Download Aquamacs 2.2

The Aquamacs Project development team has taken the powerful and all-round word processor Emacs and developed a specific build for Mac OS X. The program has been given the name Aquamacs and has exactly the same functions and capabilities as the original, but the user interface and appearance are according to the Apple Human Interface Guidelines. Aquamacs is a versatile word processor and editor. For example, it can not only be used to write texts, but the program is also capable of displaying practically all programming and markup languages. The developers recently released version 2.2 with the following announcement:

Aquamacs 2.2 released.

Version 2.2 starts up faster, comes with an improved fullscreen mode and better spell-checking, supports OS X’s spaces, has limited ODB-support for integration with other applications and contains bug fixes and configuration improvements. Aquamacs 2.2 is based on the new GNU Emacs 23.3. The download is available at .

Changes– 2.2:

• Improved fullscreen mode: addresses rare display issues (related to scrollbars), crashes after switching back from fullscreen mode, and empty menus during fullscreen mode. Note that multiple frames may be shown in fullscreen mode (switch with, eg, A-`). Code by Daisuke Murase and David Reitter. Suggested by many.
• Improvements to working with Frames and Spaces:
  • Repeated cycling between frames (forwards with A-`) now cycles through all frames rather than just the two most recent ones. Suggested by many Aquamacs users.
  • When deleting a frame in one space, Aquamacs no longer switches to another space if there is one (10.6 only).
  • When opening a frame via drag&drop or the terminal command-line, Aquamacs now shows the frame in the currently active space if `one-buffer-one-frame’ or `tabbar-mode’ are on (10.6 only).
  • No more unnecessarily space switches away from a new frame created after drag&drop, Finder or terminal-based opening of files in certain situations. Patch by Ted Middleton.
  • The menu bar works again after switching away to a space without an Aquamacs frame on it.
• Spell checking improvements:
  • Ability to ignore misspellings on a per-buffer basis, using buffer comments, has been added to the spelling context menu: “Ignore Spelling & Comment Buffer”. Suggested by Konrad Podczeck.
  • “Check Spelling While Typing” (`flyspell-mode’) is now automatically activated when “Spellcheck Now” (`flyspell-buffer’ or `flyspell-region’) is run with the default OS X spell checker. Customize via variable `flyspell-mode-auto-on’.
• Aquamacs starts up faster.
• Aquamacs can now be used as external editor to ODB-enabled applications such as most FTP clients, Apple XCode 3.x, and other programs in need of an editor. (Some applications may require changes to recognize Aquamacs-contact their makers to ask for support.)
• There is a function in the Help / Diagnosis menu now to debug one’s preferences (init) files such as Preferences.el or .emacs. This starts a new Aquamacs process, which, as the one started without customizations using its own menu entry, is no longer dependent on the primary one. Code by Ze’ev Celementson.
• The manuals have been unified in order to provide cross-manual keyword search (Help menu). Also (reported by Joseph van Andel), links to separate manuals (such as Tramp, CC Mode and many others) now work: those manuals are now included as Apple Help variants.
• Users can now edit all existing user-editable preferences files (Preferences.el in various places, and .emacs) using a new menu entry in the Help/Diagnosis menu.
• In case Aquamacs crashes, a detailed bug report can usually be sent upon the next program start.
• The Copy as HTML function (Edit menu) now copies the region with all formatting such that the formatting is preserved in other (Cocoa) applications.
• Aquamacs can now be configured to not kill a buffer when its last window is deleted through commands such as `close-window’ (Command-W). Set the new customization open `delete-window-preserve-buffer’ to t to retain buffers. Suggested by Jos� M. Figueroa-O’Farrill.
• When using emacsclient -t to connect to a running Aquamacs session from the terminal, entering the minibuffer no longer produces an error. Reported by Stephen T.
• When hollow cursors are used, ensure that the glyph underneath the cursor remains visible. Reported by Marcin Koziej.
• A rare issue where the wrong images (eg, a “redo” toolbar button in place of a tabbar tab-close button) where displayed, has been addressed.
• Find-file (Cx Cf) with a file that is already visible in another window now switches to that window again (`one-buffer-one-frame-mode’ being on). Reported by Dan Coe.
• Cursor movement (up/down) is more precise in terms of horizontal placement. Reported by Matt Crawford.
• Improved compatibility of the language-layout specific keyboard emulation modes. Reported by Santiago Gaviria.
• Html Helper Mode: Improve recognition/update of time stamps in files. Patch by Dave Mason.
• nXhtml Mode is now included (to use, type Mx nxhtml-mode. Version 2.08 (04/2010). This also provides Multiple Major Modes.
• Compatibility with Emacs Code Browser has been improved (menus appear correctly, cursor blinks and windows retain selection). Reported by Martin Sivak.
• Exporting to a temporary buffer in `org-mode’ no longer fails, nor does calling `normal-mode’. Reported by Jeff Horn and Lawrence Mitchell.
• AUCTeX now supports Ghostscript 9.01. Fixed by Denis Rosset.