wish the modeline font to vary based on the current mode. ＠end itemize There are additional modeline faces, ＠code{modeline-buffer-id}, ＠code{modeline-mousable}, and ＠code{modeline-mousable-minor-mode}, which you may want to customize. ＠unnumberedsec 3.6: The Cursor ＠node Q3.6.1, Q3.6.2, Q3.5.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.6.1: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker? I'd like to have the bar cursor a little thicker, as I tend to "lose" it often. For a 1 pixel bar cursor, use: ＠lisp (setq bar-cursor t) ＠end lisp For a 2 pixel bar cursor, use: ＠lisp (setq bar-cursor 'anything-else) ＠end lisp Starting with XEmacs-20.3 you can also change these with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Display->Bar Cursor...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} display ＠key{RET}}. You can use a color to make it stand out better: ＠example Emacs*cursorColor: Red ＠end example ＠node Q3.6.2, Q3.6.3, Q3.6.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.6.2: Is there a way to get back the block cursor? ＠lisp (setq bar-cursor nil) ＠end lisp Starting with XEmacs 20.3 you can also change this with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Display->Bar Cursor...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} display ＠key{RET}}. ＠node Q3.6.3, Q3.7.1, Q3.6.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.6.3: Can I make the cursor blink? Yes, like this: ＠lisp (blink-cursor-mode) ＠end lisp This function toggles between a steady cursor and a blinking cursor. You may also set this mode from the menu bar by selecting ＠samp{Options => Frame Appearance => Blinking Cursor}. Remember to save options. ＠unnumberedsec 3.7: Text Selections ＠node Q3.7.1, Q3.7.2, Q3.6.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.7.1: How do I select a rectangular region? Just select the region normally, then use the rectangle commands (e.g. ＠code{kill-rectangle} on it. The region does not highlight as a rectangle, but the commands work just fine. To actually sweep out rectangular regions with the mouse you can use ＠code{mouse-track-do-rectangle} which is assigned to ＠kbd{M-button1}. Then use rectangle commands. You can also do the following to change default behavior to sweep out rectangular regions: ＠lisp (setq mouse-track-rectangle-p t) ＠end lisp Starting with XEmacs-20.2 you can also change this with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Mouse->Track Rectangle...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} mouse ＠key{RET}}. ＠example mouse-track-do-rectangle: (event) -- an interactive compiled Lisp function. Like `mouse-track' but selects rectangles instead of regions. ＠end example ＠node Q3.7.2, Q3.7.3, Q3.7.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.7.2: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections? The ＠code{zmacs} mode allows for what some might call gratuitous highlighting for selected regions (either by setting mark or by using the mouse). This is the default behavior. To turn off, add the following line to your ＠file{init.el} file: ＠lisp (setq zmacs-regions nil) ＠end lisp Starting with XEmacs-20.2 you can also change this with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Zmacs Regions} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} editing-basics ＠key{RET}}. To change the face for selection, look at ＠code{Options->Customize} on the menubar. ＠node Q3.7.3, Q3.7.4, Q3.7.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.7.3: How do I get that typing on an active region removes it? I want to change things so that if I select some text and start typing, the typed text replaces the selected text, similar to Motif. You want to use something called ＠dfn{pending delete}. Pending delete is what happens when you select a region (with the mouse or keyboard) and you press a key to replace the selected region by the key you typed. Usually backspace kills the selected region. To get this behavior, ensure that you have the ＠file{pc} package installed, and add the following lines to your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (cond ((fboundp 'turn-on-pending-delete) (turn-on-pending-delete)) ((fboundp 'pending-delete-on) (pending-delete-on t))) ＠end lisp Note that this will work with both Backspace and Delete. This code is a tad more complicated than it has to be for XEmacs in order to make it more portable. ＠node Q3.7.4, Q3.7.5, Q3.7.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.7.4: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch? I do not like my text highlighted while I am doing isearch as I am not able to see what's underneath. How do I turn it off? Put the following in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq isearch-highlight nil) ＠end lisp Starting with XEmacs-20.2 you can also change this with Customize. Type ＠kbd{M-x customize-variable ＠key{RET} isearch-highlight ＠key{RET}}. Note also that isearch-highlight affects query-replace and ispell. Instead of disabling isearch-highlight you may find that a better solution consists of customizing the ＠code{isearch} face. ＠node Q3.7.5, Q3.7.6, Q3.7.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.7.5: How do I turn off highlighting after ＠kbd{C-x C-p} (mark-page)? Put this in your ＠code{.emacs}: ＠lisp (setq zmacs-regions nil) ＠end lisp ＠strong{Warning: This command turns off all region highlighting.} ＠xref{Q3.7.2, How can I turn off or change highlighted selections?}. ＠node Q3.7.6, Q3.7.7, Q3.7.5, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.7.6: The region disappears when I hit the end of buffer while scrolling. This has been fixed by default starting with XEmacs-20.3. With older versions you can turn this feature (if it indeed is a feature) off like this: ＠lisp (defadvice scroll-up (around scroll-up freeze) (interactive "_P") (let ((zmacs-region-stays t)) (if (interactive-p) (condition-case nil ad-do-it (end-of-buffer (goto-char (point-max)))) ad-do-it))) (defadvice scroll-down (around scroll-down freeze) (interactive "_P") (let ((zmacs-region-stays t)) (if (interactive-p) (condition-case nil ad-do-it (beginning-of-buffer (goto-char (point-min)))) ad-do-it))) ＠end lisp Thanks to ＠email{raman＠(a)adobe.com, T. V. Raman} for assistance in deriving this answer. ＠node Q3.7.7, Q3.7.8, Q3.7.6, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.7.7: Why is killing so slow? This actually is an X Windows question, although you'll notice it with keyboard operations as well as while using the GUI. Basically, there are four ways to communicate interprogram via the X server: ＠table ＠strong ＠item Primary selection a transient selection that gets replaced every time a new selection is made ＠item Secondary selection for "exchanging" with the primary selection ＠item Cut buffers a clipboard internal to the X server (deprecated) ＠item Clipboard selection a selection with a notification protocol that allows a separate app to manage the clipboard ＠end table The cut buffers are deprecated because managing them is even more inefficient than the clipboard notification protocol. The primary selection works fine for many users and applications, but is not very robust under intensive or sophisticated use. In Motif and MS Windows, a clipboard has become the primary means for managing cut and paste. These means that "modern" applications tend to be oriented toward a true clipboard, rather than the primary selection. (On Windows, there is nothing equivalent to the primary selection.) It's not that XEmacs doesn't support the simple primary selection method, it's that more and more other applications don't. So the slowdown occurs because XEmacs now engages in the clipboard notification protocol on ＠emph{every} kill. This is especially slow on Motif. With most people running most clients and server on the same host, and many of the rest working over very fast communication, you may expect that the situation is not going to improve. There are a number of workarounds. The most effective is to use a special command to do selection ownership only when you intend to paste to another application. Useful commands are ＠code{kill-primary-selection} and ＠code{copy-primary-selection}. These work only on text selected with the mouse (probably; experiment), and are bound by default to the ＠kbd{Cut} and ＠kbd{Copy}, respectively, buttons on the toolbar. ＠code{copy-primary-selection} is also bound to ＠kbd{C-Insert}. You can yank the clipboard contents with ＠code{yank-primary-selection}, bound to the ＠kbd{Paste} toolbar button and ＠kbd{Sh-Insert}. If you are communicating by cut and paste with applications that use the primary selection, then you can customize ＠code{interprogram-cut-function} to ＠code{nil}, restoring the XEmacs version 20 behavior. How can you tell if a program will support this? Motifly-correct programs require the clipboard; you lose. For others, only by trying it. You also need to customize the complementary ＠code{interprogram-paste-function} to ＠code{nil}. (Otherwise XEmacs-to-XEmacs pastes will not work correctly.) You may get some relief on Motif by setting ＠code{x-selection-strict-motif-ownership} to nil, but this means you will only intermittently be able to paste XEmacs kills to Motif applications. Thanks to Jeff Mincy and Glynn Clements for corrections. ＠node Q3.7.8, Q3.8.1, Q3.7.7, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.7.8: Why does ＠kbd{M-w} take so long? It actually doesn't. It leaves the region visible for a second so that you can see what area is being yanked. If you start working, though, it will immediately complete its operation. In other words, it will only delay for a second if you let it. ＠unnumberedsec 3.8: Buffers, Text Editing ＠node Q3.8.1, Q3.8.2, Q3.7.8, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.8.1: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way? Say, with: ＠samp{[END]}? Try this: ＠lisp (let ((ext (make-extent (point-min) (point-max)))) (set-extent-property ext 'start-closed t) (set-extent-property ext 'end-closed t) (set-extent-property ext 'detachable nil) (set-extent-end-glyph ext (make-glyph [string :data "[END]"]))) ＠end lisp Since this is XEmacs, you can specify an icon to be shown on window-system devices. To do so, change the ＠code{make-glyph} call to something like this: ＠lisp (make-glyph '([xpm :file "~/something.xpm"] [string :data "[END]"])) ＠end lisp You can inline the ＠sc{xpm} definition yourself by specifying ＠code{:data} instead of ＠code{:file}. Here is such a full-featured version that works on both X and TTY devices: ＠lisp (let ((ext (make-extent (point-min) (point-max)))) (set-extent-property ext 'start-closed t) (set-extent-property ext 'end-closed t) (set-extent-property ext 'detachable nil) (set-extent-end-glyph ext (make-glyph '([xpm :data "\ /* XPM */ static char* eye = ＠{ \"20 11 7 2\", \"__ c None\" \"_` c #7f7f7f\", \"_a c #fefefe\", \"_b c #7f0000\", \"_c c #fefe00\", \"_d c #fe0000\", \"_e c #bfbfbf\", \"___________`_`_`___b_b_b_b_________`____\", \"_________`_`_`___b_c_c_c_b_b____________\", \"_____`_`_`_e___b_b_c_c_c___b___b_______`\", \"___`_`_e_a___b_b_d___b___b___b___b______\", \"_`_`_e_a_e___b_b_d_b___b___b___b___b____\", \"_`_`_a_e_a___b_b_d___b___b___b___b___b__\", \"_`_`_e_a_e___b_b_d_b___b___b___b___b_b__\", \"___`_`_e_a___b_b_b_d_c___b___b___d_b____\", \"_____`_`_e_e___b_b_b_d_c___b_b_d_b______\", \"_`_____`_`_`_`___b_b_b_d_d_d_d_b________\", \"___`_____`_`_`_`___b_b_b_b_b_b__________\", ＠} ;"] [string :data "[END]"])))) ＠end lisp Note that you might want to make this a function, and put it to a hook. We leave that as an exercise for the reader. ＠node Q3.8.2, Q3.8.3, Q3.8.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.8.2: How do I insert today's date into a buffer? Like this: ＠lisp (insert (current-time-string)) ＠end lisp ＠node Q3.8.3, Q3.8.4, Q3.8.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.8.3: How do I get a single minibuffer frame? ＠email{acs＠(a)acm.org, Vin Shelton} writes: ＠lisp (setq initial-frame-plist '(minibuffer nil)) (setq default-frame-plist '(minibuffer nil)) (setq default-minibuffer-frame (make-frame '(minibuffer only width 86 height 1 menubar-visible-p nil default-toolbar-visible-p nil name "minibuffer" top -2 left -2 has-modeline-p nil))) (frame-notice-user-settings) ＠end lisp ＠strong{Please note:} The single minibuffer frame may not be to everyone's taste, and there any number of other XEmacs options settings that may make it difficult or inconvenient to use. ＠node Q3.8.4, Q3.8.5, Q3.8.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.8.4: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt? Put the following line in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq indent-line-function 'indent-relative-maybe) ＠end lisp If you want to get fancy, try the ＠code{filladapt} package available standard with XEmacs. Put this into your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (require 'filladapt) (setq-default filladapt-mode t) (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-off-filladapt-mode) ＠end lisp This will enable Filladapt for all modes except C mode, where it doesn't work well. To turn Filladapt on only in particular major modes, remove the ＠code{(setq-default ...)} line and use ＠code{turn-on-filladapt-mode}, like this: ＠lisp (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-filladapt-mode) ＠end lisp You can customize filling and adaptive filling with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Fill->Fill...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} fill ＠key{RET}}. Note that well-behaving text-lookalike modes will run ＠code{text-mode-hook} by default (e.g. that's what Message does). For the nasty ones, you'll have to provide the ＠code{add-hook}s yourself. Please note that the ＠code{fa-extras} package is no longer useful. ＠node Q3.8.5, Q3.9.1, Q3.8.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.8.5: How can I get XEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default? Try the following lisp in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq default-major-mode 'text-mode) (setq text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill) ＠end lisp ＠strong{WARNING}: note that changing the value of ＠code{default-major-mode} from ＠code{fundamental-mode} can break a large amount of built-in code that expects newly created buffers to be in ＠code{fundamental-mode}. (Changing from ＠code{fundamental-mode} to ＠code{text-mode} might not wreak too much havoc, but changing to something more exotic like a lisp-mode would break many Emacs packages). Note that Emacs by default starts up in buffer ＠code{*scratch*} in ＠code{initial-major-mode}, which defaults to ＠code{lisp-interaction-mode}. Thus adding the following form to your Emacs init file will cause the initial ＠code{*scratch*} buffer to be put into auto-fill'ed ＠code{text-mode}: ＠lisp (setq initial-major-mode (lambda () (text-mode) (turn-on-auto-fill))) ＠end lisp Note that after your init file is loaded, if ＠code{inhibit-startup-message} is ＠code{nil} (the default) and the startup buffer is ＠code{*scratch*} then the startup message will be inserted into ＠code{*scratch*}; it will be removed after a timeout by erasing the entire ＠code{*scratch*} buffer. Keep in mind this default usage of ＠code{*scratch*} if you desire any prior manipulation of ＠code{*scratch*} from within your Emacs init file. In particular, anything you insert into ＠code{*scratch*} from your init file will be later erased. Also, if you change the mode of the ＠code{*scratch*} buffer, be sure that this will not interfere with possible later insertion of the startup message (e.g. if you put ＠code{*scratch*} into a nonstandard mode that has automatic font lock rules, then the startup message might get fontified in a strange foreign manner, e.g. as code in some programming language). ＠unnumberedsec 3.9: Editing Source Code ＠node Q3.9.1, Q3.9.2, Q3.8.5, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.9.1: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock? For most modes, font-lock is already set up and just needs to be turned on. This can be done by adding the line: ＠lisp (require 'font-lock) ＠end lisp to your ＠file{init.el}. (You can turn it on for the current buffer and session only by ＠kbd{M-x font-lock-mode}.) See the file ＠file{etc/sample.init.el} (＠file{etc/sample.emacs} in XEmacs versions prior to 21.4) for more information. ＠c the old way: ＠c (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) ＠c (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) See also ＠code{Syntax Highlighting} from the ＠code{Options} menu. Remember to save options. ＠node Q3.9.2, Q3.9.3, Q3.9.1, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.9.2: How do I get ＠samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default? Use the following code in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq-default font-lock-maximum-decoration t) ＠end lisp See also ＠code{Syntax Highlighting} from the ＠code{Options} menu. Remember to save options. ＠node Q3.9.3, Q3.9.4, Q3.9.2, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.9.3: Where do I get the latest CC Mode? ＠email{bwarsaw＠(a)cnri.reston.va.us, Barry A. Warsaw} writes: ＠quotation This can be had from ＠uref{http://www.python.org/emacs/}. ＠end quotation ＠node Q3.9.4, Q3.9.5, Q3.9.3, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.9.4: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode? Well, first off, consider if you really want to do this. cc-mode is much more powerful than the old c-mode. If you're having trouble getting your old offsets to work, try using ＠code{c-set-offset} instead. You might also consider using the package ＠code{cc-compat}. But, if you still insist, add the following lines to your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (fmakunbound 'c-mode) (makunbound 'c-mode-map) (fmakunbound 'c++-mode) (makunbound 'c++-mode-map) (makunbound 'c-style-alist) (load-library "old-c-mode") (load-library "old-c++-mode") ＠end lisp This must be done before any other reference is made to either c-mode or c++-mode. ＠node Q3.9.5, , Q3.9.4, Display Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q3.9.5: How do you make XEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly? I'd like XEmacs to indent all the clauses of a Common Lisp ＠code{if} the same amount instead of indenting the 3rd clause differently from the first two. One way is to add, to ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (put 'if 'lisp-indent-function nil) ＠end lisp However, note that the package ＠code{cl-indent} that comes with XEmacs sets up this kind of indentation by default. ＠code{cl-indent} also knows about many other CL-specific forms. To use ＠code{cl-indent}, one can do this: ＠lisp (load "cl-indent") (setq lisp-indent-function (function common-lisp-indent-function)) ＠end lisp One can also customize ＠file{cl-indent.el} so it mimics the default ＠code{if} indentation ＠code{then} indented more than the ＠code{else}. Here's how: ＠lisp (put 'if 'common-lisp-indent-function '(nil nil &body)) ＠end lisp Also, a new version (1.2) of ＠file{cl-indent.el} was posted to comp.emacs.xemacs on 12/9/94. This version includes more documentation than previous versions. This may prove useful if you need to customize any indent-functions. ＠node External Subsystems, Internet, Display Subsystems, Top ＠unnumbered 4 Interfacing with the Operating System and External Devices This is part 4 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This section is devoted to the various ways that XEmacs interfaces with the operating system, with other processes and with external devices such as speakers and the printer. ＠menu * Q4.0.1:: Where is a list of X resources? * Q4.0.2:: How can I detect a color display? * Q4.0.3:: How can I get the icon to just say ＠samp{XEmacs}? * Q4.0.4:: How can I have the window title area display the full path? * Q4.0.5:: ＠samp{xemacs -name junk} doesn't work? * Q4.0.6:: ＠samp{-iconic} doesn't work. 4.1: Microsoft Windows * Q4.1.1:: Does XEmacs rename all the ＠samp{win32-*} symbols to ＠samp{w32-*}? * Q4.1.2:: How do I get Windows Explorer to associate a file type with XEmacs? 4.2: Printing * Q4.2.1:: What do I need to change to make printing work? * Q4.2.2:: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer? * Q4.2.3:: Getting ＠kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer. * Q4.2.4:: Can you print under MS Windows? 4.3: Sound * Q4.3.1:: How do I turn off the sound? * Q4.3.2:: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep? * Q4.3.3:: What's NAS, how do I get it? * Q4.3.4:: Sunsite sounds don't play. 4.4: Running an Interior Shell, Invoking Subprocesses * Q4.4.1:: What is an interior shell? * Q4.4.2:: How do I start up a second shell buffer? * Q4.4.3:: Telnet from shell filters too much * Q4.4.4:: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode. * Q4.4.5:: XEmacs complains "No such file or directory, diff" 4.5: Multiple Device Support * Q4.5.1:: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display? * Q4.5.2:: Can I really connect to a running XEmacs after calling up over a modem? How? * Q4.5.3:: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame? * Q4.5.4:: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent XEmacs is a client? * Q4.5.5:: Is there a way to start a new XEmacs if there's no gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient? 4.6: TeX * Q4.6.1:: Is there something better than LaTeX mode? * Q4.6.2:: What is AUCTeX? Where do you get it? * Q4.6.3:: Problems installing AUCTeX. * Q4.6.4:: How do I turn off current chapter from AUCTeX modeline? 4.7: Other Unbundled Packages * Q4.7.1:: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in XEmacs? * Q4.7.2:: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets? * Q4.7.3:: Is there a MatLab mode? 4.8: Environments Built Around XEmacs * Q4.8.1:: What are SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop? * Q4.8.2:: How do I start the Sun Workshop support in XEmacs 21? * Q4.8.3:: What is/was Energize? * Q4.8.4:: What is Infodock? ＠end menu ＠unnumberedsec 4.0: X Window System and Resources ＠node Q4.0.1, Q4.0.2, External Subsystems, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.1: Where is a list of X resources? Search through the ＠file{NEWS} file for ＠samp{X Resources}. A fairly comprehensive list is given after it. In addition, an ＠file{app-defaults} file ＠file{etc/Emacs.ad} is supplied, listing the defaults. The file ＠file{etc/sample.Xresources} gives a different set of defaults that you might consider for installation in your ＠file{~/.Xresources} file. It is nearly the same as ＠file{etc/Emacs.ad}, but a few entries are altered. Be careful about installing the contents of this file into your ＠file{.Xresources} (or legacy ＠file{.Xdefaults}) file if you use GNU Emacs under X11 as well. ＠node Q4.0.2, Q4.0.3, Q4.0.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.2: How can I detect a color display? You can test the return value of the function ＠code{(device-class)}, as in: ＠lisp (when (eq (device-class) 'color) (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-comment-face "Grey") (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-string-face "Red") .... ) ＠end lisp ＠node Q4.0.3, Q4.0.4, Q4.0.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.3: How can I get the icon to just say ＠samp{XEmacs}? I'd like the icon to just say ＠samp{XEmacs}, and not include the name of the current file in it. Add the following line to your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq frame-icon-title-format "XEmacs") ＠end lisp ＠node Q4.0.4, Q4.0.5, Q4.0.3, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.4: How can I have the window title area display the full path? I'd like to have the window title area display the full directory/name of the current buffer file and not just the name. Add the following line to your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq frame-title-format "%S: %f") ＠end lisp A more sophisticated title might be: ＠lisp (setq frame-title-format '("%S: " (buffer-file-name "%f" (dired-directory dired-directory "%b")))) ＠end lisp That is, use the file name, or the dired-directory, or the buffer name. ＠node Q4.0.5, Q4.0.6, Q4.0.4, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.5: ＠samp{xemacs -name junk} doesn't work? When I run ＠samp{xterm -name junk}, I get an xterm whose class name according to xprop, is ＠samp{junk}. This is the way it's supposed to work, I think. When I run ＠samp{xemacs -name junk} the class name is not set to ＠samp{junk}. It's still ＠samp{emacs}. What does ＠samp{xemacs -name} really do? The reason I ask is that my window manager (fvwm) will make a window sticky and I use XEmacs to read my mail. I want that XEmacs window to be sticky, without having to use the window manager's function to set the window sticky. What gives? ＠samp{xemacs -name} sets the application name for the program (that is, the thing which normally comes from ＠samp{argv[0]}). Using ＠samp{-name} is the same as making a copy of the executable with that new name. The ＠code{WM_CLASS} property on each frame is set to the frame-name, and the application-class. So, if you did ＠samp{xemacs -name FOO} and then created a frame named ＠var{BAR}, you'd get an X window with WM_CLASS = ＠code{( "BAR", "Emacs")}. However, the resource hierarchy for this widget would be: ＠example Name: FOO .shell .container .BAR Class: Emacs .TopLevelEmacsShell.EmacsManager.EmacsFrame ＠end example instead of the default ＠example Name: xemacs.shell .container .emacs Class: Emacs .TopLevelEmacsShell.EmacsManager.EmacsFrame ＠end example It is arguable that the first element of WM_CLASS should be set to the application-name instead of the frame-name, but I think that's less flexible, since it does not give you the ability to have multiple frames with different WM_CLASS properties. Another possibility would be for the default frame name to come from the application name instead of simply being ＠samp{emacs}. However, at this point, making that change would be troublesome: it would mean that many users would have to make yet another change to their resource files (since the default frame name would suddenly change from ＠samp{emacs} to ＠samp{xemacs}, or whatever the executable happened to be named), so we'd rather avoid it. To make a frame with a particular name use: ＠lisp (make-frame '((name . "the-name"))) ＠end lisp ＠node Q4.0.6, Q4.1.1, Q4.0.5, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.0.6: ＠samp{-iconic} doesn't work. When I start up XEmacs using ＠samp{-iconic} it doesn't work right. Using ＠samp{-unmapped} on the command line, and setting the ＠code{initiallyUnmapped} X Resource don't seem to help much either... ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes: ＠quotation Ugh, this stuff is such an incredible mess that I've about given up getting it to work. The principal problem is numerous window-manager bugs... ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 4.1: Microsoft Windows ＠node Q4.1.1, Q4.1.2, Q4.0.6, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.1.1: Does XEmacs rename all the ＠samp{win32-*} symbols to ＠samp{w32-*}? In his flavor of Emacs 20, Richard Stallman has renamed all the ＠samp{win32-*} symbols to ＠samp{w32-*}. Does XEmacs do the same? We consider such a move counter-productive, thus we do not use the ＠samp{w32} prefix. (His rather questionable justification was that he did not consider Windows to be a "winning" platform.) However, the name ＠samp{Win32} is not particularly descriptive outside the Windows world, and using just ＠samp{windows-} would be too generic. So we chose a compromise, the prefix ＠samp{mswindows-} for Windows-related variables and functions. Thus all the XEmacs variables and functions directly related to either the Windows GUI or OS are prefixed ＠samp{mswindows-} (except for a couple of debugging variables, prefixed ＠samp{debug-mswindows-}). From an architectural perspective, however, we believe that this is mostly a non-issue because there should be a very small number of window-systems-specific variables anyway. Whenever possible, we try to provide generic interfaces that apply to all window systems. ＠c not true: ＠c The user variables ＠c that share functionality with existing NT Emacs variables are be named ＠c with our convention, but we provide the GNU Emacs names as ＠c compatibility aliases. ＠node Q4.1.2, Q4.2.1, Q4.1.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.1.2: How do I get Windows Explorer to associate a file type with XEmacs? ＠unnumberedsubsubsec Associating a new file type with XEmacs. In Explorer select ＠samp{View/Options/File Types}, press ＠samp{[New Type...]} and fill in the dialog box, e.g.: ＠example Description of type: Emacs Lisp source Associated extension: el Content Type (MIME): text/plain ＠end example then press ＠samp{[New...]} and fill in the ＠samp{Action} dialog box as follows: ＠example Action: Open Application used to perform action: D:\Full\path\for\xemacs.exe "%1" [x] Use DDE DDE Message: open("%1") Application: <leave blank> DDE Application Not Running: <leave blank> Topic: <leave blank> ＠end example ＠unnumberedsubsubsec Associating an existing file type with XEmacs. In Explorer select ＠samp{View/Options/File Types}. Click on the file type in the list and press ＠samp{[Edit...]}. If the file type already has an ＠samp{Open} action, double click on it and fill in the ＠samp{Action} dialog box as described above; otherwise create a new action. If the file type has more than one action listed, you probably want to make the ＠samp{Open} action that you just edited the default by clicking on it and pressing ＠samp{Set Default}. Note for Windows 2000 users: Under Windows 2000, get to ＠samp{File Types} using ＠samp{Control Panel->Folder Options->File Types}. ＠unnumberedsec 4.2: Printing ＠node Q4.2.1, Q4.2.2, Q4.1.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.2.1: What do I need to change to make printing work? For regular printing there are two variables that can be customized. ＠table ＠code ＠item lpr-command This should be set to a command that takes standard input and sends it to a printer. Something like: ＠lisp (setq lpr-command "lp") ＠end lisp ＠item lpr-switches This should be set to a list that contains whatever the print command requires to do its job. Something like: ＠lisp (setq lpr-switches '("-depson")) ＠end lisp ＠end table For postscript printing there are three analogous variables to customize. ＠table ＠code ＠item ps-lpr-command This should be set to a command that takes postscript on standard input and directs it to a postscript printer. ＠item ps-lpr-switches This should be set to a list of switches required for ＠code{ps-lpr-command} to do its job. ＠item ps-print-color-p This boolean variable should be set ＠code{t} if printing will be done in color, otherwise it should be set to ＠code{nil}. ＠end table NOTE: It is an undocumented limitation in XEmacs that postscript printing (the ＠code{Pretty Print Buffer} menu item) ＠strong{requires} a window system environment. It cannot be used outside of X11. ＠node Q4.2.2, Q4.2.3, Q4.2.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.2.2: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer? Font-lock looks nice. How can I print (WYSIWYG) the highlighted document? The package ＠code{ps-print}, which is now included with XEmacs, provides the ability to do this. The source code contains complete instructions on its use, in ＠file{$prefix/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/lisp/ps-print/ps-print.el}, being the default location of an installed ps-print package. ＠node Q4.2.3, Q4.2.4, Q4.2.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.2.3: Getting ＠kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer. My printer is a Postscript printer and ＠code{lpr} only works for Postscript files, so how do I get ＠kbd{M-x lpr-region} and ＠kbd{M-x lpr-buffer} to work? Put something like this in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq lpr-command "a2ps") (setq lpr-switches '("-p" "-1")) ＠end lisp If you don't use a2ps to convert ASCII to postscript (why not, it's free?), replace with the command you do use. Note also that some versions of a2ps require a ＠samp{-Pprinter} to ensure spooling. ＠node Q4.2.4, Q4.3.1, Q4.2.3, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.2.4: Can you print under MS Windows? As of 21.4, printing works on Windows, using simply ＠samp{File->Print}, and can be configured with ＠samp{File->Page Setup}. Prior to 21.4, there is no built-in support, but there are some clever hacks out there. If you know how, please let us know and we'll put it here. ＠unnumberedsec 4.3: Sound ＠node Q4.3.1, Q4.3.2, Q4.2.4, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.3.1: How do I turn off the sound? Add the following line to your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (setq bell-volume 0) (setq sound-alist nil) ＠end lisp That will make your XEmacs totally silent---even the default ding sound (TTY beep on TTY-s) will be gone. You can also change these with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Sound->Sound...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} sound ＠key{RET}}. ＠node Q4.3.2, Q4.3.3, Q4.3.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.3.2: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep? Make sure your XEmacs was compiled with sound support, and then put this in your ＠file{init.el}: ＠lisp (load-default-sounds) ＠end lisp ＠node Q4.3.3, Q4.3.4, Q4.3.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.3.3: What's NAS, how do I get it? ＠xref{Q2.1.3, Compiling XEmacs with Netaudio}, for an explanation of the ＠dfn{Network Audio System}. ＠node Q4.3.4, Q4.4.1, Q4.3.3, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.3.4: Sunsite sounds don't play. I'm having some trouble with sounds I've downloaded from sunsite. They play when I run them through ＠code{showaudio} or cat them directly to ＠file{/dev/audio}, but XEmacs refuses to play them. ＠email{gutschk＠(a)uni-muenster.de, Markus Gutschke} writes: ＠quotation [Many of] These files have an (erroneous) 24byte header that tells about the format that they have been recorded in. If you cat them to ＠file{/dev/audio}, the header will be ignored and the default behavior for /dev/audio will be used. This happens to be 8kHz uLaw. It is probably possible to fix the header by piping through ＠code{sox} and passing explicit parameters for specifying the sampling format; you then need to perform a 'null' conversion from SunAudio to SunAudio. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 4.4: Running an Interior Shell, Invoking Subprocesses ＠node Q4.4.1, Q4.4.2, Q4.3.4, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.1: What is an interior shell? #### Write me. ＠node Q4.4.2, Q4.4.3, Q4.4.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.2: How do I start up a second shell buffer? In the ＠code{*shell*} buffer: ＠lisp M-x rename-buffer ＠key{RET} *shell-1* ＠key{RET} M-x shell RET ＠end lisp This will then start a second shell. The key is that no buffer named ＠samp{*shell*} can exist. It might be preferable to use ＠kbd{M-x rename-uniquely} to rename the ＠code{*shell*} buffer instead of ＠kbd{M-x rename-buffer}. Alternately, you can set the variable ＠code{shell-multiple-shells}. If the value of this variable is non-nil, each time shell mode is invoked, a new shell is made ＠node Q4.4.3, Q4.4.4, Q4.4.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.3: Telnet from shell filters too much I'm using the Emacs ＠kbd{M-x shell} function, and I would like to invoke and use a telnet session within it. Everything works fine except that now all ＠samp{^M}'s are filtered out by Emacs. Fixes? Use ＠kbd{M-x rsh} or ＠kbd{M-x telnet} to open remote sessions rather than doing rsh or telnet within the local shell buffer. You can also use ＠kbd{M-x ssh} to open secure remote session if you have ＠code{ssh} installed. ＠node Q4.4.4, Q4.4.5, Q4.4.3, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.4: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode. Sometimes (i.e. it's not repeatable, and I can't work out why it happens) when I'm typing into shell mode, I hit return and only a portion of the command is given to the shell, and a blank prompt is returned. If I hit return again, the rest of the previous command is given to the shell. ＠email{martin＠(a)xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz} writes: ＠quotation There is a known problem with interaction between ＠code{csh} and the ＠code{filec} option and XEmacs. You should add the following to your ＠file{.cshrc}: ＠example if ( "$TERM" == emacs || "$TERM" == unknown ) unset filec ＠end example ＠end quotation ＠node Q4.4.5, Q4.5.1, Q4.4.4, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.4.5: XEmacs complains "No such file or directory, diff" or "ispell" or other commands that seem related to whatever you just tried to do (M-x ediff or M-$, for example). There are a large number of common (in the sense that "everyone has these, they really do") Unix utilities that are not provided with XEmacs. The GNU Project's implementations are available for Windows in the the Cygwin distribution (＠uref{http://www.cygwin.com/}), which also provides a complete Unix emulation environment (and thus makes ports of Unix utilities nearly trivial). Another implementation is that from MinGW (＠uref{http://www.mingw.org/msys.shtml}). If you know of others, please let us know! ＠unnumberedsec 4.5: Multiple Device Support ＠node Q4.5.1, Q4.5.2, Q4.4.5, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.1: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display? Use the command ＠kbd{M-x make-frame-on-display}. This command is also on the File menu in the menubar. The command ＠code{make-frame-on-tty} also exists, which will establish a connection to any tty-like device. Opening the TTY devices should be left to ＠code{gnuclient}, though. ＠node Q4.5.2, Q4.5.3, Q4.5.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.2: Can I really connect to a running XEmacs after calling up over a modem? How? Yes. Use ＠code{gnuclient -nw}. (Prior to 20.3, use the ＠code{gnuattach} program supplied with XEmacs instead.) Also see ＠ref{Q4.5.3, How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame?}. ＠node Q4.5.3, Q4.5.4, Q4.5.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.3: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame? If you set the ＠code{gnuserv-frame} variable to the frame that should be used to display buffers that are pulled up, a new frame will not be created. For example, you could put ＠lisp (setq gnuserv-frame (selected-frame)) ＠end lisp early on in your ＠file{init.el}, to ensure that the first frame created is the one used for your gnuserv buffers. There is an option to set the gnuserv target to the current frame. See ＠code{Options->Display->"Other Window" Location->Make Current Frame Gnuserv Target} You can also change this with Customize. Select from the ＠code{Options} menu ＠code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Gnuserv->Gnuserv Frame...} or type ＠kbd{M-x customize ＠key{RET} gnuserv ＠key{RET}}. ＠node Q4.5.4, Q4.5.5, Q4.5.3, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.4: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent XEmacs is a client? Put the following in your ＠file{init.el} file to start the server: ＠lisp (gnuserv-start) ＠end lisp Start your first XEmacs as usual. After that, you can do: ＠example gnuclient randomfilename ＠end example from the command line to get your existing XEmacs process to open a new frame and visit randomfilename in that window. When you're done editing randomfilename, hit ＠kbd{C-x #} to kill the buffer and get rid of the frame. See also man page of gnuclient. ＠node Q4.5.5, Q4.6.1, Q4.5.4, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.5.5: Is there a way to start a new XEmacs if there's no gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient? ＠email{vroonhof＠(a)math.ethz.ch, Jan Vroonhof} writes: ＠quotation Here is one of the solutions, we have this in a script called ＠file{etc/editclient.sh}. ＠example #!/bin/sh if gnuclient -batch -eval t >/dev/null 2>&1 then exec gnuclient $＠{1+"$＠＠"＠} else xemacs -unmapped -f gnuserv-start & until gnuclient -batch -eval t >/dev/null 2>&1 do sleep 1 done exec gnuclient $＠{1+"$＠＠"＠} fi ＠end example Note that there is a known problem when running XEmacs and 'gnuclient -nw' on the same TTY. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 4.6: TeX ＠node Q4.6.1, Q4.6.2, Q4.5.5, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.1: Is there something better than LaTeX mode? ＠email{dak＠(a)fsnif.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de, David Kastrup} writes: ＠quotation The standard TeX modes leave much to be desired, and are somewhat leniently maintained. Serious TeX users use AUCTeX (＠pxref{Q4.6.2, What is AUCTeX? Where do you get it?}). ＠end quotation ＠node Q4.6.2, Q4.6.3, Q4.6.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.2: What is AUCTeX? Where do you get it? AUCTeX is a complex and sophisticated editing package dedicated to TeX and related text formatting languages, including LaTeX and Texinfo. It provides support for running TeX on a file or part of a file, include files, and of course shortcuts for entering common TeX macros, LaTeX environments, etc, and for fontlock. AUCTeX is a standard package provided by XEmacs. You can get it as usual through the ＠kbd{M-x list-packages} interface. It is also included in the (non-Mule) SUMO package. The AUCTeX XEmacs package is maintained by Uwe Brauer <GET MAIL ADDRESS>. AUCTeX is extremely complicated, and its developers primarily use GNU Emacs. Not all features of the bleeding edge version of AUCTeX are immediately ported to XEmacs; if you need these, you may be better off getting the most recent versions from the GNU AUCTeX project on ＠uref{http://savannah.gnu.org}. ＠node Q4.6.3, Q4.6.4, Q4.6.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.3: Problems installing AUCTeX. ＠email{vroonhof＠(a)math.ethz.ch, Jan Vroonhof} writes: ＠quotation AUCTeX works fine on both stock Emacs and XEmacs has been doing so for a very very long time. This is mostly due to the work of ＠email{abraham＠(a)dina.kvl.dk, Per Abrahamsen} (clap clap) in particular his ＠file{easymenu} package. Which leads to what is probably the problem... ＠end quotation Most problems with AUCTeX are one of two things: ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item The TeX-lisp-directory in ＠file{tex-site.el} and the makefile don't match. Fix: make sure you configure AUCTeX properly ＠strong{before} installing. ＠item You have an old version of easymenu.el in your path. Fix: use ＠code{locate-library} and remove old versions to make sure it ＠strong{only} finds the one that came with XEmacs. ＠end itemize ＠node Q4.6.4, Q4.7.1, Q4.6.3, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.6.4: How do I turn off current chapter from AUCTeX modeline? With AUCTeX, fast typing is hard because the current chapter, section etc. are given in the modeline. How can I turn this off? It's not AUCTeX, it comes from ＠code{func-menu} in ＠file{func-menu.el}. ＠c Add this code to your ＠file{init.el} to turn it off: ＠c ＠c ＠lisp ＠c (setq fume-display-in-modeline-p nil) ＠c ＠end lisp ＠c ＠c Or just add a hook to ＠code{TeX-mode-hook} to turn it off only for TeX ＠c mode: ＠c ＠c ＠lisp ＠c (add-hook 'TeX-mode-hook ＠c '(lambda () (setq fume-display-in-modeline-p nil))) ＠c ＠end lisp ＠c ＠email{dhughes＠(a)origin-at.co.uk, David Hughes} writes: ＠quotation Try this; you'll still get the function name displayed in the modeline, but it won't attempt to keep track when you modify the file. To refresh when it gets out of synch, you simply need click on the ＠samp{Rescan Buffer} option in the function-menu. ＠lisp (setq-default fume-auto-rescan-buffer-p nil) ＠end lisp ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 4.7: Other Unbundled Packages ＠node Q4.7.1, Q4.7.2, Q4.6.4, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.7.1: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in XEmacs? The reason for an Emacs package not to be included in XEmacs is usually one or more of the following: ＠enumerate ＠item The package has not been ported to XEmacs. This will typically happen when it uses GNU-Emacs-specific features, which make it fail under XEmacs. Porting a package to XEmacs can range from a trivial amount of change to a partial or full rewrite. Fortunately, the authors of modern packages usually choose to support both Emacsen themselves. ＠item The package has been decided not to be appropriate for XEmacs. It may have an equivalent or better replacement within XEmacs, in which case the developers may choose not to burden themselves with supporting an additional package. Each package bundled with XEmacs means more work for the maintainers, whether they want it or not. If you are ready to take over the maintenance responsibilities for the package you port, be sure to say so---we will more likely include it. ＠item The package simply hasn't been noted by the XEmacs development. If that's the case, the messages like yours are very useful for attracting our attention. ＠item The package was noted by the developers, but they simply haven't yet gotten around to including/porting it. Wait for the next release or, even better, offer your help. It will be gladly accepted and appreciated. ＠end enumerate ＠node Q4.7.2, Q4.7.3, Q4.7.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.7.2: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets? Yes. Check out ＠dfn{dismal} (which stands for Dis' Mode Ain't Lotus) at ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠uref{ftp://cs.nyu.edu/pub/local/fox/dismal/}. ＠node Q4.7.3, Q4.8.1, Q4.7.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.7.3: Is there a MatLab mode? Yes, a matlab mode and other items are available at the ＠uref{ftp://ftp.mathworks.com/pub/contrib/emacs_add_ons, MathWorks' emacs_add_ons ftp directory}. ＠unnumberedsec 4.8: Environments Built Around XEmacs ＠node Q4.8.1, Q4.8.2, Q4.7.3, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.8.1: What are SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop? SPARCworks was a development environment from Sun (circa 1993-1996) and consisted of compilers (C, C++, FORTRAN 77, Fortran 90, Ada, and Pascal), a debugger, and other tools such as TeamWare (for configuration management), MakeTool, etc. EOS is the integration of XEmacs with the SPARCworks debugger. It allows one to use an XEmacs frame to view code (complete with fontification, etc.), set breakpoints, print variables, etc., while using the SPARCworks debugger. EOS stands for "Era on SPARCworks"; Era stood for "Emacs Rewritten Again" and was the name used by Sun for its modified version of Lucid Emacs (later XEmacs) in the early-mid 90's. This is documented in more detail in the history section of the XEmacs About page. EOS was replaced around 1996 with a newer graphical development environment called Sun WorkShop. The current status of this is unknown. ＠node Q4.8.2, Q4.8.3, Q4.8.1, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.8.2: How do I start the Sun Workshop support in XEmacs 21? Add the switch ---with-workshop to the configure command when building XEmacs and put the following in one of your startup files (e.g. site-start.el or .emacs): ＠lisp (when (featurep 'tooltalk) (load "tooltalk-macros") (load "tooltalk-util") (load "tooltalk-init")) (when (featurep 'sparcworks) (load "sunpro-init") (load "ring") (load "comint") (load "annotations") (sunpro-startup)) ＠end lisp If you are not using the latest Workshop (5.0) you have to apply the following patch: ＠format --- /opt/SUNWspro/lib/eserve.el.ORIG Fri May 14 15:23:26 1999 +++ /opt/SUNWspro/lib/eserve.el Fri May 14 15:24:54 1999 ＠＠＠＠ -42,7 +42,7 ＠＠＠＠ (defvar running-xemacs nil "t if we're running XEmacs") (defvar running-emacs nil "t if we're running GNU Emacs 19") -(if (string-match "^\\(19\\|20\\)\..*\\(XEmacs\\|Lucid\\)" emacs-version) +(if (string-match "\\(XEmacs\\|Lucid\\)" emacs-version) (setq running-xemacs t) (setq running-emacs t)) ＠end format ＠node Q4.8.3, Q4.8.4, Q4.8.2, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.8.3: What is/was Energize? The "Energize Programming System" was a C and C++ development environment sold by Lucid, Inc. It was the reason why Lucid Emacs, now XEmacs, was created in the first place. Unfortunately, Lucid went out of business in 1994. The rights to sell it in Japan were purchased by INS Engineering (which briefly employed Stig Hackvan aka Jonathan Stigelman to work on Japanese support for XEmacs, in late 1994 and early 1995) and Tartan bought the rights to sell it in the rest of the world. However, INS is not selling Energize at this point and may or may not have ever done so; Tartan certainly never did. ＠node Q4.8.4, , Q4.8.3, External Subsystems ＠unnumberedsubsec Q4.8.4: What is Infodock? ＠uref{http://sourceforge.net/projects/infodock/, InfoDock} is an integrated productivity toolset, mainly aimed at technical people, hosted at SourceForge. InfoDock is built atop the XEmacs variant of GNU Emacs and so has all of the power of Emacs, but with an easier to use and more comprehensive menu-based user interface. The bottom portion of this text describes how it differs from XEmacs and GNU Emacs from the Free Software Foundation. InfoDock is aimed at people who want a free, turn-key productivity environment. Although InfoDock is customizable, it is not intended for people who like basic versions of Emacs which need to be customized extensively for local use; standard Emacs distributions are better for such uses. InfoDock is for those people who want a complete, pre-customized environment in one package, which they need not touch more than once or twice a year to update to new revisions. InfoDock is pre-built for SPARC SunOS/Solaris systems, PA-RISC HP-UX, and Intel Linux systems. It is intended for use on a color display, although most features will work on monochrome monitors. Simply unpack InfoDock according to the instructions in the ID-INSTALL file and you are ready to run. The InfoDock Manual is concise, yet sufficient as a user guide for users who have never used an Emacs-type editor before. For users who are already familiar with Emacs, it supplements the information in the GNU Emacs Manual. InfoDock menus are much more extensive and more mature than standard Emacs menus. Each menu offers a ＠samp{Manual} item which displays documentation associated with the menu's functions. ＠noindent Four types of menubars are provided: ＠enumerate ＠item An extensive menubar providing access to global InfoDock commands. ＠item Mode-specific menubars tailored to the current major mode. ＠item A simple menubar for basic editing to help novices get started with InfoDock. ＠item The standard XEmacs menubar. ＠end enumerate Most modes also include mode-specific popup menus. Additionally, region and rectangle popup menus are included. ＠samp{Hyperbole}, the everyday information manager, is a core part of InfoDock. This provides context-sensitive mouse keys, a rolodex-type contact manager, programmable hypertext buttons, and an autonumbered outliner with embedded hyperlink anchors. The ＠samp{OO-Browser}, a multi-language object-oriented code browser, is a standard part of InfoDock. InfoDock saves a more extensive set of user options than other Emacs versions. InfoDock inserts a useful file header in many file types, showing the author, summary, and last modification time of each file. A summary program can then be used to summarize all of the files in a directory, for easy MANIFEST file creation. Your working set of buffers is automatically saved and restored (if you answer yes to a prompt) between InfoDock sessions. Refined color choices for code highlighting are provided for both dark and light background display frames. The ＠kbd{C-z} key prefix performs frame-based commands which parallel the ＠kbd{C-x} key prefix for window-based commands. The Smart Menu system is included for producing command menus on dumb terminals. Lisp libraries are better categorized according to function. Extensions and improvements to many areas of Emacs are included, such as: paragraph filling, mail reading with Rmail, shell handling, outlining, code highlighting and browsing, and man page browsing. InfoDock questions, answers and discussion should go to the mail list ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠email{infodock＠(a)infodock.com}. Use ＠email{infodock-request＠(a)infodock.com} to be added or removed from the list. Always include your InfoDock version number when sending help requests. ＠node Internet, Advanced, External Subsystems, Top ＠unnumbered 5 Connecting to the Internet This is part 5 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This section is devoted connecting to the Internet. ＠menu * Q5.0.1:: How do I set up VM to retrieve mail from a remote site using POP? * Q5.0.2:: How do I get VM to filter mail for me? * Q5.0.3:: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail? * Q5.0.4:: How do I get my outgoing mail archived? * Q5.0.5:: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How can I tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"? * Q5.0.6:: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM? * Q5.0.7:: Remote mail reading with VM. * Q5.0.8:: rmail or VM gets an error incorporating new mail. * Q5.0.9:: How do I make VM stay in a single frame? * Q5.0.10:: How do I make VM or mh-e display graphical smilies? * Q5.0.11:: Customization of VM not covered in the manual, or here. 5.1: Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus * Q5.1.1:: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus, Quassia Gnus, argh! * Q5.1.2:: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame? * Q5.1.3:: How do I customize the From line? 5.2: Other Mail and News * Q5.2.1:: What are the various packages for reading mail? * Q5.2.2:: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages? * Q5.2.3:: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines? * Q5.2.4:: Why isn't this ＠code{movemail} program working? * Q5.2.5:: Movemail is also distributed by Netscape? Can that cause problems? * Q5.2.6:: Movemail on Linux does not work 5.3: FTP Access * Q5.3.1:: Can I edit files on other hosts? * Q5.3.2:: What is EFS? 5.4: Web Browsing with W3 * Q5.4.1:: What is W3? * Q5.4.2:: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall? * Q5.4.3:: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables? ＠end menu ＠unnumberedsec 5.0: Reading Mail with VM ＠node Q5.0.1, Q5.0.2, Internet, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.1: How do I set up VM to retrieve mail from a remote site using POP? Use ＠code{vm-spool-files}, like this for example: ＠lisp (setq vm-spool-files '("/var/spool/mail/wing" "netcom23.netcom.com:110:pass:wing:MYPASS")) ＠end lisp Of course substitute your actual password for MYPASS. ＠node Q5.0.2, Q5.0.3, Q5.0.1, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.2: How do I get VM to filter mail for me? One possibility is to use procmail to split your mail before it gets to VM. I prefer this personally, since there are many strange and wonderful things one can do with procmail. Procmail may be found at ＠uref{ftp://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/packages/procmail/}. Also see the Mail Filtering FAQ at: ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠uref{ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/filtering-faq}. ＠c Link above, ＠c <URL:http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/mail/filtering-faq... ＠c was dead. ＠node Q5.0.3, Q5.0.4, Q5.0.2, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.3: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail? ＠email{turner＠(a)lanl.gov, John Turner} writes: ＠quotation Use the following: ＠lisp (setq vm-auto-get-new-mail 60) ＠end lisp ＠end quotation ＠node Q5.0.4, Q5.0.5, Q5.0.3, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.4: How do I get my outgoing mail archived? ＠lisp (setq mail-archive-file-name "~/outbox") ＠end lisp ＠node Q5.0.5, Q5.0.6, Q5.0.4, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.5: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How can I tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"? Set ＠code{vm-reply-ignored-addresses} to a list, like ＠lisp (setq vm-reply-ignored-addresses &#39;(&quot;wing＠＠nuspl＠(a)nvwls.cc.purdue.edu,netcom[0-9]*.netcom.com&quot; &quot;wing＠(a)netcom.com&quot; &quot;wing＠(a)xemacs.org&quot;)) ＠end lisp Note that each string is a regular expression. ＠node Q5.0.6, Q5.0.7, Q5.0.5, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.6: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM? A FAQ for VM exists at ＠uref{http://www.wonderworks.com/vm/FAQ.html}. VM has its own newsgroups gnu.emacs.vm.info and gnu.emacs.vm.bug. ＠node Q5.0.7, Q5.0.8, Q5.0.6, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.7: Remote mail reading with VM. My mailbox lives at the office on a big honkin server. My regular INBOX lives on my honkin desktop machine. I now can PPP to the office from home which is far from honking... I'd like to be able to read mail at home without storing it here and I'd like to use xemacs and VM at home... Is there a recommended setup? ＠email{nuspl＠(a)nvwls.cc.purdue.edu, Joseph J. Nuspl Jr.} writes: ＠quotation There are several ways to do this. ＠enumerate ＠item Set your display to your home machine and run dxpc or one of the other X compressors. ＠item NFS mount your desktop machine on your home machine and modify your pop command on your home machine to rsh to your desktop machine and actually do the pop get's. ＠item Run a POP server on your desktop machine as well and do a sort of two tiered POP get. ＠end enumerate ＠end quotation ＠email{wmperry＠(a)monolith.spry.com, William Perry} adds: ＠quotation Or you could run a pop script periodically on your desktop machine, and just use ange-ftp or NFS to get to your mailbox. I used to do this all the time back at IU. ＠end quotation ＠node Q5.0.8, Q5.0.9, Q5.0.7, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.8: rmail or VM gets an error incorporating new mail. Quoting the XEmacs PROBLEMS file: ＠quotation rmail and VM get new mail from ＠file{/usr/spool/mail/$USER} using a program called ＠code{movemail}. This program interlocks with ＠code{/bin/mail} using the protocol defined by ＠code{/bin/mail}. There are two different protocols in general use. One of them uses the ＠code{flock} system call. The other involves creating a lock file; ＠code{movemail} must be able to write in ＠file{/usr/spool/mail} in order to do this. You control which one is used by defining, or not defining, the macro ＠code{MAIL_USE_FLOCK} in ＠file{config.h} or the m- or s- file it includes. ＠strong{IF YOU DON'T USE THE FORM OF INTERLOCKING THAT IS NORMAL ON YOUR SYSTEM, YOU CAN LOSE MAIL!} If your system uses the lock file protocol, and fascist restrictions prevent ordinary users from writing the lock files in ＠file{/usr/spool/mail}, you may need to make ＠code{movemail} setgid to a suitable group such as ＠samp{mail}. You can use these commands (as root): ＠example chgrp mail movemail chmod 2755 movemail ＠end example If your system uses the lock file protocol, and fascist restrictions prevent ordinary users from writing the lock files in ＠file{/usr/spool/mail}, you may need to make ＠code{movemail} setgid to a suitable group such as ＠code{mail}. To do this, use the following commands (as root) after doing the make install. ＠example chgrp mail movemail chmod 2755 movemail ＠end example Installation normally copies movemail from the build directory to an installation directory which is usually under ＠file{/usr/local/lib}. The installed copy of ＠code{movemail} is usually in the directory ＠file{/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/TARGET}. You must change the group and mode of the installed copy; changing the group and mode of the build directory copy is ineffective. ＠end quotation ＠node Q5.0.9, Q5.0.10, Q5.0.8, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.9: How do I make VM stay in a single frame? John.＠email{Cooper＠(a)Eng.Sun.COM, John S Cooper} writes: ＠quotation ＠lisp ; Don't use multiple frames (setq vm-frame-per-composition nil) (setq vm-frame-per-folder nil) (setq vm-frame-per-edit nil) (setq vm-frame-per-summary nil) ＠end lisp ＠end quotation ＠node Q5.0.10, Q5.0.11, Q5.0.9, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.10: How do I make VM or mh-e display graphical smilies? For mh-e use the following: ＠lisp (add-hook 'mh-show-mode-hook '(lambda () (smiley-region (point-min) (point-max)))) ＠end lisp ＠email{bill＠(a)carpenter.ORG, WJCarpenter} writes: For VM use the following: ＠lisp (autoload 'smiley-region "smiley" nil t) (add-hook 'vm-select-message-hook '(lambda () (smiley-region (point-min) (point-max)))) ＠end lisp For tm use the following: ＠lisp (autoload 'smiley-buffer "smiley" nil t) (add-hook 'mime-viewer/plain-text-preview-hook 'smiley-buffer) ＠end lisp ＠node Q5.0.11, Q5.1.1, Q5.0.10, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.0.11: Customization of VM not covered in the manual, or here. ＠email{boffi＠(a)hp735.stru.polimi.it, giacomo boffi} writes: ＠quotation The meta-answer is to look into the file ＠file{vm-vars.el}, in the vm directory of the lisp library. ＠file{vm-vars.el} contains, initializes and carefully describes, with examples of usage, the plethora of user options that ＠emph{fully} control VM's behavior. Enter vm-vars, ＠code{forward-search} for toolbar, find the variables that control the toolbar placement, appearance, existence, copy to your ＠file{init.el} or ＠file{.vm} and modify according to the detailed instructions. The above also applies to all the various features of VM: search for some keywords, maybe the first you conjure isn't appropriate, find the appropriate variables, copy and experiment. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 5.1: Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus ＠node Q5.1.1, Q5.1.2, Q5.0.11, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.1.1: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus, Quassia Gnus, argh! The Gnus numbering issues are not meant for mere mortals to know them. If you feel you ＠emph{must} enter the muddy waters of Gnus, visit the excellent FAQ, maintained by Justin Sheehy, at: ＠example ＠uref{http://www.ccs.neu.edu/software/contrib/gnus/} ＠end example See also Gnus home page ＠example ＠uref{http://www.gnus.org/} ＠end example ＠node Q5.1.2, Q5.1.3, Q5.1.1, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.1.2: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame? The toolbar code to start Gnus opens the new frame---and it's a feature rather than a bug. If you don't like it, but would still like to click on the seemly icon, use the following code: ＠lisp (defun toolbar-news () (gnus)) ＠end lisp It will redefine the callback function of the icon to just call ＠code{gnus}, without all the fancy frame stuff. ＠node Q5.1.3, Q5.2.1, Q5.1.2, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.1.3: How do I customize the From line? How do I change the ＠code{From:} line? I have set gnus-user-from-line to ＠example Gail Gurman <gail.gurman＠(a)sybase.com&gt; ＠end example ＠noindent , but XEmacs Gnus doesn't use it. Instead it uses ＠example Gail Mara Gurman ＠email{gailg＠＠deall} ＠end example ＠noindent and then complains that it's incorrect. Also, as you perhaps can see, my Message-ID is screwy. How can I change that? ＠email{larsi＠(a)ifi.uio.no, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen} writes: ＠quotation Set ＠code{user-mail-address} to ＠samp{gail.gurman＠(a)sybase.com} or ＠code{mail-host-address} to ＠samp{sybase.com}. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 5.2: Other Mail and News ＠node Q5.2.1, Q5.2.2, Q5.1.3, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.1: What are the various packages for reading mail? #### Write me. ＠node Q5.2.2, Q5.2.3, Q5.2.1, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.2: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages? VM, MH-E and GNUS support MIME natively. Other MUAs may or may not have MIME support; refer to their documentation and other resources, such as web pages and mailing lists. Packages like SEMI/WEMI may be useful in connection with MUAs like mew and Wanderlust. ＠node Q5.2.3, Q5.2.4, Q5.2.2, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.3: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines? Firstly there is an ftp site which describes X-faces and has the associated tools mentioned below, at ＠uref{ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu:/pub/faces/}. Then the steps are ＠enumerate ＠item Create 48x48x1 bitmap with your favorite tool ＠item Convert to "icon" format using one of xbm2ikon, pbmtoicon, etc., and then compile the face. ＠item ＠example cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon |compface > file.face ＠end example ＠item Then be sure to quote things that are necessary for emacs strings: ＠example cat ./file.face | sed 's/\\/\\\\/g' ＠iftex \ ＠* ＠end iftex | sed 's/\"/\\\"/g' > ./file.face.quoted ＠end example ＠item Then set up emacs to include the file as a mail header - there were a couple of suggestions here---either something like: ＠lisp (setq mail-default-headers "X-Face: ＠email{Ugly looking text string here}") ＠end lisp Or, alternatively, as: ＠lisp (defun mail-insert-x-face () (save-excursion (goto-char (point-min)) (search-forward mail-header-separator) (beginning-of-line) (insert "X-Face:") (insert-file-contents "~/.face"))) (add-hook 'mail-setup-hook 'mail-insert-x-face) ＠end lisp ＠end enumerate However, 2 things might be wrong: Some versions of pbmtoicon produces some header lines that is not expected by the version of compface that I grabbed. So I found I had to include a ＠code{tail +3} in the pipeline like this: ＠example cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon | tail +3 |compface > file.face ＠end example Some people have also found that if one uses the ＠code{(insert-file)} method, one should NOT quote the face string using the sed script . It might also be helpful to use ＠email{stig＠(a)hackvan.com, Stig's} script (included in the compface distribution at XEmacs.org) to do the conversion. ＠comment For convenience xbm2xface is available for anonymous FTP at ＠comment ＠uref{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/xemacs/xbm2xface.pl}. Contributors for this item: Paul Emsley, Ricardo Marek, Amir J. Katz, Glen McCort, Heinz Uphoff, Peter Arius, Paul Harrison, and Vegard Vesterheim ＠node Q5.2.4, Q5.2.5, Q5.2.3, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.4: Why isn't this ＠code{movemail} program working? Ben Wing ＠email{ben＠(a)xemacs.org} writes: ＠quotation It wasn't chown'ed/chmod'd correctly. ＠end quotation ＠node Q5.2.5, Q5.2.6, Q5.2.4, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.5: Movemail is also distributed by Netscape? Can that cause problems? ＠email{steve＠(a)xemacs.org, Steve Baur} writes: ＠quotation Yes. Always use the movemail installed with your XEmacs. Failure to do so can result in lost mail. ＠end quotation Please refer to ＠email{jwz＠(a)jwz.org, Jamie Zawinski's} notes at ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠uref{http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/demo/movemail.html}. In particular, this document will show you how to make Netscape use the version of movemail configured for your system by the person who built XEmacs. ＠node Q5.2.6, Q5.3.1, Q5.2.5, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.2.6: Movemail on Linux does not work Movemail on Linux defaults to using ＠code{.lock} file locking. If this is not appropriate for your system, edit src/s/linux.h and uncomment the line that reads: ＠example #define MAIL_USE_FLOCK ＠end example ＠unnumberedsec 5.3: FTP Access ＠node Q5.3.1, Q5.3.2, Q5.2.6, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.3.1: Can I edit files on other hosts? Yes. Of course XEmacs can use any network file system (such as NFS or Windows file sharing) you have available, and includes some optimizations and safety features appropriate to those environments. It is also possible to transparently edit files via FTP, ssh, or rsh. That is, XEmacs makes a local copy using the transport in the background, and automatically refreshes the remote original from that copy when you save it. XEmacs also is capable of doing file system manipulations like creating and removing directories and files. The FTP interface is provided by the standard ＠samp{efs} package ＠ref{Top, EFS, , efs}. The ssh/rsh interface is provided by the optional ＠samp{tramp} package ＠ref{Top, TRAMP, , tramp}. ＠node Q5.3.2, Q5.4.1, Q5.3.1, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.3.2: What is EFS? #### Write me. ＠unnumberedsec 5.4: Web Browsing with W3 ＠node Q5.4.1, Q5.4.2, Q5.3.2, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.1: What is W3? W3 is an advanced graphical browser written in Emacs lisp that runs on XEmacs. It has full support for cascaded style sheets, and more... It has a home web page at ＠uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/elisp/w3/docs.html}. ＠node Q5.4.2, Q5.4.3, Q5.4.1, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.2: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall? There is a long, well-written, detailed section in the W3 manual that describes how to do this. Look in the section entitled "Firewalls". ＠node Q5.4.3, , Q5.4.2, Internet ＠unnumberedsubsec Q5.4.3: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables? Yes, and much more. W3, as distributed with the latest XEmacs is a full-featured web browser. ＠node Advanced, Current Events, Internet, Top ＠unnumbered 6 Advanced Customization Using XEmacs Lisp This is part 6 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This section is devoted to advanced customization using XEmacs Lisp. ＠menu * Q6.0.1:: How can I get two instances of info? * Q6.0.2:: How do I add new Info directories? 6.1: Emacs Lisp and ＠file{init.el} * Q6.1.1:: What version of Emacs am I running? * Q6.1.2:: How can I evaluate Emacs-Lisp expressions? * Q6.1.3:: ＠code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly. * Q6.1.4:: How can I add directories to the ＠code{load-path}? * Q6.1.5:: How to check if a lisp function is defined? * Q6.1.6:: Can I force the output of ＠code{(face-list)} to a buffer? 6.2: Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques * Q6.2.1:: What is the difference in key sequences between XEmacs and GNU Emacs? * Q6.2.2:: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events? * Q6.2.3:: Could you explain ＠code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail? * Q6.2.4:: What is the performance hit of ＠code{let}? * Q6.2.5:: What is the recommended use of ＠code{setq}? * Q6.2.6:: What is the typical misuse of ＠code{setq}? * Q6.2.7:: I like the ＠code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down? * Q6.2.8:: I like recursion, does it slow things down? * Q6.2.9:: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer? * Q6.2.10:: ＠code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents! * Q6.2.11:: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there 6.3: Mathematics * Q6.3.1:: What are bignums, ratios, and bigfloats in Lisp? * Q6.3.2:: XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers! * Q6.3.3:: Bignums are really slow! * Q6.3.4:: Equal bignums don't compare as equal! What gives? ＠end menu ＠unnumberedsec 6.0: Online Help ＠node Q6.0.1, Q6.0.2, Advanced, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.1: How can I get two instances of info? Before 21.4, you can't. The ＠code{info} package does not provide for multiple info buffers. In 21.4, this should be fixed. #### how? ＠node Q6.0.2, Q6.1.1, Q6.0.1, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.0.2: How do I add new Info directories? You use something like: ＠lisp (setq Info-directory-list (cons (expand-file-name "~/info") Info-default-directory-list)) ＠end lisp ＠email{davidm＠(a)prism.kla.com, David Masterson} writes: ＠quotation Emacs Info and XEmacs Info do many things differently. If you're trying to support a number of versions of Emacs, here are some notes to remember: ＠enumerate ＠item Emacs Info scans ＠code{Info-directory-list} from right-to-left while XEmacs Info reads it from left-to-right, so append to the ＠emph{correct} end of the list. ＠item Use ＠code{Info-default-directory-list} to initialize ＠code{Info-directory-list} ＠emph{if} it is available at startup, but not all Emacsen define it. ＠item Emacs Info looks for a standard ＠file{dir} file in each of the directories scanned from #1 and magically concatenates them together. ＠item XEmacs Info looks for a ＠file{localdir} file (which consists of just the menu entries from a ＠file{dir} file) in each of the directories scanned from #1 (except the first), does a simple concatenation of them, and magically attaches the resulting list to the end of the menu in the ＠file{dir} file in the first directory. ＠end enumerate Another alternative is to convert the documentation to HTML with texi2html and read it from a web browser like Lynx or W3. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 6.1: Emacs Lisp and ＠file{init.el} ＠node Q6.1.1, Q6.1.2, Q6.0.2, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.1: What version of Emacs am I running? How can ＠file{init.el} determine which of the family of Emacsen I am using? To determine if you are currently running GNU Emacs 18, GNU Emacs 19, XEmacs 19, XEmacs 20, or Epoch, and use appropriate code, check out the example given in ＠file{etc/sample.init.el} (＠file{etc/sample.emacs} in XEmacs versions prior to 21.4). There are other nifty things in there as well! For all new code, all you really need to do is: ＠lisp (defvar running-xemacs (string-match "XEmacs\\|Lucid" emacs-version)) ＠end lisp ＠node Q6.1.2, Q6.1.3, Q6.1.1, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.2: How can I evaluate Emacs-Lisp expressions? I know I can evaluate Elisp expressions from ＠code{*scratch*} buffer with ＠kbd{C-j} after the expression. How do I do it from another buffer? Press ＠kbd{M-:} (the default binding of ＠code{eval-expression}), and enter the expression to the minibuffer. ＠node Q6.1.3, Q6.1.4, Q6.1.2, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.3: ＠code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly. If you put ＠code{(setq tab-width 6)} in your ＠file{init.el} file it does not work! Is there a reason for this? If you do it at the EVAL prompt it works fine!! How strange. Use ＠code{setq-default} instead, since ＠code{tab-width} is all-buffer-local. ＠node Q6.1.4, Q6.1.5, Q6.1.3, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.4: How can I add directories to the ＠code{load-path}? Here are two ways to do that, one that puts your directories at the front of the load-path, the other at the end: ＠lisp ;;; Add things at the beginning of the load-path, do not add ;;; duplicate directories: (pushnew "bar" load-path :test 'equal) (pushnew "foo" load-path :test 'equal) ;;; Add things at the end, unconditionally (setq load-path (nconc load-path '("foo" "bar"))) ＠end lisp ＠email{keithh＠(a)nortel.ca, keith (k.p.) hanlan} writes: ＠quotation To add directories using Unix shell metacharacters use ＠file{expand-file-name} like this: ＠lisp (push (expand-file-name "~keithh/.emacsdir") load-path) ＠end lisp ＠end quotation ＠node Q6.1.5, Q6.1.6, Q6.1.4, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.5: How to check if a lisp function is defined? Use the following elisp: ＠lisp (fboundp 'foo) ＠end lisp It's almost always a mistake to test ＠code{emacs-version} or any similar variables. Instead, use feature-tests, such as ＠code{featurep}, ＠code{boundp}, ＠code{fboundp}, or even simple behavioral tests, eg.: ＠lisp (defvar foo-old-losing-code-p (condition-case nil (progn (losing-code t) nil) (wrong-number-of-arguments t))) ＠end lisp There is an incredible amount of broken code out there which could work much better more often in more places if it did the above instead of trying to divine its environment from the value of one variable. ＠node Q6.1.6, Q6.2.1, Q6.1.5, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.1.6: Can I force the output of ＠code{(face-list)} to a buffer? It would be good having it in a buffer, as the output of ＠code{(face-list)} is too wide to fit to a minibuffer. Evaluate the expression in the ＠samp{*scratch*} buffer with point after the rightmost paren and typing ＠kbd{C-j}. If the minibuffer smallness is the only problem you encounter, you can simply press ＠kbd{C-h l} to get the former minibuffer contents in a buffer. ＠unnumberedsec 6.2: Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques ＠node Q6.2.1, Q6.2.2, Q6.1.6, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.1: What is the difference in key sequences between XEmacs and GNU Emacs? ＠email{clerik＠(a)naggum.no, Erik Naggum} writes; ＠quotation Emacs has a legacy of keyboards that produced characters with modifier bits, and therefore map a variety of input systems into this scheme even today. XEmacs is instead optimized for X events. This causes an incompatibility in the way key sequences are specified, but both Emacs and XEmacs will accept a key sequence as a vector of lists of modifiers that ends with a key, e.g., to bind ＠kbd{M-C-a}, you would say ＠code{[(meta control a)]} in both Emacsen. XEmacs has an abbreviated form for a single key, just (meta control a). Emacs has an abbreviated form for the Control and the Meta modifiers to string-characters (the ASCII characters), as in ＠samp{\M-\C-a}. XEmacs users need to be aware that the abbreviated form works only for one-character key sequences, while Emacs users need to be aware that the string-character is rather limited. Specifically, the string-character can accommodate only 256 different values, 128 of which have the Meta modifier and 128 of which have not. In each of these blocks, only 32 characters have the Control modifier. Whereas ＠code{[(meta control A)]} differs from ＠code{[(meta control a)]} because the case differs, ＠samp{\M-\C-a} and ＠samp{\M-\C-A} do not. Programmers are advised to use the full common form, both because it is more readable and less error-prone, and because it is supported by both Emacsen. ＠end quotation Another (even safer) way to be sure of the key-sequences is to use the ＠code{read-kbd-macro} function, which takes a string like ＠samp{C-c <up>}, and converts it to the internal key representation of the Emacs you use. The function is available both on XEmacs and GNU Emacs. ＠node Q6.2.2, Q6.2.3, Q6.2.1, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.2: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events? I wonder if there is an interactive function that can generate ＠dfn{fake} keyboard events. This way, I could simply map them inside XEmacs. This seems to work: ＠lisp (defun cg--generate-char-event (ch) "Generate an event, as if ch has been typed" (dispatch-event (character-to-event ch))) ;; Backspace and Delete stuff (global-set-key [backspace] (lambda () (interactive) (cg--generate-char-event 127))) (global-set-key [unknown_keysym_0x4] (lambda () (interactive) (cg--generate-char-event 4))) ＠end lisp ＠node Q6.2.3, Q6.2.4, Q6.2.2, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.3: Could you explain ＠code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail? The ＠code{read-kbd-macro} function returns the internal Emacs representation of a human-readable string (which is its argument). Thus: ＠lisp (read-kbd-macro "C-c C-a") ＠result{} [(control ?c) (control ?a)] (read-kbd-macro "C-c C-. <up>") ＠result{} [(control ?c) (control ?.) up] ＠end lisp In GNU Emacs the same forms will be evaluated to what GNU Emacs understands internally---the sequences ＠code{"\C-x\C-c"} and ＠code{[3 67108910 up]}, respectively. The exact ＠dfn{human-readable} syntax is defined in the docstring of ＠code{edmacro-mode}. I'll repeat it here, for completeness. ＠quotation Format of keyboard macros during editing: Text is divided into ＠dfn{words} separated by whitespace. Except for the words described below, the characters of each word go directly as characters of the macro. The whitespace that separates words is ignored. Whitespace in the macro must be written explicitly, as in ＠kbd{foo ＠key{SPC} bar ＠key{RET}}. ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item The special words ＠kbd{RET}, ＠kbd{SPC}, ＠kbd{TAB}, ＠kbd{DEL}, ＠kbd{LFD}, ＠kbd{ESC}, and ＠kbd{NUL} represent special control characters. The words must be written in uppercase. ＠item A word in angle brackets, e.g., ＠code{<return>}, ＠code{<down>}, or ＠code{<f1>}, represents a function key. (Note that in the standard configuration, the function key ＠code{<return>} and the control key ＠key{RET} are synonymous.) You can use angle brackets on the words ＠key{RET}, ＠key{SPC}, etc., but they are not required there. ＠item Keys can be written by their ＠sc{ascii} code, using a backslash followed by up to six octal digits. This is the only way to represent keys with codes above \377. ＠item One or more prefixes ＠kbd{M-} (meta), ＠kbd{C-} (control), ＠kbd{S-} (shift), ＠kbd{A-} (alt), ＠kbd{H-} (hyper), and ＠kbd{s-} (super) may precede a character or key notation. For function keys, the prefixes may go inside or outside of the brackets: ＠code{C-<down>} ＠equiv{} ＠code{<C-down>}. The prefixes may be written in any order: ＠kbd{M-C-x} ＠equiv{} ＠kbd{C-M-x}. Prefixes are not allowed on multi-key words, e.g., ＠kbd{C-abc}, except that the Meta prefix is allowed on a sequence of digits and optional minus sign: ＠kbd{M--123} ＠equiv{} ＠kbd{M-- M-1 M-2 M-3}. ＠item The ＠code{^} notation for control characters also works: ＠kbd{^M} ＠equiv{} ＠kbd{C-m}. ＠item Double angle brackets enclose command names: ＠code{<<next-line>>} is shorthand for ＠kbd{M-x next-line ＠key{RET}}. ＠item Finally, ＠code{REM} or ＠code{;;} causes the rest of the line to be ignored as a comment. ＠end itemize Any word may be prefixed by a multiplier in the form of a decimal number and ＠code{*}: ＠code{3*<right>} ＠equiv{} ＠code{<right> <right> <right>}, and ＠code{10*foo} ＠equiv{} ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠code{foofoofoofoofoofoofoofoofoofoo}. Multiple text keys can normally be strung together to form a word, but you may need to add whitespace if the word would look like one of the above notations: ＠code{; ; ;} is a keyboard macro with three semicolons, but ＠code{;;;} is a comment. Likewise, ＠code{\ 1 2 3} is four keys but ＠code{\123} is a single key written in octal, and ＠code{< right >} is seven keys but ＠code{<right>} is a single function key. When in doubt, use whitespace. ＠end quotation ＠node Q6.2.4, Q6.2.5, Q6.2.3, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.4: What is the performance hit of ＠code{let}? In most cases, not noticeable. Besides, there's no avoiding ＠code{let}---you have to bind your local variables, after all. Some pose a question whether to nest ＠code{let}s, or use one ＠code{let} per function. I think because of clarity and maintenance (and possible future implementation), ＠code{let}-s should be used (nested) in a way to provide the clearest code. ＠node Q6.2.5, Q6.2.6, Q6.2.4, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.5: What is the recommended use of ＠code{setq}? ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item Global variables You will typically ＠code{defvar} your global variable to a default value, and use ＠code{setq} to set it later. It is never a good practice to ＠code{setq} user variables (like ＠code{case-fold-search}, etc.), as it ignores the user's choice unconditionally. Note that ＠code{defvar} doesn't change the value of a variable if it was bound previously. If you wish to change a user-variable temporarily, use ＠code{let}: ＠lisp (let ((case-fold-search nil)) ... ; code with searches that must be case-sensitive ...) ＠end lisp You will notice the user-variables by their docstrings beginning with an asterisk (a convention). ＠item Local variables Bind them with ＠code{let}, which will unbind them (or restore their previous value, if they were bound) after exiting from the ＠code{let} form. Change the value of local variables with ＠code{setq} or whatever you like (e.g. ＠code{incf}, ＠code{setf} and such). The ＠code{let} form can even return one of its local variables. Typical usage: ＠lisp ;; iterate through the elements of the list returned by ;; `hairy-function-that-returns-list' (let ((l (hairy-function-that-returns-list))) (while l ... do something with (car l) ... (setq l (cdr l)))) ＠end lisp Another typical usage includes building a value simply to work with it. ＠lisp ;; Build the mode keymap out of the key-translation-alist (let ((inbox (file-truename (expand-file-name box))) (i 0)) ... code dealing with inbox ... inbox) ＠end lisp This piece of code uses the local variable ＠code{inbox}, which becomes unbound (or regains old value) after exiting the form. The form also returns the value of ＠code{inbox}, which can be reused, for instance: ＠lisp (setq foo-processed-inbox (let .....)) ＠end lisp ＠end itemize ＠node Q6.2.6, Q6.2.7, Q6.2.5, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.6: What is the typical misuse of ＠code{setq}? A typical misuse is probably ＠code{setq}ing a variable that was meant to be local. Such a variable will remain bound forever, never to be garbage-collected. For example, the code doing: ＠lisp (defun my-function (whatever) (setq a nil) ... build a large list ... ... and exit ...) ＠end lisp does a bad thing, as ＠code{a} will keep consuming memory, never to be unbound. The correct thing is to do it like this: ＠lisp (defun my-function (whatever) (let (a) ; default initialization is to nil ... build a large list ... ... and exit, unbinding `a' in the process ...) ＠end lisp Not only is this prettier syntactically, but it makes it possible for Emacs to garbage-collect the objects which ＠code{a} used to reference. Note that even global variables should not be ＠code{setq}ed without ＠code{defvar}ing them first, because the byte-compiler issues warnings. The reason for the warning is the following: ＠lisp (defun flurgoze nil) ; ok, global internal variable ... (setq flurghoze t) ; ops! a typo, but semantically correct. ; however, the byte-compiler warns. While compiling toplevel forms: ** assignment to free variable flurghoze ＠end lisp ＠node Q6.2.7, Q6.2.8, Q6.2.6, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.7: I like the ＠code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down? It shouldn't. Here is what Dave Gillespie has to say about cl.el performance: ＠quotation Many of the advanced features of this package, such as ＠code{defun*}, ＠code{loop}, and ＠code{setf}, are implemented as Lisp macros. In byte-compiled code, these complex notations will be expanded into equivalent Lisp code which is simple and efficient. For example, the forms ＠lisp (incf i n) (push x (car p)) ＠end lisp are expanded at compile-time to the Lisp forms ＠lisp (setq i (+ i n)) (setcar p (cons x (car p))) ＠end lisp which are the most efficient ways of doing these respective operations in Lisp. Thus, there is no performance penalty for using the more readable ＠code{incf} and ＠code{push} forms in your compiled code. ＠emph{Interpreted} code, on the other hand, must expand these macros every time they are executed. For this reason it is strongly recommended that code making heavy use of macros be compiled. (The features labelled ＠dfn{Special Form} instead of ＠dfn{Function} in this manual are macros.) A loop using ＠code{incf} a hundred times will execute considerably faster if compiled, and will also garbage-collect less because the macro expansion will not have to be generated, used, and thrown away a hundred times. You can find out how a macro expands by using the ＠code{cl-prettyexpand} function. ＠end quotation ＠node Q6.2.8, Q6.2.9, Q6.2.7, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.8: I like recursion, does it slow things down? Yes. The Emacs byte-compiler cannot do much to optimize recursion. But think well whether this is a real concern in Emacs. Much of the Emacs slowness comes from internal mechanisms such as redisplay, or from the fact that it is an interpreter. Please try not to make your code much uglier to gain a very small speed gain. It's not usually worth it. ＠node Q6.2.9, Q6.2.10, Q6.2.8, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.9: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer? Here is a solution that will insert the glyph annotation at the beginning of buffer: ＠lisp (make-annotation (make-glyph '([FORMAT :file FILE] [string :data "fallback-text"])) (point-min) 'text (current-buffer)) ＠end lisp Replace ＠samp{FORMAT} with an unquoted symbol representing the format of the image (e.g. ＠code{xpm}, ＠code{xbm}, ＠code{gif}, ＠code{jpeg}, etc.) Instead of ＠samp{FILE}, use the image file name (e.g. ＠iftex ＠* ＠end iftex ＠file{/usr/local/lib/xemacs-21.4/etc/recycle.xpm}). You can turn this to a function (that optionally prompts you for a file name), and inserts the glyph at ＠code{(point)} instead of ＠code{(point-min)}. ＠node Q6.2.10, Q6.2.11, Q6.2.9, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.10: ＠code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents! I tried to use ＠code{map-extents} to do an operation on all the extents in a region. However, it seems to quit after processing a random number of extents. Is it buggy? No. The documentation of ＠code{map-extents} states that it will iterate across the extents as long as ＠var{function} returns ＠code{nil}. Unexperienced programmers often forget to return ＠code{nil} explicitly, which results in buggy code. For instance, the following code is supposed to delete all the extents in a buffer, and issue as many ＠samp{fubar!} messages. ＠lisp (map-extents (lambda (ext ignore) (delete-extent ext) (message "fubar!"))) ＠end lisp Instead, it will delete only the first extent, and stop right there -- because ＠code{message} will return a non-nil value. The correct code is: ＠lisp (map-extents (lambda (ext ignore) (delete-extent ext) (message "fubar!") nil)) ＠end lisp ＠node Q6.2.11, Q6.3.1, Q6.2.10, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.2.11: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there an easy way to find out where it spends time? ＠c New ＠email{hniksic＠(a)xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic} writes: ＠quotation Under XEmacs 20.4 and later you can use ＠kbd{M-x profile-key-sequence}, press a key (say ＠key{RET} in the Gnus Group buffer), and get the results using ＠kbd{M-x profile-results}. It should give you an idea of where the time is being spent. ＠end quotation ＠unnumberedsec 6.3: Mathematics ＠node Q6.3.1, Q6.3.2, Q6.2.11, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.3.1: What are bignums, ratios, and bigfloats in Lisp? Thanks to ＠email{james＠(a)xemacs.org, Jerry James}, XEmacs 21.5.18 and later can use the capabilities of multiple-precision libraries that may be available for your platform. The GNU Multiple Precision (GMP) and BSD Multiple Precision (MP) libraries are partially supported. GMP gives you ＠dfn{bignums} (arbitrary precision integers), ＠dfn{ratios} (arbitrary precision fractions), and ＠dfn{bigfloats} (arbitrary precision floating point numbers). GNU MP is better-supported by XEmacs at the time of writing (2004-04-06). BSD MP support does not include ratios or bigfloats, and it throws errors that aren't understood. In most cases, bignum support should be transparent to users and Lisp programmers. A bignum-enabled XEmacs will automatically convert from fixnums to bignums and back in pure integer arithmetic, and for GNU MP, from floats to bigfloats. (Bigfloats must be explicitly coerced to other types, even if they are exactly representable by less precise types.) The Lisp reader and printer have been enhanced to handle bignums, as have the mathematical functions. Rationals (fixnums, bignums, and ratios) are printed using the ＠samp{%d}, ＠samp{%o}, ＠samp{%x}, and ＠samp{%u} format conversions. The read syntax for ratios is ＠samp{3/5}. User-visible changes in behavior include (in probable order of annoyance) ＠itemize ＠item Arithmetic can cause a segfault, depending on your MP library ＠ref{Q6.3.2, XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers!}. ＠item Terminology is not Common-Lisp-conforming. For example, ``integer'' for Emacs Lisp means what Common Lisp calls ``fixnum''. This issue is being investigated, but the use of ``integer'' for fixnum is pervasive and may cause backward-compatibility and GNU-Emacs-compatibility problems. ＠item Many operations that used to cause a range error now succeed, with intermediate results and return values coerced to bignums as needed. ＠item An atom with ratio read syntax now returns a number, not a symbol. ＠item The ＠samp{%u} format conversion will now give an error if its argument is negative. (Without MP, it prints a number which Lisp can't read.) ＠end itemize ＠emph{Surgeon General's Warning}: The automatic conversions cannot be disabled at runtime. New functions have been added which produce ratios, so there should be few surprises with type conflicts, but they can't be ruled out. ``Arbitrary'' precision means precisely what it says. If you work with extremely large numbers, your machine may arbitrarily decide to hand you an unpleasant surprise rather than a bignum ＠ref{Q6.3.2, XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers!}. To configure with GNU MP, add ＠samp{--use-number-lib=gmp} to your invocation of ＠file{configure}. For BSD MP, use ＠samp{--use-number-lib=mp}. If you would like to help with bignum support, especially on BSD MP, please subscribe to the ＠uref{http://www.xemacs.org/Lists/#xemacs-beta, XEmacs Beta mailing list}, and book up on ＠file{number-gmp.h} and ＠file{number-mp.h}. Jerry has promised to write internals documentation eventually, but if your skills run more to analysis and documentation than to writing new code, feel free to fill in the gap! ＠node Q6.3.2, Q6.3.3, Q6.3.1, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.3.2: XEmacs segfaults when I use very big numbers! GMP by default allocates temporaries on the stack. If you run out of stack space, you're dead; there is no way that we know of to reliably detect this condition, because ＠samp{alloca} is typically implemented to be ＠emph{fast} rather than robust. If you just need a little more oomph, use a bigger stack (＠emph{e.g.}, the ＠file{ulimit -s} command in bash(1)). If you want robustness at the cost of speed, configure GMP with ＠samp{--disable-alloca} and rebuild the GMP library. We do not know whether BSD MP uses ＠samp{alloca} or not. Please send any information you have as a bug report (＠kbd{M-x report-xemacs-bug ＠key{RET}}), which will give us platform information. (We do know that BSD MP implementations vary across vendors, but how much, we do not know yet.) ＠node Q6.3.3, Q6.3.4, Q6.3.2, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.3.3: Bignums are really slow! Many Linux distributions compile all their packages for the i386, and this is costly. An optimized version can give you two or three orders of magnitude better performance for a Pentium III or IV. (Yes, really. See ＠uref{http://www.swox.com/gmp/gmp-speed.html}.) ＠node Q6.3.4, , Q6.3.3, Advanced ＠unnumberedsubsec Q6.3.4: Equal bignums don't compare as equal! What gives? Ah, Grasshopper, I see you are using ＠code{(eq x y)}. The Bodhisattva CLTL2 warned of the illusion that equal numbers would be ＠samp{eq}! Meditate on the deeper truths of ＠samp{eql}, in which numbers of the same type which have equal values compare equal, and ＠samp{=}, which does any necessary type coercions before comparing for equality. Yeah, yeah, it has always worked for integer types, because fixnums and characters have an immediate representation. Sorry about that; arbitrary precision obviously requires consing new objects because the objects are ``large'' and of variable size, and the definition of ＠samp{eq} does not permit different objects to compare as equal. ＠node Current Events, Legacy Versions, Advanced, Top ＠unnumbered 7 What the Future Holds This is part 7 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This section will change frequently, and (in theory) should contain any interesting items that have transpired recently. (But in practice it's not getting updated like this.) This section also contains descriptions of the new features in all the recent releases of XEmacs. For the most part, the information below is a synopsis of the more complete information that can be found in the file ＠file{NEWS} in the ＠file{etc} directory of the XEmacs distribution. You can view this file in XEmacs using ＠kbd{C-h n} or the ＠samp{Help} menu. Information on older versions of XEmacs can be find in ＠file{ONEWS} in the same directory, or ＠file{OONEWS} for really old versions. ＠menu * Q7.0.1:: What new features will be in XEmacs soon? * Q7.0.2:: What's new in XEmacs 21.4? * Q7.0.3:: What's new in XEmacs 21.1? * Q7.0.4:: What's new in XEmacs 20.4? * Q7.0.5:: What's new in XEmacs 20.3? * Q7.0.6:: What's new in XEmacs 20.2? ＠end menu ＠unnumberedsec 7.0: Changes ＠node Q7.0.1, Q7.0.2, Current Events, Current Events ＠unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.1: What new features will be in XEmacs soon? #### Write me. ＠node Q7.0.2, Q7.0.3, Q7.0.1, Current Events ＠unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.2: What's new in XEmacs 21.4? 21.4 was the "stable" version of the 21.2 series, which was considered "experimental" throughout its life; thus there were no "official" releases at all. In essence, XEmacs is now following the "alternating" scheme of Linux, where at any point there are at least two different development branches, one "stable" and one "experimental". Periodic releases happen in both branches, but those in the experimental branch are not tested as well, and there's no guarantee they will work at all. The experiemental branch is open to any and all code that's acceptable to the developers; the stable branch, however, is in general limited only to bug fixes, and all contributions are carefully reviewed to make sure they will increase and not decrease stability. 21.3 never existed at all; it was decided to follow the Linux scheme exactly, where odd-numbered series are experimental and even-numbered ones stable. The following lists summarizes the essential changes made in this version. For a fuller list, see the ＠file{NEWS} in the ＠file{etc} directory of the XEmacs distribution, or use ＠kbd{C-h n} or the ＠samp{Help} menu to view this file inside of XEmacs. ＠unnumberedsubsubsec User-visible changes in XEmacs 21.4 ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item The delete key now deletes forward by default. ＠item Shifted motion keys now select text by default. ＠item You can now build XEmacs with support for GTK+ widget set. ＠item ~/.xemacs/init.el is now the preferred location for the init file. (XEmacs now supports a `~/.xemacs/init.el' startup file. Custom file will move to ~/.xemacs/custom.el.) ＠item Much-improved sample init.el, showing how to use many useful features. ＠item XEmacs support for menu accelerators has been much improved. ＠item Default menubar improvements. (Default menubar has many new commands and better organization. The font-menu is now available under MS Windows.) ＠item Dialog box improvements, including a real file dialog box. (XEmacs now has a proper file dialog box under MS Windows (and GTK)! The old clunky file dialog box is improved. Keyboard traversal now works correctly in MS Windows dialog boxes. There is a Search dialog box available from Edit->Find...) ＠item New buffer tabs. ＠item There is a new MS Windows installer, netinstall, ported from Cygwin. ＠item The subprocess quote-handling mechanism under Windows is much improved. ＠item Printing support now available under MS Windows. ＠item Selection improvements. (Kill and yank now interact with the clipboard under Windows. MS Windows support for selection is now much more robust. Motif selection support is now more correct (but slower).) ＠item Mail spool locking now works correctly. ＠item International support changes. (The default coding-priority-list is now safer. International keysyms are now supported under X. MS Windows 1251 code page now supported. Czech, Thai, Cyrillic-KOI8, Vietnamese, Ethiopic now supported. Proper support for words in Latin 3 and Latin 4.) ＠item Help buffers contain hyperlinks, and other changes. ＠item The modeline's text is now scrollable. ＠item The mouse wheel under MS Windows now functions correctly. ＠item Interactive searching and matching case improvements. (Incremental search will now highlight all visible matches. Interactive searches always respect uppercase characters.) ＠item Rectangle functions rewritten to avoid inserting extra spaces. ＠item New command `kill-entire-line' that always kills the entire line. ＠item Default values correctly stored in minibuffer histories. ＠item You can now create "indirect buffers", like in GNU Emacs. ＠item Pixel-based scrolling has been implemented. ＠item Operation progress can be displayed using graphical widgets. ＠item User names following a tilde can now be completed at file name prompts. ＠item XEmacs can now play sound using Enlightenment Sound Daemon (ESD). ＠item X-Face support is now available under MS Windows. ＠item The PostgreSQL Relational Database Management System is now supported. ＠item Indentation no longer indents comments that begin at column zero. ＠item Face and variable settings can have comments in Customize. ＠item New locations for early package hierarchies. ＠item The `auto-save' library has been greatly improved. ＠item New variable `mswindows-alt-by-itself-activates-menu'. ＠item Other init-file-related changes. (Init file in your home directory may be called `.emacs.el'. New command-line switches -user-init-file and -user-init-directory.) ＠item Etags changes. See ＠file{NEWS} for full details. ＠end itemize ＠unnumberedsubsubsec Lisp and internal changes in XEmacs 21.4 Not yet written. ＠c APA: Texi2html produces invalid HTML from an empty list of bullets! ＠c Please uncomment following list when it does contain bullets. ＠c ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠c ＠end itemize ＠node Q7.0.3, Q7.0.4, Q7.0.2, Current Events ＠unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.3: What's new in XEmacs 21.1? 21.1 was the "stable" version of "experimental" 21.0 series. ＠xref{Q7.0.2, What's new in XEmacs 21.4?}. The following lists summarizes the essential changes made in this version. For a fuller list, see the ＠file{NEWS} in the ＠file{etc} directory of the XEmacs distribution, or use ＠kbd{C-h n} or the ＠samp{Help} menu to view this file inside of XEmacs. ＠unnumberedsubsubsec User-visible changes in XEmacs 21.1 ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item XEmacs is now supported under Microsoft Windows 95/98 and Windows NT operating systems. To discuss Windows-specific issues, subscribe to the mailing list at ＠email{xemacs-nt-request＠(a)xemacs.org}. ＠item XEmacs has been unbundled into constituent installable packages. ＠item ＠strong{Other notable changes}: The ＠samp{Options} menu has been ported to Custom; XEmacs now is able to choose X visuals and use private colormaps; You can drag the vertical divider of "horizontally" (side-by-side) split windows. ＠item ＠strong{Building changes}: XEmacs can be built with support for 31-bit Lisp integers and 32-bit pointers (previously, it was 28-bit integers and pointers); XEmacs can be built with LDAP support; ＠file{dir} files can be removed in the Info subsystem, and will be regenerated on-the-fly. ＠item ＠strong{New packages}: ＠file{imenu}, ＠file{popper}, ＠file{gdb-highlight} ＠item ＠strong{Package changes}: Many changes to ＠file{cc-mode}, ＠file{gnus}, ＠file{gnuclient}. See ＠file{NEWS} for full details. ＠item ＠strong{New commands, variables and functions}: ＠code{center-to-window-line} (like ＠code{recenter} but doesn't force a redisplay); variable ＠code{user-full-name} (customize what your full name looks like in mail); ＠kbd{M-x customize-changed-options} (customize options whose default values changes because you upgraded your XEmacs); ＠kbd{M-x add-log-convert} (converts an old-style ChangeLog buffer to new-style); ＠kbd{M-x zap-up-to-char} (like ＠code{zap-to-char} but doesn't delete the char searched for); commands to store, retrieve and increment numbers in registers, useful for macros. ＠item ＠strong{Changes to commands, variables, and functions}: ＠kbd{M-x query-replace} and friends operate only on the region when it's active; ＠code{echo-keystrokes} can now be a floating-point number; ＠kbd{M-.} searches exact tag matches before inexact ones; function ＠code{user-full-name} with no arguments returns the var ＠code{user-full-name}; a prefix arg to ＠kbd{M-:} and ＠kbd{C-h c} inserts the result in the current buffer. ＠item ＠strong{Other changes}: Under X, new application class ＠samp{XEmacs}; byte-compilation of user-specs now works. ＠item ＠strong{XEmacs/Mule (internationalization) changes}: Mule support now works on TTY's; Egg/SJ3 input method now officially supported (Quail and Egg/Skk already available through LEIM since 20.3); localized Japanese menubars if XEmacs is built with the right support. ＠end itemize ＠unnumberedsubsubsec Lisp and internal changes in XEmacs 21.1 ＠itemize ＠bullet ＠item ＠strong{Specifier changes}: The window locale now has a higher precedence than the buffer locale when instantiating; new macro ＠code{let-specifier}; new specifiers ＠code{vertical-scrollbar-visible-p}, horizontal-scrollbar-visible-p', ＠code{scrollbar-on-left-p}, ＠code{scrollbar-on-top-p}, ＠code{vertical-divider-always-visible-p}, ＠code{vertical-divider-shadow-thickness}, ＠code{vertical-divider-line-width}, ＠code{vertical-divider-spacing}; specifiers and symbols whose value is a specifier allowed as modeline specifications. ＠item ＠strong{Frame focus changes}: ＠code{focus-follows-mouse} works like FSF, prevents any attempt to permanently change the selected frame; new function ＠code{focus-frame} sets the window system focus a frame; new special forms ＠code{save-selected-frame} and ＠code{with-selected-frame}. ＠item ＠strong{Window function changes}: ＠code{select-window} now has optional argument ＠var{NORECORD} to inhibit recording a buffer change; ＠code{vertical-motion} now correctly handles optional ＠var{WINDOW} argument and has new optional argument ＠var{PIXELS}, to have the returned values be in pixels; new function ＠code{vertical-motion-pixels}; new functions ＠code{window-text-area-pixel-＠{width,height,edges＠}}; new functions ＠code{shrink-window-pixels} and ＠code{enlarge-window-pixels}; new function ＠code{window-displayed-text-pixel-height}. ＠item ＠strong{Other function changes}: Arithmetic comparison functions ＠code{<}, ＠code{>}, ＠code{=}, ＠code{/=} now accept a variable number of arguments; hashtables now have a consistent read/print syntax; keyword symbols cannot be set to a value other than themselves; ＠code{concat} no longer accepts integer arguments; new function ＠code{string}, like ＠code{list}, ＠code{vector}, etc.; new function ＠code{temp-directory} (OS-independent way to get a temp directory); ＠code{load-average} has optional argument ＠var{USE-FLOATS}; ＠code{make-event} implemented completely; new function ＠code{function-interactive} (returns a function's interactive spec); new functions ＠code{lmessage}, ＠code{lwarn} (printf-like versions of ＠code{display-wessage}, ＠code{display-warning}); new keyword ＠code{:version} to ＠code{defcustom}. ＠item ＠strong{Performance}: when the new GNU Malloc aka Doug Lea Malloc is available, it will be used (better performance on libc6 Linux systems); tracking line-numbers in modeline is now efficient; profiling records a call-count of all called functions, retrievable through ＠code{profile-call-count-results}. ＠item ＠strong{Startup and path searching}: code to assemble paths at startup rewritten for new package system; new function ＠code{split-path} (splits by ＠code{path-separator}); ＠code{Info-default-directory-list} obsolete, use ＠code{Info-directory-list} instead; site-lisp is deprecated and no longer on the load-path by default. ＠end itemize ＠node Q7.0.4, Q7.0.5, Q7.0.3, Current Events ＠unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.4: What's new in XEmacs 20.4? XEmacs 20.4 is a bugfix release with no user-visible changes. ＠c Filled in from NEWS file of 20.5-b33 ＠node Q7.0.5, Q7.0.6, Q7.0.4, Current Events ＠unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.5: What's new in XEmacs 20.3? XEmacs 20.3 was released in November 1997. It contains many bugfixes, and a number of new features, including Autoconf 2 based configuration, additional support for Mule (Multi-language extensions to Emacs), many more customizations, multiple frames on TTY-s, support for multiple info directories, an enhanced gnuclient, improvements to regexp matching, increased MIME support, and many, many synches with GNU Emacs 20. The XEmacs/Mule support has been only seriously tested in a Japanese locale, and no doubt many problems still remain. The support for ISO-Latin-1 and Japanese is fairly strong. MULE support comes at a price---about a 30% slowdown from 19.16. We're making progress on improving performance and XEmacs 20.3 compiled without Mule (which is the default) is definitely faster than XEmacs 19.16. XEmacs 20.3 is the first non-beta v20 release, and will be the basis for all further development. ＠node Q7.0.6, , Q7.0.5, Current Events ＠unnumberedsubsec Q7.0.6: What's new in XEmacs 20.2? The biggest changes in 20.2 include integration of EFS (the next generation of ange-ftp) and AUC Tex (the Emacs subsystem that includes a major mode for editing Tex and LaTeX, and a lot of other stuff). Many bugs from 20.0 have been fixed for this release. 20.2 also contains a new system for customizing XEmacs options, invoked via ＠kbd{M-x customize}. XEmacs 20.2 is the development release (20.0 was beta), and is no longer considered unstable. For older news, see the file ＠file{ONEWS} in the ＠file{etc} directory of the XEmacs distribution. ＠node Legacy Versions, , Current Events, Top ＠unnumbered 8 New information about old XEmacsen This is part 8 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. It will occasionally be updated to reflect new information about versions which are no longer being revised by the XEmacs Project. The primary purpose is advice on compatibility of older XEmacsen with new packages and updated versions of packages, but bug fixes (which will not be applied to released XEmacsen, but users can apply themselves) are also accepted. ＠menu * Q8.0.1:: Gnus 5.10 won't display smileys in XEmacs 21.1. ＠end menu ＠unnumberedsec 8.0: XEmacs 21.1 ＠node Q8.0.1, , Legacy Versions, Legacy Versions ＠unnumberedsubsec Q8.0.1: Gnus 5.10 won't display smileys in XEmacs 21.1. ＠email{eeide＠(a)cs.utah.edu, Eric Eide} wrote: ＠quotation Previously I wrote: Eric> Summary: with Gnus 5.10.1 in XEmacs 21.1.14, I don't see Eric> any smileys :-(. After a bit of sleuthing, I discovered the essence of the problem. For me, the form: ＠lisp (with-temp-buffer (insert-file-contents "foo.xpm") (buffer-string)) ＠end lisp returns the empty string. This is because something somewhere replaces the XPM data with a glyph --- I haven't figured out where this occurs. ＠end quotation ＠email{kyle_jones＠(a)wonderworks.com, Kyle Jones} replies: ＠quotation Do this: ＠lisp (setq format-alist nil) ＠end lisp The image-mode stuff is gone from format-alist in the 21.4 branch, praise be. ＠end quotation ＠bye