#+title: ffs 0.2.2 released
#+date: 2026-05-21 Thu 17:33:33 -0400
#+options: num:nil toc:nil
#+rights: marked [[../../COPYING.CC0][CC0 1.0]]
#+html_head: <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../dek.css?v=20260518" type="text/css" />
#+html_link_home: ../..

=ffs= provides a minor mode for simple plain text presentations in
Emacs, where the slides are separated using the ~page-delimiter~, by
default the form feed character (=^L=).

I wrote ~ffs~ in early 2022 for my LibrePlanet 2022 presentation [[file:../../essays/net-beyond-web.html][the
Net beyond the Web]], and earlier this year decided to polish it towards
being a proper package and submit it to GNU ELPA.  The manual still
needs some more work, but the overall package is in pretty good shape
so I submitted for inclusion in GNU ELPA.

- Package name (GNU ELPA): [[https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/ffs.html][=ffs=]]
- Official manual: <https://kelar.org/~bandali/gnu/emacs/ffs.html>
- Change log: <https://kelar.org/~bandali/gnu/emacs/ffs-changelog.html>
- Git repository: <https://git.kelar.org/~bandali/ffs>
- Backronyms: fabulous foolproof slides - for freedom's sake -
  ffs flips slides

~ffs~ and I owe a debt of gratitude to Protesilaos for rounds of
code review and feedback for improving and polishing the package in
preparation for submission to GNU ELPA.  You can watch videos of these
sessions posted earlier on my website:

- [[file:ffs-code-review-prot.org][FFS code review with Protesilaos]]
- [[file:ffs-emacs-ext-prot.org][FFS code review and Emacs extensibility with Protesilaos]]

Further, inspiration for parts of ~ffs~'s implementation was
gratefully drawn from Protesilaos's [[https://protesilaos.com/emacs/logos][Logos]] package for Emacs.

Dedicated to the loving memory of [[file:../../life/farangis.html][Farangis Yousefinia]].

Below are the release notes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Version 0.2.2 on 2026-05-21
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: ffs-0.2.2
:END:

First release of ~ffs~ on GNU ELPA.

The attempted build of ffs 0.2.1 within GNU ELPA build sandbox failed
with an =Error: void-function (org-texinfo-kbd-macro)= due to use of
=#+macro: kbd (eval (org-texinfo-kbd-macro $1))= in ffs.org for better
formatting of key sequences in the exported Texinfo copy.  This seems
to have happened for the specific case of generating a plain text
README using =ox-ascii= where ELPA didn't load =ox-texinfo=.  To try
and mitigate this, a =README.md= has been added for use as the package
README instead of ffs.org.  If not sufficient, a Texinfo copy of the
ffs manual will be shipped instead of the Org one in the next release.

ffs 0.2.2 also includes small fixes and improvements throughout
=ffs.el= from Stefan Monnier, and additional feedback to be addressed
in future releases.

* Version 0.2.1 on 2026-05-20
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: ffs-0.2.1
:END:

The attempted build of ffs 0.2.0 within GNU ELPA build sandbox failed
with a "Cannot include file" error on the "#+include: fdl.org" in the
manual.  So, as a workaround, we switch to using the official Texinfo
copy of the GNU FDL license rather than an Org copy.

* Version 0.2.0 on 2026-05-19
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: ffs-0.2.0
:END:

First release of ~ffs~ intended for GNU ELPA.

After a few years of inactivity, in early 2026 I decided to dust off
=ffs.el=, polish and document it, and offer for inclusion in GNU ELPA
as a proper package.

** Default value of ~ffs-default-face-height~ changed to nil
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: ffs-0.2.0-ffs-default-face-height
:END:

To minimize unexpected and/or unnecessary changes out-of-the-box, the
default value of ~ffs-default-face-height~ has been changed to nil.

** ~ffs-edit-buffer-name~ demoted from user option to variable
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: ffs-0.2.0-ffs-edit-buffer-name
:END:

This is not an important user-facing setting, so to help avoid
overwhelming users with many options, this has been demoted from a
user option to a variable.

** Several new user options for customizing ~ffs~'s behaviour
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: ffs-0.2.0-new-user-options
:END:

As part of the effort to bring ~ffs~ more in line with the conventions
of other existing Emacs packages, the mechanisms for toggling various
parts of Emacs's interface to minimize visual clutter were changed
from being minor modes to being customizable user options.  These are
the replacement new user options, with a default value of nil:

- ~ffs-hide-cursor~
- ~ffs-hide-mode-line~
- ~ffs-hide-header-line~

Their value is buffer-local, and may be set globally using
~setq-default~.  See the [[file:ffs.html#Sample-configuration][sample configuration]] in the manual for an
example of how to customize them.

The new ~ffs-page-delimiter~ user option defines the page delimiter
inserted by ~ffs-edit-done~ when inserting a new slide.  Emacs's
~page-delimiter~ regexp should be able to match ~ffs-page-delimiter~'s
value, so if you use a custom ~page-delimiter~ be sure to customize
~ffs-page-delimiter~ accordingly.

The new ~ffs-echo-progress~ user option controls whether to display in
echo area the progress through the slides.  When non-nil, changing
slides will also display the progress through the slides in the echo
area.  The format of the displayed progress can be customized using
the new ~ffs-echo-progress-format~ user option.

The new ~ffs-edit-display-buffer-alist~ user option may be used to
control the Window configuration for the ~ffs-edit~ buffer.  By
default, it will display the ~ffs-edit~ buffer in the same window.

The new ~ffs-edit-done-hook~ user option may be used to define hooks
to be run at the end of ~ffs-edit-done~ after returning to the main
~ffs~ presentation buffer.

Lastly, a new ~ffs-find-speaker-notes-function~ variable was added to
allow customizing the find function used for opening the speaker's
notes file, defaulting to ~find-file-other-frame~.

* Version 0.1.0 on 2022-05-19
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: ffs-0.1.0
:END:

Initial publication of =ffs.el= as part of my personal configurations
for GNU Emacs.

My first attempt at this concept was a now-archived [[https://git.kelar.org/~bandali/ffs/tree/ffsanim.el?id=aed420fca1af108e023eabf2b527850b559cd24c][=ffsanim.el=]],
a major mode implementation that used Emacs's ~animate~ library to
animate slide texts onto the screen.  Shortly after realizing the
shortcomings of that approach, I abandoned it in favour a minor mode
implementation and published version =0.1.0= of what is now =ffs= in
my [[https://git.kelar.org/~bandali/configs][personal configs repository]].

I used this implementation for presenting my LibrePlanet 2022 talk,
[[https://kelar.org/~bandali/essays/net-beyond-web.html][The Net beyond the Web]].

I picked "ffs" as the package name, the acronym for form feed slides.