1 \input texinfo.tex @c -*- mode: texinfo; coding: iso-2022-8 -*-
3 @setfilename sxemacs-faq.info
4 @settitle Frequently asked questions about SXEmacs
10 @subtitle Frequently Asked Questions about SXEmacs @inlineraw{tex,\hfill Edition 22.1.15}
12 @author Sebastian Freundt <hroptatyr@@sxemacs.org
13 @author Tony Rossini <rossini@@u.washington.edu>
14 @author Ben Wing <ben@@xemacs.org>
15 @author Chuck Thompson <cthomp@@xemacs.org>
16 @author Steve Baur <steve@@xemacs.org>
17 @author Andreas Kaempf <andreas@@sccon.com>
18 @author Christian Nybø <chr@@mediascience.no>
19 @author Sandra Wambold <wambold@@xemacs.org>
24 @dircategory SXEmacs Editor
26 * FAQ: (sxemacs-faq). SXEmacs FAQ.
30 @node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir)
33 This is the guide to the SXEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list---a
34 compendium of questions and answers pertaining to one of the finest
35 programs ever written. SXEmacs is much more than just a Text Editor.
37 SXEmacs Note: Currently, this is the FAQ from XEmacs. It will be
38 overhauled and updated in the very near future. If you are reading this
39 note, @emph{please} remind us to do so.
41 This FAQ is freely redistributable. This FAQ is distributed in the hope
42 that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
43 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
45 In the near future this assortment of questions will be automatically
46 generated from a database. We are currently evaluating the design
47 specifications, a general classification and technical necessities.
49 @c If you have a Web browser, the official hypertext version is at
53 @c @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/FAQ/xemacs-faq.html}
57 @c This document is available in several different formats:
60 @c @uref{xemacs-faq.txt, As a single ASCII file}, produced by
61 @c @code{makeinfo --no-headers}
63 @c @uref{xemacs-faq.dvi, As a .dvi file}, as used with
64 @c @uref{http://www.tug.org, TeX.}
66 @c As a PostScript file @uref{xemacs-faq-a4.ps, in A4 format},
67 @c as well as in @uref{xemacs-faq-letter.ps, letter format}
69 @c In html format, @uref{xemacs-faq_1.html, split by chapter}, or in
70 @c @uref{xemacs-faq.html, one monolithic} document.
72 @c The canonical version of the FAQ is the texinfo document
73 @c @uref{xemacs-faq.texi, man/xemacs-faq.texi}.
75 @c If you do not have makeinfo installed, you may @uref{xemacs-faq.info,
76 @c download the faq} in info format, and install it in @file{<XEmacs
77 @c library directory>/info/}. For example in
78 @c @file{/usr/local/lib/xemacs-21.4/info/}.
86 @c end ifset points to CANONICAL
89 * Introduction:: Introduction, Policy, Credits.
90 * Installation:: Installation and Trouble Shooting.
91 * Customisation:: Customisation and Options.
92 * Subsystems:: Major Subsystems.
93 * Miscellaneous:: The Miscellaneous Stuff.
94 * MS Windows:: SXEmacs on Microsoft Windows.
95 * Current Events:: What the Future Holds.
99 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
101 Introduction, Policy, Credits
103 * Q1.0.1:: What is SXEmacs?
104 * Q1.0.2:: What is the current version of SXEmacs?
105 * Q1.0.3:: Where can I find it?
106 * Q1.0.4:: Why another version of Emacs?
107 * Q1.0.5:: Why haven't XEmacs/SXEmacs and GNU Emacs merged?
108 * Q1.0.6:: Where can I get help?
109 * Q1.0.7:: Where are the mailing lists archived?
110 * Q1.0.8:: How do you pronounce SXEmacs?
111 * Q1.0.9:: What does SXEmacs look like?
112 * Q1.0.10:: Is there a port of SXEmacs to Microsoft ('95 or NT)?
113 * Q1.0.11:: Is there a port of SXEmacs to the Macintosh?
114 * Q1.0.12:: Is there a port of SXEmacs to NextStep?
115 * Q1.0.13:: Is there a port of SXEmacs to OS/2?
116 * Q1.0.14:: Where can I get a printed copy of the SXEmacs users manual?
119 * Q1.1.1:: What is the FAQ editorial policy?
120 * Q1.1.2:: How do I become a beta tester?
121 * Q1.1.3:: How do I contribute to SXEmacs itself?
124 * Q1.2.1:: Who wrote XEmacs? Who wrote SXEmacs?
125 * Q1.2.2:: Who contributed to this version of the FAQ?
126 * Q1.2.3:: Who contributed to the FAQ in the past?
128 Internationalisation:
129 * Q1.3.1:: What is the status of internationalisation support aka MULE (including Asian language support?
130 * Q1.3.2:: How can I help with internationalisation?
131 * Q1.3.3:: How do I type non-ASCII characters?
132 * Q1.3.4:: Can SXEmacs messages come out in a different language?
133 * Q1.3.5:: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/SXEmacs
134 * Q1.3.6:: How do I portably code for MULE/XEmacs/SXEmacs?
135 * Q1.3.7:: How about Cyrillic Modes?
136 * Q1.3.8:: Does SXEmacs support Unicode?
137 * Q1.3.9:: How does SXEmacs display Unicode?
140 * Q1.4.1:: What is an @file{init.el} or @file{.emacs} and is there a sample one?
141 * Q1.4.2:: Can I use the same @file{init.el}/@file{.emacs} with other Emacsen?
142 * Q1.4.3:: Any good SXEmacs tutorials around?
143 * Q1.4.4:: May I see an example of a useful SXEmacs Lisp function?
144 * Q1.4.5:: And how do I bind it to a key?
145 * Q1.4.6:: What's the difference between a macro and a function?
147 Installation and Trouble Shooting
149 * Q2.0.1:: Running SXEmacs without installing.
150 * Q2.0.2:: SXEmacs is too big.
151 * Q2.0.3:: Compiling SXEmacs with Netaudio. @c what?!
152 * Q2.0.4:: Problems with Linux and ncurses.
153 * Q2.0.5:: Do I need X11 to run SXEmacs?
154 * Q2.0.6:: I'm having strange crashes. What do I do?
155 * Q2.0.7:: Libraries in non-standard locations.
156 * Q2.0.8:: can't resolve symbol _h_errno
157 * Q2.0.9:: Where do I find external libraries?
158 * Q2.0.10:: After I run configure I find a coredump, is something wrong?
159 * Q2.0.11:: SXEmacs can't resolve host names.
160 * Q2.0.12:: Why can't I strip SXEmacs?
161 * Q2.0.13:: I don't need no steenkin' packages. Do I?
162 * Q2.0.14:: How do I figure out which packages to install?
163 * Q2.0.15:: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood" (NEW)
166 * Q2.1.1:: SXEmacs just crashed on me!
167 * Q2.1.2:: Cryptic Minibuffer messages.
168 * Q2.1.3:: Translation Table Syntax messages at Startup.
169 * Q2.1.4:: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
170 * Q2.1.5:: SXEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal.
171 * Q2.1.6:: SXEmacs just locked up my Linux X server.
172 * Q2.1.7:: HP Alt key as Meta.
173 * Q2.1.8:: got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)!
174 * Q2.1.9:: SXEmacs causes my OpenWindows 3.0 server to crash.
175 * Q2.1.10:: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
176 * Q2.1.11:: Can't instantiate image error... in toolbar
177 * Q2.1.12:: Regular Expression Problems on DEC OSF1.
178 * Q2.1.13:: HP/UX 10.10 and @code{create_process} failure
179 * Q2.1.14:: @kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
180 * Q2.1.15:: How to debug a SXEmacs problem with a debugger.
181 * Q2.1.16:: SXEmacs crashes in @code{strcat} on HP/UX 10.
182 * Q2.1.17:: @samp{Marker does not point anywhere}.
183 * Q2.1.18:: SXEmacs is outputting lots of X errors.
184 * Q2.1.19:: SXEmacs does not follow the local timezone.
185 * Q2.1.20:: @samp{Symbol's function definition is void: hkey-help-show.}
186 * Q2.1.21:: [This question intentionally left blank]
187 * Q2.1.22:: SXEmacs seems to take a really long time to do some things.
188 * Q2.1.23:: Movemail on Linux does not work for SXEmacs.
189 * Q2.1.24:: SXEmacs won't start without network.
190 * Q2.1.25:: After upgrading, SXEmacs won't do `foo' any more!
192 Customisation and Options
194 * Q3.0.1:: What version of Emacs am I running?
195 * Q3.0.2:: How do I evaluate Elisp expressions?
196 * Q3.0.3:: @code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly.
197 * Q3.0.4:: How can I add directories to the @code{load-path}?
198 * Q3.0.5:: How to check if a lisp function is defined?
199 * Q3.0.6:: Can I force the output of @code{(face-list)} to a buffer?
200 * Q3.0.7:: Font selections don't get saved after @code{Save Options}.
201 * Q3.0.8:: How do I make a single minibuffer frame?
202 * Q3.0.9:: What is @code{Customize}?
204 X Window System & Resources:
205 * Q3.1.1:: Where is a list of X resources?
206 * Q3.1.2:: How can I detect a color display?
207 * Q3.1.3:: [This question intentionally left blank]
208 * Q3.1.4:: [This question intentionally left blank]
209 * Q3.1.5:: How can I get the icon to just say @samp{SXEmacs}?
210 * Q3.1.6:: How can I have the window title area display the full path?
211 * Q3.1.7:: @samp{sxemacs -name junk} doesn't work?
212 * Q3.1.8:: @samp{-iconic} doesn't work.
214 Textual Fonts & Colors:
215 * Q3.2.1:: How can I set color options from @file{init.el}?
216 * Q3.2.2:: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts?
217 * Q3.2.3:: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region?
218 * Q3.2.4:: How can I limit color map usage?
219 * Q3.2.5:: My tty supports color, but SXEmacs doesn't use them.
220 * Q3.2.6:: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in SXEmacs?
221 * Q3.2.7:: How do I display non-ASCII characters?
224 * Q3.3.1:: How can I make the modeline go away?
225 * Q3.3.2:: How do you have SXEmacs display the line number in the modeline?
226 * Q3.3.3:: How do I get SXEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline?
227 * Q3.3.4:: How do I turn off current chapter from AUC TeX modeline?
228 * Q3.3.5:: How can one change the modeline color based on the mode used?
230 Multiple Device Support:
231 * Q3.4.1:: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display?
232 * Q3.4.2:: Can I really connect to a running SXEmacs after calling up over a modem? How?
235 * Q3.5.1:: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys?
236 * Q3.5.2:: How can I stop down-arrow from adding empty lines to the bottom of my buffers?
237 * Q3.5.3:: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down?
238 * Q3.5.4:: Globally binding @kbd{Delete}?
239 * Q3.5.5:: Scrolling one line at a time.
240 * Q3.5.6:: How to map @kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard?
241 * Q3.5.7:: How can you type in special characters in SXEmacs?
242 * Q3.5.8:: [This question intentionally left blank]
243 * Q3.5.9:: How do I make the Delete key delete forward?
244 * Q3.5.10:: Can I turn on @dfn{sticky} modifier keys?
245 * Q3.5.11:: How do I map the arrow keys?
248 * Q3.6.1:: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker?
249 * Q3.6.2:: Is there a way to get back the old block cursor where the cursor covers the character in front of the point?
250 * Q3.6.3:: Can I make the cursor blink?
252 The Mouse and Highlighting:
253 * Q3.7.1:: How can I turn off Mouse pasting?
254 * Q3.7.2:: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons?
255 * Q3.7.3:: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list.
256 * Q3.7.4:: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3?
257 * Q3.7.5:: Why does cut-and-paste not work between SXEmacs and a cmdtool?
258 * Q3.7.6:: How I can set SXEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is?
259 * Q3.7.7:: How do I select a rectangular region?
260 * Q3.7.8:: Why does @kbd{M-w} take so long?
262 The Menubar and Toolbar:
263 * Q3.8.1:: How do I get rid of the menu (or menubar)?
264 * Q3.8.2:: Can I customise the basic menubar?
265 * Q3.8.3:: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu @code{Buffers} list?
266 * Q3.8.4:: Resources like @code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working?
267 * Q3.8.5:: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar?
270 * Q3.9.1:: How can I disable the scrollbar?
271 * Q3.9.2:: How can one use resources to change scrollbar colors?
272 * Q3.9.3:: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this?
273 * Q3.9.4:: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes?
276 * Q3.10.1:: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections?
277 * Q3.10.2:: How do I get that typing on an active region removes it?
278 * Q3.10.3:: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch?
279 * Q3.10.4:: How do I turn off highlighting after @kbd{C-x C-p} (mark-page)?
280 * Q3.10.5:: The region disappears when I hit the end of buffer while scrolling.
281 * Q3.10.6:: Why is killing so slow?
285 * Q4.0.1:: How do I set up VM to retrieve remote mail using POP?
286 * Q4.0.2:: How do I get VM to filter mail for me?
287 * Q4.0.3:: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail?
288 * Q4.0.4:: [This question intentionally left blank]
289 * Q4.0.5:: How do I get my outgoing mail archived?
290 * Q4.0.6:: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How can I
291 tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"?
292 * Q4.0.7:: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM?
293 * Q4.0.8:: Remote mail reading with VM.
294 * Q4.0.9:: rmail or VM gets an error incorporating new mail.
295 * Q4.0.10:: How do I make VM stay in a single frame?
296 * Q4.0.11:: How do I make VM or mh-e display graphical smilies?
297 * Q4.0.12:: Customisation of VM not covered in the manual or here.
299 Web browsing with W3:
300 * Q4.1.1:: What is W3?
301 * Q4.1.2:: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall?
302 * Q4.1.3:: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables?
304 Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus:
305 * Q4.2.1:: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus,
306 Quassia Gnus, Pterodactyl Gnus, Oort Gnus, argh!
307 * Q4.2.2:: [This question intentionally left blank]
308 * Q4.2.3:: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame?
309 * Q4.2.4:: How do I customize the From: line?
312 * Q4.3.1:: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages?
313 * Q4.3.2:: What is TM and where do I get it?
314 * Q4.3.3:: Why isn't this @code{movemail} program working?
315 * Q4.3.4:: Movemail is also distributed by Netscape? Can that cause problems?
316 * Q4.3.5:: Where do I find pstogif (required by tm)?
318 Sparcworks, EOS, and WorkShop:
319 * Q4.4.1:: What is SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop
322 * Q4.5.1:: What is/was Energize?
325 * Q4.6.1:: What is Infodock?
327 Other Unbundled Packages:
328 * Q4.7.1:: What is AUC TeX? Where do you get it?
329 * Q4.7.2:: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets?
330 * Q4.7.3:: [This question intentionally left blank]
331 * Q4.7.4:: Problems installing AUC TeX
332 * Q4.7.5:: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in SXEmacs?
333 * Q4.7.6:: Is there a MatLab mode?
334 * Q4.7.7:: Can I edit files on other hosts?
336 The Miscellaneous Stuff
338 * Q5.0.1:: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock?
339 * Q5.0.2:: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode?
340 * Q5.0.3:: How do I get @samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default?
341 * Q5.0.4:: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt?
342 * Q5.0.5:: How can I get SXEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default?
343 * Q5.0.6:: How do I start up a second shell buffer?
344 * Q5.0.7:: Telnet from shell filters too much.
345 * Q5.0.8:: Why does edt emulation not work?
346 * Q5.0.9:: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode?
347 * Q5.0.10:: [This question intentionally left blank]
348 * Q5.0.11:: [This question intentionally left blank]
349 * Q5.0.12:: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame?
350 * Q5.0.13:: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent SXEmacs is a client?
351 * Q5.0.14:: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode.
352 * Q5.0.15:: Where do I get the latest CC Mode?
353 * Q5.0.16:: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off?
354 * Q5.0.17:: How can I get two instances of info?
355 * Q5.0.18:: [This question intentionally left blank]
356 * Q5.0.19:: Is there something better than LaTeX mode?
357 * Q5.0.20:: Is there a way to start a new SXEmacs if there's no
358 gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient?
360 Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques:
361 * Q5.1.1:: The difference in key sequences between XEmacs/SXEmacs and GNU Emacs?
362 * Q5.1.2:: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events?
363 * Q5.1.3:: Could you explain @code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail?
364 * Q5.1.4:: What is the performance hit of @code{let}?
365 * Q5.1.5:: What is the recommended use of @code{setq}?
366 * Q5.1.6:: What is the typical misuse of @code{setq} ?
367 * Q5.1.7:: I like the @code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down?
368 * Q5.1.8:: I like recursion, does it slow things down?
369 * Q5.1.9:: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer?
370 * Q5.1.10:: @code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents!
371 * Q5.1.11:: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there an easy way to
372 find out where it spends time?
375 * Q5.2.1:: How do I turn off the sound?
376 * Q5.2.2:: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep?
377 * Q5.2.3:: What's NAS, how do I get it?
378 * Q5.2.4:: Sunsite sounds don't play.
382 * Q5.3.1:: How do you make SXEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly?
383 * Q5.3.2:: [This question intentionally left blank]
384 * Q5.3.3:: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer?
385 * Q5.3.4:: Getting @kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer.
386 * Q5.3.5:: How do I specify the paths that SXEmacs uses for finding files?
387 * Q5.3.6:: [This question intentionally left blank]
388 * Q5.3.7:: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way?
389 * Q5.3.8:: How do I insert today's date into a buffer?
390 * Q5.3.9:: Are only certain syntactic character classes available for abbrevs?
391 * Q5.3.10:: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines?
392 * Q5.3.11:: How do I add new Info directories?
393 * Q5.3.12:: What do I need to change to make printing work?
395 SXEmacs on MS Windows
398 * Q6.0.1:: Why did SXEmacs cut all support for Windows?
400 What the Future Holds
402 * Q7.0.1:: What new features will be in SXEmacs soon?
403 * Q7.0.2:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.0?
404 * Q7.0.3:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.1?
405 * Q7.0.4:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.2?
406 * Q7.0.5:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.3?
407 * Q7.0.6:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.4?
413 @c - Where is the RedHat/Fedora/Slackware/Debian/SuSE/Mandrake/foobar
415 @c - What is this tla thingy?
418 @node Introduction, Installation, Top, Top
419 @unnumbered 1 Introduction, Policy, Credits
421 Learning SXEmacs is a lifelong activity. Even people who have used Emacs
422 for years keep discovering new features. Therefore this document cannot
423 be complete. Instead it is aimed at the person who is either
424 considering SXEmacs for their own use, or has just obtained it and is
425 wondering what to do next. It is also useful as a reference to
428 The origin of this FAQ is well beyond SXEmacs-times and stems from the
429 XEmacs crew. The initiator was @email{rossini@@biostat.washington.edu,
430 Anthony Rossini}. The tale goes he got tired of hearing JWZ complain
431 about repeatedly having to answer questions. @email{ben@@xemacs.org,
432 Ben Wing} and @email{cthomp@@xemacs.org, Chuck Thompson}, the principal
433 authors of XEmacs, then took over and Ben did a massive update
434 reorganising the whole thing.
436 The previous version was converted to hypertext format, and edited by
437 @email{steve@@xemacs.org, Steven L. Baur}. It was converted back to
438 texinfo by @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic}. The FAQ was then
439 maintained by @email{andreas@@sccon.com, Andreas Kaempf}, who passed it
440 on to Christian Nybø.
442 If you notice any errors or items which should be added or amended to
443 this FAQ please send email to @email{sxemacs-devel@@sxemacs.org}.
444 Include @samp{SXEmacs FAQ} on the Subject: line.
448 * Q1.0.1:: What is SXEmacs?
449 * Q1.0.2:: What is the current version of SXEmacs?
450 * Q1.0.3:: Where can I find it?
451 * Q1.0.4:: Why another version of Emacs?
452 * Q1.0.5:: Why haven't XEmacs/SXEmacs and GNU Emacs merged?
453 * Q1.0.6:: Where can I get help?
454 * Q1.0.7:: Where are the mailing lists archived?
455 * Q1.0.8:: How do you pronounce SXEmacs?
456 * Q1.0.9:: What does SXEmacs look like?
457 * Q1.0.10:: Is there a port of SXEmacs to Microsoft ('95 or NT)?
458 * Q1.0.11:: Is there a port of SXEmacs to the Macintosh?
459 * Q1.0.12:: Is there a port of SXEmacs to NextStep?
460 * Q1.0.13:: Is there a port of SXEmacs to OS/2?
461 * Q1.0.14:: Where can I get a printed copy of the SXEmacs users manual?
464 * Q1.1.1:: What is the FAQ editorial policy?
465 * Q1.1.2:: How do I become a beta tester?
466 * Q1.1.3:: How do I contribute to SXEmacs itself?
469 * Q1.2.1:: Who wrote XEmacs? Who wrote SXEmacs?
470 * Q1.2.2:: Who contributed to this version of the FAQ?
471 * Q1.2.3:: Who contributed to the FAQ in the past?
473 Internationalisation:
474 * Q1.3.1:: What is the status of internationalisation support aka MULE (including Asian language support?
475 * Q1.3.2:: How can I help with internationalisation?
476 * Q1.3.3:: How do I type non-ASCII characters?
477 * Q1.3.4:: Can SXEmacs messages come out in a different language?
478 * Q1.3.5:: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/SXEmacs
479 * Q1.3.6:: How do I portably code for MULE/XEmacs/SXEmacs?
480 * Q1.3.7:: How about Cyrillic Modes?
481 * Q1.3.8:: Does SXEmacs support Unicode?
482 * Q1.3.9:: How does SXEmacs display Unicode?
485 * Q1.4.1:: What is an @file{init.el} or @file{.emacs} and is there a sample one?
486 * Q1.4.2:: Can I use the same @file{init.el}/@file{.emacs} with other Emacsen?
487 * Q1.4.3:: Any good SXEmacs tutorials around?
488 * Q1.4.4:: May I see an example of a useful SXEmacs Lisp function?
489 * Q1.4.5:: And how do I bind it to a key?
490 * Q1.4.6:: What's the difference between a macro and a function?
493 @unnumberedsec 1.0: Introduction
495 @node Q1.0.1, Q1.0.2, Introduction, Introduction
496 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.1: What is SXEmacs?
498 SXEmacs is a powerful, highly customisable open source text editor and
499 application development system, with full GUI support. It is protected
500 under the GNU Public License and related to other versions of Emacs, in
501 particular XEmacs and GNU Emacs. Its emphasis is on modern graphical
502 user interface support and an open software development model, similar
505 SXEmacs is a recent fork of the popular XEmacs and runs on nearly all
506 versions of Unix in existence.
509 @node Q1.0.2, Q1.0.3, Q1.0.1, Introduction
510 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.2: What is the current version of SXEmacs?
512 SXEmacs 22.1.15 is the latest released version.
513 The current development line will become 22.1.16.
516 @node Q1.0.3, Q1.0.4, Q1.0.2, Introduction
517 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.3: Where can I find it?
519 The canonical source can be found on the web at:
522 @uref{https://downloads.sxemacs.org/}
525 Occasionally there are also snapshots of the current development line
526 available. These can be found at:
529 @uref{https://downloads.sxemacs.org/snapshots/}
533 @node Q1.0.4, Q1.0.5, Q1.0.3, Introduction
534 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.4: Why another version of Emacs?
536 First of all, the situation got a little complicated. With SXEmacs
537 regarded as a featurised, cleaned-up XEmacs, there are only two major
538 Emacs flavours. Disregarding that, we have three. Thus let us compare
539 GNU Emacs to SXEmacs/XEmacs in the first place, and afterwards do the
540 comparison SXEmacs vs. XEmacs.
543 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.4.1 GNU Emacs vs. SXEmacs/XEmacs
545 Here is a list of some of the reasons why we think you might
553 The XEmacs and SXEmacs maintainers, especially the SXEmacs
554 maintainers, are generally more receptive to suggestions than the GNU
558 Many, many more bundled packages than GNU Emacs.
563 @c @c does not apply anymore
565 @c Face support on TTY's.
567 @c @c does not apply anymore
569 @c A built-in toolbar.
571 @c @c does not apply anymore
573 @c Some internationalisation support (including full MULE support, if
574 @c compiled with it).
576 @c @c does not apply anymore
578 @c Variable-width fonts.
580 @c @c does not apply anymore
582 @c Variable-height lines.
585 Marginal annotations.
588 XEmacs can be used as an Xt widget, and can be embedded within another
591 @c @c does not apply anymore
593 @c Horizontal and vertical scrollbars (using real toolkit scrollbars).
596 Better APIs (and performance) for attaching fonts, colors, and other
599 @c @c does not apply anymore
601 @c The ability to embed arbitrary graphics in a buffer.
604 Completely compatible (at the C level) with the Xt-based toolkits.
607 Native support for PostgreSQL databases, LDAP servers and Berkeley DB.
610 Support for GMP numbers (multi-precision integers, quotients and
614 Support for multiple tty connections.
616 @c the FSF guys' implementation is a disease!
623 @unnumberedsubsec Q1.0.4.2 SXEmacs vs. XEmacs
625 SXEmacs' strengths are clearly its feature list and its performance.
626 Also, these were the main reasons to fork. XEmacs maintainers became
627 more and more uninterested in useful additions, reductions and
628 optimisations on the C-level.
632 Foreign Function Interface (FFI).
635 PostgreSQL notify support.
638 Native OpenSSL support.
641 Support for mpfr floats, Gaussian and complex numbers, quaternions and
645 Support for raw strings.
648 Much faster hashing functions.
651 Support for internal URL access via cURL.
654 Support for various image formats: Any format that ImageMagick is able
658 Support for modern sound libraries and sound servers: ESD, Polyp,
662 Support for various media formats (provided by external libraries):
663 Any format that FFmpeg, sndfile, SoX, MAD and gstreamer can handle.
666 Support for the implementation network services through the use of
667 network server stream.
673 @node Q1.0.5, Q1.0.6, Q1.0.4, Introduction
674 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.5: Why haven't XEmacs/SXEmacs and GNU Emacs Merged?
676 There are currently irreconcilable differences in the views about
677 technical, programming, design and organisational matters between RMS
678 and the SXEmacs/XEmacs development team which provide little hope for a
679 merge to take place in the short-term future.
682 @node Q1.0.6, Q1.0.7, Q1.0.5, Introduction
683 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.6: Where can I get help?
685 Probably the easiest way, if everything is installed, is to use Info, by
686 pressing @kbd{C-h i}, or looking for an Info item on the
687 Help Menu. @kbd{M-x apropos} can be used to look for particular commands.
689 For items not found in the manual, try reading this FAQ and reading the
690 Usenet group comp.emacs.xemacs.
692 If you choose to post to a newsgroup, @strong{please use
693 comp.emacs.xemacs}. Please do not post SXEmacs/XEmacs related questions
696 SXEmacs is an official group at the Freenode IRC network (formerly
697 OPN). Join us at @uref{irc://irc.freenode.net/sxemacs}.
699 If you cannot post, nor read Usenet news, nor want to join us at IRC,
700 there is a mailing at @email{sxemacs-devel@@sxemacs.org} for general
701 and developing issues.
704 @node Q1.0.7, Q1.0.8, Q1.0.6, Introduction
705 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.7: Where are the mailing lists archived?
707 The archives can be found at
708 @uref{https://www.sxemacs.org/list-archives/html/sxemacs-devel/}.
710 Subscription can be done via
711 @uref{https://www.sxemacs.org/mailman/listinfo}
714 @node Q1.0.8, Q1.0.9, Q1.0.7, Introduction
715 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.8: How do you pronounce SXEmacs?
717 The most common pronounciation is @samp{sexy macs}.
720 @node Q1.0.9, Q1.0.10, Q1.0.8, Introduction
721 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.9: What does SXEmacs look like?
723 Look at the screenshot section at @uref{https://www.sxemacs.org}.
726 @node Q1.0.10, Q1.0.11, Q1.0.9, Introduction
727 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.10: Is there a port of SXEmacs to Microsoft ('95 or NT)?
729 Of course not! The SXEmacs developers have so much fun stripping all of
730 the erroneous code and workaround-hacks related to Microsoft Windows.
733 @node Q1.0.11, Q1.0.12, Q1.0.10, Introduction
734 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.11: Is there a port of SXEmacs to the Macintosh?
736 Good question. Is there?
739 @node Q1.0.12, Q1.0.13, Q1.0.11, Introduction
740 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.12: Is there a port of SXEmacs to NextStep?
742 @c Carl Edman, apparently no longer at @email{cedman@@princeton.edu}, did
743 @c the port of GNU Emacs to NeXTstep and expressed interest in doing the
744 @c XEmacs port, but never went any farther.
749 @node Q1.0.13, Q1.0.14, Q1.0.12, Introduction
750 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.13: Is there a port of SXEmacs to OS/2?
752 @c No, but Alexander Nikolaev <avn_1251@@mail.ru> is working on it.
754 Aaaaargh. You could have also asked: Is there a port of SXEmacs to my
758 @node Q1.0.14, Q1.1.1, Q1.0.13, Introduction
759 @unnumberedsec Q1.0.14: Where can I obtain a printed copy of the SXEmacs User's Manual?
761 Pre-printed manuals are not available. If you are familiar with
762 TeX, you can generate your own manual from the SXEmacs sources.
764 HTML and Postscript versions of SXEmacs manuals are available from the
765 SXEmacs web site at @uref{https://www.sxemacs.org}.
767 @c HTML are, but they may be a little out of date. --SY
769 @node Q1.1.1, Q1.1.2, Q1.0.14, Introduction
770 @unnumberedsec 1.1: Policies
771 @unnumberedsec Q1.1.1: What is the FAQ editorial policy?
773 The FAQ is actively maintained and modified regularly. All links should
776 If you think you have a better way of answering a question, or think a
777 question should be included, we'd like to hear about it.
778 Please make sure that @samp{SXEmacs FAQ} appears on the Subject: line
779 if you prefer to send us a mail. If you would like to use IRC
780 instead, please make sure that someone actively responds to your
781 request. We usually stay in the channel while we are asleep, but
782 if you join, post the request and leave again, we have no means to
783 get into contact with you again.
785 Questions and answers included into the FAQ will be edited for
786 spelling and grammar and will be attributed.
789 @node Q1.1.2, Q1.1.3, Q1.1.1, Introduction
790 @unnumberedsec Q1.1.2: How do I become a beta tester?
792 We have no formal way. Also there are no presumptions. Just
793 subscribe to the mailing list @email{sxemacs-devel@@sxemacs.org} and
794 say hello or join us at IRC.
796 Be prepared to get your hands dirty, as beta testers are expected to
797 identify problems as best they can.
800 @node Q1.1.3, Q1.2.1, Q1.1.2, Introduction
801 @unnumberedsec Q1.1.3: How do I contribute to SXEmacs itself?
803 Quoting a famous developer:
805 I know the answer exactly.
809 @node Q1.2.1, Q1.2.2, Q1.1.3, Introduction
810 @unnumberedsec 1.2: Credits
811 @unnumberedsec Q1.2.1: Who wrote SXEmacs?
813 SXEmacs is the result of the time and effort of many people. The
814 developers responsible for recent releases can be viewed by
815 @kbd{M-x about-sxemacs} or the @samp{About SXEmacs} item in the Help
819 @c @item @email{martin@@xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz}
821 @c <br><img src="mrb.jpeg" alt="Portrait of Martin Buchholz"><br>
825 @c @item @email{stephen@@xemacs.org, Stephen Turnbull}
828 @c @item @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing}
830 @c <br><img src="wing.gif" alt="Portrait of Ben Wing"><br>
834 @c @item @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic}
837 @c <br><img src="hniksic.jpeg" alt="Portrait of Hrvoje Niksic"><br>
842 @c The developers responsible for older releases were:
845 @c @item @email{steve@@xemacs.org, Steve Baur}
848 @c <br><img src="steve.gif" alt="Portrait of Steve Baur"><br>
851 @c @item @email{cthomp@@xemacs.org, Chuck Thompson}
853 @c <br><img src="cthomp.jpeg" alt="Portrait of Chuck Thompson"><br>
856 @c @item @email{jwz@@jwz.org, Jamie Zawinski}
858 @c <br><img src="jwz.gif" alt="Portrait of Jamie Zawinski"><br>
861 @c @item @email{mly@@adoc.xerox.com, Richard Mlynarik}
863 @c Steve Baur was the primary maintainer for 19.15 through 21.0.
865 @c Chuck Thompson and Ben Wing were the maintainers for 19.11 through 19.14
866 @c and heavy code contributors for 19.8 through 19.10.
868 @c Jamie Zawinski was the maintainer for 19.0 through 19.10 (the entire
869 @c history of Lucid Emacs). Richard Mlynarik was a heavy code contributor
870 @c to 19.6 through 19.8.
874 @c Along with many other contributors, partially enumerated in the
875 @c @samp{About XEmacs} option in the Help menu.
878 @node Q1.2.2, Q1.2.3, Q1.2.1, Introduction
879 @unnumberedsec Q1.2.2: Who contributed to this version of the FAQ?
881 The following people contributed valuable suggestions to building this
882 version of the FAQ (listed in alphabetical order):
885 @item @email{steve@@xemacs.org, SL Baur}
887 @item @email{hroptatyr@@sxemacs.org, Sebastian Freundt}
889 @item @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic}
891 @item @email{Aki.Vehtari@@hut.fi, Aki Vehtari}
896 @node Q1.2.3, Q1.3.1, Q1.2.2, Introduction
897 @unnumberedsec Q1.2.3: Who contributed to the FAQ in the past?
899 This is only a partial list, as many names were lost in a hard disk
903 @item @email{binge@@aloft.att.com, Curtis.N.Bingham}
905 @item @email{bruncott@@dormeur.inria.fr, Georges Brun-Cottan}
907 @item @email{rjc@@cogsci.ed.ac.uk, Richard Caley}
909 @item @email{cognot@@ensg.u-nancy.fr, Richard Cognot}
911 @item @email{daku@@nortel.ca, Mark Daku}
913 @item @email{wgd@@martigny.ai.mit.edu, William G. Dubuque}
915 @item @email{eeide@@cs.utah.edu, Eric Eide}
917 @item @email{af@@biomath.jussieu.fr, Alain Fauconnet}
919 @item @email{cflatter@@nrao.edu, Chris Flatters}
921 @item @email{ginsparg@@adra.com, Evelyn Ginsparg}
923 @item @email{hall@@aplcenmp.apl.jhu.edu, Marty Hall}
925 @item @email{dkindred@@cmu.edu, Darrell Kindred}
927 @item @email{dmoore@@ucsd.edu, David Moore}
929 @item @email{arup+@@cmu.edu, Arup Mukherjee}
931 @item @email{nickel@@prz.tu-berlin.de, Juergen Nickelsen}
933 @item @email{powell@@csl.ncsa.uiuc.edu, Kevin R. Powell}
935 @item @email{dworkin@@ccs.neu.edu, Justin Sheehy}
937 @item @email{stig@@hackvan.com, Stig}
939 @item @email{Aki.Vehtari@@hut.fi, Aki Vehtari}
943 @node Q1.3.1, Q1.3.2, Q1.2.3, Introduction
944 @unnumberedsec 1.3: Internationalisation
945 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.1: What is the status of internationalisation support aka MULE (including Asian language support?
947 Both the stable and development versions of SXEmacs include
948 internationalisation support (aka MULE). MULE currently works on
949 Unix and Linux systems. Binaries compiled without MULE support run
950 faster than MULE capable SXEmacsen.
953 @node Q1.3.2, Q1.3.3, Q1.3.1, Introduction
954 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.2: How can I help with internationalisation?
956 If you would like to help, you can use the usual ways to get into
957 contact with us, that is join the mailing list
958 @email{sxemacs-devel@@sxemacs.org} or join us at
959 @uref{irc://irc.freenode.net/sxemacs}.
961 Especially needed are people who speak/write languages other than
962 English, who are willing to use SXEmacs/MULE regularly, and have some
963 experience with Elisp.
965 Translations of the TUTORIAL and man page are welcome, and SXEmacs
966 does support multilingual menus, but we have few current translations.
971 @node Q1.3.3, Q1.3.4, Q1.3.2, Introduction
972 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.3: How do I type non-ASCII characters?
974 See question 3.5.7 (@pxref{Q3.5.7}) in part 3 of this FAQ for some
975 simple methods that also work in non-MULE builds of SXEmacs (but only for
976 one-octet coded character sets, and mostly for ISO 8859/1). Many of the
977 methods available for Cyrillic (@pxref{Q1.3.7}) work without MULE.
978 MULE has more general capabilities. @xref{Q1.3.5}.
980 @xref{Q3.2.7}, which covers display of non-ASCII characters.
982 @node Q1.3.4, Q1.3.5, Q1.3.3, Introduction
983 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.4: Can SXEmacs messages come out in a different language?
985 The message-catalog support was written but is badly bit-rotted.
986 SXEmacs 22.2 may do so, but it is not of high priority currently.
987 Again, if you are willing to help, contact us.
989 However, menubar localisation @emph{does} work. To enable it, add to
990 your @file{Emacs} file entries like this:
993 Emacs*XlwMenu.resourceLabels: True
994 Emacs*XlwMenu.file.labelString: Fichier
995 Emacs*XlwMenu.openInOtherWindow.labelString: In anderem Fenster oeffnen
998 The name of the resource is derived from the non-localised entry by
999 removing punctuation and capitalizing as above.
1002 @node Q1.3.5, Q1.3.6, Q1.3.4, Introduction
1003 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.5: Please explain the various input methods in MULE/SXEmacs
1005 Mule supports a wide variety of input methods. There are three basic
1006 classes: Lisp implementations, generic platform support, and library
1009 @emph{Lisp implementations} include Quail, which provides table-driven
1010 input methods for almost all the character sets that Mule supports
1011 (including all of the ISO 8859 family, the Indic languages, Thai, and
1012 so on), and SKK, for Japanese. (SKK also supports an interface to an
1013 external "dictionary server" process.) Quail supports both typical
1014 "dead-key" methods (eg, in the "latin-1-prefix" method, @kbd{" a}
1015 produces ä, LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS), and the complex
1016 dictionary-based phonetic methods used for Asian ideographic languages
1019 Lisp implementations can be less powerful (but they are not perceptibly
1020 inefficient), and of course are not portable to non-Emacs applications.
1021 The incompatibility can be very annoying. On the other hand, they
1022 require no special platform support or external libraries, so if you can
1023 display the characters, Mule can input them for you and you can edit,
1026 @emph{Generic platform support} is currently limited to the X Input
1027 Method (XIM) framework, but IIIMF (Sun's Internet-Intranet Input
1028 Method Framework) support is extremely desirable. XIM is enabled at
1029 build time by use of the @samp{--with-xim} flag to @code{configure}.
1030 For use of XIM, see your platform documentation. However, normally
1031 the input method you use is specified via the @samp{LANG} and
1032 @samp{XMODIFIERS} environment variables.
1034 Of course, input skills are portable across most applications. However,
1035 especially in modern GUI systems the habit of using bucky bits has
1036 fallen into sad disuse, and many XIM systems are poorly configured for
1037 use with Emacs. For example, the kinput2 input manager (a separate
1038 process providing an interface between Japanese dictionary servers such
1039 as Canna and Wnn, and the application) tends to gobble up keystrokes
1040 generating Meta characters. This means that to edit while using an XIM
1041 input method, you must toggle the input method off every time you want
1042 to use @kbd{M-f}. Your mileage may vary.
1044 @emph{Library interfaces} are most common for Japanese, although Wnn
1045 supports Chinese (traditional and simplified) and Korean. There are
1046 Chinese and Korean input servers available, but we do not know of any
1047 patches for SXEmacs to use them directly. You can use them via
1048 IM-enabled terminals, by manipulating the terminal coding systems. We
1049 describe only the Japanese-oriented systems here. The advantage of
1050 these systems is that they are very powerful, and on platforms where
1051 they are available there is typically a wide range of applications that
1052 support them. Thus your input skills are portable across applications.
1054 Mule provides built-in interfaces to the following input methods: Wnn4,
1055 Wnn6, Canna, and SJ3. These can be configured at build time. There are
1056 patches available (no URL, sorry) to support the SKK server, as well.
1057 Wnn and SJ3 use the @code{egg} user interface. The interface for Canna
1058 is specialized to Canna.
1060 Wnn supports Japanese, Chinese and Korean. It is made by OMRON and Kyôto
1061 University. It is a powerful and complex system. Wnn4 is free and Wnn6
1062 is not. Wnn uses grammatical hints and probability of word association,
1063 so in principle Wnn can be cleverer than other methods.
1065 Canna, made by NEC, supports only Japanese. It is a simple and powerful
1066 system. Canna uses only grammar, but its grammar and dictionary are
1067 quite sophisticated. So for standard modern Japanese, Canna seems
1068 cleverer than Wnn4. In addition, the UNIX version of Canna is free.
1070 SJ3, by Sony, supports only Japanese.
1072 Egg consists of following parts:
1076 Input character Translation System (ITS) layer.
1077 It translates ASCII inputs to Kana/PinYin/Hangul characters.
1080 Kana/PinYin/Hangul to Kanji transfer layer.
1081 The interface layer to network Kana-Kanji server (Wnn and Sj3).
1084 These input methods are modal. They have a raw (alphabet) mode, a
1085 phonetic input mode, and Kana-Kanji transfer mode. However there are
1086 mode-less input methods for Egg and Canna. @samp{boiled-egg} is a
1087 mode-less input method running on Egg. For Canna, @samp{canna.el} has a
1088 tiny boiled-egg-like command, @code{(canna-boil)}, and there are some
1089 boiled-egg-like utilities.
1091 Much of this information was provided by @email{morioka@@jaist.ac.jp,
1094 @node Q1.3.6, Q1.3.7, Q1.3.5, Introduction
1095 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.6: How do I portably code for MULE/SXEmacs?
1097 MULE has evolved rapidly over the last few years, and the original third
1098 party patch (for GNU Emacs 19), GNU Emacs 20+, and XEmacs 20+ have quite
1099 different implementations. The APIs also vary although recent versions
1100 of XEmacs have tended to converge to the GNU Emacs standard.
1102 MULE implementations are going to continue to evolve. Both GNU Emacs
1103 and XEmacs are working hard on Unicode support, which will involve new
1104 APIs and probably variations on old ones. For XEmacs 22, the old ISO
1105 2022-based system for recognizing encodings will be replaced by a much
1106 more flexible system, which should improve accuracy of automatic coding
1107 detections, but will also involve new APIs.
1109 @email{morioka@@jaist.ac.jp, MORIOKA Tomohiko} writes:
1112 The application implementor must write separate code for these mule
1113 variants. [Please don't hesitate to report these variants to us; they
1114 are not, strictly speaking, bugs, but they give third-party developers
1115 the same kind of creepy-crawly feeling. We'll do what we can. -- Ed.]
1117 MULE and the next version of Emacs are similar but the symbols are very
1118 different---requiring separate code as well.
1120 Namely we must support 3 kinds of mule variants and 4 or 5 or 6 kinds of
1121 emacs variants... (;_;) I'm shocked, so I wrote a wrapper package called
1122 @code{emu} to provide a common interface. [There is an XEmacs package
1123 of APEL which provides much more comprehensive coverage. Be careful,
1124 however; APEL has problems of its own. -- Ed.]
1126 I have the following suggestions about dealing with mule variants:
1130 @code{(featurep 'mule)} @code{t} on all mule variants
1133 @code{(boundp 'MULE)} is @code{t} on only MULE. Maybe the next version
1134 of Emacs will not have this symbol.
1137 MULE has a variable @code{mule-version}. Perhaps the next version of
1138 Emacs will have this variable as well.
1141 Following is a sample to distinguish mule variants:
1144 (if (featurep 'mule)
1145 (cond ((boundp 'MULE)
1146 ;; for original Mule
1148 ((string-match "XEmacs" emacs-version)
1149 ;; for XEmacs with Mule
1152 ;; for next version of Emacs
1154 ;; for old emacs variants
1160 @node Q1.3.7, Q1.3.8, Q1.3.6, Introduction
1161 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.7: How about Cyrillic Modes?
1163 @email{ilya@@math.ohio-state.edu, Ilya Zakharevich} writes:
1166 There is a cyrillic mode in the file @file{mysetup.zip} in
1170 @uref{ftp://ftp.math.ohio-state.edu/pub/users/ilya/emacs/}. This is a
1171 modification to @email{ava@@math.jhu.ed, Valery Alexeev's} @file{russian.el}
1172 which can be obtained from
1175 @uref{http://www.math.uga.edu/~valery/russian.el}.
1177 @email{d.barsky@@ee.surrey.ac.uk, Dima Barsky} writes:
1180 There is another cyrillic mode for both GNU Emacs and XEmacs by
1181 @email{manin@@camelot.mssm.edu, Dmitrii
1186 @uref{http://kulichki-lat.rambler.ru/centrolit/manin/cyr.el}.
1187 @c Link above, <URL:http://camelot.mssm.edu/~manin/cyr.el> was dead.
1188 @c Changed to russian host instead
1191 @email{rebecca.ore@@op.net, Rebecca Ore} writes:
1194 The fullest resource I found on Russian language use (in and out of
1195 SXEmacs) is @uref{http://www.ibiblio.org/sergei/Software/Software.html}
1199 @node Q1.3.8, Q1.3.9, Q1.3.7, Introduction
1200 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.8: Does SXEmacs support Unicode?
1202 Partially, as an external encoding for files, processes, and terminals.
1203 It does not yet support Unicode fonts @ref{Q1.3.9, Does SXEmacs support
1206 To get Unicode support, you need a Mule-enabled SXEmacs. Install
1207 Mule-UCS from packages in the usual way. Put
1210 (require 'un-define)
1211 (set-coding-priority-list '(utf-8))
1212 (set-coding-category-system 'utf-8 'utf-8)
1215 in your init file to enable the UTF-8 coding system. You may wish to
1216 view the documentation of @code{set-coding-priority-list} if you find
1217 that files that are not UTF-8 are being mis-recognised as UTF-8.
1219 Install standard national fonts (not Unicode fonts) for all
1220 character sets you use. See @ref{Q1.3.9}.
1222 Mule-UCS also supports 16-bit forms of Unicode (UTF-16). It does not
1223 support 31-bit forms of Unicode (UTF-32 or UCS-4).
1226 @node Q1.3.9, Q1.4.1, Q1.3.8, Introduction
1227 @unnumberedsec Q1.3.9: How does SXEmacs display Unicode?
1229 Mule doesn't have a Unicode charset internally, so there's nothing to
1230 bind a Unicode registry to. It would not be straightforward to create,
1231 either, because Unicode is not ISO 2022-compatible. You'd have to
1232 translate it to multiple 96x96 pages.
1234 This means that Mule-UCS uses ordinary national fonts for display. This
1235 is not really a problem, except for those languages that use the Unified
1236 Han characters. The problem here is that Mule-UCS maps from Unicode
1237 code points to national character sets in a deterministic way. By
1238 default, this means that Japanese fonts are tried first, then Chinese,
1239 then Korean. To change the priority ordering, use the command
1240 `un-define-change-charset-order'.
1242 It also means you can't use Unicode fonts directly, at least not without
1243 extreme hackery. You can run -nw with (set-terminal-coding-system
1244 'utf-8) if you really want a Unicode font for some reason.
1246 Real Unicode support will be introduced in SXEmacs 22.2.
1250 @node Q1.4.1, Q1.4.2, Q1.3.9, Introduction
1251 @unnumberedsec 1.4: Getting Started, Backing up & Recovery
1252 @unnumberedsec Q1.4.1: What is an @file{init.el} or @file{.emacs} and is there a sample one?
1254 The @file{init.el} file is used to customise SXEmacs to your tastes.
1255 The preferred location for the init file is
1256 @file{$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sxemacs/init.el} (@pxref{Init File,,,lispref,SXEmacs
1257 Lisp Reference Manual}).
1259 No two init files are alike, nor are they expected to be alike, but
1260 that's the point. The SXEmacs distribution contains an excellent
1261 starter example in the @file{etc/} directory called
1262 @file{sample.init.el}. Copy this file from there to
1263 @file{$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sxemacs/init.el}, then edit it to suit.
1265 You may bring the @file{sample.init.el} file into a SXEmacs buffer
1266 from the menubar. The menu entry is always under the @samp{Samples}
1267 submenu in the @samp{Help} menu. To determine the location of the
1268 @file{etc/} directory type the command @kbd{C-h v data-directory
1272 @node Q1.4.2, Q1.4.3, Q1.4.1, Introduction
1273 @unnumberedsec Q1.4.2: Can I use the same @file{init.el}/@file{.emacs} with XEmacs or GNU Emacs?
1275 Yes. The sample @file{init.el} included in the SXEmacs
1276 distribution will show you how to handle different versions and flavours
1280 @node Q1.4.3, Q1.4.4, Q1.4.2, Introduction
1281 @unnumberedsec Q1.4.3: Any good tutorials around?
1283 There's the SXEmacs tutorial available from the Help Menu under
1284 @samp{Basics->Tutorials}, or by typing @kbd{C-h t}. To check whether
1285 it's available in a non-english language, type @kbd{C-u C-h t TAB}, type
1286 the first letters of your preferred language, then type @key{RET}.
1289 @node Q1.4.4, Q1.4.5, Q1.4.3, Introduction
1290 @unnumberedsec Q1.4.4: May I see an example of a useful SXEmacs Lisp function?
1292 The following function does a little bit of everything useful. It does
1293 something with the prefix argument, it examines the text around the
1294 cursor, and it's interactive so it may be bound to a key. It inserts
1295 copies of the current word the cursor is sitting on at the cursor. If
1296 you give it a prefix argument: @kbd{C-u 3 M-x double-word} then it will
1300 (defun double-word (count)
1301 "Insert a copy of the current word underneath the cursor"
1303 (let (here there string)
1308 (setq there (point))
1309 (setq string (buffer-substring here there)))
1315 The best way to see what is going on here is to let SXEmacs tell you.
1316 Put the code into an SXEmacs buffer, and do a @kbd{C-h f} with the cursor
1317 sitting just to the right of the function you want explained. Eg. move
1318 the cursor to the SPACE between @code{interactive} and @samp{"*p"} and
1319 hit @kbd{C-h f} to see what the function @code{interactive} does. Doing
1320 this will tell you that the @code{*} requires a writable buffer, and
1321 @code{p} converts the prefix argument to a number, and
1322 @code{interactive} allows you to execute the command with @kbd{M-x}.
1325 @node Q1.4.5, Q1.4.6, Q1.4.4, Introduction
1326 @unnumberedsec Q1.4.5: And how do I bind it to a key?
1328 To bind to a key do:
1331 (global-set-key "\C-cd" 'double-word)
1334 Or interactively, @kbd{M-x global-set-key} and follow the prompts.
1337 @node Q1.4.6, , Q1.4.5, Introduction
1338 @unnumberedsec Q1.4.6: What's the difference between a macro and a function?
1340 Quoting from the Lisp Reference (a.k.a @dfn{Lispref}) Manual:
1342 @dfn{Macros} enable you to define new control constructs and other
1343 language features. A macro is defined much like a function, but instead
1344 of telling how to compute a value, it tells how to compute another Lisp
1345 expression which will in turn compute the value. We call this
1346 expression the @dfn{expansion} of the macro.
1348 Macros can do this because they operate on the unevaluated expressions
1349 for the arguments, not on the argument values as functions do. They can
1350 therefore construct an expansion containing these argument expressions
1353 Do not confuse the two terms with @dfn{keyboard macros}, which are
1354 another matter, entirely. A keyboard macro is a key bound to several
1355 other keys. Refer to manual for details.
1359 @node Installation, Customisation, Introduction, Top
1360 @unnumbered 2 Installation and Trouble Shooting
1362 This is part 2 of the SXEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
1363 section is devoted to Installation, Maintenance and Trouble Shooting.
1367 * Q2.0.1:: Running SXEmacs without installing.
1368 * Q2.0.2:: SXEmacs is too big.
1369 * Q2.0.3:: Compiling SXEmacs with Netaudio. @c what?!
1370 * Q2.0.4:: Problems with Linux and ncurses.
1371 * Q2.0.5:: Do I need X11 to run SXEmacs?
1372 * Q2.0.6:: I'm having strange crashes. What do I do?
1373 * Q2.0.7:: Libraries in non-standard locations.
1374 * Q2.0.8:: can't resolve symbol _h_errno
1375 * Q2.0.9:: Where do I find external libraries?
1376 * Q2.0.10:: After I run configure I find a coredump, is something wrong?
1377 * Q2.0.11:: SXEmacs can't resolve host names.
1378 * Q2.0.12:: Why can't I strip SXEmacs?
1379 * Q2.0.13:: I don't need no steenkin' packages. Do I?
1380 * Q2.0.14:: How do I figure out which packages to install?
1381 * Q2.0.15:: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood" (NEW)
1384 * Q2.1.1:: SXEmacs just crashed on me!
1385 * Q2.1.2:: Cryptic Minibuffer messages.
1386 * Q2.1.3:: Translation Table Syntax messages at Startup.
1387 * Q2.1.4:: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
1388 * Q2.1.5:: SXEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal.
1389 * Q2.1.6:: SXEmacs just locked up my Linux X server.
1390 * Q2.1.7:: HP Alt key as Meta.
1391 * Q2.1.8:: got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)!
1392 * Q2.1.9:: SXEmacs causes my OpenWindows 3.0 server to crash.
1393 * Q2.1.10:: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
1394 * Q2.1.11:: Can't instantiate image error... in toolbar
1395 * Q2.1.12:: Regular Expression Problems on DEC OSF1.
1396 * Q2.1.13:: HP/UX 10.10 and @code{create_process} failure
1397 * Q2.1.14:: @kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
1398 * Q2.1.15:: How to debug a SXEmacs problem with a debugger.
1399 * Q2.1.16:: SXEmacs crashes in @code{strcat} on HP/UX 10.
1400 * Q2.1.17:: @samp{Marker does not point anywhere}.
1401 * Q2.1.18:: SXEmacs is outputting lots of X errors.
1402 * Q2.1.19:: SXEmacs does not follow the local timezone.
1403 * Q2.1.20:: @samp{Symbol's function definition is void: hkey-help-show.}
1404 * Q2.1.21:: [This question intentionally left blank]
1405 * Q2.1.22:: SXEmacs seems to take a really long time to do some things.
1406 * Q2.1.23:: Movemail on Linux does not work for SXEmacs.
1407 * Q2.1.24:: SXEmacs won't start without network.
1408 * Q2.1.25:: After upgrading, SXEmacs won't do `foo' any more!
1412 @node Q2.0.1, Q2.0.2, Installation, Installation
1413 @unnumberedsec 2.0: Installation
1414 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.1: Running SXEmacs without installing
1416 How can I just try SXEmacs without installing it?
1418 SXEmacs will run in place without requiring installation and copying of
1419 the Lisp directories, and without having to specify a special build-time
1420 flag. It's the copying of the Lisp directories that requires so much
1421 space. SXEmacs is largely written in Lisp.
1424 @node Q2.0.2, Q2.0.3, Q2.0.1, Installation
1425 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.2: SXEmacs is too big
1427 The space required by the installation directories can be
1428 reduced dramatically if desired. Gzip all the .el files. Remove all
1429 the packages you'll never want to use. Remove the TexInfo manuals.
1430 Remove the Info (and use just hardcopy versions of the manual). Remove
1431 most of the stuff in etc. Remove or gzip all the source code. Gzip or
1432 remove the C source code. Configure it so that copies are not made of
1435 These are all Emacs Lisp source code and bytecompiled object code.
1436 You may safely gzip everything named *.el here. You may remove any
1437 package you don't use. @emph{Nothing bad will happen if you delete a
1438 package that you do not use}. You must be sure you do not use it
1439 though, so be conservative at first.
1441 Any package with the possible exceptions of xemacs-base, and EFS are
1442 candidates for removal. Ask yourself, @emph{Do I ever want to use this
1443 package?} If the answer is no, then it is a candidate for removal.
1445 First, gzip all the .el files. Then go about package by package and
1446 start gzipping the .elc files. Then run SXEmacs and do whatever it is
1447 you normally do. If nothing bad happens, then remove the package.
1448 You can remove a package via the PUI interface (@kbd{M-x
1449 pui-list-packages}, then press @kbd{d} to mark the packages you wish
1450 to delete, and then @kbd{x} to delete them.
1452 Another method is to do @kbd{M-x package-get-delete-package}.
1454 @node Q2.0.3, Q2.0.4, Q2.0.2, Installation
1455 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.3: Compiling SXEmacs with Netaudio.
1457 What is the best way to compile SXEmacs with the netaudio system,
1458 since I have got the netaudio system compiled but installed at a weird
1459 place, I am not root. Also in the READMEs it does not say anything
1460 about compiling with the audioserver?
1462 You should only need to add some stuff to the configure command line.
1463 @c To tell it to compile in netaudio support: @samp{--with-sound=both}, or
1464 @c @samp{--with-sound=nas} if you don't want native sound support for some
1465 @c reason.) To tell it where to find the netaudio includes and libraries:
1468 --site-libraries=WHATEVER
1469 --site-includes=WHATEVER
1472 Then (fingers crossed) it should compile and it will use netaudio if
1473 you have a server running corresponding to the X server. The netaudio
1474 server has to be there when SXEmacs starts. If the netaudio server
1475 goes away and another is run, SXEmacs should cope (fingers crossed,
1476 error handling in netaudio isn't perfect).
1478 BTW, netaudio has been renamed as it has a name clash with something
1479 else, so if you see references to NAS or Network Audio System, it's the
1480 same thing. It also might be found at
1481 @uref{ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/audio/nas/}.
1484 @node Q2.0.4, Q2.0.5, Q2.0.3, Installation
1485 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.4: Problems with Linux and ncurses.
1487 @c On Linux 1.3.98 with termcap 2.0.8 and the ncurses that came with libc
1488 @c 5.2.18, XEmacs 20.0b20 is unable to open a tty device:
1492 @c src/xemacs -nw -q
1493 @c Initialisation error:
1497 @c Terminal type `xterm' undefined (or can't access database?)
1500 @c @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes:
1503 @c Your ncurses configuration is messed up. Your /usr/lib/terminfo is a
1504 @c bad pointer, perhaps to a CD-ROM that is not inserted.
1510 @node Q2.0.5, Q2.0.6, Q2.0.4, Installation
1511 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.5: Do I need X11 to run SXEmacs?
1516 @node Q2.0.6, Q2.0.7, Q2.0.5, Installation
1517 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.6: I'm having strange crashes. What do I do?
1519 There have been a variety of reports of crashes due to compilers with
1520 buggy optimisers. Please see the @file{PROBLEMS} file that comes with
1521 SXEmacs to read what it says about your platform.
1524 @node Q2.0.7, Q2.0.8, Q2.0.6, Installation
1525 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.7: Libraries in non-standard locations
1527 I have x-faces, jpeg, xpm etc. all in different places. I've tried
1528 space-separated, comma-separated, several --site-libraries, all to no
1532 --with-site-prefixes=/path/to/site1::/path/to/site2::/path/to/site3
1536 @node Q2.0.8, Q2.0.9, Q2.0.7, Installation
1537 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.8: can't resolve symbol _h_errno
1539 Does not apply anymore.
1542 @node Q2.0.9, Q2.0.10, Q2.0.8, Installation
1543 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.9: Where do I find external libraries?
1545 Oh well ... we support far too many external libraries to list them
1546 here. Have a glance at INSTALL to check if there are special
1547 instructions for some of the libraries you intend to use.
1550 @node Q2.0.10, Q2.0.11, Q2.0.9, Installation
1551 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.10: After I run configure I find a core dump, is something wrong?
1553 @c @c WHOOOOOOOAT?!?!
1554 @c Not necessarily. If you have GNU sed 3.0 you should downgrade it to
1555 @c 2.05. From the @file{README} at prep.ai.mit.edu:
1558 @c sed 3.0 has been withdrawn from distribution. It has major revisions,
1559 @c which mostly seem to be improvements; but it turns out to have bugs too
1560 @c which cause trouble in some common cases.
1562 @c Tom Lord won't be able to work fixing the bugs until May. So in the
1563 @c mean time, we've decided to withdraw sed 3.0 from distribution and make
1564 @c version 2.05 once again the recommended version.
1567 @c It has also been observed that the vfork test on Solaris will leave a
1570 Send a build report.
1573 @node Q2.0.11, Q2.0.12, Q2.0.10, Installation
1574 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.11: SXEmacs doesn't resolve hostnames.
1576 This is the result of a long-standing problem with SunOS and the fact
1577 that stock SunOS systems do not ship with DNS resolver code in libc.
1579 @email{ckd@@loiosh.kei.com, Christopher Davis} writes:
1582 That's correct [The SunOS 4.1.3 precompiled binaries don't do name
1583 lookup]. Since Sun figured that everyone used NIS to do name lookups
1584 (that DNS thing was apparently only a passing fad, right?), the stock
1585 SunOS 4.x systems don't have DNS-based name lookups in libc.
1587 This is also why Netscape ships two binaries for SunOS 4.1.x.
1589 The best solution is to compile it yourself; the configure script will
1590 check to see if you've put DNS in the shared libc and will then proceed
1591 to link against the DNS resolver library code.
1595 @node Q2.0.12, Q2.0.13, Q2.0.11, Installation
1596 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.12: Why can't I strip SXEmacs?
1598 @email{cognot@@fronsac.ensg.u-nancy.fr, Richard Cognot} writes:
1601 Because of the way SXEmacs (and every other Emacsen, AFAIK) is
1602 built. The link gives you a bare-boned emacs (called temacs). temacs
1603 is then run, preloading some of the lisp files. The result is then
1604 dumped into a new executable, named xemacs, which will contain all of
1605 the preloaded lisp functions and data.
1607 Now, during the dump itself, the executable (code+data+symbols) is
1608 written on disk using a special unexec() function. This function is
1609 obviously heavily system dependent. And on some systems, it leads to an
1610 executable which, although valid, cannot be stripped without damage. If
1611 memory serves, this is especially the case for AIX binaries. On other
1612 architectures it might work OK.
1614 The Right Way to strip the emacs binary is to strip temacs prior to
1615 dumping xemacs. This will always work, although you can do that only if
1616 you install from sources (as temacs is @file{not} part of the binary
1620 @email{nat@@nataa.fr.eu.org, Nat Makarevitch} writes:
1627 [ ./configure; make ]
1639 cp src/sxemacs /usr/local/bin/sxemacs
1645 @node Q2.0.13, Q2.0.14, Q2.0.12, Installation
1646 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.13: I don't need no steenkin' packages. Do I?
1648 Strictly speaking, no. SXEmacs will build and install just fine
1649 without any packages installed. However, only the most basic editing
1650 functions will be available with no packages installed, so installing
1651 packages is an essential part of making your installed SXEmacs
1655 @node Q2.0.14, Q2.0.15, Q2.0.13, Installation
1656 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.14: How do I figure out which packages to install?
1658 Many people really liked the old way that packages were bundled and do
1659 not want to mess with packages at all. You can grab all the packages at
1660 once like you used to with old SXEmacs versions. Download the file
1662 @file{xemacs-sumo.tar.gz}
1664 For a SXEmacs compiled with Mule you also need
1666 @file{xemacs-mule-sumo.tar.gz}
1668 from the @file{packages} directory on your XEmacs mirror archive.
1669 N.B. They are called 'Sumo Tarballs' for good reason. They are
1670 currently about 15MB and 2.3MB (gzipped) respectively.
1671 @c mwhahahahaha, that'd load within a second here I think :P
1675 @code{cd $prefix/lib/sxemacs ; gunzip -c <tarballname> | tar xf -}
1677 See README.packages for more detailed installation instructions.
1679 As the Sumo tarballs are not regenerated as often as the individual
1680 packages, it is recommended that you use the automatic package tools
1681 afterwards to pick up any recent updates.
1684 @node Q2.0.15, Q2.1.1, Q2.0.14, Installation
1685 @unnumberedsec Q2.0.15: EFS fails with "500 AUTH not understood"
1687 A typical error: FTP Error: USER request failed; 500 AUTH not understood.
1689 Thanks to giacomo boffi @email{giacomo.boffi@@polimi.it} who recommends
1690 on comp.emacs.xemacs:
1692 tell your ftp client to not attempt AUTH authentication (or do not
1693 use FTP servers that don't understand AUTH)
1695 and notes that you need to add an element (often "-u") to
1696 @code{efs-ftp-program-args}. Use @kbd{M-x customize-variable}, and
1697 verify the needed flag with @code{man ftp} or other local
1701 @node Q2.1.1, Q2.1.2, Q2.0.15, Installation
1702 @unnumberedsec 2.1: Trouble Shooting
1703 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.1: Help! SXEmacs just crashed on me!
1705 First of all, don't panic. Whenever SXEmacs crashes, it tries
1706 extremely hard to auto-save all of your files before dying. The main
1707 time that this will not happen is if the machine physically lost power
1708 or if you killed the SXEmacs process using @code{kill -9}. The next
1709 time you try to edit those files, you will be informed that a more
1710 recent auto-save file exists. You can use @kbd{M-x recover-file} to
1711 retrieve the auto-saved version of the file.
1713 You can use the command @kbd{M-x recover-session} after a crash to pick
1714 up where you left off.
1716 Now, SXEmacs is not perfect, and there may occasionally be times, or
1717 particular sequences of actions, that cause it to crash. If you can
1718 come up with a reproducible way of doing this (or even if you have a
1719 pretty good memory of exactly what you were doing at the time), the
1720 maintainers would be very interested in knowing about it. The best
1721 way to report a bug is using @kbd{M-x report-sxemacs-bug} (or by
1722 selecting @samp{Send Bug Report...} from the Help menu). If that
1723 won't work (e.g. you can't get SXEmacs working at all), send ordinary
1724 mail to @email{sxemacs-devel@@sxemacs.org}. @emph{MAKE SURE} to
1725 include the output from the crash, especially including the Lisp
1726 backtrace, as well as the SXEmacs configuration from @kbd{M-x
1727 describe-installation} (or equivalently, the file @file{Installation}
1728 in the top of the build tree).
1730 If at all possible, include a C stack backtrace of the core dump that
1731 was produced. This shows where exactly things went wrong, and makes it
1732 much easier to diagnose problems. To do this under Unix, you need to
1733 locate the core file (it's called @file{core}, and is usually sitting in
1734 the directory that you started SXEmacs from, or your home directory if
1735 that other directory was not writable). Then, go to that directory and
1736 execute a command like:
1739 gdb `which sxemacs` core
1742 and then issue the command @samp{where} to get the stack backtrace. You
1743 might have to use @code{dbx} or some similar debugger in place of
1744 @code{gdb}. If you don't have any such debugger available, complain to
1745 your system administrator.
1747 It's possible that a core file didn't get produced, in which case you're
1748 out of luck. Go complain to your system administrator and tell him not
1749 to disable core files by default. Also see @ref{Q2.1.15}, for tips and
1750 techniques for dealing with a debugger.
1752 When making a problem report make sure that:
1756 Report @strong{all} of the information output by SXEmacs during the
1760 You mention what OS & Hardware you are running SXEmacs on.
1763 What version of SXEmacs you are running. Equivalently, if you are
1764 using your own tla-branch of SXEmacs either tell where it is
1765 available or include to which degree your version resembles the
1769 What build options you are using.
1772 What are the versions of your libc and external libraries you use.
1775 If the problem is related to graphics and you are running Unix, we will
1776 also need to know what version of the X Window System you are running,
1777 and what window manager you are using.
1780 If the problem happened on a TTY, please include the terminal type.
1783 Much of the information above is automatically generated by @kbd{M-x
1784 report-sxemacs-bug}. Even more, and often useful, information can be
1785 generated by redirecting the output of @code{make} and @code{make check}
1786 to a file (@file{,,make-all.out} and @file{,,make-check.out} are the
1787 default used by @code{build-report}), and executing @kbd{M-x
1791 @node Q2.1.2, Q2.1.3, Q2.1.1, Installation
1792 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.2: Cryptic Minibuffer messages.
1794 When I try to use some particular option of some particular package, I
1795 get a cryptic error in the minibuffer.
1797 If you can't figure out what's going on, select Options/General
1798 Options/Debug on Error from the Menubar and then try and make the error
1799 happen again. This will give you a backtrace that may be enlightening.
1800 If not, try reading through this FAQ; if that fails, you could try
1801 posting to comp.emacs.xemacs (making sure to include the backtrace) and
1802 someone may be able to help. If you can identify which Emacs lisp
1803 source file the error is coming from you can get a more detailed stack
1804 backtrace by doing the following:
1808 Visit the .el file in a SXEmacs buffer.
1811 Issue the command @kbd{M-x eval-current-buffer}.
1814 Reproduce the error.
1817 Depending on the version of SXEmacs, you may either select View->Show
1818 Message Log (recent versions)from the menubar to see the most recent
1819 messages. This command is bound to @kbd{C-h l} by default.
1822 @node Q2.1.3, Q2.1.4, Q2.1.2, Installation
1823 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.3: Translation Table Syntax messages at Startup
1825 I get tons of translation table syntax error messages during startup.
1826 How do I get rid of them?
1828 There are two causes of this problem. The first usually only strikes
1829 people using the prebuilt binaries. The culprit in both cases is the
1830 file @file{XKeysymDB}.
1834 The binary cannot find the @file{XKeysymDB} file. The location is
1835 hardcoded at compile time so if the system the binary was built on
1836 another machin and puts it a different place than your system does,
1837 you have problems. To fix, set the environment variable
1838 @code{XKEYSYMDB} to the location of the @file{XKeysymDB} file on your
1839 system or to the location of the one included with SXEmacs which
1844 @file{<sxemacs_prefix>/lib/sxemacs-22.1.<x>/etc/XKeysymDB}.
1847 The binary is finding the XKeysymDB but it is out-of-date on your
1848 system and does not contain the necessary lines. Either ask your
1849 system administrator to replace it with the one which comes with
1850 SXEmacs (which is the stock R6 version and is backwards compatible) or
1851 set your @code{XKEYSYMDB} variable to the location of SXEmacs's
1856 @node Q2.1.4, Q2.1.5, Q2.1.3, Installation
1857 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.4: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
1859 How can I avoid the startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
1861 This is highly dependent on your installation, but try with the
1862 following font as your base font for SXEmacs and see what it does:
1865 -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
1868 More precisely, do the following in your resource file:
1871 Emacs.default.attributeFont: \
1872 -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
1875 If you just don't want to see the @samp{*Warnings*} buffer at startup
1876 time, you can set this:
1879 (setq display-warning-minimum-level 'error)
1882 The buffer still exists; it just isn't in your face.
1885 @node Q2.1.5, Q2.1.6, Q2.1.4, Installation
1886 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.5: SXEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal!
1888 Help! I can not get SXEmacs to display on my Envizex X-terminal!
1890 Try setting the @code{DISPLAY} variable using the numeric IP address of
1891 the host you are running SXEmacs from.
1894 @node Q2.1.6, Q2.1.7, Q2.1.5, Installation
1895 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.6: SXEmacs just locked up my Linux X server!
1897 There have been several reports of the X server locking up under
1898 Linux. In all reported cases removing speedo and scaled fonts from
1899 the font path corrected the problem. This can be done with the
1900 command @code{xset}.
1902 It is possible that using a font server may also solve the problem.
1905 @node Q2.1.7, Q2.1.8, Q2.1.6, Installation
1906 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.7: HP Alt key as Meta.
1908 How can I make SXEmacs recognize the Alt key of my HP workstation as a
1911 Put the following line into a file and load it with xmodmap(1) before
1915 remove Mod1 = Mode_switch
1919 @node Q2.1.8, Q2.1.9, Q2.1.7, Installation
1920 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.8: got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)
1922 @email{nataliek@@rd.scitec.com.au, Natalie Kershaw} writes:
1925 I am trying to run xemacs 19.13 under X11R4. Whenever I move the mouse I
1926 get the following error. Has anyone seen anything like this? This
1927 doesn't occur on X11R5.
1931 (error "got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)
1932 and I don't know why!")
1936 @email{map01kd@@gold.ac.uk, dinos} writes:
1939 I think this is due to undefined resources; You need to define color
1940 backgrounds and foregrounds into your @file{.../app-defaults/Emacs}
1944 *Foreground: Black ;everything will be of black on grey95,
1945 *Background: Grey95 ;unless otherwise specified.
1946 *cursorColor: Red3 ;red3 cursor with grey95 border.
1947 *pointerColor: Red3 ;red3 pointer with grey95 border.
1951 Natalie Kershaw adds:
1954 What fixed the problem was adding some more colors to the X color
1955 database (copying the X11R5 colors over), and also defining the
1956 following resources:
1959 xemacs*cursorColor: black
1960 xemacs*pointerColor: black
1963 With the new colors installed the problem still occurs if the above
1964 resources are not defined.
1966 If the new colors are not present then an additional error occurs on
1967 SXEmacs startup, which says @samp{Color Red3} not defined.
1971 @node Q2.1.9, Q2.1.10, Q2.1.8, Installation
1972 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.9: SXEmacs causes my OpenWindows 3.0 server to crash.
1974 The OpenWindows 3.0 server is incredibly buggy. Your best bet is to
1975 replace it with one from the generic MIT X11 release. You might also
1976 try disabling parts of your @file{init.el}, like those that enable
1980 @node Q2.1.10, Q2.1.11, Q2.1.9, Installation
1981 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.10: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
1983 The following information comes from the @file{PROBLEMS} file that comes
1986 If you're having troubles with HP/UX it is because HP/UX defines the
1987 modifiers wrong in X. Here is a shell script to fix the problem; be
1988 sure that it is run after VUE configures the X server.
1992 xmodmap 2> /dev/null - << EOF
1993 keysym Alt_L = Meta_L
1994 keysym Alt_R = Meta_R
1999 keysym Mode_switch = NoSymbol
2001 keysym Meta_R = Mode_switch
2002 add mod2 = Mode_switch
2007 @node Q2.1.11, Q2.1.12, Q2.1.10, Installation
2008 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.11: @samp{Can't instantiate image error...} in toolbar
2011 @email{expt@@alanine.ram.org, Dr. Ram Samudrala} writes:
2013 I just installed the XEmacs (20.4-2) RPMS that I downloaded from
2014 @uref{http://www.xemacs.org/}. Everything works fine, except that when
2015 I place my mouse over the toolbar, it beeps and gives me this message:
2018 Can't instantiate image (probably cached):
2019 [xbm :mask-file "/usr/include/X11/bitmaps/leftptrmsk :mask-data
2020 (16 16 <strange control characters> ...
2023 @email{kyle_jones@@wonderworks.com, Kyle Jones} writes:
2025 This is problem specific to some Chips and Technologies video
2026 chips, when running XFree86. Putting
2028 @code{Option "sw_cursor"}
2030 in @file{XF86Config} gets rid of the problem.
2034 @node Q2.1.12, Q2.1.13, Q2.1.11, Installation
2035 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.12: Problems with Regular Expressions on DEC OSF1.
2037 @c I have xemacs 19.13 running on an alpha running OSF1 V3.2 148 and ispell
2038 @c would not run because it claimed the version number was incorrect
2039 @c although it was indeed OK. I traced the problem to the regular
2040 @c expression handler.
2042 @c @email{douglask@@dstc.edu.au, Douglas Kosovic} writes:
2045 @c Actually it's a DEC cc optimisation bug that screws up the regexp
2046 @c handling in XEmacs.
2048 @c Rebuilding using the @samp{-migrate} switch for DEC cc (which uses a
2049 @c different sort of optimisation) works fine.
2052 @c See @file{xemacs-19_13-dunix-3_2c.patch} at the following URL on how to
2053 @c build with the @samp{-migrate} flag:
2056 @c @uref{http://www-digital.cern.ch/carney/emacs/emacs.html}
2057 @c @c Link above, <URL:http://www-digital.cern.ch/carney/emacs/emacs.html> is
2058 @c @c dead. And the directory `carney' is empty.
2064 @c NOTE: There have been a variety of other problems reported that are
2065 @c fixed in this fashion.
2067 Does not apply anymore.
2070 @node Q2.1.13, Q2.1.14, Q2.1.12, Installation
2071 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.13: HP/UX 10.10 and @code{create_process} failure.
2073 @c @email{Dave.Carrigan@@ipl.ca, Dave Carrigan} writes:
2076 @c With XEmacs 19.13 and HP/UX 10.10, anything that relies on the
2077 @c @code{create_process} function fails. This breaks a lot of things
2078 @c (shell-mode, compile, ange-ftp, to name a few).
2081 @c @email{johnson@@dtc.hp.com, Phil Johnson} writes:
2084 @c This is a problem specific to HP-UX 10.10. It only occurs when XEmacs
2085 @c is compiled for shared libraries (the default), so you can work around
2086 @c it by compiling a statically-linked binary (run configure with
2087 @c @samp{--dynamic=no}).
2089 @c I'm not sure whether the problem is with a particular shared library or
2090 @c if it's a kernel problem which crept into 10.10.
2093 @c @email{cognot@@ensg.u-nancy.fr, Richard Cognot} writes:
2096 @c I had a few problems with 10.10. Apparently, some of them were solved by
2097 @c forcing a static link of libc (manually).
2100 Does not apply anymore.
2103 @node Q2.1.14, Q2.1.15, Q2.1.13, Installation
2104 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.14: @kbd{C-g} doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
2106 @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes:
2109 @kbd{C-g} does work for most people in most circumstances. If it
2110 doesn't, there are only two explanations:
2114 The code is wrapped with a binding of @code{inhibit-quit} to
2115 @code{t}. @kbd{Ctrl-Shift-G} should still work, I think.
2118 SIGIO is broken on your system, but BROKEN_SIGIO isn't defined.
2121 To test #2, try executing @code{(while t)} from the @samp{*scratch*}
2122 buffer. If @kbd{C-g} doesn't interrupt, then you're seeing #2.
2125 @email{terra@@diku.dk, Morten Welinder} writes:
2128 On some (but @emph{not} all) machines a hung SXEmacsen can be revived
2129 by @code{kill -FPE <pid>}. This is a hack, of course, not a solution.
2130 This technique works on a Sun4 running 4.1.3_U1. To see if it works
2131 for you, start another SXEmacs and test with that first. If you get a
2132 core dump the method doesn't work and if you get @samp{Arithmetic
2133 error} then it does.
2137 @node Q2.1.15, Q2.1.16, Q2.1.14, Installation
2138 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.15: How to debug a SXEmacs problem with a debugger
2140 If SXEmacs does crash on you, one of the most productive things you
2141 can do to help get the bug fixed is to poke around a bit with the
2142 debugger. Here are some hints:
2146 First of all, if the crash is at all reproducible, consider very
2147 strongly recompiling your SXEmacs with debugging symbols and with no
2148 optimisation (e.g. with GCC use the compiler flags @samp{-g -O0} --
2149 that's an "oh" followed by a zero), and with the configure options
2150 @samp{--debug=yes} and @samp{--error-checking=all}. This will make
2151 your SXEmacs run somewhat slower, but you are a lot more likely to
2152 catch the problem earlier (closer to its source). It makes it a lot
2153 easier to determine what's going on with a debugger.
2156 If it's not a true crash (@emph{i.e.}, SXEmacs is hung, or a zombie
2157 process), or it's inconvenient to run SXEmacs again because SXEmacs is
2158 already running or is running in batch mode as part of a bunch of
2159 scripts, you may be able to attach to the existing process with your
2160 debugger. Most debuggers let you do this by substituting the process ID
2161 for the core file when you invoke the debugger from the command line, or
2162 by using the @code{attach} command or something similar.
2165 If you're able to run SXEmacs under a debugger and reproduce the crash,
2166 here are some things you can do:
2169 If SXEmacs is hitting an assertion failure, put a breakpoint on
2170 @code{assert_failed()}.
2173 If SXEmacs is hitting some weird Lisp error that's causing it to crash
2174 (e.g. during startup), put a breakpoint on @code{signal_1()}---this is
2175 declared static in eval.c.
2178 If SXEmacs is outputting lots of X errors, put a breakpoint on
2179 @code{x_error_handler()}; that will tell you which call is causing them.
2182 Internally, you will probably see lots of variables that hold objects of
2183 type @code{Lisp_Object}. These are references to Lisp objects.
2184 Printing them out with the debugger probably won't be too
2185 useful---you'll likely just see a number. To decode them, do this:
2191 where @var{OBJECT} is whatever you want to decode (it can be a variable,
2192 a function call, etc.). This uses the Lisp printing routines to out a
2193 readable representation on the TTY from which the sxemacs process was
2197 If you want to get a Lisp backtrace showing the Lisp call
2205 Using @code{dp} and @code{db} has two disadvantages - they can only be
2206 used with a running (including hung or zombie) sxemacs process, and they
2207 do not display the internal C structure of a Lisp Object. Even if all
2208 you've got is a core dump, all is not lost.
2210 If you're using GDB, there are some macros in the file
2211 @file{src/.gdbinit} in the SXEmacs source distribution that should
2212 make it easier for you to decode Lisp objects. This file is
2213 automatically read by gdb if gdb is run in the directory where sxemacs
2214 was built, and contains these useful macros to inspect the state of
2219 Usage: pobj lisp_object @*
2220 Print the internal C representation of a lisp object.
2223 Usage: xtype lisp_object @*
2224 Print the Lisp type of a lisp object.
2228 Print the current Lisp stack trace.
2229 Requires a running sxemacs process. (It works by calling the db
2230 routine described above.)
2233 Usage: ldp lisp_object @*
2234 Print a Lisp Object value using the Lisp printer.
2235 Requires a running sxemacs process. (It works by calling the dp
2236 routine described above.)
2239 Usage: run-temacs @*
2240 Run temacs interactively, like sxemacs.
2241 Use this with debugging tools (like purify) that cannot deal with
2242 dumping, or when temacs builds successfully, but sxemacs does not.
2245 Usage: dump-temacs @*
2246 Run the dumping part of the build procedure.
2247 Use when debugging temacs, not sxemacs!
2248 Use this when temacs builds successfully, but sxemacs does not.
2251 Usage: check-sxemacs @*
2252 Run the test suite. Equivalent to 'make check'.
2255 Usage: check-temacs @*
2256 Run the test suite on temacs. Equivalent to 'make check-temacs'.
2257 Use this with debugging tools (like purify) that cannot deal with dumping,
2258 or when temacs builds successfully, but sxemacs does not.
2261 If you are using Sun's @file{dbx} debugger, there is an equivalent file
2262 @file{src/.dbxrc}, which defines the same commands for dbx.
2265 If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're seeing
2266 stack traces with some of the innermost frames mangled, it may be due to
2267 dynamic linking. (This happens especially under Linux.) Consider
2268 reconfiguring with @samp{--dynamic=no}. Also, sometimes (again under
2269 Linux), stack backtraces of core dumps will have the frame where the
2270 fatal signal occurred mangled; if you can obtain a stack trace while
2271 running the SXEmacs process under a debugger, the stack trace should
2274 @c @email{1CMC3466@@ibm.mtsac.edu, Curtiss} suggests upgrading to ld.so
2275 @c version 1.8 if dynamic linking and debugging is a problem on Linux.
2278 If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're
2279 getting a completely mangled and bogus stack trace, it's probably due to
2280 one of the following:
2284 Your executable has been stripped. Bad news. Tell your sysadmin not to
2285 do this---it doesn't accomplish anything except to save a bit of disk
2286 space, and makes debugging much much harder.
2289 Your stack is getting trashed. Debugging this is hard; you have to do a
2290 binary-search type of narrowing down where the crash occurs, until you
2291 figure out exactly which line is causing the problem. Of course, this
2292 only works if the bug is highly reproducible. Also, in many cases if
2293 you run SXEmacs from the debugger, the debugger can protect the stack
2294 somewhat. However, if the stack is being smashed, it is typically the
2295 case that there is a wild pointer somewhere in the program, often
2296 quite far from where the crash occurs.
2299 If your stack trace has exactly one frame in it, with address 0x0, this
2300 could simply mean that SXEmacs attempted to execute code at that
2301 address, e.g. through jumping to a null function pointer.
2302 Unfortunately, under those circumstances, GDB under Linux doesn't know
2303 how to get a stack trace.
2304 Yes, this is the fourth Linux-related problem I've mentioned. I
2305 have no idea why GDB under Linux is so bogus. Complain to the GDB
2306 authors, or to comp.os.linux.development.system. Again, you'll have
2307 to use the narrowing-down process described above.
2310 You will get a Lisp backtrace output when SXEmacs crashes, so you'll have
2317 @node Q2.1.16, Q2.1.17, Q2.1.15, Installation
2318 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.16: SXEmacs crashes in @code{strcat} on HP/UX 10
2320 From the problems database (through
2321 the former address http://support.mayfield.hp.com/):
2324 Problem Report: 5003302299
2327 System/Model: 9000/700
2328 Product Name: HPUX S800 10.0X
2329 Product Vers: 9245XB.10.00
2331 Description: strcat(3C) may read beyond
2332 end of source string, can cause SIGSEGV
2335 *** PROBLEM TEXT ***
2336 strcat(3C) may read beyond the source string onto an unmapped page,
2337 causing a segmentation violation.
2341 @node Q2.1.17, Q2.1.18, Q2.1.16, Installation
2342 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.17: @samp{Marker does not point anywhere}
2344 As with other errors, set @code{debug-on-error} to @code{t} to get the
2345 backtrace when the error occurs.
2348 @node Q2.1.18, Q2.1.19, Q2.1.17, Installation
2349 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.18: SXEmacs is outputting lots of X errors.
2351 If this is happening, we would very much like to know what's causing
2352 them. To find this out, see @ref{Q2.1.15}. Try to get both a C and Lisp
2353 backtrace, and send them to @email{sxemacs-devel@@sxemacs.org}.
2356 @node Q2.1.19, Q2.1.20, Q2.1.18, Installation
2357 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.19: SXEmacs does not follow the local timezone.
2359 When using one of the prebuilt binaries many users have observed that
2360 SXEmacs uses the timezone under which it was built, but not the
2361 timezone under which it is running. The solution is to add:
2364 (set-time-zone-rule "MET")
2367 to your @file{init.el} or the @file{site-start.el} file if you can.
2368 Replace @code{MET} with your local timezone.
2371 @node Q2.1.20, Q2.1.21, Q2.1.19, Installation
2372 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.20: @samp{Symbol's function definition is void: hkey-help-show.}
2374 This is a problem with a partially loaded hyperbole. Try adding:
2377 (require 'hmouse-drv)
2380 where you load hyperbole and the problem should go away.
2383 @node Q2.1.21, Q2.1.22, Q2.1.20, Installation
2384 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.21: [This question intentionally left blank]
2387 @node Q2.1.22, Q2.1.23, Q2.1.21, Installation
2388 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.22: SXEmacs seems to take a really long time to do some things
2390 @email{dmoore@@ucsd.edu, David Moore} writes:
2393 Two things you can do:
2397 When you see it going mad like this, you might want to use gdb from an
2398 'xterm' to attach to the running process and get a stack trace. To do
2402 gdb /path/to/sxemacs/sxemacs ####
2405 Where @code{####} is the process id of your sxemacs, instead of
2406 specifying the core. When gdb attaches, the sxemacs will stop [1] and
2407 you can type `where' in gdb to get a stack trace as usual. To get
2408 things moving again, you can just type `quit' in gdb. It'll tell you
2409 the program is running and ask if you want to quit anyways. Say 'y' and
2410 it'll quit and have your emacs continue from where it was at.
2414 Turn on debug-on-quit early on. When you think things are going slow
2415 hit C-g and it may pop you in the debugger so you can see what routine
2416 is running. Press `c' to get going again.
2418 debug-on-quit doesn't work if something's turned on inhibit-quit or in
2419 some other strange cases.
2423 @node Q2.1.23, Q2.1.24, Q2.1.22, Installation
2424 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.23: Movemail on Linux does not work for SXEmacs
2426 @email{steve@@xemacs.org, SL Baur} writes:
2429 Movemail on Linux used to default to using flock file locking. It now
2430 defaults to using @code{.lock} file locking. If this is not
2431 appropriate for your system, edit src/s/linux.h and uncomment the line
2435 #define MAIL_USE_FLOCK
2440 @node Q2.1.24, Q2.1.25, Q2.1.23, Installation
2441 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.24: SXEmacs won't start without network.
2443 If SXEmacs starts when you're on the network, but fails when you're not
2444 on the network, you may be missing a "localhost" entry in your
2445 @file{/etc/hosts} file. The file should contain an entry like:
2451 Add that line, and SXEmacs will be happy.
2454 @node Q2.1.25, , Q2.1.24, Installation
2455 @unnumberedsec Q2.1.25:: After upgrading, SXEmacs won't do `foo' any more!
2457 You have been used to doing `foo', but now when you invoke it (or click
2458 the toolbar button or select the menu item), nothing (or an error)
2459 happens. The simplest explanation is that you are missing a package
2460 that is essential to you. You can either track it down and install it
2461 (there is a list of packages and brief descriptions of their contents in
2462 @file{etc/PACKAGES}), or install the `Sumo Tarball' (@pxref{Q2.0.14}).
2464 @c #### should xref to XEmacs manual here
2467 @node Customisation, Subsystems, Installation, Top
2468 @unnumbered 3 Customisation and Options
2470 This is part 3 of the SXEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
2471 section is devoted to Customisation and screen settings.
2474 Customisation---Emacs Lisp and @file{init.el}/@file{.emacs}:
2475 * Q3.0.1:: What version of Emacs am I running?
2476 * Q3.0.2:: How do I evaluate Elisp expressions?
2477 * Q3.0.3:: @code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly.
2478 * Q3.0.4:: How can I add directories to the @code{load-path}?
2479 * Q3.0.5:: How to check if a lisp function is defined?
2480 * Q3.0.6:: Can I force the output of @code{(face-list)} to a buffer?
2481 * Q3.0.7:: Font selections don't get saved after @code{Save Options}.
2482 * Q3.0.8:: How do I make a single minibuffer frame?
2483 * Q3.0.9:: What is @code{Customize}?
2485 X Window System & Resources:
2486 * Q3.1.1:: Where is a list of X resources?
2487 * Q3.1.2:: How can I detect a color display?
2488 * Q3.1.3:: [This question intentionally left blank]
2489 * Q3.1.4:: [This question intentionally left blank]
2490 * Q3.1.5:: How can I get the icon to just say @samp{SXEmacs}?
2491 * Q3.1.6:: How can I have the window title area display the full path?
2492 * Q3.1.7:: @samp{sxemacs -name junk} doesn't work?
2493 * Q3.1.8:: @samp{-iconic} doesn't work.
2495 Textual Fonts & Colors:
2496 * Q3.2.1:: How can I set color options from @file{init.el}?
2497 * Q3.2.2:: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts?
2498 * Q3.2.3:: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region?
2499 * Q3.2.4:: How can I limit color map usage?
2500 * Q3.2.5:: My tty supports color, but SXEmacs doesn't use them.
2501 * Q3.2.6:: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in SXEmacs?
2502 * Q3.2.7:: How do I display non-ASCII characters?
2505 * Q3.3.1:: How can I make the modeline go away?
2506 * Q3.3.2:: How do you have SXEmacs display the line number in the modeline?
2507 * Q3.3.3:: How do I get SXEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline?
2508 * Q3.3.4:: How do I turn off current chapter from AUC TeX modeline?
2509 * Q3.3.5:: How can one change the modeline color based on the mode used?
2511 Multiple Device Support:
2512 * Q3.4.1:: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display?
2513 * Q3.4.2:: Can I really connect to a running SXEmacs after calling up over a modem? How?
2516 * Q3.5.1:: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys?
2517 * Q3.5.2:: How can I stop down-arrow from adding empty lines to the bottom of my buffers?
2518 * Q3.5.3:: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down?
2519 * Q3.5.4:: Globally binding @kbd{Delete}?
2520 * Q3.5.5:: Scrolling one line at a time.
2521 * Q3.5.6:: How to map @kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard?
2522 * Q3.5.7:: How can you type in special characters in SXEmacs?
2523 * Q3.5.8:: [This question intentionally left blank]
2524 * Q3.5.9:: How do I make the Delete key delete forward?
2525 * Q3.5.10:: Can I turn on @dfn{sticky} modifier keys?
2526 * Q3.5.11:: How do I map the arrow keys?
2529 * Q3.6.1:: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker?
2530 * Q3.6.2:: Is there a way to get back the old block cursor where the cursor covers the character in front of the point?
2531 * Q3.6.3:: Can I make the cursor blink?
2533 The Mouse and Highlighting:
2534 * Q3.7.1:: How can I turn off Mouse pasting?
2535 * Q3.7.2:: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons?
2536 * Q3.7.3:: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list.
2537 * Q3.7.4:: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3?
2538 * Q3.7.5:: Why does cut-and-paste not work between SXEmacs and a cmdtool?
2539 * Q3.7.6:: How I can set SXEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is?
2540 * Q3.7.7:: How do I select a rectangular region?
2541 * Q3.7.8:: Why does @kbd{M-w} take so long?
2543 The Menubar and Toolbar:
2544 * Q3.8.1:: How do I get rid of the menu (or menubar)?
2545 * Q3.8.2:: Can I customise the basic menubar?
2546 * Q3.8.3:: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu @code{Buffers} list?
2547 * Q3.8.4:: Resources like @code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working?
2548 * Q3.8.5:: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar?
2551 * Q3.9.1:: How can I disable the scrollbar?
2552 * Q3.9.2:: How can one use resources to change scrollbar colors?
2553 * Q3.9.3:: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this?
2554 * Q3.9.4:: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes?
2557 * Q3.10.1:: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections?
2558 * Q3.10.2:: How do I get that typing on an active region removes it?
2559 * Q3.10.3:: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch?
2560 * Q3.10.4:: How do I turn off highlighting after @kbd{C-x C-p} (mark-page)?
2561 * Q3.10.5:: The region disappears when I hit the end of buffer while scrolling.
2562 * Q3.10.6:: Why is killing so slow?
2565 @node Q3.0.1, Q3.0.2, Customisation, Customisation
2566 @unnumberedsec 3.0: Customisation -- Emacs Lisp and @file{init.el}
2567 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.1: What version of Emacs am I running?
2569 How can @file{init.el} determine which of the family of
2572 To determine if you are currently running GNU Emacs 18, GNU Emacs 19,
2573 XEmacs 19, XEmacs 20, or Epoch, and use appropriate code, check out the
2574 example given in @file{etc/sample.init.el}. There are other nifty
2575 things in there as well!
2577 For all new code, you can use the variables @code{running-xemacs} and
2578 @code{running-sxemacs} or something like
2581 (when (featurep 'sxemacs)
2583 (when (featurep 'xemacs)
2589 Please note, that you should double check these values, if you intend
2590 to use xemacs-exclusive features. Both, the variable
2591 @code{running-xemacs} and the form @code{(featurep 'xemacs)} evaluate
2592 to @code{t} within SXEmacs. This is due to compatibility reasons.
2595 @node Q3.0.2, Q3.0.3, Q3.0.1, Customisation
2596 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.2: How can I evaluate Emacs-Lisp expressions?
2598 I know I can evaluate Elisp expressions from @code{*scratch*} buffer
2599 with @kbd{C-j} after the expression. How do I do it from another
2602 Press @kbd{M-:} (the default binding of @code{eval-expression}), and
2603 enter the expression to the minibuffer.
2606 @node Q3.0.3, Q3.0.4, Q3.0.2, Customisation
2607 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.3: @code{(setq tab-width 6)} behaves oddly.
2609 If you put @code{(setq tab-width 6)} in your @file{init.el} file it
2610 does not work! Is there a reason for this? If you do it at the EVAL
2611 prompt it works fine!! How strange.
2613 Use @code{setq-default} instead, since @code{tab-width} is
2617 @node Q3.0.4, Q3.0.5, Q3.0.3, Customisation
2618 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.4: How can I add directories to the @code{load-path}?
2620 Here are two ways to do that, one that puts your directories at the
2621 front of the load-path, the other at the end:
2624 ;;; Add things at the beginning of the load-path, do not add
2625 ;;; duplicate directories:
2626 (pushnew "bar" load-path :test 'equal)
2628 (pushnew "foo" load-path :test 'equal)
2630 ;;; Add things at the end, unconditionally
2631 (setq load-path (nconc load-path '("foo" "bar")))
2634 @email{keithh@@nortel.ca, keith (k.p.) hanlan} writes:
2637 To add directories using Unix shell metacharacters use
2638 @file{expand-file-name} like this:
2641 (push (expand-file-name "~keithh/.emacsdir") load-path)
2646 @node Q3.0.5, Q3.0.6, Q3.0.4, Customisation
2647 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.5: How to check if a lisp function is defined?
2649 Use the following elisp:
2655 It's almost always a mistake to test @code{emacs-version} or any similar
2658 Instead, use feature-tests, such as @code{featurep}, @code{boundp},
2659 @code{fboundp}, or even simple behavioral tests, eg.:
2662 (defvar foo-old-losing-code-p
2663 (condition-case nil (progn (losing-code t) nil)
2664 (wrong-number-of-arguments t)))
2667 There is an incredible amount of broken code out there which could work
2668 much better more often in more places if it did the above instead of
2669 trying to divine its environment from the value of one variable.
2672 @node Q3.0.6, Q3.0.7, Q3.0.5, Customisation
2673 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.6: Can I force the output of @code{(face-list)} to a buffer?
2675 It would be good having it in a buffer, as the output of
2676 @code{(face-list)} is too wide to fit to a minibuffer.
2678 Evaluate the expression in the @samp{*scratch*} buffer with point after
2679 the rightmost paren and typing @kbd{C-j}.
2681 If the minibuffer smallness is the only problem you encounter, you can
2682 simply press @kbd{C-h l} to get the former minibuffer contents in a
2686 @node Q3.0.7, Q3.0.8, Q3.0.6, Customisation
2687 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.7: Font selections in don't get saved after @code{Save Options}.
2689 @email{mannj@@ll.mit.edu, John Mann} writes:
2692 You have to go to Options->Frame Appearance and unselect
2693 @samp{Frame-Local Font Menu}. If this option is selected, font changes
2694 are only applied to the @emph{current} frame and do @emph{not} get saved
2695 when you save options.
2698 Also, set the following in your @file{init.el}:
2701 (setq options-save-faces t)
2705 @node Q3.0.8, Q3.0.9, Q3.0.7, Customisation
2706 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.8: How do I get a single minibuffer frame?
2708 @email{acs@@acm.org, Vin Shelton} writes:
2711 (setq initial-frame-plist '(minibuffer nil))
2712 (setq default-frame-plist '(minibuffer nil))
2713 (setq default-minibuffer-frame
2718 menubar-visible-p nil
2719 default-toolbar-visible-p nil
2723 has-modeline-p nil)))
2724 (frame-notice-user-settings)
2727 @strong{Please note:} The single minibuffer frame may not be to everyone's
2728 taste, and there any number of other SXEmacs options settings that may
2729 make it difficult or inconvenient to use.
2732 @node Q3.0.9, Q3.1.1, Q3.0.8, Customisation
2733 @unnumberedsec Q3.0.9: What is @code{Customize}?
2735 Starting with XEmacs 20.2 there is new system 'Customize' for customising
2738 You can access @code{Customize} from the @code{Options} menu
2739 or invoking one of customize commands by typing eg.
2740 @kbd{M-x customize}, @kbd{M-x customize-face},
2741 @kbd{M-x customize-variable} or @kbd{M-x customize-apropos}.
2743 Also try out with @kbd{M-x customize-browse}
2746 @node Q3.1.1, Q3.1.2, Q3.0.9, Customisation
2747 @unnumberedsec 3.1: X Window System & Resources
2748 @unnumberedsec Q3.1.1: Where is a list of X resources?
2750 Search through the @file{NEWS} file for @samp{X Resources}. A fairly
2751 comprehensive list is given after it.
2753 In addition, an @file{app-defaults} file @file{etc/Emacs.ad} is
2754 supplied, listing the defaults. The file @file{etc/sample.Xresources}
2755 gives a different set of defaults that you might consider for
2756 installation in your @file{~/.Xresources} file. It is nearly the same
2757 as @file{etc/Emacs.ad}, but a few entries are altered. Be careful about
2758 installing the contents of this file into your @file{.Xresources} (or
2759 legacy @file{.Xdefaults}) file if you use GNU Emacs under X11 as well.
2762 @node Q3.1.2, Q3.1.3, Q3.1.1, Customisation
2763 @unnumberedsec Q3.1.2: How can I detect a color display?
2765 You can test the return value of the function @code{(device-class)}, as
2769 (when (eq (device-class) 'color)
2770 (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-comment-face "Grey")
2771 (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-string-face "Red")
2777 @node Q3.1.3, Q3.1.4, Q3.1.2, Customisation
2778 @unnumberedsec Q3.1.3: [This question intentionally left blank]
2780 @node Q3.1.4, Q3.1.5, Q3.1.3, Customisation
2781 @unnumberedsec Q3.1.4: [This question intentionally left blank]
2784 @node Q3.1.5, Q3.1.6, Q3.1.4, Customisation
2785 @unnumberedsec Q3.1.5: How can I get the icon to just say @samp{SXEmacs}?
2787 I'd like the icon to just say @samp{SXEmacs}, and not include the name of
2788 the current file in it.
2790 Add the following line to your @file{init.el}:
2793 (setq frame-icon-title-format "SXEmacs")
2797 @node Q3.1.6, Q3.1.7, Q3.1.5, Customisation
2798 @unnumberedsec Q3.1.6: How can I have the window title area display the full path?
2800 I'd like to have the window title area display the full directory/name
2801 of the current buffer file and not just the name.
2803 Add the following line to your @file{init.el}:
2806 (setq frame-title-format "%S: %f")
2809 A more sophisticated title might be:
2812 (setq frame-title-format
2813 '("%S: " (buffer-file-name "%f"
2814 (dired-directory dired-directory "%b"))))
2817 That is, use the file name, or the dired-directory, or the buffer name.
2820 @node Q3.1.7, Q3.1.8, Q3.1.6, Customisation
2821 @unnumberedsec Q3.1.7: @samp{sxemacs -name junk} doesn't work?
2823 When I run @samp{xterm -name junk}, I get an xterm whose class name
2824 according to xprop, is @samp{junk}. This is the way it's supposed to
2825 work, I think. When I run @samp{sxemacs -name junk} the class name is
2826 not set to @samp{junk}. It's still @samp{emacs}. What does
2827 @samp{sxemacs -name} really do? The reason I ask is that my window
2828 manager (fvwm) will make a window sticky and I use SXEmacs to read my
2829 mail. I want that SXEmacs window to be sticky, without having to use the
2830 window manager's function to set the window sticky. What gives?
2832 @samp{sxemacs -name} sets the application name for the program (that is,
2833 the thing which normally comes from @samp{argv[0]}). Using @samp{-name}
2834 is the same as making a copy of the executable with that new name. The
2835 @code{WM_CLASS} property on each frame is set to the frame-name, and the
2836 application-class. So, if you did @samp{sxemacs -name FOO} and then
2837 created a frame named @var{BAR}, you'd get an X window with WM_CLASS =
2838 @code{( "BAR", "Emacs")}. However, the resource hierarchy for this
2842 Name: FOO .shell .container .BAR
2843 Class: Emacs .TopLevelEmacsShell.EmacsManager.EmacsFrame
2846 instead of the default
2849 Name: sxemacs.shell .container .emacs
2850 Class: Emacs .TopLevelEmacsShell.EmacsManager.EmacsFrame
2854 It is arguable that the first element of WM_CLASS should be set to the
2855 application-name instead of the frame-name, but I think that's less
2856 flexible, since it does not give you the ability to have multiple frames
2857 with different WM_CLASS properties. Another possibility would be for
2858 the default frame name to come from the application name instead of
2859 simply being @samp{emacs}. However, at this point, making that change
2860 would be troublesome: it would mean that many users would have to make
2861 yet another change to their resource files (since the default frame name
2862 would suddenly change from @samp{emacs} to @samp{sxemacs}, or whatever
2863 the executable happened to be named), so we'd rather avoid it.
2865 To make a frame with a particular name use:
2868 (make-frame '((name . "the-name")))
2872 @node Q3.1.8, Q3.2.1, Q3.1.7, Customisation
2873 @unnumberedsec Q3.1.8: @samp{-iconic} doesn't work.
2875 When I start up SXEmacs using @samp{-iconic} it doesn't work right.
2876 Using @samp{-unmapped} on the command line, and setting the
2877 @code{initiallyUnmapped} X Resource don't seem to help much either...
2879 @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes:
2882 Ugh, this stuff is such an incredible mess that I've about given up
2883 getting it to work. The principal problem is numerous window-manager
2888 @node Q3.2.1, Q3.2.2, Q3.1.8, Customisation
2889 @unnumberedsec 3.2: Textual Fonts & Colors
2890 @unnumberedsec Q3.2.1: How can I set color options from @file{init.el}?
2892 How can I set the most commonly used color options from my
2893 @file{init.el} instead of from my @file{.Xresources}?
2898 (set-face-background 'default "bisque") ; frame background
2899 (set-face-foreground 'default "black") ; normal text
2900 (set-face-background 'zmacs-region "red") ; When selecting w/
2902 (set-face-foreground 'zmacs-region "yellow")
2903 (set-face-font 'default "*courier-bold-r*120-100-100*")
2904 (set-face-background 'highlight "blue") ; Ie when selecting
2906 (set-face-foreground 'highlight "yellow")
2907 (set-face-background 'modeline "blue") ; Line at bottom
2909 (set-face-foreground 'modeline "white")
2910 (set-face-font 'modeline "*bold-r-normal*140-100-100*")
2911 (set-face-background 'isearch "yellow") ; When highlighting
2913 (set-face-foreground 'isearch "red")
2914 (setq x-pointer-foreground-color "black") ; Adds to bg color,
2916 (setq x-pointer-background-color "blue") ; This is color
2922 @node Q3.2.2, Q3.2.3, Q3.2.1, Customisation
2923 @unnumberedsec Q3.2.2: How do I set the text, menu and modeline fonts?
2925 Note that you should use @samp{Emacs.} and not @samp{Emacs*} when
2926 setting face values.
2928 In @file{.Xresources}:
2931 Emacs.default.attributeFont: -*-*-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-m-*-*-*
2932 Emacs*menubar*font: fixed
2933 Emacs.modeline.attributeFont: fixed
2936 This is confusing because @samp{default} and @samp{modeline} are face
2937 names, and can be found listed with all faces in the current mode by
2938 using @kbd{M-x set-face-font (enter) ?}. They use the face-specific
2939 resource @samp{attributeFont}.
2941 On the other hand, @samp{menubar} is a normal X thing that uses the
2942 resource @samp{font}. With Motif it @emph{may be} necessary to use
2943 @samp{fontList} @emph{instead of} @samp{font}. In @emph{non-Motif}
2944 configurations with Mule it @emph{is} necessary to use @samp{fontSet}
2945 instead of @samp{font}. (Sorry, there just is no simple recipe here.)
2948 @node Q3.2.3, Q3.2.4, Q3.2.2, Customisation
2949 @unnumberedsec Q3.2.3: How can I set the colors when highlighting a region?
2951 How can I set the background/foreground colors when highlighting a
2954 You can change the face @code{zmacs-region} either in your
2958 Emacs.zmacs-region.attributeForeground: firebrick
2959 Emacs.zmacs-region.attributeBackground: lightseagreen
2962 or in your @file{init.el}:
2965 (set-face-background 'zmacs-region "red")
2966 (set-face-foreground 'zmacs-region "yellow")
2970 @node Q3.2.4, Q3.2.5, Q3.2.3, Customisation
2971 @unnumberedsec Q3.2.4: How can I limit color map usage?
2973 I'm using Netscape (or another color grabber like SXEmacs);
2974 is there any way to limit the number of available colors in the color map?
2976 Answer: No, but you can start Netscape before SXEmacs, and it will use
2977 the closest available color if the colormap is full. You can also limit
2978 the number of colors Netscape uses, using the flags -mono, -ncols <#> or
2979 -install (for mono, limiting to <#> colors, or for using a private color
2982 If you have the money, another solution would be to use a truecolor or
2986 @node Q3.2.5, Q3.2.6, Q3.2.4, Customisation
2987 @unnumberedsec Q3.2.5: My tty supports color, but SXEmacs doesn't use them.
2989 SXEmacs tries to automatically determine whether your tty supports color,
2990 but sometimes guesses wrong. In that case, you can make SXEmacs Do The
2991 Right Thing using this Lisp code:
2994 (if (eq 'tty (device-type))
2995 (set-device-class nil 'color))
2999 @node Q3.2.6, Q3.2.7, Q3.2.5, Customisation
3000 @unnumberedsec Q3.2.6: Can I have pixmap backgrounds in SXEmacs?
3002 @email{jvillaci@@wahnsinnig.extreme.indiana.edu, Juan Villacis} writes:
3005 There are several ways to do it. For example, you could specify a
3006 default pixmap image to use in your @file{~/.Xresources}, e.g.,
3010 Emacs*EmacsFrame.default.attributeBackgroundPixmap: /path/to/image.xpm
3014 and then reload ~/.Xresources and restart SXEmacs. Alternatively,
3015 since each face can have its own pixmap background, a better way
3016 would be to set a face's pixmap within your SXEmacs init file, e.g.,
3019 (set-face-background-pixmap 'default "/path/to/image.xpm")
3020 (set-face-background-pixmap 'bold "/path/to/another_image.xpm")
3023 and so on. You can also do this interactively via @kbd{M-x edit-faces}.
3028 @node Q3.2.7, Q3.3.1, Q3.2.6, Customisation
3029 @unnumberedsec Q3.2.7: How do I display non-ASCII characters?
3032 If you're using a Mule-enabled SXEmacs, then display is automatic. If
3033 you're not seeing the characters you expect, either (1) you don't have
3034 appropriate fonts available or (2) SXEmacs did not correctly detect the
3035 coding system (@pxref{Recognize Coding, , , sxemacs}). In case (1),
3036 install fonts as is customary for your platform. In case (2), you
3037 need to tell SXEmacs explicitly what coding systems you're using.
3038 @ref{Specify Coding, , , sxemacs}.
3040 If your SXEmacs is not Mule-enabled, and for some reason getting a
3041 Mule-enabled SXEmacs seems like the wrong thing to do, all is not lost.
3042 You can arrange it by brute force. In @file{event-Xt.c} (suppress the
3043 urge to look in this file---play Doom instead, because you'll survive
3044 longer), it is written:
3047 In a non-Mule world, a user can still have a multi-lingual editor, by
3048 doing @code{(set-face-font "-*-iso8859-2" (current-buffer))} for all
3049 their Latin-2 buffers, etc.
3052 For the related problem of @emph{inputting} non-ASCII characters in a
3053 non-Mule SXEmacs, @xref{Q3.5.7}.
3056 @node Q3.3.1, Q3.3.2, Q3.2.7, Customisation
3057 @unnumberedsec 3.3: The Modeline
3058 @unnumberedsec Q3.3.1: How can I make the modeline go away?
3061 (set-specifier has-modeline-p nil)
3065 @node Q3.3.2, Q3.3.3, Q3.3.1, Customisation
3066 @unnumberedsec Q3.3.2: How do you have SXEmacs display the line number in the modeline?
3068 Add the following line to your @file{init.el} file to
3069 display the line number:
3072 (line-number-mode 1)
3075 Use the following to display the column number:
3078 (column-number-mode 1)
3081 Or select from the @code{Options} menu
3085 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Line Number Mode}
3090 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Column Number Mode}
3092 Or type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} editing-basics @key{RET}}.
3095 @node Q3.3.3, Q3.3.4, Q3.3.2, Customisation
3096 @unnumberedsec Q3.3.3: How do I get SXEmacs to put the time of day on the modeline?
3098 Add the following line to your @file{init.el}/@file{.emacs} file to
3105 See @code{Customize} from the @code{Options} menu for customisation.
3108 @node Q3.3.4, Q3.3.5, Q3.3.3, Customisation
3109 @unnumberedsec Q3.3.4: How do I turn off current chapter from AUC TeX modeline?
3111 With AUC TeX, fast typing is hard because the current chapter, section
3112 etc. are given in the modeline. How can I turn this off?
3114 It's not AUC TeX, it comes from @code{func-menu} in @file{func-menu.el}.
3116 @c Add this code to your @file{init.el}/@file{.emacs} to turn it off:
3119 @c (setq fume-display-in-modeline-p nil)
3122 @c Or just add a hook to @code{TeX-mode-hook} to turn it off only for TeX
3126 @c (add-hook 'TeX-mode-hook
3127 @c '(lambda () (setq fume-display-in-modeline-p nil)))
3130 @email{dhughes@@origin-at.co.uk, David Hughes} writes:
3133 Try this; you'll still get the function name displayed in the modeline,
3134 but it won't attempt to keep track when you modify the file. To refresh
3135 when it gets out of synch, you simply need click on the @samp{Rescan
3136 Buffer} option in the function-menu.
3139 (setq-default fume-auto-rescan-buffer-p nil)
3144 @node Q3.3.5, Q3.4.1, Q3.3.4, Customisation
3145 @unnumberedsec Q3.3.5: How can one change the modeline color based on the mode used?
3147 You can use something like the following:
3150 (add-hook 'lisp-mode-hook
3152 (set-face-background 'modeline "red" (current-buffer))))
3155 Then, when editing a Lisp file (i.e. when in Lisp mode), the modeline
3156 colors change from the default set in your @file{init.el}.
3157 The change will only be made in the buffer you just entered (which
3158 contains the Lisp file you are editing) and will not affect the modeline
3159 colors anywhere else.
3165 @item The hook is the mode name plus @code{-hook}. eg. c-mode-hook,
3166 c++-mode-hook, emacs-lisp-mode-hook (used for your
3167 @file{init.el} or a @file{xx.el} file),
3168 lisp-interaction-mode-hook (the @samp{*scratch*} buffer),
3169 text-mode-hook, etc.
3172 Be sure to use @code{add-hook}, not @code{(setq c-mode-hook xxxx)},
3173 otherwise you will erase anything that anybody has already put on the
3177 You can also do @code{(set-face-font 'modeline @var{font})},
3178 eg. @code{(set-face-font 'modeline "*bold-r-normal*140-100-100*"
3179 (current-buffer))} if you wish the modeline font to vary based on the
3183 There are additional modeline faces, @code{modeline-buffer-id},
3184 @code{modeline-mousable}, and @code{modeline-mousable-minor-mode}, which
3185 you may want to customize.
3188 @node Q3.4.1, Q3.4.2, Q3.3.5, Customisation
3189 @unnumberedsec 3.4: Multiple Device Support
3190 @unnumberedsec Q3.4.1: How do I open a frame on another screen of my multi-headed display?
3192 Use the command @kbd{M-x make-frame-on-display}. This command is also
3193 on the File menu in the menubar.
3195 The command @code{make-frame-on-tty} also exists, which will establish a
3196 connection to any tty-like device. Opening the TTY devices should be
3197 left to @code{gnuclient}, though.
3200 @node Q3.4.2, Q3.5.1, Q3.4.1, Customisation
3201 @unnumberedsec Q3.4.2: Can I really connect to a running SXEmacs after calling up over a modem? How?
3203 Yes. Use @code{gnuclient -nw}.
3205 Also see @ref{Q5.0.12}.
3208 @node Q3.5.1, Q3.5.2, Q3.4.2, Customisation
3209 @unnumberedsec 3.5: The Keyboard
3210 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.1: How can I bind complex functions (or macros) to keys?
3212 As an example, say you want the @kbd{paste} key on a Sun keyboard to
3213 insert the current Primary X selection at point. You can accomplish this
3217 (define-key global-map [f18] 'x-insert-selection)
3220 However, this only works if there is a current X selection (the
3221 selection will be highlighted). The functionality I like is for the
3222 @kbd{paste} key to insert the current X selection if there is one,
3223 otherwise insert the contents of the clipboard. To do this you need to
3224 pass arguments to @code{x-insert-selection}. This is done by wrapping
3225 the call in a 'lambda form:
3228 (global-set-key [f18]
3229 (lambda () (interactive) (x-insert-selection t nil)))
3232 This binds the f18 key to a @dfn{generic} functional object. The
3233 interactive spec is required because only interactive functions can be
3236 For the FAQ example you could use:
3239 (global-set-key [(control ?.)]
3240 (lambda () (interactive) (scroll-up 1)))
3241 (global-set-key [(control ?;)]
3242 (lambda () (interactive) (scroll-up -1)))
3245 This is fine if you only need a few functions within the lambda body.
3246 If you're doing more it's cleaner to define a separate function as in
3247 question 3.5.3 (@pxref{Q3.5.3}).
3250 @node Q3.5.2, Q3.5.3, Q3.5.1, Customisation
3251 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.2: How can I stop down-arrow from adding empty lines to the bottom of my buffers?
3253 Add the following line to your @file{init.el} file:
3256 (setq next-line-add-newlines nil)
3259 This has been the default setting in SXEmacs for some time.
3262 @node Q3.5.3, Q3.5.4, Q3.5.2, Customisation
3263 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.3: How do I bind C-. and C-; to scroll one line up and down?
3265 Add the following (Thanks to @email{mly@@adoc.xerox.com, Richard Mlynarik} and
3266 @email{wayne@@zen.cac.stratus.com, Wayne Newberry}) to @file{.emacs}:
3269 (defun scroll-up-one-line ()
3273 (defun scroll-down-one-line ()
3277 (global-set-key [(control ?.)] 'scroll-up-one-line) ; C-.
3278 (global-set-key [(control ?;)] 'scroll-down-one-line) ; C-;
3281 The key point is that you can only bind simple functions to keys; you
3282 can not bind a key to a function that you're also passing arguments to.
3283 (@pxref{Q3.5.1} for a better answer).
3286 @node Q3.5.4, Q3.5.5, Q3.5.3, Customisation
3287 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.4: Globally binding @kbd{Delete}?
3289 I cannot manage to globally bind my @kbd{Delete} key to something other
3290 than the default. How does one do this?
3292 Answer: The problem is that many modes explicitly bind @kbd{Delete}. To
3293 get around this, try the following:
3298 (message "You hit DELETE"))
3300 (define-key key-translation-map 'delete 'redirected-delete)
3301 (global-set-key 'redirected-delete 'foo)
3304 Also see @ref{Q3.5.10}.
3307 @node Q3.5.5, Q3.5.6, Q3.5.4, Customisation
3308 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.5: Scrolling one line at a time.
3310 Can the cursor keys scroll the screen a line at a time, rather than the
3311 default half page jump? I tend it to find it disorienting.
3316 (defun scroll-one-line-up (&optional arg)
3317 "Scroll the selected window up (forward in the text) one line (or N lines)."
3319 (scroll-up (or arg 1)))
3321 (defun scroll-one-line-down (&optional arg)
3322 "Scroll the selected window down (backward in the text) one line (or N)."
3324 (scroll-down (or arg 1)))
3326 (global-set-key [up] 'scroll-one-line-up)
3327 (global-set-key [down] 'scroll-one-line-down)
3330 The following will also work but will affect more than just the cursor
3331 keys (i.e. @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p}):
3334 (setq scroll-step 1)
3337 You can also change this with Customize.
3338 Select from the @code{Options} menu
3339 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Windows->Scroll Step...} or type
3340 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} windows @key{RET}}.
3343 @node Q3.5.6, Q3.5.7, Q3.5.5, Customisation
3344 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.6: How to map @kbd{Help} key alone on Sun type4 keyboard?
3346 The following works in GNU Emacs 19:
3349 (global-set-key [help] 'help-command);; Help
3352 The following works in SXEmacs with the addition of shift:
3355 (global-set-key [(shift help)] 'help-command);; Help
3358 But it doesn't work alone. This is in the file @file{PROBLEMS} which
3359 should have come with your SXEmacs installation: @emph{Emacs ignores the
3360 @kbd{help} key when running OLWM}.
3362 OLWM grabs the @kbd{help} key, and retransmits it to the appropriate
3367 @code{XSendEvent}. Allowing Emacs to react to synthetic
3368 events is a security hole, so this is turned off by default. You can
3369 enable it by setting the variable @code{x-allow-sendevents} to t. You
3370 can also cause fix this by telling OLWM to not grab the help key, with
3371 the null binding @code{OpenWindows.KeyboardCommand.Help:}.
3374 @node Q3.5.7, Q3.5.8, Q3.5.6, Customisation
3375 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.7: How can you type in special characters in SXEmacs?
3377 One way is to use the package @code{x-compose}. Then you can use
3378 sequences like @kbd{Compose " a} to get ä, etc.
3380 Another way is to use the @code{iso-insert} package. Then you can use
3381 sequences like @kbd{C-x 8 " a} to get ä, etc.
3383 @email{glynn@@sensei.co.uk, Glynn Clements} writes:
3386 It depends upon your X server.
3388 Generally, the simplest way is to define a key as Multi_key with
3390 @c hey, show some respect, willya -- there's xkeycaps, isn't there? --
3393 xmodmap -e 'keycode 0xff20 = Multi_key'
3396 You will need to pick an appropriate keycode. Use xev to find out the
3397 keycodes for each key.
3399 [NB: On a `Windows' keyboard, recent versions of XFree86 automatically
3400 define the right `Windows' key as Multi_key'.]
3402 Once you have Multi_key defined, you can use e.g.
3411 Also, recent versions of XFree86 define various AltGr-<key>
3412 combinations as dead keys, i.e.
3414 AltGr [ => dead_diaeresis
3415 AltGr ] => dead_tilde
3416 AltGr ; => dead_acute
3420 Running @samp{xmodmap -pk} will list all of the defined keysyms.
3423 For the related problem of @emph{displaying} non-ASCII characters in a
3424 non-Mule SXEmacs, @xref{Q3.2.7}.
3427 @node Q3.5.8, Q3.5.9, Q3.5.7, Customisation
3428 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.8: [This question intentionally left blank]
3430 Obsolete question, left blank to avoid renumbering.
3433 @node Q3.5.9, Q3.5.10, Q3.5.8, Customisation
3434 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.9: How do I make the Delete key delete forward?
3436 A solution is to set variable @code{delete-key-deletes-forward} to t.
3437 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
3438 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
3439 (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Delete Key Deletes Forward} or
3440 type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} editing-basics @key{RET}}.
3442 Also see @ref{Q3.5.4}.
3445 @node Q3.5.10, Q3.5.11, Q3.5.9, Customisation
3446 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.10: Can I turn on @dfn{sticky} modifier keys?
3448 Yes, with @code{(setq modifier-keys-are-sticky t)}. This will give the
3449 effect of being able to press and release Shift and have the next
3450 character typed come out in upper case. This will affect all the other
3451 modifier keys like Control and Meta as well.
3453 @email{ben@@xemacs.org, Ben Wing} writes:
3456 One thing about the sticky modifiers is that if you move the mouse out
3457 of the frame and back in, it cancels all currently ``stuck'' modifiers.
3460 @node Q3.5.11, Q3.6.1, Q3.5.10, Customisation
3461 @unnumberedsec Q3.5.11: How do I map the arrow keys?
3463 Say you want to map @kbd{C-@key{right}} to forward-word:
3465 @email{sds@@usa.net, Sam Steingold} writes:
3469 ; both (S)XEmacs and Emacs
3470 (define-key global-map [(control right)] 'forward-word)
3475 (define-key global-map [C-right] 'forward-word)
3480 (define-key global-map (kbd "C-<right>") 'forward-word)
3486 @node Q3.6.1, Q3.6.2, Q3.5.11, Customisation
3487 @unnumberedsec 3.6: The Cursor
3488 @unnumberedsec Q3.6.1: Is there a way to make the bar cursor thicker?
3490 I'd like to have the bar cursor a little thicker, as I tend to "lose" it
3493 For a 1 pixel bar cursor, use:
3499 For a 2 pixel bar cursor, use:
3502 (setq bar-cursor 'anything-else)
3505 You can also change these with Customize. Select from the
3506 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
3507 (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Display->Bar Cursor...} or type
3508 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} display @key{RET}}.
3510 You can use a color to make it stand out better:
3513 Emacs*cursorColor: Red
3517 @node Q3.6.2, Q3.6.3, Q3.6.1, Customisation
3518 @unnumberedsec Q3.6.2: Is there a way to get back the block cursor?
3521 (setq bar-cursor nil)
3524 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
3525 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
3526 (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Display->Bar Cursor...} or type
3527 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} display @key{RET}}.
3530 @node Q3.6.3, Q3.7.1, Q3.6.2, Customisation
3531 @unnumberedsec Q3.6.3: Can I make the cursor blink?
3539 This function toggles between a steady cursor and a blinking cursor.
3540 You may also set this mode from the menu bar by selecting @samp{Options
3541 => Frame Appearance => Blinking Cursor}. Remember to save options.
3544 @node Q3.7.1, Q3.7.2, Q3.6.3, Customisation
3545 @unnumberedsec 3.7: The Mouse and Highlighting
3546 @unnumberedsec Q3.7.1: How can I turn off Mouse pasting?
3548 I keep hitting the middle mouse button by accident and getting stuff
3549 pasted into my buffer so how can I turn this off?
3551 Here is an alternative binding, whereby the middle mouse button selects
3552 (but does not cut) the expression under the mouse. Clicking middle on a
3553 left or right paren will select to the matching one. Note that you can
3554 use @code{define-key} or @code{global-set-key}.
3557 (defun mouse-set-point-and-select (event)
3558 "Sets the point at the mouse location, then marks following form"
3560 (mouse-set-point event)
3562 (define-key global-map [button2] 'mouse-set-point-and-select)
3566 @node Q3.7.2, Q3.7.3, Q3.7.1, Customisation
3567 @unnumberedsec Q3.7.2: How do I set control/meta/etc modifiers on mouse buttons?
3569 Use, for instance, @code{[(meta button1)]}. For example, here is a common
3570 setting for Common Lisp programmers who use the bundled @code{ilisp}
3571 package, whereby meta-button1 on a function name will find the file where
3572 the function name was defined, and put you at that location in the source
3575 [Inside a function that gets called by the lisp-mode-hook and
3579 (local-set-key [(meta button1)] 'edit-definitions-lisp)
3583 @node Q3.7.3, Q3.7.4, Q3.7.2, Customisation
3584 @unnumberedsec Q3.7.3: Clicking the left button does not do anything in buffer list.
3586 I do @kbd{C-x C-b} to get a list of buffers and the entries get
3587 highlighted when I move the mouse over them but clicking the left mouse
3588 does not do anything.
3590 Use the middle mouse button.
3593 @node Q3.7.4, Q3.7.5, Q3.7.3, Customisation
3594 @unnumberedsec Q3.7.4: How can I get a list of buffers when I hit mouse button 3?
3596 The following code will replace the default popup on button3:
3599 (global-set-key [button3] 'popup-buffer-menu)
3603 @node Q3.7.5, Q3.7.6, Q3.7.4, Customisation
3604 @unnumberedsec Q3.7.5: Why does cut-and-paste not work between SXEmacs and a cmdtool?
3606 We don't know. It's a bug. There does seem to be a work-around,
3607 however. Try running xclipboard first. It appears to fix the problem
3608 even if you exit it..
3611 @node Q3.7.6, Q3.7.7, Q3.7.5, Customisation
3612 @unnumberedsec Q3.7.6: How I can set SXEmacs up so that it pastes where the text cursor is?
3614 By default SXEmacs pastes X selections where the mouse pointer is. How
3617 Examine the function @code{mouse-yank}, by typing @kbd{C-h f mouse-yank
3620 To get SXEmacs to paste at the text cursor, add this your @file{init.el}:
3623 (setq mouse-yank-at-point t)
3626 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
3627 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
3628 (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Mouse->Yank At Point...} or type @kbd{M-x
3629 customize @key{RET} mouse @key{RET}}.
3632 @node Q3.7.7, Q3.7.8, Q3.7.6, Customisation
3633 @unnumberedsec Q3.7.7: How do I select a rectangular region?
3635 Just select the region normally, then use the rectangle commands (e.g.
3636 @code{kill-rectangle} on it. The region does not highlight as a
3637 rectangle, but the commands work just fine.
3639 To actually sweep out rectangular regions with the mouse you can use
3640 @code{mouse-track-do-rectangle} which is assigned to @kbd{M-button1}.
3641 Then use rectangle commands.
3643 You can also do the following to change default behavior to sweep out
3644 rectangular regions:
3647 (setq mouse-track-rectangle-p t)
3650 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
3651 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
3652 (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Mouse->Track Rectangle...} or type
3653 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} mouse @key{RET}}.
3657 mouse-track-do-rectangle: (event)
3658 -- an interactive compiled Lisp function.
3659 Like `mouse-track' but selects rectangles instead of regions.
3663 @node Q3.7.8, Q3.8.1, Q3.7.7, Customisation
3664 @unnumberedsec Q3.7.8: Why does @kbd{M-w} take so long?
3666 It actually doesn't. It leaves the region visible for a second so that
3667 you can see what area is being yanked. If you start working, though, it
3668 will immediately complete its operation. In other words, it will only
3669 delay for a second if you let it.
3672 @node Q3.8.1, Q3.8.2, Q3.7.8, Customisation
3673 @unnumberedsec 3.8: The Menubar and Toolbar
3674 @unnumberedsec Q3.8.1: How do I get rid of the menu (or menubar)?
3676 @c If you are running XEmacs 19.13 or earlier, add this command to your
3677 @c @file{init.el}/@file{.emacs}.
3680 @c (set-menubar nil)
3683 @c Starting with XEmacs 19.14 the preferred method is:
3686 (set-specifier menubar-visible-p nil)
3690 @node Q3.8.2, Q3.8.3, Q3.8.1, Customisation
3691 @unnumberedsec Q3.8.2: Can I customise the basic menubar?
3693 For an extensive menubar, add this line to your @file{init.el}:
3696 (load "big-menubar")
3699 If you'd like to write your own, this file provides as good a set of
3700 examples as any to start from. The file is located in edit-utils
3704 @node Q3.8.3, Q3.8.4, Q3.8.2, Customisation
3705 @unnumberedsec Q3.8.3: How do I control how many buffers are listed in the menu @code{Buffers List}?
3707 Add the following to your @file{init.el} (suit to fit):
3710 (setq buffers-menu-max-size 20)
3713 For no limit, use an argument of @samp{nil}.
3715 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
3716 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
3717 (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Menu->Buffers Menu->Max Size...} or
3718 type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} buffers-menu @key{RET}}.
3721 @node Q3.8.4, Q3.8.5, Q3.8.3, Customisation
3722 @unnumberedsec Q3.8.4: Resources like @code{Emacs*menubar*font} are not working?
3724 I am trying to use a resource like @code{Emacs*menubar*font} to set the
3725 font of the menubar but it's not working.
3727 In Motif, the use of @samp{font} resources is obsoleted in order to
3728 support internationalisation. If you are using the real Motif menubar,
3729 this resource is not recognized at all; you have to say:
3732 Emacs*menubar*fontList: FONT
3735 If you are using the Lucid menubar, for backward compatibility with
3736 existing user configurations, the @samp{font} resource is recognized.
3737 Since this is not supported by Motif itself, the code is a kludge and
3738 the @samp{font} resource will be recognized only if the @samp{fontList}
3739 resource resource is unset. This means that the resource
3748 Emacs*menubar*font: FONT
3751 even though the latter is more specific.
3753 In non-Motif configurations using @samp{--with-mule} and
3754 @samp{--with-xfs} it @emph{is} necessary to use the @code{fontSet}
3755 resource @emph{instead of} the @code{font} resource. The backward
3756 compatibility kludge was never implemented for non-Motif builds.
3764 @node Q3.8.5, Q3.9.1, Q3.8.4, Customisation
3765 @unnumberedsec Q3.8.5: How can I bind a key to a function to toggle the toolbar?
3770 (defun my-toggle-toolbar ()
3772 (set-specifier default-toolbar-visible-p
3773 (not (specifier-instance default-toolbar-visible-p))))
3774 (global-set-key "\C-xT" 'my-toggle-toolbar)
3778 @node Q3.9.1, Q3.9.2, Q3.8.5, Customisation
3779 @unnumberedsec 3.9: Scrollbars
3780 @unnumberedsec Q3.9.1: How can I disable the scrollbar?
3782 To disable them for all frames, add the following line to
3783 your @file{.Xresources}:
3786 Emacs.scrollBarWidth: 0
3789 Or select from the @code{Options} menu @code{Frame Appearance->Scrollbars}.
3790 Remember to save options.
3792 To turn the scrollbar off on a per-frame basis, use the following
3796 (set-specifier scrollbar-width 0 (selected-frame))
3799 You can actually turn the scrollbars on at any level you want by
3800 substituting for (selected-frame) in the above command. For example, to
3801 turn the scrollbars off only in a single buffer:
3804 (set-specifier scrollbar-width 0 (current-buffer))
3808 @node Q3.9.2, Q3.9.3, Q3.9.1, Customisation
3809 @unnumberedsec Q3.9.2: How can one use resources to change scrollbar colors?
3811 Here's a recap of how to use resources to change your scrollbar colors:
3816 Emacs*XmScrollBar.Background: skyblue
3817 Emacs*XmScrollBar.troughColor: lightgray
3821 Emacs*Scrollbar.Foreground: skyblue
3822 Emacs*Scrollbar.Background: lightgray
3825 Note the capitalisation of @code{Scrollbar} for the Athena widget.
3828 @node Q3.9.3, Q3.9.4, Q3.9.2, Customisation
3829 @unnumberedsec Q3.9.3: Moving the scrollbar can move the point; can I disable this?
3831 When I move the scrollbar in a SXEmacs window, it moves the point as
3832 well, which should not be the default behavior. Is this a bug or a
3833 feature? Can I disable it?
3835 The current behavior is a feature, not a bug. Point remains at the same
3836 buffer position as long as that position does not scroll off the screen.
3837 In that event, point will end up in either the upper-left or lower-left
3840 This cannot be changed.
3843 @node Q3.9.4, Q3.10.1, Q3.9.3, Customisation
3844 @unnumberedsec Q3.9.4: How can I turn off automatic horizontal scrolling in specific modes?
3846 Do @code{(setq truncate-lines t)} in the mode-hooks for any modes
3847 in which you want lines truncated.
3849 More precisely: If @code{truncate-lines} is nil, horizontal scrollbars
3850 will never appear. Otherwise, they will appear only if the value of
3851 @code{scrollbar-height} for that buffer/window/etc. is non-zero. If you
3855 (set-specifier scrollbar-height 0)
3858 then horizontal scrollbars will not appear in truncated buffers unless
3859 the package specifically asked for them.
3862 @node Q3.10.1, Q3.10.2, Q3.9.4, Customisation
3863 @unnumberedsec 3.10: Text Selections
3864 @unnumberedsec Q3.10.1: How can I turn off or change highlighted selections?
3866 The @code{zmacs} mode allows for what some might call gratuitous
3867 highlighting for selected regions (either by setting mark or by using
3868 the mouse). This is the default behavior. To turn off, add the
3869 following line to your @file{init.el} file:
3872 (setq zmacs-regions nil)
3875 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
3876 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
3877 (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Basics->Zmacs Regions} or type @kbd{M-x
3878 customize @key{RET} editing-basics @key{RET}}.
3880 To change the face for selection, look at @code{Options->Customize} on
3884 @node Q3.10.2, Q3.10.3, Q3.10.1, Customisation
3885 @unnumberedsec Q3.10.2: How do I get that typing on an active region removes it?
3887 I want to change things so that if I select some text and start typing,
3888 the typed text replaces the selected text, similar to Motif.
3890 You want to use something called @dfn{pending delete}. Pending delete
3891 is what happens when you select a region (with the mouse or keyboard)
3892 and you press a key to replace the selected region by the key you typed.
3893 Usually backspace kills the selected region.
3895 To get this behavior, ensure that you have the @file{pc} package
3896 installed, and add the following lines to your
3897 @file{init.el}/@file{.emacs}:
3901 ((fboundp 'turn-on-pending-delete)
3902 (turn-on-pending-delete))
3903 ((fboundp 'pending-delete-on)
3904 (pending-delete-on t)))
3907 Note that this will work with both Backspace and Delete. This code is a
3908 tad more complicated than it has to be for SXEmacs in order to make it
3912 @node Q3.10.3, Q3.10.4, Q3.10.2, Customisation
3913 @unnumberedsec Q3.10.3: Can I turn off the highlight during isearch?
3915 I do not like my text highlighted while I am doing isearch as I am not
3916 able to see what's underneath. How do I turn it off?
3918 Put the following in your @file{init.el}:
3921 (setq isearch-highlight nil)
3924 You can also change this with Customize. Type @kbd{M-x
3925 customize-variable @key{RET} isearch-highlight @key{RET}}.
3927 Note also that isearch-highlight affects query-replace and ispell.
3928 Instead of disabling isearch-highlight you may find that a better
3929 solution consists of customizing the @code{isearch} face.
3932 @node Q3.10.4, Q3.10.5, Q3.10.3, Customisation
3933 @unnumberedsec Q3.10.4: How do I turn off highlighting after @kbd{C-x C-p} (mark-page)?
3935 Put this in your @file{init.el}:
3938 (setq zmacs-regions nil)
3941 @strong{Warning: This command turns off all region highlighting.}
3943 Also see @ref{Q3.10.1}.
3946 @node Q3.10.5, Q3.10.6, Q3.10.4, Customisation
3947 @unnumberedsec Q3.10.5: The region disappears when I hit the end of buffer while scrolling.
3949 Does not apply anymore.
3952 @node Q3.10.6, , Q3.10.5, Customisation
3953 @unnumberedsec Q3.10.6: Why is killing so slow?
3955 This actually is an X Windows question, although you'll notice it with
3956 keyboard operations as well as while using the GUI. Basically, there
3957 are four ways to communicate interprogram via the X server:
3960 @item Primary selection
3961 a transient selection that gets replaced every time a new selection is made
3963 @item Secondary selection
3964 for "exchanging" with the primary selection
3967 a clipboard internal to the X server (deprecated)
3969 @item Clipboard selection
3970 a selection with a notification protocol that allows a separate app to
3971 manage the clipboard
3974 The cut buffers are deprecated because managing them is even more
3975 inefficient than the clipboard notification protocol. The primary
3976 selection works fine for many users and applications, but is not very
3977 robust under intensive or sophisticated use.
3979 In Motif, a clipboard has become the primary means for managing cut
3980 and paste. These means that "modern" applications tend to be oriented
3981 toward a true clipboard, rather than the primary selection. It's not
3982 that SXEmacs doesn't support the simple primary selection method, it's
3983 that more and more other applications don't.
3985 So the slowdown occurs because SXEmacs now engages in the clipboard
3986 notification protocol on @emph{every} kill. This is especially slow on
3989 With most people running most clients and server on the same host, and
3990 many of the rest working over very fast communication, you may expect
3991 that the situation is not going to improve.
3993 There are a number of workarounds. The most effective is to use a
3994 special command to do selection ownership only when you intend to paste
3995 to another application. Useful commands are @code{kill-primary-selection}
3996 and @code{copy-primary-selection}. These work only on text selected
3997 with the mouse (probably; experiment), and are bound by default to the
3998 @kbd{Cut} and @kbd{Copy}, respectively, buttons on the toolbar.
3999 @code{copy-primary-selection} is also bound to @kbd{C-Insert}. You can
4000 yank the clipboard contents with @code{yank-primary-selection}, bound to
4001 the @kbd{Paste} toolbar button and @kbd{Sh-Insert}.
4003 If you are communicating by cut and paste with applications that use the
4004 primary selection, then you can customize
4005 @code{interprogram-cut-function} to @code{nil}, restoring the XEmacs
4006 version 20 behavior. How can you tell if a program will support this?
4007 Motifly-correct programs require the clipboard; you lose. For others,
4008 only by trying it. You also need to customize the complementary
4009 @code{interprogram-paste-function} to @code{nil}. (Otherwise
4010 SXEmacs-to-SXEmacs pastes will not work correctly.)
4012 You may get some relief on Motif by setting
4013 @code{x-selection-strict-motif-ownership} to nil, but this means you will
4014 only intermittently be able to paste SXEmacs kills to Motif applications.
4016 Thanks to Jeff Mincy and Glynn Clements for corrections.
4019 @node Subsystems, Miscellaneous, Customisation, Top
4020 @unnumbered 4 Major Subsystems
4022 This is part 4 of the SXEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
4023 section is devoted to major SXEmacs subsystems.
4026 Reading Mail with VM:
4027 * Q4.0.1:: How do I set up VM to retrieve remote mail using POP?
4028 * Q4.0.2:: How do I get VM to filter mail for me?
4029 * Q4.0.3:: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail?
4030 * Q4.0.4:: [This question intentionally left blank]
4031 * Q4.0.5:: How do I get my outgoing mail archived?
4032 * Q4.0.6:: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How
4033 can I tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"?
4034 * Q4.0.7:: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM?
4035 * Q4.0.8:: Remote mail reading with VM.
4036 * Q4.0.9:: rmail or VM gets an error incorporating new mail.
4037 * Q4.0.10:: How do I make VM stay in a single frame?
4038 * Q4.0.11:: How do I make VM or mh-e display graphical smilies?
4039 * Q4.0.12:: Customisation of VM not covered in the manual or here.
4041 Web browsing with W3:
4042 * Q4.1.1:: What is W3?
4043 * Q4.1.2:: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall?
4044 * Q4.1.3:: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables?
4046 Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus:
4047 * Q4.2.1:: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus,
4048 Quassia Gnus, Pterodactyl Gnus, Oort Gnus, argh!
4049 * Q4.2.2:: [This question intentionally left blank]
4050 * Q4.2.3:: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame?
4051 * Q4.2.4:: How do I customize the From: line?
4054 * Q4.3.1:: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages?
4055 * Q4.3.2:: What is TM and where do I get it?
4056 * Q4.3.3:: Why isn't this @code{movemail} program working?
4057 * Q4.3.4:: Movemail is also distributed by Netscape? Can that cause problems?
4058 * Q4.3.5:: Where do I find pstogif (required by tm)?
4060 Sparcworks, EOS, and WorkShop:
4061 * Q4.4.1:: What is SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop
4064 * Q4.5.1:: What is/was Energize?
4067 * Q4.6.1:: What is Infodock?
4069 Other Unbundled Packages:
4070 * Q4.7.1:: What is AUC TeX? Where do you get it?
4071 * Q4.7.2:: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets?
4072 * Q4.7.3:: [This question intentionally left blank]
4073 * Q4.7.4:: Problems installing AUC TeX
4074 * Q4.7.5:: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in SXEmacs?
4075 * Q4.7.6:: Is there a MatLab mode?
4076 * Q4.7.7:: Can I edit files on other hosts?
4079 @node Q4.0.1, Q4.0.2, Subsystems, Subsystems
4080 @unnumberedsec 4.0: Reading Mail with VM
4081 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.1: How do I set up VM to retrieve mail from a remote site using POP?
4083 Use @code{vm-spool-files}, like this for example:
4086 (setq vm-spool-files '("/var/spool/mail/wing"
4087 "netcom23.netcom.com:110:pass:wing:MYPASS"))
4090 Of course substitute your actual password for MYPASS.
4093 @node Q4.0.2, Q4.0.3, Q4.0.1, Subsystems
4094 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.2: How do I get VM to filter mail for me?
4096 One possibility is to use procmail to split your mail before it gets to
4097 VM. I prefer this personally, since there are many strange and
4098 wonderful things one can do with procmail. Procmail may be found at
4099 @uref{ftp://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/packages/procmail/}.
4101 Also see the Mail Filtering FAQ at:
4105 @uref{ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/filtering-faq}.
4107 @c <URL:http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/mail/filtering-faq/faq.html>
4111 @node Q4.0.3, Q4.0.4, Q4.0.2, Subsystems
4112 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.3: How can I get VM to automatically check for new mail?
4114 @email{turner@@lanl.gov, John Turner} writes:
4120 (setq vm-auto-get-new-mail 60)
4125 @node Q4.0.4, Q4.0.5, Q4.0.3, Subsystems
4126 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.4: [This question intentionally left blank]
4128 Obsolete question, left blank to avoid renumbering.
4131 @node Q4.0.5, Q4.0.6, Q4.0.4, Subsystems
4132 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.5: How do I get my outgoing mail archived?
4135 (setq mail-archive-file-name "~/outbox")
4139 @node Q4.0.6, Q4.0.7, Q4.0.5, Subsystems
4140 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.6: I have various addresses at which I receive mail. How can I tell VM to ignore them when doing a "reply-all"?
4142 Set @code{vm-reply-ignored-addresses} to a list, like
4145 (setq vm-reply-ignored-addresses
4146 '("wing@@nuspl@@nvwls.cc.purdue.edu,netcom[0-9]*.netcom.com"
4147 "wing@@netcom.com" "wing@@xemacs.org"))
4150 Note that each string is a regular expression.
4153 @node Q4.0.7, Q4.0.8, Q4.0.6, Subsystems
4154 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.7: Is there a mailing list or FAQ for VM?
4156 A FAQ for VM exists at @uref{http://www.wonderworks.com/vm/FAQ.html}.
4158 VM has its own newsgroups gnu.emacs.vm.info and gnu.emacs.vm.bug.
4161 @node Q4.0.8, Q4.0.9, Q4.0.7, Subsystems
4162 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.8: Remote mail reading with VM.
4164 My mailbox lives at the office on a big honkin server. My regular INBOX
4165 lives on my honkin desktop machine. I now can PPP to the office from
4166 home which is far from honking... I'd like to be able to read mail at
4167 home without storing it here and I'd like to use sxemacs and VM at
4168 home... Is there a recommended setup?
4170 @email{nuspl@@nvwls.cc.purdue.edu, Joseph J. Nuspl Jr.} writes:
4173 There are several ways to do this.
4177 Set your display to your home machine and run dxpc or one of the other X
4181 NFS mount your desktop machine on your home machine and modify your pop
4182 command on your home machine to rsh to your desktop machine and actually
4186 Run a POP server on your desktop machine as well and do a sort of two
4191 @email{wmperry@@monolith.spry.com, William Perry} adds:
4194 Or you could run a pop script periodically on your desktop machine, and
4195 just use ange-ftp or NFS to get to your mailbox. I used to do this all
4196 the time back at IU.
4200 @node Q4.0.9, Q4.0.10, Q4.0.8, Subsystems
4201 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.9: rmail or VM gets an error incorporating new mail.
4203 Quoting the SXEmacs PROBLEMS file:
4206 rmail and VM get new mail from @file{/var/spool/mail/$USER} using a
4207 program called @code{movemail}. This program interlocks with
4208 @code{/bin/mail} using the protocol defined by @code{/bin/mail}.
4210 There are two different protocols in general use. One of them uses the
4211 @code{flock} system call. The other involves creating a lock file;
4212 @code{movemail} must be able to write in @file{/var/spool/mail} in order
4213 to do this. You control which one is used by defining, or not defining,
4214 the macro @code{MAIL_USE_FLOCK} in @file{config.h} or the m- or s- file
4217 @strong{IF YOU DON'T USE THE FORM OF INTERLOCKING THAT IS NORMAL ON YOUR
4218 SYSTEM, YOU CAN LOSE MAIL!}
4220 If your system uses the lock file protocol, and fascist restrictions
4221 prevent ordinary users from writing the lock files in
4222 @file{/var/spool/mail}, you may need to make @code{movemail} setgid to a
4223 suitable group such as @samp{mail}. You can use these commands (as
4231 Installation normally copies movemail from the build directory to an
4232 installation directory which is usually under @file{/usr/local/lib}.
4233 The installed copy of @code{movemail} is usually in the directory
4234 @file{/usr/local/lib/sxemacs-VERSION/TARGET}. You must change the group
4235 and mode of the installed copy; changing the group and mode of the build
4236 directory copy is ineffective.
4240 @node Q4.0.10, Q4.0.11, Q4.0.9, Subsystems
4241 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.10: How do I make VM stay in a single frame?
4243 John.@email{Cooper@@Eng.Sun.COM, John S Cooper} writes:
4247 ; Don't use multiple frames
4248 (setq vm-frame-per-composition nil)
4249 (setq vm-frame-per-folder nil)
4250 (setq vm-frame-per-edit nil)
4251 (setq vm-frame-per-summary nil)
4256 @node Q4.0.11, Q4.0.12, Q4.0.10, Subsystems
4257 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.11: How do I make VM or mh-e display graphical smilies?
4259 For mh-e use the following:
4262 (add-hook 'mh-show-mode-hook '(lambda ()
4263 (smiley-region (point-min)
4267 @email{bill@@carpenter.ORG, WJCarpenter} writes:
4268 For VM use the following:
4270 (autoload 'smiley-region "smiley" nil t)
4271 (add-hook 'vm-select-message-hook
4273 (smiley-region (point-min)
4277 For tm use the following:
4279 (autoload 'smiley-buffer "smiley" nil t)
4280 (add-hook 'mime-viewer/plain-text-preview-hook 'smiley-buffer)
4284 @node Q4.0.12, Q4.1.1, Q4.0.11, Subsystems
4285 @unnumberedsec Q4.0.12: Customisation of VM not covered in the manual, or here.
4287 @email{boffi@@hp735.stru.polimi.it, giacomo boffi} writes:
4290 The meta-answer is to look into the file @file{vm-vars.el}, in the vm
4291 directory of the lisp library.
4293 @file{vm-vars.el} contains, initializes and carefully describes, with
4294 examples of usage, the plethora of user options that @emph{fully}
4295 control VM's behavior.
4297 Enter vm-vars, @code{forward-search} for toolbar, find the variables
4298 that control the toolbar placement, appearance, existence, copy to
4299 your @file{init.el} or @file{.vm} and modify according to the detailed
4302 The above also applies to all the various features of VM: search for
4303 some keywords, maybe the first you conjure isn't appropriate, find the
4304 appropriate variables, copy and experiment.
4308 @node Q4.1.1, Q4.1.2, Q4.0.12, Subsystems
4309 @unnumberedsec 4.1: Web browsing with W3
4310 @unnumberedsec Q4.1.1: What is W3?
4312 W3 is an advanced graphical browser written in Emacs lisp that runs on
4313 SXEmacs. It has full support for cascaded style sheets, and more...
4315 It has a home web page at
4316 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/elisp/w3/docs.html}.
4319 @node Q4.1.2, Q4.1.3, Q4.1.1, Subsystems
4320 @unnumberedsec Q4.1.2: How do I run W3 from behind a firewall?
4322 There is a long, well-written, detailed section in the W3 manual that
4323 describes how to do this. Look in the section entitled "Firewalls".
4326 @node Q4.1.3, Q4.2.1, Q4.1.2, Subsystems
4327 @unnumberedsec Q4.1.3: Is it true that W3 supports style sheets and tables?
4329 Yes, and much more. W3, as distributed with the latest SXEmacs is a
4330 full-featured web browser.
4333 @node Q4.2.1, Q4.2.2, Q4.1.3, Subsystems
4334 @unnumberedsec 4.2: Reading Netnews and Mail with Gnus
4335 @unnumberedsec Q4.2.1: GNUS, (ding) Gnus, Gnus 5, September Gnus, Red Gnus, Quassia Gnus, Pterodactyl Gnus, Oort Gnus, argh!
4337 The Gnus numbering issues are not meant for mere mortals to know them.
4338 @c If you feel you @emph{must} enter the muddy waters of Gnus, visit the
4339 @c excellent FAQ, maintained by Justin Sheehy, at:
4342 @c @uref{http://www.ccs.neu.edu/software/contrib/gnus/}
4345 See the Gnus home page
4347 @uref{http://www.gnus.org/}
4351 @node Q4.2.2, Q4.2.3, Q4.2.1, Subsystems
4352 @unnumberedsec Q4.2.2: This question intentionally left blank.
4354 Obsolete question, left blank to avoid renumbering.
4357 @node Q4.2.3, Q4.2.4, Q4.2.2, Subsystems
4358 @unnumberedsec Q4.2.3: How do I make Gnus stay within a single frame?
4360 The toolbar code to start Gnus opens the new frame---and it's a feature
4361 rather than a bug. If you don't like it, but would still like to click
4362 on the seemly icon, use the following code:
4365 (defun toolbar-news ()
4369 It will redefine the callback function of the icon to just call
4370 @code{gnus}, without all the fancy frame stuff.
4373 @node Q4.2.4, Q4.3.1, Q4.2.3, Subsystems
4374 @unnumberedsec Q4.2.4: How do I customize the From: line?
4376 How do I change the @code{From:} line? I have set gnus-user-from-line
4379 Gail Gurman <gail.gurman@@sybase.com>
4381 @noindent , but SXEmacs Gnus doesn't use
4384 Gail Mara Gurman @email{gailg@@deall}
4386 @noindent and then complains
4387 that it's incorrect. Also, as you perhaps can see, my Message-ID is
4388 screwy. How can I change that?
4390 @email{larsi@@ifi.uio.no, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen} writes:
4393 Set @code{user-mail-address} to @samp{gail.gurman@@sybase.com} or
4394 @code{mail-host-address} to @samp{sybase.com}.
4398 @node Q4.3.1, Q4.3.2, Q4.2.4, Subsystems
4399 @unnumberedsec 4.3: Other Mail & News
4400 @unnumberedsec Q4.3.1: How can I read and/or compose MIME messages?
4403 VM supports MIME natively.
4405 You probably want to use the Tools for MIME (tm). @xref{Q4.3.2}, for
4408 @email{trey@@cs.berkeley.edu, Trey Jackson} has an Emacs & MIME web page at
4412 @uref{http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~trey/emacs/mime.html}.
4415 Another possibility is RMIME. You may find RMIME at
4419 @uref{http://www.cinti.net/~rmoody/rmime/index.html}.
4422 @node Q4.3.2, Q4.3.3, Q4.3.1, Subsystems
4423 @unnumberedsec Q4.3.2: What is TM and where do I get it?
4425 TM stands for @dfn{Tools for MIME} and not Tiny MIME. TM integrates
4426 with all major (S)XEmacs packages like Gnus (all flavours), VM, MH-E,
4427 and mailcrypt. It provides totally transparent and trouble-free MIME
4428 support. When appropriate a message will be decoded in place in an
4431 TM was written by @email{morioka@@jaist.ac.jp, MORIOKA Tomohiko} and
4432 @email{shuhei-k@@jaist.ac.jp, KOBAYASHI Shuhei}.
4434 It is based on the work of @email{umerin@@mse.kyutech.ac.jp, UMEDA
4435 Masanobu}, the original writer of GNUS.
4437 The following information is from the @file{README}:
4439 @dfn{tm} is a MIME package for GNU Emacs.
4440 tm has following functions:
4443 @item MIME style multilingual header.
4444 @item MIME message viewer (mime/viewer-mode).
4445 @item MIME message composer (mime/editor-mode).
4446 @item MIME extenders for mh-e, GNUS, RMAIL and VM.
4449 tm is available from following anonymous ftp sites:
4451 @comment @item @uref{ftp://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/GNU/elisp/mime/} (Japan).
4452 @comment @item @uref{ftp://ftp.nis.co.jp/pub/gnu/emacs-lisp/tm/} (Japan).
4453 @comment @c The host above is unknown.
4454 @comment @item @uref{ftp://ftp.nisiq.net/pub/gnu/emacs-lisp/tm/} (US).
4455 @comment @item @uref{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/jaist.ac.jp/} (US).
4456 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.unicamp.br/pub/mail/mime/tm/} (Brasil).
4457 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.th-darmstadt.de/pub/editors/GNU-Emacs/lisp/mime/} (Germany).
4458 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.tnt.uni-hannover.de/pub/editors/xemacs/contrib/} (Germany).
4461 Don't let the installation procedure & instructions stop you from trying
4462 this package out---it's much simpler than it looks, and once installed,
4465 @email{youngs@@sxemacs.org, Steve Youngs} writes:
4468 All the major Emacs Lisp based MUAs (Gnus, MH-E, and VM) all do their
4469 own thing when it comes to MIME so you won't need TM to get MIME support
4474 @node Q4.3.3, Q4.3.4, Q4.3.2, Subsystems
4475 @unnumberedsec Q4.3.3: Why isn't this @code{movemail} program working?
4477 Ben Wing @email{ben@@xemacs.org} writes:
4480 It wasn't chown'ed/chmod'd correctly.
4484 @node Q4.3.4, Q4.3.5, Q4.3.3, Subsystems
4485 @unnumberedsec Q4.3.4: Movemail is also distributed by Netscape? Can that cause problems?
4487 @email{steve@@xemacs.org, Steve Baur} writes:
4490 Yes. Always use the movemail installed with your SXEmacs. Failure to do
4491 so can result in lost mail.
4494 Please refer to @email{jwz@@jwz.org, Jamie Zawinski's} notes at
4498 @uref{http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/demo/movemail.html}.
4499 In particular, this document will show you how to make Netscape use the
4500 version of movemail configured for your system by the person who built
4504 @node Q4.3.5, Q4.4.1, Q4.3.4, Subsystems
4505 @unnumberedsec Q4.3.5: Where do I find pstogif (required by tm)?
4507 pstogif is part of the latex2html package.
4509 @email{vroonhof@@math.ethz.ch, Jan Vroonhof} writes:
4511 latex2html is best found at the CTAN hosts and their mirrors
4516 @file{tex-archive/support/latex2html}.
4521 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/support/latex2html/}.
4522 @item @uref{ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/support/latex2html/}.
4525 There is a good mirror at ftp.cdrom.com;
4529 @uref{ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/tex/ctan/support/latex2html/}.
4532 @node Q4.4.1, Q4.5.1, Q4.3.5, Subsystems
4533 @unnumberedsec 4.4: Sparcworks, EOS, and WorkShop
4534 @unnumberedsec Q4.4.1: What is SPARCworks, EOS, and WorkShop?
4536 @email{turner@@lanl.gov, John Turner} writes:
4539 SPARCworks is SunSoft's development environment, comprising compilers
4540 (C, C++, FORTRAN 77, Fortran 90, Ada, and Pascal), a debugger, and other
4541 tools such as TeamWare (for configuration management), MakeTool, etc.
4544 See @uref{http://www.sun.com/software/Developer-products/}
4547 EOS stands for "Era on SPARCworks", but I don't know what Era stands
4550 EOS is the integration of SXEmacs with the SPARCworks debugger. It
4551 allows one to use a SXEmacs frame to view code (complete with
4552 fontification, etc.), set breakpoints, print variables, etc., while
4553 using the SPARCworks debugger. It works very well and I use it all the
4556 @email{cthomp@@xemacs.org, Chuck Thompson} writes:
4559 Era stood for "Emacs Rewritten Again". It was what we were calling the
4560 modified version of Lucid Emacs for Sun when I was dragged, er, allowed
4561 to work on this wonderful editor.
4564 @email{martin@@xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz} writes:
4567 EOS is being replaced with a new graphical development environment
4568 called Sun WorkShop. For more details, check out
4572 @uref{http://www.sun.com/software/Products/Developer-products}.
4576 @node Q4.5.1, Q4.6.1, Q4.4.1, Subsystems
4577 @unnumberedsec 4.5: Energize
4578 @unnumberedsec Q4.5.1: What is/was Energize?
4580 @email{gray@@meteor.harlequin.com, David N Gray} writes:
4582 The files in @file{lisp/energize} are to enable Emacs to interface with
4583 the "Energize Programming System", a C and C++ development environment,
4584 which was a product of Lucid, Inc. Tragically, Lucid went out of
4585 business in 1994, so although Energize is still a great system, if you
4586 don't already have it, there isn't any way to get it now. (Unless you
4587 happen to be in Japan; INS Engineering may still be selling it there.
4588 Tartan bought the rights to sell it in the rest of the world, but never
4593 @node Q4.6.1, Q4.7.1, Q4.5.1, Subsystems
4594 @unnumberedsec 4.6: Infodock
4595 @unnumberedsec Q4.6.1: What is Infodock?
4597 @uref{http://sourceforge.net/projects/infodock/, InfoDock} is an
4598 integrated productivity toolset, mainly aimed at technical people,
4599 hosted at SourceForge.
4601 InfoDock is built atop SXEmacs and so has all of the power of an
4602 Emacs, but with an easier to use and more comprehensive menu-based
4603 user interface. The bottom portion of this text describes how it
4604 differs from SXEmacs/XEmacs and GNU Emacs from the Free Software
4607 InfoDock is aimed at people who want a free, turn-key productivity
4608 environment. Although InfoDock is customizable, it is not intended for
4609 people who like basic versions of Emacs which need to be customized
4610 extensively for local use; standard Emacs distributions are better for
4611 such uses. InfoDock is for those people who want a complete,
4612 pre-customized environment in one package, which they need not touch
4613 more than once or twice a year to update to new revisions.
4615 InfoDock is pre-built for SPARC SunOS/Solaris systems, PA-RISC HP-UX,
4616 and Intel Linux systems. It is intended for use on a color display,
4617 although most features will work on monochrome monitors. Simply unpack
4618 InfoDock according to the instructions in the ID-INSTALL file and you
4621 The InfoDock Manual is concise, yet sufficient as a user guide for users
4622 who have never used an Emacs-type editor before. For users who are
4623 already familiar with Emacs, it supplements the information in the GNU
4626 InfoDock menus are much more extensive and more mature than standard
4627 Emacs menus. Each menu offers a @samp{Manual} item which displays
4628 documentation associated with the menu's functions.
4631 Four types of menubars are provided:
4634 An extensive menubar providing access to global InfoDock commands.
4636 Mode-specific menubars tailored to the current major mode.
4638 A simple menubar for basic editing to help novices get started with InfoDock.
4640 The standard SXEmacs menubar.
4643 Most modes also include mode-specific popup menus. Additionally, region and
4644 rectangle popup menus are included.
4646 @samp{Hyperbole}, the everyday information manager, is a core part of
4647 InfoDock. This provides context-sensitive mouse keys, a rolodex-type
4648 contact manager, programmable hypertext buttons, and an autonumbered
4649 outliner with embedded hyperlink anchors.
4651 The @samp{OO-Browser}, a multi-language object-oriented code browser, is a
4652 standard part of InfoDock.
4654 InfoDock saves a more extensive set of user options than other Emacs
4657 InfoDock inserts a useful file header in many file types, showing the
4658 author, summary, and last modification time of each file. A summary
4659 program can then be used to summarize all of the files in a directory,
4660 for easy MANIFEST file creation.
4662 Your working set of buffers is automatically saved and restored (if you
4663 answer yes to a prompt) between InfoDock sessions.
4665 Refined color choices for code highlighting are provided for both dark and
4666 light background display frames.
4668 The @kbd{C-z} key prefix performs frame-based commands which parallel the
4669 @kbd{C-x} key prefix for window-based commands.
4671 The Smart Menu system is included for producing command menus on dumb
4674 Lisp libraries are better categorized according to function.
4676 Extensions and improvements to many areas of Emacs are included, such as:
4677 paragraph filling, mail reading with Rmail, shell handling, outlining, code
4678 highlighting and browsing, and man page browsing.
4680 InfoDock questions, answers and discussion should go to the mail list
4684 @email{infodock@@infodock.com}. Use
4685 @email{infodock-request@@infodock.com} to be added or removed from the
4686 list. Always include your InfoDock version number when sending help
4689 InfoDock is available across the Internet via anonymous FTP. To get
4690 it, first move to a directory into which you want the InfoDock archive
4691 files placed. We will call this <DIST-DIR>.
4697 Ftp to ftp.xemacs.org (Internet Host ID = 128.174.252.16):
4700 prompt> ftp ftp.xemacs.org
4703 Login as @samp{anonymous} with your own <user-id>@@<site-name> as a password.
4706 Name (ftp.xemacs.org): anonymous
4707 331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.
4708 Password: -<your-user-id>@@<your-domain>
4709 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
4712 Move to the location of the InfoDock archives:
4715 ftp> cd pub/infodock
4718 Set your transfer mode to binary:
4729 Interactive mode off.
4732 Retrieve the InfoDock archives that you want, either by using a
4733 @samp{get <file>} for each file you want or by using the following to
4734 get a complete distribution, including all binaries:
4737 ftp> mget ID-INSTALL
4741 Close the FTP connection:
4748 Read the @file{ID-INSTALL} file which you just retrieved for
4749 step-by-step installation instructions.
4752 @node Q4.7.1, Q4.7.2, Q4.6.1, Subsystems
4753 @unnumberedsec 4.7: Other Unbundled Packages
4754 @unnumberedsec Q4.7.1: What is AUC TeX? Where do you get it?
4756 AUC TeX is an extensible package written by
4757 @email{abraham@@dina.kvl.dk, Per Abrahamsen} that supports writing and
4758 formatting TeX files for most Emacsen. Many different macro packages
4759 are supported, including AMS TeX, LaTeX, and TeXinfo.
4761 The most recent version is always available by ftp at
4765 @uref{ftp://sunsite.dk/packages/auctex/auctex.tar.gz}.
4767 In case you don't have access to anonymous ftp, you can get it by an
4768 email request to @email{ftpmail@@decwrl.dec.com}.
4770 WWW users may want to check out the AUC TeX page at
4774 @uref{http://sunsite.dk/auctex/}.
4777 @node Q4.7.2, Q4.7.3, Q4.7.1, Subsystems
4778 @unnumberedsec Q4.7.2: Are there any Emacs Lisp Spreadsheets?
4780 Yes. Check out @dfn{dismal} (which stands for Dis' Mode Ain't Lotus) at
4784 @uref{ftp://cs.nyu.edu/pub/local/fox/dismal/}.
4787 @node Q4.7.3, Q4.7.4, Q4.7.2, Subsystems
4788 @unnumberedsec Q4.7.3: [This question intentionally left blank]
4791 @node Q4.7.4, Q4.7.5, Q4.7.3, Subsystems
4792 @unnumberedsec Q4.7.4: Problems installing AUC TeX.
4794 @email{vroonhof@@math.ethz.ch, Jan Vroonhof} writes:
4797 AUC TeX works fine on both stock Emacs and (S)XEmacs has been doing so
4798 for a very very long time. This is mostly due to the work of
4799 @email{abraham@@dina.kvl.dk, Per Abrahamsen} (clap clap) in particular
4800 his @file{easymenu} package. Which leads to what is probably the
4804 Most problems with AUC TeX are one of two things:
4808 The TeX-lisp-directory in @file{tex-site.el} and the makefile don't
4811 Fix: make sure you configure AUC TeX properly @strong{before} installing.
4814 You have an old version of easymenu.el in your path.
4816 Fix: use @code{locate-library} and remove old versions to make sure it
4817 @strong{only} finds the one that came with SXEmacs.
4821 @node Q4.7.5, Q4.7.6, Q4.7.4, Subsystems
4822 @unnumberedsec Q4.7.5: Is there a reason for an Emacs package not to be included in SXEmacs?
4824 The reason for an Emacs package not to be included in SXEmacs is
4825 usually one or more of the following:
4829 The package has not been ported to (S)XEmacs. This will typically happen
4830 when it uses GNU-Emacs-specific features, which make it fail under
4833 Porting a package to (S)XEmacs can range from a trivial amount of
4834 change to a partial or full rewrite. Fortunately, the authors of
4835 modern packages usually choose to support all Emacsen themselves.
4838 The package has been decided not to be appropriate for (S)XEmacs. It
4839 may have an equivalent or better replacement within (S)XEmacs, in
4840 which case the developers may choose not to burden themselves with
4841 supporting an additional package.
4843 Each package bundled with (S)XEmacs means more work for the
4844 maintainers, whether they want it or not. If you are ready to take
4845 over the maintenance responsibilities for the package you port, be
4846 sure to say so---we will more likely include it.
4849 The package simply hasn't been noted by the (S)XEmacs development. If
4850 that's the case, the messages like yours are very useful for attracting
4854 The package was noted by the developers, but they simply haven't yet
4855 gotten around to including/porting it. Wait for the next release or,
4856 even better, offer your help. It will be gladly accepted and
4861 @node Q4.7.6, Q4.7.7, Q4.7.5, Subsystems
4862 @unnumberedsec Q4.7.5: Is there a MatLab mode?
4864 Yes, a matlab mode and other items are available at the
4865 @uref{ftp://ftp.mathworks.com/pub/contrib/emacs_add_ons,
4866 MathWorks' emacs_add_ons ftp directory}.
4869 @node Q4.7.7, , Q4.7.6, Subsystems
4870 @unnumberedsec Q4.7.7: Can I edit files on other hosts?
4872 Yes. Of course SXEmacs can use any network file system (such as NFS)
4873 you have available, and includes some optimisations and safety
4874 features appropriate to those environments.
4876 It is also possible to transparently edit files via FTP, ssh, or rsh.
4877 That is, SXEmacs makes a local copy using the transport in the
4878 background, and automatically refreshes the remote original from that
4879 copy when you save it. SXEmacs also is capable of doing file system
4880 manipulations like creating and removing directories and files. The
4881 FTP interface is provided by the standard @samp{efs} package @ref{Top,
4882 EFS, , efs}. The ssh/rsh interface is provided by the optional
4883 @samp{tramp} package @ref{Top, TRAMP, , tramp}.
4885 @node Miscellaneous, MS Windows, Subsystems, Top
4886 @unnumbered 5 The Miscellaneous Stuff
4888 This is part 5 of the SXEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
4889 section is devoted to anything that doesn't fit neatly into the other
4893 Major & Minor Modes:
4894 * Q5.0.1:: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock?
4895 * Q5.0.2:: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode?
4896 * Q5.0.3:: How do I get @samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default?
4897 * Q5.0.4:: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt?
4898 * Q5.0.5:: How can I get SXEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default?
4899 * Q5.0.6:: How do I start up a second shell buffer?
4900 * Q5.0.7:: Telnet from shell filters too much.
4901 * Q5.0.8:: Why does edt emulation not work?
4902 * Q5.0.9:: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode?
4903 * Q5.0.10:: [This question intentionally left blank]
4904 * Q5.0.11:: [This question intentionally left blank]
4905 * Q5.0.12:: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame?
4906 * Q5.0.13:: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent SXEmacs is a client?
4907 * Q5.0.14:: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode.
4908 * Q5.0.15:: Where do I get the latest CC Mode?
4909 * Q5.0.16:: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off?
4910 * Q5.0.17:: How can I get two instances of info?
4911 * Q5.0.18:: [This question intentionally left blank]
4912 * Q5.0.19:: Is there something better than LaTeX mode?
4913 * Q5.0.20:: Is there a way to start a new SXEmacs if there's no
4914 gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient?
4916 Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques:
4917 * Q5.1.1:: The difference in key sequences between XEmacs/SXEmacs and GNU Emacs?
4918 * Q5.1.2:: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events?
4919 * Q5.1.3:: Could you explain @code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail?
4920 * Q5.1.4:: What is the performance hit of @code{let}?
4921 * Q5.1.5:: What is the recommended use of @code{setq}?
4922 * Q5.1.6:: What is the typical misuse of @code{setq} ?
4923 * Q5.1.7:: I like the @code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down?
4924 * Q5.1.8:: I like recursion, does it slow things down?
4925 * Q5.1.9:: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer?
4926 * Q5.1.10:: @code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents!
4927 * Q5.1.11:: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there an easy way to
4928 find out where it spends time?
4931 * Q5.2.1:: How do I turn off the sound?
4932 * Q5.2.2:: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep?
4933 * Q5.2.3:: What's NAS, how do I get it?
4934 * Q5.2.4:: Sunsite sounds don't play.
4938 * Q5.3.1:: How do you make SXEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly?
4939 * Q5.3.2:: [This question intentionally left blank]
4940 * Q5.3.3:: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer?
4941 * Q5.3.4:: Getting @kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer.
4942 * Q5.3.5:: How do I specify the paths that SXEmacs uses for finding files?
4943 * Q5.3.6:: [This question intentionally left blank]
4944 * Q5.3.7:: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way?
4945 * Q5.3.8:: How do I insert today's date into a buffer?
4946 * Q5.3.9:: Are only certain syntactic character classes available for abbrevs?
4947 * Q5.3.10:: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines?
4948 * Q5.3.11:: How do I add new Info directories?
4949 * Q5.3.12:: What do I need to change to make printing work?
4953 @node Q5.0.1, Q5.0.2, Miscellaneous, Miscellaneous
4954 @unnumberedsec 5.0: Major & Minor Modes
4955 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.1: How can I do source code highlighting using font-lock?
4957 For most modes, font-lock is already set up and just needs to be turned
4958 on. This can be done by adding the line:
4961 (require 'font-lock)
4964 to your @file{init.el}. You can turn it on for the current buffer and
4965 session only by @kbd{M-x font-lock-mode}. See the file
4966 @file{etc/sample.init.el} for more information.
4969 @c (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
4970 @c (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
4972 See also @code{Syntax Highlighting} from the @code{Options} menu.
4973 Remember to save options.
4976 @node Q5.0.2, Q5.0.3, Q5.0.1, Miscellaneous
4977 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.2: I do not like cc-mode. How do I use the old c-mode?
4979 Well, first off, consider if you really want to do this. cc-mode is
4980 much more powerful than the old c-mode. If you're having trouble
4981 getting your old offsets to work, try using @code{c-set-offset} instead.
4982 You might also consider using the package @code{cc-compat}.
4984 But, if you still insist, add the following lines to your @file{init.el}:
4987 (fmakunbound 'c-mode)
4988 (makunbound 'c-mode-map)
4989 (fmakunbound 'c++-mode)
4990 (makunbound 'c++-mode-map)
4991 (makunbound 'c-style-alist)
4992 (load-library "old-c-mode")
4993 (load-library "old-c++-mode")
4996 This must be done before any other reference is made to either c-mode or
5000 @node Q5.0.3, Q5.0.4, Q5.0.2, Miscellaneous
5001 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.3: How do I get @samp{More} Syntax Highlighting on by default?
5003 Use the following code in your @file{init.el}:
5006 (setq-default font-lock-maximum-decoration t)
5009 See also @code{Syntax Highlighting} from the @code{Options} menu.
5010 Remember to save options.
5013 @node Q5.0.4, Q5.0.5, Q5.0.3, Miscellaneous
5014 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.4: How can I enable auto-indent and/or Filladapt?
5016 Put the following line in your @file{init.el}:
5019 (setq indent-line-function 'indent-relative-maybe)
5022 If you want to get fancy, try the @code{filladapt} package available
5023 standard with SXEmacs. Put this into your @file{init.el}:
5026 (require 'filladapt)
5027 (setq-default filladapt-mode t)
5028 (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-off-filladapt-mode)
5031 This will enable Filladapt for all modes except C mode, where it doesn't
5032 work well. To turn Filladapt on only in particular major modes, remove
5033 the @code{(setq-default ...)} line and use
5034 @code{turn-on-filladapt-mode}, like this:
5037 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-filladapt-mode)
5040 You can customize filling and adaptive filling with Customize.
5041 Select from the @code{Options} menu
5042 @code{Advanced (Customize)->Emacs->Editing->Fill->Fill...}
5043 or type @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} fill @key{RET}}.
5045 Note that well-behaving text-lookalike modes will run
5046 @code{text-mode-hook} by default (e.g. that's what Message does). For
5047 the nasty ones, you'll have to provide the @code{add-hook}s yourself.
5049 Please note that the @code{fa-extras} package is no longer useful.
5052 @node Q5.0.5, Q5.0.6, Q5.0.4, Miscellaneous
5053 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.5: How can I get SXEmacs to come up in text/auto-fill mode by default?
5055 Try the following lisp in your @file{init.el}:
5058 (setq default-major-mode 'text-mode)
5059 (setq text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)
5062 @strong{WARNING}: note that changing the value of
5063 @code{default-major-mode} from @code{fundamental-mode} can break a large
5064 amount of built-in code that expects newly created buffers to be in
5065 @code{fundamental-mode}. (Changing from @code{fundamental-mode} to
5066 @code{text-mode} might not wreak too much havoc, but changing to
5067 something more exotic like a lisp-mode would break many Emacs packages).
5069 Note that Emacs by default starts up in buffer @code{*scratch*} in
5070 @code{initial-major-mode}, which defaults to
5071 @code{lisp-interaction-mode}. Thus adding the following form to your
5072 Emacs init file will cause the initial @code{*scratch*} buffer to be put
5073 into auto-fill'ed @code{text-mode}:
5076 (setq initial-major-mode
5079 (turn-on-auto-fill)))
5082 Note that after your init file is loaded, if
5083 @code{inhibit-startup-message} is @code{nil} (the default) and the
5084 startup buffer is @code{*scratch*} then the startup message will be
5085 inserted into @code{*scratch*}; it will be removed after a timeout by
5086 erasing the entire @code{*scratch*} buffer. Keep in mind this default
5087 usage of @code{*scratch*} if you desire any prior manipulation of
5088 @code{*scratch*} from within your Emacs init file. In particular,
5089 anything you insert into @code{*scratch*} from your init file will be
5090 later erased. Also, if you change the mode of the @code{*scratch*}
5091 buffer, be sure that this will not interfere with possible later
5092 insertion of the startup message (e.g. if you put @code{*scratch*} into
5093 a nonstandard mode that has automatic font lock rules, then the startup
5094 message might get fontified in a strange foreign manner, e.g. as code in
5095 some programming language).
5098 @node Q5.0.6, Q5.0.7, Q5.0.5, Miscellaneous
5099 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.6: How do I start up a second shell buffer?
5101 In the @code{*shell*} buffer:
5104 M-x rename-buffer @key{RET} *shell-1* @key{RET}
5108 This will then start a second shell. The key is that no buffer named
5109 @samp{*shell*} can exist. It might be preferable to use @kbd{M-x
5110 rename-uniquely} to rename the @code{*shell*} buffer instead of @kbd{M-x
5113 Alternately, you can set the variable @code{shell-multiple-shells}.
5114 If the value of this variable is non-nil, each time shell mode is invoked,
5118 @node Q5.0.7, Q5.0.8, Q5.0.6, Miscellaneous
5119 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.7: Telnet from shell filters too much
5121 I'm using the Emacs @kbd{M-x shell} function, and I would like to invoke
5122 and use a telnet session within it. Everything works fine except that
5123 now all @samp{^M}'s are filtered out by Emacs. Fixes?
5125 Use @kbd{M-x rsh} or @kbd{M-x telnet} to open remote sessions rather
5126 than doing rsh or telnet within the local shell buffer. You can also
5127 use @kbd{M-x ssh} to open secure remote session if you have @code{ssh}
5131 @node Q5.0.8, Q5.0.9, Q5.0.7, Miscellaneous
5132 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.8: Why does edt emulation not work?
5134 We don't know, but you can use tpu-edt emulation instead, which works
5135 fine and is a little fancier than the standard edt emulation. To do
5136 this, add the following line to your @file{init.el}:
5142 If you don't want it to replace @kbd{C-h} with an edt-style help menu
5146 (global-set-key [(control h)] 'help-for-help)
5150 @node Q5.0.9, Q5.0.10, Q5.0.8, Miscellaneous
5151 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.9: How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode?
5153 Our recommended VI emulator is viper. To make viper-mode the default,
5154 add this to your @file{init.el}:
5160 @email{kifer@@CS.SunySB.EDU, Michael Kifer} writes:
5163 This should be added as close to the top of @file{init.el} as you can get
5164 it, otherwise some minor modes may not get viper-ized.
5168 @node Q5.0.10, Q5.0.11, Q5.0.9, Miscellaneous
5169 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.10: [This question intentionally left blank]
5171 Obsolete question, left blank to avoid renumbering
5174 @node Q5.0.11, Q5.0.12, Q5.0.10, Miscellaneous
5175 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.11: [This question intentionally left blank]
5177 Obsolete question, left blank to avoid renumbering
5180 @node Q5.0.12, Q5.0.13, Q5.0.11, Miscellaneous
5181 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.12: How do I disable gnuserv from opening a new frame?
5183 If you set the @code{gnuserv-frame} variable to the frame that should be
5184 used to display buffers that are pulled up, a new frame will not be
5185 created. For example, you could put
5188 (setq gnuserv-frame (selected-frame))
5191 early on in your @file{init.el}, to ensure that the first frame created
5192 is the one used for your gnuserv buffers.
5194 There is an option to set the gnuserv target to the current frame. See
5195 @code{Options->Display->"Other Window" Location->Make Current Frame Gnuserv Target}
5197 You can also change this with Customize. Select from the
5198 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
5199 (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Gnuserv->Gnuserv Frame...} or type
5200 @kbd{M-x customize @key{RET} gnuserv @key{RET}}.
5203 @node Q5.0.13, Q5.0.14, Q5.0.12, Miscellaneous
5204 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.13: How do I start gnuserv so that each subsequent SXEmacs is a client?
5206 Put the following in your @file{init.el} file to start the server:
5212 Start your first SXEmacs as usual. After that, you can do:
5215 gnuclient randomfilename
5218 from the command line to get your existing SXEmacs process to open a
5219 new frame and visit randomfilename in that window. When you're done
5220 editing randomfilename, hit @kbd{C-x #} to kill the buffer and get rid
5223 See also man page of gnuclient.
5226 @node Q5.0.14, Q5.0.15, Q5.0.13, Miscellaneous
5227 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.14: Strange things are happening in Shell Mode.
5229 Sometimes (i.e. it's not repeatable, and I can't work out why it
5230 happens) when I'm typing into shell mode, I hit return and only a
5231 portion of the command is given to the shell, and a blank prompt is
5232 returned. If I hit return again, the rest of the previous command is
5235 @email{martin@@xemacs.org, Martin Buchholz} writes:
5238 There is a known problem with interaction between @code{csh} and the
5239 @code{filec} option and SXEmacs. You should add the following to your
5243 if ( "$TERM" == emacs || "$TERM" == unknown ) unset filec
5248 @node Q5.0.15, Q5.0.16, Q5.0.14, Miscellaneous
5249 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.15: Where do I get the latest CC Mode?
5251 See @uref{http://cc-mode.sourceforge.net/}.
5254 @node Q5.0.16, Q5.0.17, Q5.0.15, Miscellaneous
5255 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.16: I find auto-show-mode disconcerting. How do I turn it off?
5257 @code{auto-show-mode} controls whether or not a horizontal scrollbar
5258 magically appears when a line is too long to be displayed. This is
5259 enabled by default. To turn it off, put the following in your
5263 (setq auto-show-mode nil)
5264 (setq-default auto-show-mode nil)
5268 @node Q5.0.17, Q5.0.18, Q5.0.16, Miscellaneous
5269 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.17: How can I get two instances of info?
5274 @node Q5.0.18, Q5.0.19, Q5.0.17, Miscellaneous
5275 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.18: [This question intentionally left blank]
5278 @node Q5.0.19, Q5.0.20, Q5.0.18, Miscellaneous
5279 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.19: Is there something better than LaTeX mode?
5281 @email{dak@@fsnif.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de, David Kastrup} writes:
5284 The standard TeX modes leave much to be desired, and are somewhat
5285 leniently maintained. Serious TeX users use AUC TeX (@pxref{Q4.7.1}).
5289 @node Q5.0.20, Q5.1.1, Q5.0.19, Miscellaneous
5290 @unnumberedsec Q5.0.20: Is there a way to start a new SXEmacs if there's no gnuserv running, and otherwise use gnuclient?
5292 @email{vroonhof@@math.ethz.ch, Jan Vroonhof} writes:
5294 Here is one of the solutions, we have this in a script called
5295 @file{etc/editclient.sh}.
5298 if gnuclient -batch -eval t >/dev/null 2>&1
5300 exec gnuclient $@{1+"$@@"@}
5302 sxemacs -unmapped -f gnuserv-start &
5303 until gnuclient -batch -eval t >/dev/null 2>&1
5307 exec gnuclient $@{1+"$@@"@}
5311 Note that there is a known problem when running SXEmacs and
5312 @samp{gnuclient -nw} on the same TTY.
5316 @node Q5.1.1, Q5.1.2, Q5.0.20, Miscellaneous
5317 @unnumberedsec 5.1: Emacs Lisp Programming Techniques
5318 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.1: What is the difference in key sequences between XEmacs/SXEmacs and GNU Emacs?
5320 @email{clerik@@naggum.no, Erik Naggum} writes;
5323 Emacs has a legacy of keyboards that produced characters with modifier
5324 bits, and therefore map a variety of input systems into this scheme even
5325 today. XEmacs is instead optimized for X events. This causes an
5326 incompatibility in the way key sequences are specified, but both Emacs
5327 and XEmacs will accept a key sequence as a vector of lists of modifiers
5328 that ends with a key, e.g., to bind @kbd{M-C-a}, you would say
5329 @code{[(meta control a)]} in both Emacsen. XEmacs has an abbreviated
5330 form for a single key, just (meta control a). Emacs has an abbreviated
5331 form for the Control and the Meta modifiers to string-characters (the
5332 ASCII characters), as in @samp{\M-\C-a}. XEmacs users need to be aware
5333 that the abbreviated form works only for one-character key sequences,
5334 while Emacs users need to be aware that the string-character is rather
5335 limited. Specifically, the string-character can accommodate only 256
5336 different values, 128 of which have the Meta modifier and 128 of which
5337 have not. In each of these blocks, only 32 characters have the Control
5338 modifier. Whereas @code{[(meta control A)]} differs from @code{[(meta
5339 control a)]} because the case differs, @samp{\M-\C-a} and @samp{\M-\C-A}
5340 do not. Programmers are advised to use the full common form, both
5341 because it is more readable and less error-prone, and because it is
5342 supported by both Emacsen.
5345 Another (even safer) way to be sure of the key-sequences is to use the
5346 @code{read-kbd-macro} function, which takes a string like @samp{C-c
5347 <up>}, and converts it to the internal key representation of the Emacs
5348 you use. The function is available under all Emacsen.
5351 @node Q5.1.2, Q5.1.3, Q5.1.1, Miscellaneous
5352 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.2: Can I generate "fake" keyboard events?
5354 I wonder if there is an interactive function that can generate
5355 @dfn{fake} keyboard events. This way, I could simply map them inside
5361 (defun cg--generate-char-event (ch)
5362 "Generate an event, as if ch has been typed"
5363 (dispatch-event (character-to-event ch)))
5365 ;; Backspace and Delete stuff
5366 (global-set-key [backspace]
5367 (lambda () (interactive) (cg--generate-char-event 127)))
5368 (global-set-key [unknown_keysym_0x4]
5369 (lambda () (interactive) (cg--generate-char-event 4)))
5373 @node Q5.1.3, Q5.1.4, Q5.1.2, Miscellaneous
5374 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.3: Could you explain @code{read-kbd-macro} in more detail?
5376 The @code{read-kbd-macro} function returns the internal Emacs
5377 representation of a human-readable string (which is its argument).
5381 (read-kbd-macro "C-c C-a")
5382 @result{} [(control ?c) (control ?a)]
5384 (read-kbd-macro "C-c C-. <up>")
5385 @result{} [(control ?c) (control ?.) up]
5388 In GNU Emacs the same forms will be evaluated to what GNU Emacs
5389 understands internally---the sequences @code{"\C-x\C-c"} and @code{[3
5390 67108910 up]}, respectively.
5392 The exact @dfn{human-readable} syntax is defined in the docstring of
5393 @code{edmacro-mode}. I'll repeat it here, for completeness.
5396 Format of keyboard macros during editing:
5398 Text is divided into @dfn{words} separated by whitespace. Except for
5399 the words described below, the characters of each word go directly as
5400 characters of the macro. The whitespace that separates words is
5401 ignored. Whitespace in the macro must be written explicitly, as in
5402 @kbd{foo @key{SPC} bar @key{RET}}.
5406 The special words @kbd{RET}, @kbd{SPC}, @kbd{TAB}, @kbd{DEL}, @kbd{LFD},
5407 @kbd{ESC}, and @kbd{NUL} represent special control characters. The
5408 words must be written in uppercase.
5411 A word in angle brackets, e.g., @code{<return>}, @code{<down>}, or
5412 @code{<f1>}, represents a function key. (Note that in the standard
5413 configuration, the function key @code{<return>} and the control key
5414 @key{RET} are synonymous.) You can use angle brackets on the words
5415 @key{RET}, @key{SPC}, etc., but they are not required there.
5418 Keys can be written by their @sc{ascii} code, using a backslash followed
5419 by up to six octal digits. This is the only way to represent keys with
5423 One or more prefixes @kbd{M-} (meta), @kbd{C-} (control), @kbd{S-}
5424 (shift), @kbd{A-} (alt), @kbd{H-} (hyper), and @kbd{s-} (super) may
5425 precede a character or key notation. For function keys, the prefixes
5426 may go inside or outside of the brackets: @code{C-<down>} @equiv{}
5427 @code{<C-down>}. The prefixes may be written in any order: @kbd{M-C-x}
5428 @equiv{} @kbd{C-M-x}.
5430 Prefixes are not allowed on multi-key words, e.g., @kbd{C-abc}, except
5431 that the Meta prefix is allowed on a sequence of digits and optional
5432 minus sign: @kbd{M--123} @equiv{} @kbd{M-- M-1 M-2 M-3}.
5435 The @code{^} notation for control characters also works: @kbd{^M}
5439 Double angle brackets enclose command names: @code{<<next-line>>} is
5440 shorthand for @kbd{M-x next-line @key{RET}}.
5443 Finally, @code{REM} or @code{;;} causes the rest of the line to be
5444 ignored as a comment.
5447 Any word may be prefixed by a multiplier in the form of a decimal number
5448 and @code{*}: @code{3*<right>} @equiv{} @code{<right> <right> <right>},
5449 and @code{10*foo} @equiv{}
5453 @code{foofoofoofoofoofoofoofoofoofoo}.
5455 Multiple text keys can normally be strung together to form a word, but
5456 you may need to add whitespace if the word would look like one of the
5457 above notations: @code{; ; ;} is a keyboard macro with three semicolons,
5458 but @code{;;;} is a comment. Likewise, @code{\ 1 2 3} is four keys but
5459 @code{\123} is a single key written in octal, and @code{< right >} is
5460 seven keys but @code{<right>} is a single function key. When in doubt,
5465 @node Q5.1.4, Q5.1.5, Q5.1.3, Miscellaneous
5466 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.4: What is the performance hit of @code{let}?
5468 In most cases, not noticeable. Besides, there's no avoiding
5469 @code{let}---you have to bind your local variables, after all. Some
5470 pose a question whether to nest @code{let}s, or use one @code{let} per
5471 function. I think because of clarity and maintenance (and possible
5472 future implementation), @code{let}-s should be used (nested) in a way to
5473 provide the clearest code.
5476 @node Q5.1.5, Q5.1.6, Q5.1.4, Miscellaneous
5477 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.5: What is the recommended use of @code{setq}?
5480 @item Global variables
5482 You will typically @code{defvar} your global variable to a default
5483 value, and use @code{setq} to set it later.
5485 It is never a good practice to @code{setq} user variables (like
5486 @code{case-fold-search}, etc.), as it ignores the user's choice
5487 unconditionally. Note that @code{defvar} doesn't change the value of a
5488 variable if it was bound previously. If you wish to change a
5489 user-variable temporarily, use @code{let}:
5492 (let ((case-fold-search nil))
5493 ... ; code with searches that must be case-sensitive
5497 You will notice the user-variables by their docstrings beginning with an
5498 asterisk (a convention).
5500 @item Local variables
5502 Bind them with @code{let}, which will unbind them (or restore their
5503 previous value, if they were bound) after exiting from the @code{let}
5504 form. Change the value of local variables with @code{setq} or whatever
5505 you like (e.g. @code{incf}, @code{setf} and such). The @code{let} form
5506 can even return one of its local variables.
5511 ;; iterate through the elements of the list returned by
5512 ;; `hairy-function-that-returns-list'
5513 (let ((l (hairy-function-that-returns-list)))
5515 ... do something with (car l) ...
5519 Another typical usage includes building a value simply to work with it.
5522 ;; Build the mode keymap out of the key-translation-alist
5523 (let ((inbox (file-truename (expand-file-name box)))
5525 ... code dealing with inbox ...
5529 This piece of code uses the local variable @code{inbox}, which becomes
5530 unbound (or regains old value) after exiting the form. The form also
5531 returns the value of @code{inbox}, which can be reused, for instance:
5534 (setq foo-processed-inbox
5540 @node Q5.1.6, Q5.1.7, Q5.1.5, Miscellaneous
5541 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.6: What is the typical misuse of @code{setq} ?
5543 A typical misuse is probably @code{setq}ing a variable that was meant to
5544 be local. Such a variable will remain bound forever, never to be
5545 garbage-collected. For example, the code doing:
5548 (defun my-function (whatever)
5550 ... build a large list ...
5554 does a bad thing, as @code{a} will keep consuming memory, never to be
5555 unbound. The correct thing is to do it like this:
5558 (defun my-function (whatever)
5559 (let (a) ; default initialisation is to nil
5560 ... build a large list ...
5561 ... and exit, unbinding `a' in the process ...)
5564 Not only is this prettier syntactically, but it makes it possible for
5565 Emacs to garbage-collect the objects which @code{a} used to reference.
5567 Note that even global variables should not be @code{setq}ed without
5568 @code{defvar}ing them first, because the byte-compiler issues warnings.
5569 The reason for the warning is the following:
5572 (defvar flurgoze nil) ; ok, global internal variable
5575 (setq flurghoze t) ; ops! a typo, but semantically correct.
5576 ; however, the byte-compiler warns.
5578 While compiling toplevel forms:
5579 ** assignment to free variable flurghoze
5583 @node Q5.1.7, Q5.1.8, Q5.1.6, Miscellaneous
5584 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.7: I like the @code{do} form of cl, does it slow things down?
5586 It shouldn't. Here is what Dave Gillespie has to say about cl.el
5590 Many of the advanced features of this package, such as @code{defun*},
5591 @code{loop}, and @code{setf}, are implemented as Lisp macros. In
5592 byte-compiled code, these complex notations will be expanded into
5593 equivalent Lisp code which is simple and efficient. For example, the
5601 are expanded at compile-time to the Lisp forms
5605 (setcar p (cons x (car p)))
5608 which are the most efficient ways of doing these respective operations
5609 in Lisp. Thus, there is no performance penalty for using the more
5610 readable @code{incf} and @code{push} forms in your compiled code.
5612 @emph{Interpreted} code, on the other hand, must expand these macros
5613 every time they are executed. For this reason it is strongly
5614 recommended that code making heavy use of macros be compiled. (The
5615 features labelled @dfn{Special Form} instead of @dfn{Function} in this
5616 manual are macros.) A loop using @code{incf} a hundred times will
5617 execute considerably faster if compiled, and will also garbage-collect
5618 less because the macro expansion will not have to be generated, used,
5619 and thrown away a hundred times.
5621 You can find out how a macro expands by using the @code{cl-prettyexpand}
5626 @node Q5.1.8, Q5.1.9, Q5.1.7, Miscellaneous
5627 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.8: I like recursion, does it slow things down?
5629 Yes. Emacs byte-compiler cannot do much to optimize recursion. But
5630 think well whether this is a real concern in Emacs. Much of the Emacs
5631 slowness comes from internal mechanisms such as redisplay, or from the
5632 fact that it is an interpreter.
5634 Please try not to make your code much uglier to gain a very small speed
5635 gain. It's not usually worth it.
5638 @node Q5.1.9, Q5.1.10, Q5.1.8, Miscellaneous
5639 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.9: How do I put a glyph as annotation in a buffer?
5641 Here is a solution that will insert the glyph annotation at the
5642 beginning of buffer:
5645 (make-annotation (make-glyph '([FORMAT :file FILE]
5646 [string :data "fallback-text"]))
5652 Replace @samp{FORMAT} with an unquoted symbol representing the format of
5653 the image (e.g. @code{xpm}, @code{xbm}, @code{gif}, @code{jpeg}, etc.)
5654 Instead of @samp{FILE}, use the image file name
5659 @file{/usr/local/lib/sxemacs-22.1.4/etc/recycle.xpm}).
5661 You can turn this to a function (that optionally prompts you for a file
5662 name), and inserts the glyph at @code{(point)} instead of
5666 @node Q5.1.10, Q5.1.11, Q5.1.9, Miscellaneous
5667 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.10: @code{map-extents} won't traverse all of my extents!
5669 I tried to use @code{map-extents} to do an operation on all the extents
5670 in a region. However, it seems to quit after processing a random number
5671 of extents. Is it buggy?
5673 No. The documentation of @code{map-extents} states that it will iterate
5674 across the extents as long as @var{function} returns @code{nil}.
5675 Unexperienced programmers often forget to return @code{nil} explicitly,
5676 which results in buggy code. For instance, the following code is
5677 supposed to delete all the extents in a buffer, and issue as many
5678 @samp{fubar!} messages.
5681 (map-extents (lambda (ext ignore)
5683 (message "fubar!")))
5686 Instead, it will delete only the first extent, and stop right there --
5687 because @code{message} will return a non-nil value. The correct code
5691 (map-extents (lambda (ext ignore)
5698 @node Q5.1.11, Q5.2.1, Q5.1.10, Miscellaneous
5699 @unnumberedsec Q5.1.11: My elisp program is horribly slow. Is there
5700 an easy way to find out where it spends time?
5703 @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org, Hrvoje Niksic} writes:
5705 Under XEmacs 20.4 and later you can use @kbd{M-x profile-key-sequence},
5706 press a key (say @key{RET} in the Gnus Group buffer), and get the
5707 results using @kbd{M-x profile-results}. It should give you an idea of
5708 where the time is being spent.
5712 @node Q5.2.1, Q5.2.2, Q5.1.11, Miscellaneous
5713 @unnumberedsec Q5.2.1: How do I turn off the sound?
5714 @c hehe, this is neat
5715 @c should i mention that if nothing's done, sound is off entirely?
5717 Add the following line to your @file{init.el}:
5720 (setq bell-volume 0)
5721 (setq sound-alist nil)
5724 That will make your SXEmacs totally silent---even the default ding sound
5725 (TTY beep on TTY-s) will be gone.
5727 You can also change these with Customize. Select from the
5728 @code{Options} menu @code{Advanced
5729 (Customize)->Emacs->Environment->Sound->Sound...} or type @kbd{M-x
5730 customize @key{RET} sound @key{RET}}.
5733 @node Q5.2.2, Q5.2.3, Q5.2.1, Miscellaneous
5734 @unnumberedsec Q5.2.2: How do I get funky sounds instead of a boring beep?
5736 Make sure your SXEmacs was compiled with audio and media support, and
5737 then put this in your @file{init.el}:
5740 (load-default-sounds)
5744 @node Q5.2.3, Q5.2.4, Q5.2.2, Miscellaneous
5745 @unnumberedsec Q5.2.3: What's NAS, how do I get it?
5747 @xref{Q2.0.3}, for an explanation of the @dfn{Network Audio System}.
5750 @node Q5.2.4, Q5.3.1, Q5.2.3, Miscellaneous
5751 @unnumberedsec Q5.2.4: Sunsite sounds don't play.
5753 I'm having some trouble with sounds I've downloaded from sunsite. They
5754 play when I run them through @code{showaudio} or cat them directly to
5755 @file{/dev/audio}, but SXEmacs refuses to play them.
5757 @email{gutschk@@uni-muenster.de, Markus Gutschke} writes:
5760 [Many of] These files have an (erroneous) 24byte header that tells about
5761 the format that they have been recorded in. If you cat them to
5762 @file{/dev/audio}, the header will be ignored and the default behavior
5763 for /dev/audio will be used. This happens to be 8kHz uLaw. It is
5764 probably possible to fix the header by piping through @code{sox} and
5765 passing explicit parameters for specifying the sampling format; you then
5766 need to perform a 'null' conversion from SunAudio to SunAudio.
5770 @node Q5.3.1, Q5.3.2, Q5.2.4, Miscellaneous
5771 @unnumberedsec 5.3: Miscellaneous
5772 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.1: How do you make SXEmacs indent CL if-clauses correctly?
5774 I'd like SXEmacs to indent all the clauses of a Common Lisp @code{if} the
5775 same amount instead of indenting the 3rd clause differently from the
5778 One way is to add, to @file{init.el}:
5781 (put 'if 'lisp-indent-function nil)
5784 However, note that the package @code{cl-indent} that comes with
5785 SXEmacs sets up this kind of indentation by default. @code{cl-indent}
5786 also knows about many other CL-specific forms. To use @code{cl-indent},
5791 (setq lisp-indent-function (function common-lisp-indent-function))
5794 One can also customize @file{cl-indent.el} so it mimics the default
5795 @code{if} indentation @code{then} indented more than the @code{else}.
5799 (put 'if 'common-lisp-indent-function '(nil nil &body))
5803 @node Q5.3.2, Q5.3.3, Q5.3.1, Miscellaneous
5804 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.2: [This question intentionally left blank]
5806 Obsolete question, left blank to avoid renumbering.
5809 @node Q5.3.3, Q5.3.4, Q5.3.2, Miscellaneous
5810 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.3: How can I print WYSIWYG a font-locked buffer?
5812 Font-lock looks nice. How can I print (WYSIWYG) the highlighted
5815 The package @code{ps-print}, which is now included with SXEmacs, provides
5816 the ability to do this. The source code contains complete instructions
5818 @file{$prefix/share/sxemacs/xemacs-packages/lisp/ps-print/ps-print.el},
5819 being the default location of an installed ps-print package.
5822 @node Q5.3.4, Q5.3.5, Q5.3.3, Miscellaneous
5823 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.4: Getting @kbd{M-x lpr} to work with postscript printer.
5825 My printer is a Postscript printer and @code{lpr} only works for
5826 Postscript files, so how do I get @kbd{M-x lpr-region} and @kbd{M-x
5827 lpr-buffer} to work?
5829 Put something like this in your @file{init.el}:
5832 (setq lpr-command "a2ps")
5833 (setq lpr-switches '("-p" "-1"))
5836 If you don't use a2ps to convert ASCII to postscript (why not, it's
5837 free?), replace with the command you do use. Note also that some
5838 versions of a2ps require a @samp{-Pprinter} to ensure spooling.
5841 @node Q5.3.5, Q5.3.6, Q5.3.4, Miscellaneous
5842 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.5: How do I specify the paths that SXEmacs uses for finding files?
5844 You can specify what paths to use by using a number of different flags
5845 when running configure. See the section MAKE VARIABLES in the top-level
5846 file INSTALL in the SXEmacs distribution for a listing of those flags.
5848 Most of the time, however, the simplest fix is: @strong{do not} specify
5849 paths as you might for GNU Emacs. SXEmacs can generally determine the
5850 necessary paths dynamically at run time. The only path that generally
5851 needs to be specified is the root directory to install into. That can
5852 be specified by passing the @code{--prefix} flag to configure. For a
5853 description of the SXEmacs install tree, please consult the @file{NEWS}
5857 @node Q5.3.6, Q5.3.7, Q5.3.5, Miscellaneous
5858 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.6: [This question intentionally left blank]
5860 Obsolete question, left blank to avoid renumbering.
5863 @node Q5.3.7, Q5.3.8, Q5.3.6, Miscellaneous
5864 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.7: Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way?
5866 Say, with: @samp{[END]}?
5871 (let ((ext (make-extent (point-min) (point-max))))
5872 (set-extent-property ext 'start-closed t)
5873 (set-extent-property ext 'end-closed t)
5874 (set-extent-property ext 'detachable nil)
5875 (set-extent-end-glyph ext (make-glyph [string :data "[END]"])))
5878 Since this is SXEmacs, you can specify an icon to be shown on
5879 window-system devices. To do so, change the @code{make-glyph} call to
5880 something like this:
5883 (make-glyph '([xpm :file "~/something.xpm"]
5884 [string :data "[END]"]))
5887 You can inline the @sc{xpm} definition yourself by specifying
5888 @code{:data} instead of @code{:file}. Here is such a full-featured
5889 version that works on both X and TTY devices:
5892 (let ((ext (make-extent (point-min) (point-max))))
5893 (set-extent-property ext 'start-closed t)
5894 (set-extent-property ext 'end-closed t)
5895 (set-extent-property ext 'detachable nil)
5896 (set-extent-end-glyph ext (make-glyph '([xpm :data "\
5898 static char* eye = @{
5907 \"___________`_`_`___b_b_b_b_________`____\",
5908 \"_________`_`_`___b_c_c_c_b_b____________\",
5909 \"_____`_`_`_e___b_b_c_c_c___b___b_______`\",
5910 \"___`_`_e_a___b_b_d___b___b___b___b______\",
5911 \"_`_`_e_a_e___b_b_d_b___b___b___b___b____\",
5912 \"_`_`_a_e_a___b_b_d___b___b___b___b___b__\",
5913 \"_`_`_e_a_e___b_b_d_b___b___b___b___b_b__\",
5914 \"___`_`_e_a___b_b_b_d_c___b___b___d_b____\",
5915 \"_____`_`_e_e___b_b_b_d_c___b_b_d_b______\",
5916 \"_`_____`_`_`_`___b_b_b_d_d_d_d_b________\",
5917 \"___`_____`_`_`_`___b_b_b_b_b_b__________\",
5919 [string :data "[END]"]))))
5922 Note that you might want to make this a function, and put it to a hook.
5923 We leave that as an exercise for the reader.
5926 @node Q5.3.8, Q5.3.9, Q5.3.7, Miscellaneous
5927 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.8: How do I insert today's date into a buffer?
5932 (insert (current-time-string))
5936 @node Q5.3.9, Q5.3.10, Q5.3.8, Miscellaneous
5937 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.9: Are only certain syntactic character classes available for abbrevs?
5939 @c @email{gutschk@@uni-muenster.de, Markus Gutschke} writes:
5942 @c Yes, abbrevs only expands word-syntax strings. While XEmacs does not
5943 @c prevent you from defining (e.g. with @kbd{C-x a g} or @kbd{C-x a l})
5944 @c abbrevs that contain special characters, it will refuse to expand
5945 @c them. So you need to ensure, that the abbreviation contains letters and
5946 @c digits only. This means that @samp{xd}, @samp{d5}, and @samp{5d} are
5947 @c valid abbrevs, but @samp{&d}, and @samp{x d} are not.
5949 @c If this sounds confusing to you, (re-)read the online documentation for
5950 @c abbrevs (@kbd{C-h i m XEmacs @key{RET} m Abbrevs @key{RET}}), and then come back and
5951 @c read this question/answer again.
5954 @c Starting with XEmacs 20.3 this restriction has been lifted.
5956 Does not apply anymore.
5959 @node Q5.3.10, Q5.3.11, Q5.3.9, Miscellaneous
5960 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.10: How can I get those oh-so-neat X-Face lines?
5962 Firstly there is an ftp site which describes X-faces and has the
5963 associated tools mentioned below, at
5964 @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu:/pub/faces/}.
5970 Create 48x48x1 bitmap with your favorite tool
5973 Convert to "icon" format using one of xbm2ikon, pbmtoicon, etc.,
5974 and then compile the face.
5978 cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon |compface > file.face
5982 Then be sure to quote things that are necessary for emacs strings:
5985 cat ./file.face | sed 's/\\/\\\\/g'
5989 | sed 's/\"/\\\"/g' > ./file.face.quoted
5993 Then set up emacs to include the file as a mail header - there were a
5994 couple of suggestions here---either something like:
5997 (setq mail-default-headers
5998 "X-Face: @email{Ugly looking text string here}")
6001 Or, alternatively, as:
6004 (defun mail-insert-x-face ()
6006 (goto-char (point-min))
6007 (search-forward mail-header-separator)
6010 (insert-file-contents "~/.face")))
6012 (add-hook 'mail-setup-hook 'mail-insert-x-face)
6016 However, 2 things might be wrong:
6018 Some versions of pbmtoicon produces some header lines that is not
6019 expected by the version of compface that I grabbed. So I found I had to
6020 include a @code{tail +3} in the pipeline like this:
6023 cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon | tail +3 |compface > file.face
6026 Some people have also found that if one uses the @code{(insert-file)}
6027 method, one should NOT quote the face string using the sed script .
6029 It might also be helpful to use @email{stig@@hackvan.com, Stig's} script
6030 (included in the compface distribution at XEmacs.org) to do the
6032 @comment For convenience xbm2xface is available for anonymous FTP at
6033 @comment @uref{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/xemacs/xbm2xface.pl}.
6035 Contributors for this item:
6047 @node Q5.3.11, Q5.3.12, Q5.3.10, Miscellaneous
6048 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.11: How do I add new Info directories?
6050 You use something like:
6053 (setq Info-directory-list (cons
6054 (expand-file-name "~/info")
6055 Info-default-directory-list))
6058 @email{davidm@@prism.kla.com, David Masterson} writes:
6061 Emacs Info and (S)XEmacs Info do many things differently. If you're
6062 trying to support a number of versions of Emacs, here are some notes
6067 Emacs Info scans @code{Info-directory-list} from right-to-left while
6068 SXEmacs Info reads it from left-to-right, so append to the @emph{correct}
6072 Use @code{Info-default-directory-list} to initialize
6073 @code{Info-directory-list} @emph{if} it is available at startup, but not
6074 all Emacsen define it.
6077 Emacs Info looks for a standard @file{dir} file in each of the
6078 directories scanned from #1 and magically concatenates them together.
6081 SXEmacs Info looks for a @file{localdir} file (which consists of just the
6082 menu entries from a @file{dir} file) in each of the directories scanned
6083 from #1 (except the first), does a simple concatenation of them, and
6084 magically attaches the resulting list to the end of the menu in the
6085 @file{dir} file in the first directory.
6088 Another alternative is to convert the documentation to HTML with
6089 texi2html and read it from a web browser like Lynx or W3.
6093 @node Q5.3.12, , Q5.3.11, Miscellaneous
6094 @unnumberedsec Q5.3.12: What do I need to change to make printing work?
6096 For regular printing there are two variables that can be customized.
6100 This should be set to a command that takes standard input and sends
6101 it to a printer. Something like:
6104 (setq lpr-command "lp")
6108 This should be set to a list that contains whatever the print command
6109 requires to do its job. Something like:
6112 (setq lpr-switches '("-depson"))
6116 For postscript printing there are three analogous variables to
6120 @item ps-lpr-command
6121 This should be set to a command that takes postscript on standard input
6122 and directs it to a postscript printer.
6124 @item ps-lpr-switches
6125 This should be set to a list of switches required for
6126 @code{ps-lpr-command} to do its job.
6128 @item ps-print-color-p
6129 This boolean variable should be set @code{t} if printing will be done in
6130 color, otherwise it should be set to @code{nil}.
6133 NOTE: It is an undocumented limitation in SXEmacs that postscript
6134 printing (the @code{Pretty Print Buffer} menu item) @strong{requires} a
6135 window system environment. It cannot be used outside of X11.
6138 @node MS Windows, Current Events, Miscellaneous, Top
6139 @unnumbered 6 XEmacs on MS Windows
6141 This is part 6 of the SXEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list, written
6142 by Sebastian Freundt and others.
6145 * Q6.0.1:: Why did SXEmacs cut all support for Windows?
6148 @node Q6.0.1, , MS Windows, MS Windows
6149 @unnumberedsec Q6.0.1: Why did SXEmacs cut all support for Windows?
6152 MS Windows is not Posix conform.
6158 Maintaining code for a platform that @strong{none} of the developers
6159 use is a little hairy. Besides, even if that were case, writing
6160 POSIX-conform code while simultaneously regarding the madnesses (yes,
6161 there are many of them) from Redmond, and preferrably sustaining the
6162 perfomance is absolutely impossible. There is much code which has not
6163 been optimised (or sometimes even de-optimised) merely to take some
6164 windows concept into account.
6167 @node Current Events, , MS Windows, Top
6168 @unnumbered 7 What the Future Holds
6170 This is part 7 of the SXEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
6171 section will change frequently, and (in theory) should contain any
6172 interesting items that have transpired recently. (But in practice it's
6173 not getting updated like this.)
6175 This section also contains descriptions of the new features in all the
6176 recent releases of SXEmacs. For the most part, the information below is
6177 a synopsis of the more complete information that can be found in the
6178 file @file{NEWS} in the @file{etc} directory of the SXEmacs distribution.
6179 You can view this file in SXEmacs using @kbd{C-h n} or the @samp{Help}
6182 Information on older versions of SXEmacs can be found in @file{ONEWS}
6183 in the same directory, or @file{OONEWS} for really old versions.
6186 * Q7.0.1:: What new features will be in SXEmacs soon?
6187 * Q7.0.2:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.0?
6188 * Q7.0.3:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.1?
6189 * Q7.0.4:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.2?
6190 * Q7.0.5:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.3?
6191 * Q7.0.6:: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.4?
6194 @node Q7.0.1, Q7.0.2, Current Events, Current Events
6195 @unnumberedsec Q7.0.1: What new features will be in SXEmacs soon?
6197 @strong{YOU} tell @strong{ME}!
6200 @node Q7.0.2, Q7.0.3, Q7.0.1, Current Events
6201 @unnumberedsec Q7.0.2: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.0?
6203 This is the first release of SXEmacs. It is a fork of XEmacs
6204 21.4.16. The vast majority of the changes between SXEmacs 22.1.0 and
6205 the code it descended from, XEmacs 21.4.16, are purely renaming
6206 "XEmacs" to "SXEmacs".
6208 @node Q7.0.3, Q7.0.4, Q7.0.2, Current Events
6209 @unnumberedsec Q7.0.3: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.1?
6213 @var{user-init-directory} set to @file{~/.sxemacs} -- Youngs.
6215 Symlinking this to your old @file{~/.xemacs} directory is enough to
6216 get up and running with SXEmacs.
6219 Packages hierarchy default set to @file{$prefix/lib/sxemacs} -- Youngs.
6221 Symlinking this to your old @file{$prefix/lib/xemacs} directory is
6222 enough to get up and running with SXEmacs. SXEmacs will do this for
6223 you when you do @code{make install}.
6226 Rename items in the menubar -- Slusar, Youngs.
6229 Beginnings of FFI -- Zajcev.
6231 FFI is @dfn{Foreign Function Interface} and will allow access to functions
6232 and libraries outside of SXEmacs from within lisp. Not completed yet,
6233 but the basic infrastructure is in place.
6236 FreeBSD build fixes -- Slusar.
6239 @code{M-x report-sxemacs-bug} -- Youngs.
6241 For now, this is just a wrapper around report-xemacs-bug with the
6242 appropriate variables set to SXEmacs values.
6245 Fix etags.c -- Slusar.
6250 @code{M-x build-report} -- Youngs.
6252 Make it work for SXEmacs.
6255 Fix major bug in regex.c
6257 This fixed a whole swag of crashes involving regexps and
6261 Sync up with XEmacs 21.4 -- Various Developers.
6265 @node Q7.0.4, Q7.0.5, Q7.0.3, Current Events
6266 @unnumberedsec Q7.0.4: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.2?
6270 autoconf 2.59 compatible configure scripts -- Youngs, Purvis.
6272 Many configure options have changed. Please run @code{./configure --help}
6273 to see what the new options are.
6276 Most win32 code is now gone -- Youngs, Freundt.
6279 @code{describe-installation} report libc version on Slackware -- Youngs.
6282 etags.c updated to Francesco's version 17.11 -- Youngs.
6285 Support @code{ls --dired} properly -- Sperber.
6288 FFI (Foreign Function Interface) updates -- Zajcev.
6290 One of the most exciting things is that this version of SXEmacs can
6291 download files from the internet _without_ the need of any XEmacs
6292 packages being installed. If you have libcurl and enable FFI in
6293 SXEmacs at build time, you can:
6297 (curl:download "http://www.somedomain.com/path/file"
6301 To put your mind at ease, libcurl is @strong{NOT} needed to build SXEmacs.
6302 The above will work even if you install libcurl after
6303 building/installing SXEmacs.
6306 Don't echo GC messages for non-string GC'ing -- Zajcev.
6308 This drastically reduces the number of "Garbage Collecting" messages
6309 that you see in the echo area. Garbage collection is still happening,
6310 it is just not in your face as much.
6313 movemail.c security fixes -- Oskarsson.
6316 PUI's *packages* buffer enhancements -- Koch.
6319 Saner fallbacks for `backup-buffer' -- Youngs.
6321 Based on an idea from JWZ, if the backup can't be written, try in
6322 `auto-save-directory', and if that fails, fall back to $HOME.
6325 OpenSSL support -- Freundt.
6327 Of course. The OpenSSL library itself is actually separated into two
6328 libraries: libcrypto and libssl. libcrypto is the part which comes to
6329 elisp with the current API. libssl is planned for the near future.
6331 With this interface/gateway we now have access to the wonderful world
6332 of static cryptography (static here means no handshake/protocols/etc.).
6338 the OpenSSL PRNG = (pseudo) random number generator to provide
6339 generating cryptographically secure randomness
6342 the OpenSSL MDs (message digests) to provide all sorts of hashing
6343 (we had an md5 implementation already)
6346 the HMAC aka keyed hashing aka message authentication code to provide
6347 hashes secured by a password
6350 the CIPHER engine (i.e. symmetric crypto systems) to provide
6351 encryption/decryption routines secured by a password
6354 the PKEY engine (i.e. asymmetric crypto systems) to provide generation
6355 and distribution of private/public key pairs (as probably known by
6359 the HYBRIDe engine aka PKCS aka public key crypto systems to provide
6360 encryption based on (foreign) public keys and decryption with own
6361 private keys to provide also digital signatures and verification (as
6362 probably known by gpg)
6366 Remove most of the generated files from the repo -- Youngs, Freundt.
6369 Allow suppression of WM decorations -- Turnbull.
6371 This makes balloon-help windows infinitely better behaved. Thank you
6375 Fontify *scratch* buffer according to user's settings -- Kehoe.
6378 Fix bug hanging SXEmacs when yanking > 260kb -- Kehoe.
6381 lispref manual updated for SXEmacs -- Freundt.
6384 PostgreSQL updates (mainly doc updates) -- Frenudt.
6388 @node Q7.0.5, Q7.0.6, Q7.0.4, Current Events
6389 @unnumberedsec Q7.0.5: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.3?
6393 OpenSSL updates, improvements, and fixes -- Freundt.
6396 FFI updates, and fixes -- Zajcev.
6398 FFI now defaults to "on" if libffi can be found at configure time. It
6399 you don't want this, use: `--disable-ffi'.
6401 FTP downloads with `curl:download' is working properly now. And with
6402 HTTP transfers you can transfer just the HTTP header for a file if you
6406 Extent/glyph fixes -- Sidwell, Kuehl.
6409 32 mouse buttons supported -- Youngs.
6411 (global-set-key [(button32)] 'some-function) is valid in SXEmacs.
6414 Modeline tweaks -- Ferreira.
6416 Move line/column number indicators to left side (aka XE 21.5)
6419 @code{M-x uptime} -- Youngs.
6421 Every good OS has an uptime util, SXEmacs is no exception. Reports
6422 uptime in various formats.
6425 ia64 build fixes -- Lesjak.
6428 @kbd{C-h n} will no longer find NEWS files from packages -- Youngs.
6431 List of package mirrors updated -- Aichner, Skyttä.
6434 Bootstrappable PUI -- Youngs.
6436 SXEmacs no longer needs to have _any_ packages pre-installed before
6437 PUI can be used. See (Info-goto-node "(sxemacs)Bootstrapping PUI").
6440 Bignums, and a whole swag of sexy new number goodness -- Freundt.
6442 Bignums, bigfloats, and ratios that you may know from XEmacs 21.5 are
6443 now in SXEmacs. That and a whole lot more...
6445 Features provided when all of the library demands are met:
6448 (featurep 'bigz) and
6449 (featurep 'bignum) <=> if MPZ from GMP or BSD MP is present
6451 (featurep 'bigq) and
6452 (featurep 'ratio) <=> if MPQ from GMP is present
6454 (featurep 'bigf) and
6455 (featurep 'bigfloat) <=> if MPF from GMP is present
6457 (featurep 'bigfr) <=> if MPFR is present
6459 (featurep 'bigc) <=> if MPC is present
6461 (featurep 'number-types) <=> if one of the above features is
6465 For complete details see: (Info-goto-node "(lispref)Enhanced Number Types")
6468 Raw strings -- Kuehl.
6470 SXEmacs tries to relieve backslashitis by implementing raw strings.
6471 You'll imediately notice the benefit of raw strings when use them for
6472 those hairy regexps. Consider the regular expression (from
6476 "\\(?:^\\|[^\\]\\)\\(?:\\\\\\\\\\)*\\(\\\\[@@A-Za-z]+\\)"
6478 As a raw string it could be written as...
6480 #r"\(?:^\|[^\]\)\(?:\)*\(\\[@@A-Za-z]+\)"
6483 Most of the SXEmacs core lisp code has been converted over to using
6484 raw strings whereever appropriate.
6487 Improved font-locking in a TTY -- Ferreira.
6489 To illustrate this...
6492 $ sxemacs -nw -vanilla
6494 ...and look at the modeline. Now open a .c file and turn on
6497 C-x C-f /path/to/file.c RET
6498 M-x font-lock-mode RET
6502 Compiler fixes -- Zajcev.
6505 SXEmacs can no longer be built with a C++ compiler -- Youngs.
6507 To build SXEmacs you will need a C compiler at least the equivalent of
6508 GCC 2.95.3. Building with a C++ compiler is no longer supported.
6511 Autoconf fixes, updates -- Freundt, Kuehl, Youngs.
6513 All autoconf options now have a help string (for ./configure --help)
6514 and the default setting for each option is noted.
6517 PostgreSQL auto-detection improved -- Youngs.
6519 If pg_config is in your $PATH, SXEmacs will add PostgreSQL support at
6520 configure/build time.
6523 Documentation (Texinfo) updates -- Freundt, Youngs.
6525 The SXEmacs manual is now called "sxemacs" instead of "xemacs". C-h
6526 C-i sxemacs RET to read it.
6528 Most of the Texinfo docs now have been updated to say "SXEmacs"
6529 whereever appropriate instead of "XEmacs".
6532 GTK (version 1.2) build fixes -- Youngs.
6536 @node Q7.0.6, , Q7.0.5, Current Events
6537 @unnumberedsec Q7.0.6: What's new in SXEmacs 22.1.4?
6541 Many more image formats via FFI/libWand -- Freundt.
6543 FFI-enabled SXEmacs can load up libWand and thus display any image
6544 format that libWand (ImageMagick) supports.
6547 Lots of updates to the ENT (Enhanced Number Types) code -- Freundt.
6550 Mule is on by default -- Youngs.
6553 Embeddable keyboard macros -- Kuehl.
6555 This means that the following sort of thing is possible:
6559 C-x ( foo C-x e C-x )
6566 Default widgets/dialogs to Athena instead of Motif -- Youngs.
6569 OpenSSL updates -- Freundt.
6571 Digest, encryption, and decryption routines that operate on files has
6572 been added. Previously this was only available for buffers.
6575 Build reports have been revamped -- Youngs, Freundt.
6577 The SXEmacs build report no longer conflicts with the XEmacs
6578 build-report.el. Plus ours also reports on shared lib dependencies
6579 and config.h stuff. Sending from Gnus is also supported.
6582 FFI updates/fixes -- Youngs, Zajcev, Freundt.
6585 Ability to build postscript, pdf, and html docs -- Ferreira.
6588 Double linked lists and bloom filters implemented -- Freundt.
6590 Bloom filters are a space and time-efficient way to decide about the
6591 membership of an element to a given set. Using lisp-lists or vectors,
6592 one usually has to traverse the entire list or vector, before
6593 membership can be decided. Using hash tables, membership decision is
6594 in O(1) (bloom filters also decide in O(1)), but the hash-table's size
6595 grows proportionally with the number n of elements, thus its space
6596 complexity is O(n), whereas Bloom filters take a constant amount of
6597 space regardless how many elements are in it.
6600 Lightning fast recursive version of directory-files -- Freundt.
6602 It's called `directory-files-recur' and in some situations it is even
6603 faster than GNU's find(1).
6606 Portuguese added to etc/HELLO -- Ferreira.
6609 Massive improvements, enhancements for multimedia (audio) -- Freundt.
6611 SXEmacs supports several "sound servers" like: OSS, NAS, ESD, Polypaudio,
6612 ALSA, and Jack. And media streams can be handled by sndfile, ffmpeg,
6613 sox, mad, xine, gstreamer. The SXEmacs developers recommend Polyp/ffmpeg
6616 And yes, SXEmacs @emph{can} play mp3 files. :-)
6619 Autoconf fixes/updates -- Youngs, Freundt.
6621 All of the enable/disable options have been converted to with/without
6622 options. This allows us to sort them into groups.
6624 Also fixes were made to allow building on FreeBSD and NetBSD.
6627 Big update for the FAQ -- Youngs, Freundt.
6630 Server Sockets! -- Ferreira.
6632 SXEmacs now has server sockets (Yay!). See
6633 `open-network-server-stream'.
6636 Compiler fixes (gcc 2.95) -- Freundt.
6639 bug-reporter update -- Youngs.
6641 `report-sxemacs-bug' now directs people to our BugZilla installation
6642 at @url{https://issues.sxemacs.org/}
6645 Documentation updates/fixes/improvements -- Youngs, Ferreira, Freundt.