ERC NEWS                                                       -*- outline -*-

* Fixes since ERC 5.0.1

** If a channel key is required for a certain channel, ERC will prompt
for one if `erc-prompt-for-channel-key' is non-nil.

** ERC doesn't try to reconnect if the network connection is refused
when using `open-network-stream-nowait' as the `erc-connect-function'.

** Messages from multiple servers will not go to the currently active
buffer.  The messages from each server will be contained in the most
recently active channel/server buffer that corresponds with the
server.

** Some text messages were cleaned up slightly.

** Button faces should no longer "cover" other faces.

** Made some XEmacs compatibility fixes.

** Nicknames containing a backslash are now correctly highlighted as
current-nick and buttonized as nicks.

** `erc-server-select' doesn't offer networks without servers as a
choice anymore.

** Non-ASCII character support has been improved.

** Changes and additions to modules

*** Menu (erc-menu.el)

**** You can now save logs and truncate buffers from the menu-bar.

* Fixes since ERC 5.0

** Narrowing in ERC buffers no longer causes formatting errors.

** The BBDB module now loads correctly when customizing `erc-modules'.

** The value of `erc-button-face' is now respected.

** Fixed a bug which caused a read-only error during connection.

** Server buffers are now tracked correctly.
This means that `erc-track-priority-faces-only', `erc-track-exclude',
and `erc-track-exclude-types' now work with server buffers.

* Changes since ERC 4.0

** Channel members are now stored as a hash-table.
`erc-server-users' and `erc-channel-users' are now hash-tables, rather
than alists.  This significantly increases performance, especially in
large channels.  Each channel member is stored as an `erc-server-user'
struct, with additional information about the channels they are on
stored in an `erc-channel-user' struct.  Code using old alist-style
channel members needs to be updated to work with hash-tables.
This new code also removes the need for erc-members.el, which has been
removed.

** The way ERC deals with input from the server has changed.
All server response code is now in a new file, erc-backend.el.  There
should be no real user visible changes.  There are, however, a few
major changes for implementors, and module writers:

*** The PARSED response that all handlers get called with is
    no longer a vector, but an `erc-response' struct.

    This means LESS MAGIC NUMBERS in the ERC source code, but a few
    changes in how you get at parsed responses.

    The sender is accessed via `erc-response.sender'.

    The command is accessed via `erc-response.command'.

    The arguments to the command (everything after the command and
    before the colon) are accessed via `erc-response.command-args'.
    This is a /list/ of arguments in the order they appear in the
    unparsed response.

    The contents of the response is accessed via
    `erc-response.contents'.

    Should, for some reason, you want to do something with the
    /unparsed/ response, you can get it via `erc-response.unparsed'.

*** The `erc-server-hook-list' mechanism is gone.

    All server response handlers should be defined with
    `define-erc-response-handler'.  This defines functions and
    corresponding hook variables.

    The mapping of server commands to hook variables is no longer
    done via `erc-event-to-hook', but through an #'equal hashtable,
    `erc-server-responses'.  In order to find a hook you do:

    (erc-get-hook command)

    See the docstring of `define-erc-response-handler' for more
    information.

*** ALL hook variables have been renamed.

    In accordance with recommendations in the Emacs Lisp manual,
    the hook variables are no longer called `erc-server-FOO-hook',
    but rather `erc-server-FOO-functions'.  This is to indicate
    that the functions they call take arguments.

    All the modules in ERC have been updated to reflect this change,
    but external module authors should beware.

** The values of `erc-mode-line-format' and `erc-header-line-format'
are now defined as strings to be formatted using `format-spec'.
`erc-mode-line-format' does not replace the whole mode-line anymore,
only `mode-line-buffer-identification' is set.  This way, personal
mode-line configurations are not modified and all key bindings work as
expected.  The process status (connecting, closed) is now shown in
`mode-line-process'.

** Customization of ERC variables has been made easier.  Variables
have been split into more groups for better organization.

** New variables

  o `erc-send-whitespace-lines' - Set this to send lines even if they
    are empty.

  o `erc-manual-set-nick-on-bad-nick-p' - If the nickname you chose is
    already taken or not allowed, your nick is not changed and you can
    try again manually if this is non-nil.

  o `erc-mode-line-away-status-format' - You can now set what is shown
    in the mode-line when you are away.

  o `erc-header-line-uses-help-echo-p' - The header-line now uses the
    help-echo property. You can set this to nil to disable it.

  o `erc-format-query-as-channel-p' - Set this to nil to have messages
    in the query buffer formatted like private messages.

  o `erc-show-channel-key-p' - The channel key is now shown with the
    other channel modes in the header line. Set this to nil if you
    want it hidden.

  o `erc-prompt-for-channel-key' - Set this if you want to be prompted
    for the channel key (channel's mode is +k) when you call
    `erc-join-channel' interactively.

  o `erc-kill-server-buffer-on-quit' - If non-nil, kill the server
    buffer automatically when you quit.

** New hooks

  o `erc-join-hook' - Called when you join a channel.

  o `erc-kick-hook' - Called when you are kicked from a channel. The
    channel's buffer is sent as an argument to functions called from
    this hook.

  o `erc-nick-changed-functions' - Whenever your nickname changes
    successfully, the functions in this hook are run with the
    arguments NEW-NICK and OLD-NICK.

** New command /WHOAMI - Do a /WHOIS on your current nickname.

** The key binding for changing channel modes is now C-c C-o.

** Removed variables

  o `erc-echo-notices-in-minibuffer-flag' and
    `erc-echo-notices-in-current-buffer' - You should use
    `erc-echo-notice-hook' and `erc-echo-notice-always-hook' instead.

  o `erc-prompt-interactive-input' has been removed (commented out)
    because nickname completion does not work with it.

  o All INFO buffer-related variables and functions have been removed.

** You can now disable modules by setting `erc-modules' with the
customization interface.

** Changes and additions to modules

*** Autoaway (erc-autoaway.el)

**** New variable `erc-autoaway-no-auto-back-regexp' - Add text which,
when you type anything matching it, will not automatically discard
your away status when `erc-auto-discard-away' is non-nil.

*** Filling (erc-fill.el)

**** New variable `erc-fill-variable-maximum-indentation' - Don't
indent more than this many characters when indenting a message from a
user with a long nickname.

*** Goodies (erc-goodies.el)

**** Miscellaneous small modules have been moved from erc.el.
The functions erc-add-scroll-to-bottom, erc-make-read-only,
erc-send-distinguish-noncommands, erc-interpret-controls, erc-unmorse,
erc-smiley, and erc-occur, which were defined in the main erc.el file
have been moved to erc-goodies.el and have mostly been translated to
the modules scrolltobottom, readonly, noncommands, irccontrols, smiley
and unmorse.

**** New variables

  o `erc-input-line-position' - The line number to use with
    `erc-scroll-to-bottom'.

  o `erc-beep-p' - Beep if there is a \C-g control character in a
    message.

*** Channel lists (erc-list.el)

**** New variable `erc-chanlist-highlight-face' - A face used for
highlighting the current line.

*** Highlighting (erc-match.el)

**** `erc-current-nick-highlight-type' has new options: 'keyword and
'nick-or-keyword.

*** Menu (erc-menu.el)

**** The `IRC' menu is now automatically added to `erc-mode' buffers.

*** Networks (erc-nets.el)

**** The functions for determining current network are in this file.
There were a couple of functions spread about in different files which
each had a different way of determining the current network.  The
methods have been combined, and the big list of known networks
(`erc-networks-alist') is being put to use.  You can access the
network's name by calling the new function `erc-network'.  This
returns the name of the current network as a symbol or 'Unknown if it
could not determine which network it is.

*** Nicklist (erc-nicklist.el)

**** ERC has a new way of displaying nicknames in a channel.
The new file erc-nicklist.el defines a new command `erc-nicklist'
which pops up a small Emacs window showing the nicknames of all
members of the current channel.  The implementation is not complete
and is rather proof-of-concept for now.  The result is something a bit
like erc-speedbar, but not quite as invasive, and doesn't require use
of a new frame.

*** Internet services / Nickserv (erc-nickserv.el)

**** Network detection is now taken care of by erc-nets.el.
The function `erc-current-network' is deprecated, use `erc-network'
instead.  The variable `erc-networks' has been removed, use
`erc-networks-alist'.  The network symbols used in
`erc-nickserv-alist' now match those in `erc-networks-alist'.

**** New variable `erc-nickserv-identify-mode' - Choose which method
to use for automatic identification: you can wait for Nickserv to ask
you to identify (the default), or send an identify message
automatically after you change your nickname.

*** Speedbar (erc-speedbar.el)

**** New variable `erc-speedbar-sort-users-type' - Sort users in a
channel by activity, alphabetically, or not at all.

*** Timestamps (erc-stamp.el)

**** `erc-timestamp-only-if-changed-flag' now works when
`erc-insert-timestamp-function' is set to 'erc-insert-timestamp-left.

**** New variable `erc-timestamp-intangible' - Set this to nil if
timestamps should not have the 'intangible property.

*** Channel tracking (erc-track.el)

**** Using faces to indicate channel activity in the modeline now works
in XEmacs.

**** New variables

  o `erc-track-priority-faces-only' - Ignore changes in a channel
    unless there is a face from the `erc-track-faces-priority-list' in
    the message.

  o `erc-track-exclude-server-buffer' - Ignore changes in the server
    buffer.

  o `erc-track-position-in-mode-line' - Set the position in the
    mode-line where modified channels are shown (only works in GNU
    Emacs versions above 21.3).
