1 $Id: NEWS,v 1.57 2003/06/10 20:50:03 karl Exp $
2 This file records noteworthy changes.
4 Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003,
5 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
8 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
9 notice and this notice are preserved.
12 *** IMPORTANT NEWS FOR ALL AUTHORS OF TEXINFO MANUALS ***
14 As of version 4.2, Texinfo has a new command @copying to define the
15 copyright and copying permissions for a manual. It's important to
16 switch to using it as soon as possible (as in your next release),
17 because the historical method of doing copyright permissions using
18 @ifinfo failed to output copyright information in the HTML (or XML)
19 formats. The manual has detailed explanations and examples. For
20 convenience, here's a url to one of the relevant sections:
21 http://texinfo.org/manual/Document-Permissions.html
23 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
27 . new command @/ specifies an allowable breakpoint within a line.
28 . new command @dofirstparagraphindent to control whether the first
29 paragraph following a section heading is indented. Default is to
30 omit this indentation, unlike the output up to now.
31 . new command @indent for explicitly indenting a paragraph.
32 . makeinfo writes a new construct for @image in Info output, so that
33 graphical Info browsers (such as Emacs Info under X) can display an
34 actual image. (Standalone Info ignores this, since it runs in a tty.)
37 - search for image files in the include file search path.
38 - warns if @value is used on an undefined variable.
40 - default --split-size now 300,000 bytes, up from 50,000.
41 - with --enable-encoding and a given @documentencoding,
42 output a Local Variables section specifying that encoding, for use
45 - uses <h3> at the smallest.
46 - a few css <style> definitions are included to better
47 implement @format, @display, @small..., etc.
48 - new option --css-include=FILE includes FILE in the <style>.
49 - @cartouche now outputs a <table> with a border.
51 . new Polish translation txi-pl.tex.
53 . --command=CMD replaces --texinfo=CMD; it inserts CMD at the first
54 line of LaTeX files now, or after the @setfilename for Texinfo files.
56 . RET now goes to the nearest xref (rather like Emacs Info),
57 instead of the next xref starting on the current line.
59 . new Romanian (ro) translation.
60 . variables now declared const where appropriate.
61 . gettext 0.12.1, automake 1.7.5.
66 . a bug in 4.4 prevented compressed info files from being found.
68 . detect sys/ptem.h on Solaris.
73 . The ' (ASCII apostrophe/right quote) character is finally allowed in
74 node and anchor names. Thus, after installing this texinfo.tex,
75 existing .aux files will cause errors! Remove them and rerun TeX to
77 . @value constructs are now expanded in the filename arguments to
78 @include and @verbatiminclude.
80 . @macro names may no longer include ^ or _, for the sake of math mode.
81 . bug fix: @copying text is now reflected in tag table positions;
82 before, nodes may not have been found with a long-enough @copying.
83 . bug fix: html @verb arg is quoted properly, and does not imply
86 . @smallexample and the like now output in a smaller font (9pt) in all
87 paper formats, not just @smallbook and @afourpaper.
88 . new translation txi-tr.tex.
89 . bug fix: <>| and other characters do not disappear when they are
90 first on a line in @verbatim.
92 . bug fix: don't translate the `* Menu' info keyword.
94 . CTRL-H is treated like DEL in incremental search.
95 . arrow keys once again work in isearch contexts under Solaris.
97 . use .info key bindings before defaults.
98 . allow prefix keys to be disabled.
100 . update to GNU FDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html).
101 . getopt and other common library files updated from gnulib
102 (http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnulib/).
103 . autoconf 2.57, automake 1.7.2.
106 4.3 (14 November 2002)
108 . new command @tie{} to do a real tie (unbreakable interword space).
110 . html output for @defun and friends now has font changes.
111 . html output has some class attributes.
112 . xml and docbook output improved in many details.
114 . new Italian translations, txi-it.tex.
115 . pdf bookmarks for unnumbered sections work.
116 . type name for @defun and friends no longer extends into margin.
118 . automatic-footnotes now off by default, for emacs compatibility.
119 . crash when MALLOC_CHECK_=2 fixed.
121 . new option --infodir synonym for --info-dir, for compatibility with
122 the Debian install-info.
123 . support for bzip2-compressed files.
125 . omit initial if the entire index is under one character.
127 . development sources now available under CVS, see
128 http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/texinfo/
129 . Turkish message translation.
130 . gettext 0.11.5, autoconf 2.54, automake 1.7.1.
135 . new command @copying to define copying permissions. See above.
136 . new conditionals @ifplaintext, @ifnotplaintext for the plain text
137 (--no-headers) output format.
138 . new command @\ to produce literal \ inside @math, since \ by itself
141 . emit accesskey attributes for keyboard shortcuts to menu items.
142 . @{even,every,odd}{footing,header} are ignored by makeinfo now, so
143 they no longer need to be enclosed in @iftex.
145 . bug fix for pdf-format table of contents.
147 . bug fixes for -R (--raw-escapes).
148 . --help shows short option names.
150 . the doc.c, funs.h, and key.c files in info/ are no longer generated
151 at make time, to appease Automake's make distcheck.
152 . gettext 0.11.1, autoconf 2.53, automake 1.6 (with install-info kludge).
157 . new commands @verbatim and @verb for printing verbatim inserts.
158 . new command @verbatiminclude for verbatim include of files.
159 . new environment @documentdescription for defining the HTML description.
160 . new command @afivepaper for the A5 paper size.
162 . supports xml and docbook output.
163 . supports HTML splitting by node, which is now the default.
164 . new option --split-size to control maximum size of split info files.
165 . new option --enable-encoding to enable
167 . user-specified key bindings supported.
168 . ANSI escape sequences (as produced by groff) removed from man output
169 by default; use --raw-escapes to let them through if your terminal
171 . RET terminates incremental search normally.
173 . @math implies @tex, so all the usual plain TeX math is supported.
174 . smaller fonts for @smallexample, in all page sizes.
175 . improvements in the PDF support.
177 . new option -o to explicitly specify output filename.
179 . switch to GNU Free Documentation License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/).
180 . update to GNU gettext 0.11, autoconf 2.52, and automake 1.5.
181 . Danish, Swedish, and Hebrew message translations.
184 4.0 (28 September 1999)
186 . New command @anchor for cross references to arbitrary points.
187 . New commands @documentlanguage sets the main document language,
188 and @documentencoding sets the document input encoding (although not
189 much is done yet with either).
190 . New command @pagesizes allows limited control of text area for typesetting.
191 . New command @acronym for abbreviations in all caps, such as `NASA'.
192 . New command @alias for simple command aliases.
193 . New command @definfoenclose for better control of info output.
194 . New commands @deftypeivar for typed instance variables of a class
195 and @deftypeop for typed operations of a class.
196 . New command @novalidate suppresses cross-reference checking and (in
197 TeX) auxiliary file creation.
198 . New commands @setcontentsaftertitlepage and
199 @setshortcontentsaftertitlepage to force printing the table of
200 contents after @end titlepage. Also, @contents and @shortcontents
201 themselves can now appear at the beginning of the document as
203 . New markup commands: @env (for environment variables), @command (for
204 command names), @option (for command-line options).
205 . New commands @smallformat and @smalldisplay, a la @smallexample.
206 . New command @exampleindent to set indentation of example-like
207 environments a la @paragraphindent.
208 . @uref takes an optional third argument of text to show instead of
209 (rather than in addition to) the url for info and dvi output.
210 . @footnote works in an @item for a @table.
212 . latest version always at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/texinfo/texinfo.tex
215 . implements @paragraphindent (except asis).
216 . @emph and @i use true italic type (cmti) instead of slanted (cmsl).
217 . implements pdf output when run with pdftex.
218 . better support for internationalization via txi-??.tex files.
219 . footnotes now set in a smaller point size.
221 . supports HTML output with the --html option.
222 . implication of --html: @top nodes should be wrapped in @ifnottex
223 rather than @ifinfo. @ifinfo conditionals are not expanded with --html.
224 . new option --number-sections to output chapter/section numbers.
225 . dashes and quotes are not treated specially in node names.
226 . new option --commands-in-node-names to allow @-commands in node names.
227 (Not implemented in TeX, and most likely never will be.)
228 . @emph output uses _underscores_.
229 . @image looks for .png files before .jpg.
230 . only output `Making ... file' line when verbose.
231 . allow -v as synonym for --verbose.
232 . new command line options to specify which conditionals to process
233 (but --iftex is not fully implemented).
234 . warns if @var contains any of ,[]().
235 . @quote-arg implicitly done for all one-argument macros, so commas in
236 the argument text are allowed.
237 . \\ required in macro body to get single \, no other `escapes' defined.
239 . ISO Latin 1 characters are displayed and input as-is by default.
240 . new option --vi-keys to enable vi-like and less-like key bindings.
241 . new command S does case-sensitive searching.
242 . new commands C-x n and C-x N repeat last search, respectively, in the
243 same and in reverse direction, without prompting for the string. These
244 commands are bound to n and N under --vi-keys, like in Less.
245 . new command G menu1 menu2 ... searches for menu items from (dir),
246 as allowed on the command line.
247 . new command O (capital o, not zero) goes directly to the node that
248 describes command-line options.
249 . new command-line option --show-options causes the node which
250 describes command-line options to be the first node displayed.
251 . M-prior and M-DEL do new command info-scroll-other-window-backward.
252 . / searches like s does.
253 . If the search string includes upper-case letters, in both incremental
254 and non-incremental search, the search is case-sensitive.
255 . S searches case-sensitively even if the search string is all
257 . - makes the argument negative (so e.g. `- /' searches backward).
258 . l restores point in the window returned to.
259 . SPC/DEL do not move outside the current document.
260 . foo.info is found before foo.
261 . `info foo --index-search=bar' now searches for bar in foo's index.
262 . support for files compressed with bzip2.
264 . handles gzipped dir files.
265 . sort entries into alphabetical order.
266 . install direntries only in preceding dircategory, not in all.
267 . --delete does not require the info file to exist.
268 . --delete can handle XEmacs-style dir entries.
270 . bug fixed: now uses only the @iftex and @tex parts of the source.
271 . process LaTeX source as well as Texinfo source.
272 . output PDF (using pdftex) with new option --pdf.
273 . handles --OPTION=ARG style of command line arguments.
274 . new option --batch for progress reports but no interaction.
275 . new option --clean to remove all auxiliary files.
276 . new option --quiet for silence (unless there are errors).
277 . new option -I for specifying directories for @include to search.
278 . handles LaTeX files (running BibTeX etc.).
279 * Fixes to util/gen-dir-node and util/fix-info-dir (formerly util/update-info).
281 . Man pages included.
282 . Czech and Norwegian message translations.
283 . Various translations for texinfo.tex fixed words included.
288 * Elisp files removed, since they are only usefully distributed with Emacs.
289 * Restore inclusion of compile-time $(infodir) to INFOPATH.
290 * install-info creates a proper dir file.
291 * Various portability fixes.
296 - @uref to make a reference to a url; @url now only indicates such.
297 - @image to include graphics (epsf for TeX).
298 - @deftypemethod and @deftypemethodx to document methods in strongly
299 typed object-oriented languages, such as C++.
300 - @html for raw HTML.
301 - @ifnothtml @ifnotinfo @ifnottex for more precise conditionals.
302 - @kbdinputstyle to control when @kbd uses the slanted typewriter font.
303 - @email takes second optional argument.
304 * texinfo.tex reads texinfo.cnf (if present) for site-wide TeX
305 configuration; for example, A4 paper sizes.
307 - arrow keys supported.
308 - trailing : in INFOPATH appends default path.
309 - new option --index-search for online help support.
311 - output files removed if errors unless (new option) --force.
312 - new option -P to prepend to search path.
313 - macro expansion file can be standard output.
314 * install-info creates a new dir file if necessary.
315 * update-info script to create a dir file from all info files.
316 * Elisp: texnfo-tex.el and detexinfo.el removed from the distribution;
317 - texnfo-tex features are now part of standard TeX & Texinfo packages;
318 - makeinfo --no-headers does a better job than detexinfo.el.
320 - Updates, revisions, corrections in the manual.
321 - makeinfo.texi removed, as it was a copy of what was in texinfo.texi.
322 * gettext support in sources, French and German translations included.
323 * info man page removed; use the Texinfo manual.
324 * Automake used, other portability fixes.
331 - Give a suppressible (with --no-validate) error for references
333 - Keep track of multitable output correctly for split files; this
334 caused nodes after the first multitable to be ``undefined''.
336 - Rename --infodir option to --info-dir.
337 - More robust error checking to avoid various crashes.
338 * configure: Include replacements for memcpy and memmove functions in
339 the distribution, in case they are missing.
342 3.8 (30 September 1996)
343 * Define and/or document new and/or previously existing commands:
344 Accents: @" @' @, @" @= @^ @` @~ @H @d @dotaccent @dotless @ringaccent
345 @tieaccent @u @ubaraccent @v
346 Special characters: @AA @AE @L @O @OE @aa @ae @exclamdown @l @o @oe
347 @pounds @questiondown @ss
348 Special punctuation: @! @? @enddots
349 dir file maintenance: @dircategory @direntry; also new program, install-info
350 HTML support: @email @url @ifhtml...@end ifhtml
351 Macros: @macro @unmacro
352 Tables: @multitable @tab
353 Hyphenation: @- @hyphenation
354 Spacing: @ @<TAB> @<NEWLINE>
356 @headings singleafter/doubleafter (change heading style after current page)
360 @shorttitlepage (simple title pages)
361 @detailmenu...@end detailmenu (help makeinfo parse master menus)
362 * Makeinfo prefers an input file named `foo.texinfo' or `foo.texi' or
363 `foo.txinfo' to just `foo' (the latter most likely being an executable).
364 * Makeinfo implements @. @! @? correctly, as end-of-sentence punctuation.
365 * @key marks its argument with a lozenge in TeX and <...> in Info.
366 * TeX output has substantially decreased interline spacing and other
368 * Remove these obsolete and never-documented commands:
370 @infoappendix @infoappendixsec @infoappendixsubsec @infoappendixsubsubsec
371 @infochapter @infosection @infosubsection @infosubsubsection
372 @infounnumbered @infounnumberedsec @infounnumberedsubsec
373 @infounnumberedsubsubsec
375 @smallbreak @medbreak
378 * Deprecate these obsolete commands, to be removed in the next release:
381 @iappendix @iappendixsection @iappendixsec @iappendixsubsec
383 @ichapter @isection @isubsection @isubsubsection
384 @iunnumbered @iunnumberedsec @iunnumberedsubsec @iunnumberedsubsubsec
389 3.7 (24 December 1995)
390 * Have --version print texinfo release number as well as the individual
392 * Better man page cleaning.
393 * Update Elisp files from current Emacs release.
397 * Unmatched brace error reporting improved.
398 * Missing comment terminator prevented compilation.
403 * Support for parallel makes.
404 * make install does not install Elisp files.
408 * Handle @ifhtml in Elisp.
409 * Update FSF address.
413 * Portability changes.
414 * Compile Elisp files.
415 * Don't distribute .info* files.
419 * Standalone Info can read Unix man pages.
420 * New commands: @! @? @^ @" @enddots.
421 * makeinfo -E does macro expansion (and nothing else).
425 Just bug fixes, see ChangeLog for full details.
428 3.0: first release of Texinfo version 2, with many new commands.
432 Here is the separate NEWS for old releases of Info:
434 Version 2.11, Sat Apr 1 09:15:21 1995
436 Changes since 2.7 beta:
438 Although the basic code remains the same, there are numerous nits
439 fixed, including some display bugs, and a memory leak. Some changes
440 that have taken place with larger impact include the way in which the
441 (dir) node is built; I have added in support for "localdir"
442 directories among other things. Info files may be stored in
443 compressed formats, and in their own subdirectories; menu items which
444 do not explicitly name the node to which they are attached have the
445 menu item name looked up as an Info file if it is not found within the
446 current document. This means that the menu item:
448 * Info:: The Info documentation reader.
450 in (dir) refers to the info node "(info)Top".
452 Please see the ChangeLog and documentation for details on other
455 Version 2.7 beta, Wed Dec 30 02:02:38 1992
456 Version 2.6 beta, Tue Dec 22 03:58:07 1992
457 Version 2.5 beta, Tue Dec 8 14:50:35 1992
458 Version 2.4 beta, Sat Nov 28 14:34:02 1992
459 Version 2.3 beta, Fri Nov 27 01:04:13 1992
460 Version 2.2 beta, Tue Nov 24 09:36:08 1992
461 Version 2.1 beta, Tue Nov 17 23:29:36 1992
463 Changes since 2.5 beta:
465 Note that versions 2.6 and 2.7 Beta were only released to a select group.
467 * "info-" removed from the front of M-x commands.
469 * Automatic footnote display. When you enter a node which contains
470 footnotes, and the variable "automatic-footnotes" is "On", Info pops
471 up a window containing the footnotes. Likewise, when you leave that
472 node, the window containing the footnotes goes away.
474 * Cleaner built in documentation, and documentation functions.
477 o `M-x describe-variable' to read a variable's documenation
478 o `M-x describe-key' to find out what a particular keystroke does.
479 o `M-x describe-function' to read a function's documentation.
480 o `M-x where-is' to find out what keys invoke a particular function.
482 * Info can "tile" the displayed windows (via "M-x tile-windows"). If
483 the variable "automatic-tiling" is "On", then splitting a window or
484 deleting a window causes the remaining windows to be retiled.
486 * You can save every keystroke you type in a "dribble file" by using the
487 `--dribble FILENAME' option. You can initially read keystrokes from an
488 alternate input stream with `--restore FILENAME', or by redirecting
489 input on the command line `info < old-dribble'.
491 * New behaviour of menu items. If the label is the same as the
492 target node name, and the node couldn't be found in the current file,
493 treat the label as a file name. For example, a menu entry in "DIR"
496 * Emacs:: Cool text-editor.
498 Info would not find the node "(dir)Emacs", so just plain "(emacs)"
501 * New variable "ISO-Latin" allows you to use European machines with
502 8-bit character sets.
504 * Cleanups in echo area reading, and redisplay. Cleanups in handling the
505 window which shows possible completions.
507 * Info can now read files that have been compressed. An array in filesys.c
508 maps extensions to programs that can decompress stdin, and write the results
509 to stdout. Currently, ".Z"/uncompress, ".z"/gunzip, and ".Y"/unyabba are
510 supported. The modeline for a compressed file shows "zz" in it.
512 * There is a new variable "gc-compressed-files" which, if non-zero, says
513 it is okay to reclaim the file buffer space allocated to a file which
514 was compressed, if, and only if, that file's contents do not appear in
517 * New file `nodemenu.c' implements a few functions for manipulating
518 previously visited nodes. `C-x C-b' (list-visited-nodes) produces a
519 menu of the nodes that could be reached by info-history-node in some
520 window. `C-x b' (select-visited-node) is similar, but reads one of
521 the node names with completion.
523 * Keystroke `M-r' (move_to_screen_line) allows the user to place the cursor at
524 the start of a specific screen line. Without a numeric argument, place the
525 cursor on the center line; with an arg, place the cursor on that line.
527 * Interruptible display implemented. Basic display speedups and hacks.
528 * The message "*** Tags Out of Date ***" now means what it says.
529 * Index searching with `,' (info-index-next) has been improved.
530 * When scrolling with C-v, C-M-v, or M-v, only "Page Only" scrolling
533 * Continous scrolling (along with `]' (info-global-next) and `['
534 (info-global-prev) works better. `]' and `[' accept numeric
535 arguments, moving that many nodes in that case.
537 * `C-x w' (info-toggle-wrap) controls how lines wider than the width
538 of the screen are displayed. If a line is too long, a `$' is
539 displayed in the rightmost column of the window.
541 * There are some new variables for controlling the behaviour of Info
542 interactively. The current list of variables is as follows:
544 Variable Name Default Value Description
545 ------------- ------------- -----------
546 `automatic-footnotes' On When "On", footnotes appear and
547 disappear automatically.
549 `automatic-tiling' Off When "On", creating of deleting a
550 window resizes other windows.
552 `visible-bell' Off If non-zero, try to use a visible bell.
554 `errors-ring-bell' On If non-zero, errors cause a ring.
556 `show-index-match' On If non-zero, the portion of the string
557 matched is highlighted by changing its
560 `scroll-behaviour' Continuous One of "Continuous", "Next Only", or
561 "Page Only". "Page Only" prevents you from
562 scrolling past the bottom or top of a node.
563 "Next Only" causes the Next or Prev node to
564 be selected when you scroll past the bottom
565 or top of a node. "Continous" moves
566 linearly through the files hierchichal
569 `scroll-step' 0 Controls how scrolling is done for you when
570 the cursor moves out of the current window.
571 Non-zero means it is the number of lines
572 you would like the screen to shift. A
573 value of 0 means to center the line
574 containing the cursor in the window.
576 `gc-compressed-files' Off If non-zero means it is okay to reclaim the
577 file buffer space allocated to a file which
578 was compressed, if, and only if, that
579 file's contents do not appear in the node
582 `ISO-Latin' Off Non-zero means that you are using an ISO
583 Latin character set. By default, standard
584 ASCII characters are assumed.
585 ________________________________________
586 This release of Info is version 2.5 beta.
588 Changes since 2.4 beta:
590 * Index (i) and (,) commands fully implemented.
591 * "configure" script now shipped with Info.
592 * New function "set-variable" allows users to set various variables.
593 * User-settable behaviour on end or beginning of node scrolling. This
594 supercedes the SPC and DEL changes in 2.3 beta.
596 ________________________________________
597 This release of Info is version 2.4 beta.
599 Changes since 2.3 beta:
601 * info-last-node now means move to the last node of this info file.
602 * info-history-node means move backwards through this window's node history.
603 * info-first-node moves to the first node in the Info file. This node is
604 not necessarily "Top"!
605 * SPC and DEL can select the Next or Prev node after printing an informative
606 message when pressed at the end/beg of a node.
608 ----------------------------------------
609 This release of Info is version 2.3 beta.
611 Changes since 2.2 beta:
613 * M-x command lines if NAMED_COMMANDS is #defined. Variable in Makefile.
614 * Screen height changes made quite robust.
615 * Interactive function "set-screen-height" implements user height changes.
616 * Scrolling on some terminals is faster now.
617 * C-l with numeric arguement is fixed.
619 ----------------------------------------
620 This release of Info is version 2.2 beta.
624 * C-g can now interrupt multi-file searches.
625 * Incremental search is fully implemented.
626 * Loading large tag tables is much faster now.
627 * makedoc.c replaces shell script, speeding incremental builds.
628 * Scrolling in redisplay is implemented.
629 * Recursive uses of the echo area made more robust.
630 * Garbage collection of unreferenced nodes.