90: What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly "Lucid Emacs")? First of all, they're both GNU Emacs. XEmacs is just as much a later version of GNU Emacs 18 as the FSF-distributed version. This FAQ refers to the latest version to be distributed by the FSF as "Emacs," partly because the XEmacs maintainers now refer to their product using the "XEmacs" name, and partly because there isn't any accurate way to differentiate between the two without getting mired in paragraphs of legalese and history. XEmacs, which began life as Lucid Emacs, is based on an early version of Emacs 19 and Epoch, an X-aware version of Emacs 18. Emacs (i.e., the version distributed by the FSF) has a larger installed base and supports character terminals, while XEmacs can do some clever tricks with X Windows, such as putting arbitrary graphics in a buffer. Emacs and XEmacs each come with Lisp packages that are lacking in the other; RMS says that the FSF would include more packages that come with XEmacs, but that the XEmacs maintainers don't always keep track of the authors of contributed code, which makes it impossible for the FSF to have certain legal papers signed. (Without these legal papers, the FSF will not distribute Lisp packages with Emacs.) Many XEmacs features have found their way into recent versions of Emacs, and more features can be expected in the future, but there are still many differences between the two packages. The latest version of XEmacs as of this writing is 19.11; you can get it at ftp://ftp.cs.uiuc.edu/pub/xemacs/xemacs-19.11.tar.gz More information about XEmacs, including a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ), is available at http://xemacs.cs.uiuc.edu/