Editing XEmacs (section)

==XEmacs and GNU Emacs==
Several of XEmacs's principal developers have published accounts of the split between XEmacs and GNU Emacs, for example, Stephen Turnbull's summary<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xemacs.org/About/XEmacsVsGNUemacs.html|title=XEmacs: XEmacs vs. GNU Emacs|website=Xemacs.org|access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref> of the arguments from both sides.  One of the main disagreements involves different views of copyright assignment. The FSF sees copyright assignment to the FSF as necessary to allow it to defend the code against GPL violations,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/why-assign.html|title=Why the FSF gets copyright assignments from contributors - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation|website=Fsf.org|access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref>
while the XEmacs developers have argued that the lack of copyright assignment has allowed major companies to get involved, as sometimes companies can license their code but due to a cautious attitude concerning [[Fiduciary|fiduciary duties]] to shareholders, companies may have trouble in getting permission to assign away code completely.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}}

The [[Free Software Foundation]] holds [[copyright]] of much of the XEmacs code because of prior copyright assignment during merge attempts and cross-development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xemacs.org/About/XEmacsVsGNUemacs.html|title=Xemacs vs GNU Emacs|quote=XEmacs is GNU software because it's a modified version of a GNU program. And it is GNU software because the FSF is the copyright holder for most of it... XEmacs has no choice, because much of its code is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, and is only available to XEmacs under the GPL.}}</ref>  Whether a piece of new XEmacs code enters GNU Emacs often depends on the willingness of that individual contributor to assign the code to the FSF. New features in either editor usually show up in the other sooner or later.  Furthermore, many developers contribute to both projects.

The XEmacs project has a policy of maintaining compatibility with the GNU Emacs [[Application Programming Interface|API]]. For example, it provides a [[compatibility layer|compatibility-layer]] implementing overlays via the native extent functionality. "XEmacs developers strive to keep their code compatible with GNU Emacs, especially on the Lisp level."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/21.5/html/xemacs-faq_2.html#SEC53|title=Frequently asked questions about XEmacs: Introduction|website=Xemacs.org|access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref>

As XEmacs development has slowed, XEmacs has incorporated much code from GNU Emacs,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://xemacs.org/Releases/21.5.33.html|title=XEmacs 21.5.33 release notes|website=Xemacs.org|access-date=1 December 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304044011/http://xemacs.org/Releases/21.5.33.html|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> while GNU Emacs has implemented many formerly XEmacs-only features. This has led some users to proclaim XEmacs' death, advocating that its developers contribute to GNU Emacs instead.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/04/xemacs-is-dead-long-live-xemacs.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501053355/http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/04/xemacs-is-dead-long-live-xemacs.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 May 2008 |title=XEmacs is Dead. Long Live XEmacs! |website=Steve-yegge.blogspot.com |access-date=1 December 2014 }}</ref>

Many major packages, such as [[Gnus]] and [[Dired]], were formerly developed to work with both,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/195|title=A Comparison of Xemacs and Gnu Emacs|quote=Luckily many of the package maintainers are attempting to make their modules work with both Xemacs and Gnu Emacs, though the functionality may not be identical.}}</ref> although the main developer of Gnus has announced his intention to move the Gnus tree into the main Emacs trunk and remove XEmacs compatibility code, citing other packages similarly dropping XEmacs support.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2015-12/msg01511.html|title = Moving Gnus development to Emacs?}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/2016/01/01/its-about-ethics-in-gnus-development/|title = It's About Ethics in Gnus Development|date = January 2016}}</ref>

In December 2015 project maintainer Stephen J. Turnbull posted a message to an XEmacs development list stating the project was "at a crossroads" in terms of future compatibility with GNU Emacs due to developer attrition and GNU Emacs' progress. Several options were laid out for future directions including ending development entirely, creating a new fork from the current version of GNU Emacs, or putting the project in [[maintenance mode]] in case someone wants to restart development in the future.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.xemacs.announce/92|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014053351/http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.xemacs.announce/92|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-10-14|title=XEmacs at a crossroads|quote=For the past decade, work on XEmacs has continued at a low level, and mostly not visible in user-level features.  In the meantime, GNU Emacs has implemented almost all XEmacs features...At the same time, a number of features that XEmacs lacks, and would require substantial effort to port, have been implemented...the developers who have been the primary contributors of code currently have personal and professional commitments that prevent them from devoting enough time to XEmacs to implement the large features necessary for full compatibility with GNU Emacs for the foreseeable future...several developers who have contributed heavily in the past have acknowledged that they *won't* be doing so for the foreseeable future.  It's only fair that we let you, our users and supporters, know about that.}}</ref> This last option was the direction decided, with commitments from individual contributors to provide minimal support for the web site and development resources.

In 2020 the XEmacs project moved its [[Mercurial]] source repository to Heptapod, following their former host [[Bitbucket]]'s discontinuation of Mercurial support. In May 2023, the project released the first new beta version of XEmacs in nearly a decade with beta version 21.5.35 "kohlrabi".<ref name="XEmacs 21.5.35 Release Notice">{{cite web|url=http://www.xemacs.org/Releases/index.html|title=XEmacs: XEmacs 21.5.35 "kohlrabi" is released|website=Xemacs.org|access-date=19 July 2023}}</ref>