Emacs Version History

emacs history: major changes in emacs core

• 1985-03-20 → Emacs 13
• 1985-04-10 → Emacs 15.10
• 1985-05-07 → Emacs 15.34
• 1985-07-15 → Emacs 16.56
• 1985-09-16 → Emacs 16.57
• 1985-09-17 → Emacs 16.58
• 1985-09-17 → Emacs 16.59
• 1985-09-19 → Emacs 16.60
• 1985-12-20 → Emacs 17.36
• 1986-01-25 → Emacs 17.43
• 1986-02-04 → Emacs 17.46
• 1986-02-10 → Emacs 17.48
• 1986-02-12 → Emacs 17.49
• 1986-03-18 → Emacs 17.55
• 1986-03-27 → Emacs 17.57
• 1986-04-04 → Emacs 17.58
• 1986-04-22 → Emacs 17.61
• 1986-05-07 → Emacs 17.63
• 1986-05-12 → Emacs 17.64
• 1986-10-02 → Emacs 18.24
• 1987-03-22 → Emacs 18.41
• 1987-06-02 → Emacs 18.45
• 1987-06-08 → Emacs 18.46
• 1987-06-10 → Emacs 18.47
• 1987-08-30 → Emacs 18.48
• 1987-09-18 → Emacs 18.49
• 1988-02-13 → Emacs 18.50
• 1988-05-07 → Emacs 18.51
• 1988-09-01 → Emacs 18.52
• 1989-02-24 → Emacs 18.53
• 1989-04-26 → Emacs 18.54
• 1989-08-23 → Emacs 18.55
• 1991-01-16 → Emacs 18.56
• 1991-01-25 → Emacs 18.57
• 1991-02-18 → Emacs 18.58
• 1992-10-30 → Emacs 18.59
• 1992-10-31 → Emacs 18.59
• 1993-05-22 → Emacs 19.7
• 1993-05-24 → Emacs 19.8
• 1993-05-27 → Emacs 19.9
• 1993-05-30 → Emacs 19.10
• 1993-06-01 → Emacs 19.11
• 1993-06-02 → Emacs 19.12
• 1993-06-08 → Emacs 19.13
• 1993-06-17 → Emacs 19.14
• 1993-06-19 → Emacs 19.15
• 1993-07-06 → Emacs 19.16
• 1993-07-19 → Emacs 19.17
• 1993-08-08 → Emacs 19.18
• 1993-08-14 → Emacs 19.19
• 1993-11-11 → Emacs 19.20
• 1993-11-16 → Emacs 19.21
• 1993-11-27 → Emacs 19.22
• 1994-05-16 → Emacs 19.23
• 1994-05-23 → Emacs 19.24
• 1994-05-30 → Emacs 19.25
• 1994-09-07 → Emacs 19.26
• 1994-10-06 → Emacs 19.28
• 1994-11-01 → Emacs 19.28 • Initial support for X
• 1995-06-19 → Emacs 19.29
• 1995-11-24 → Emacs 19.30
• 1996-05-25 → Emacs 19.31
• 1996-07-31 → Emacs 19.32
• 1996-08-11 → Emacs 19.33
• 1996-08-21 → Emacs 19.34
• 1996-08-22 → Emacs 19.34
• 1997-09-15 → Emacs 20.1 • Support for non-ASCII text.
• 1997-09-15 → Emacs 20.1
• 1997-09-19 → Emacs 20.2
• 1997-09-20 → Emacs 20.2
• 1998-08-19 → Emacs 20.3
• 1999-07-12 → Emacs 20.4
• 1999-12-04 → Emacs 20.5
• 2000-02-15 → Emacs 20.6
• 2000-06-13 → Emacs 20.7
• 2001-10-28 → Emacs 21.1. • New display engine with support for variable-size fonts and TTY colors in Emacs 21.
• 2001-10-28 → Emacs 21.1
• 2002-03-18 → Emacs 21.2
• 2003-03-24 → Emacs 21.3
• 2005-02-06 → Emacs 21.4
• 2005-02-17 → Emacs 21.4a
• 2007-06-02 → Emacs 22.1
• 2008-03-26 → Emacs 22.2
• 2008-09-05 → Emacs 22.3
• 2009-07-29 → Emacs 23.1 • Unicode-based internal representation of text in Emacs 23. • Emacs client/server. • Visual lines. • New font engine. Now support Operating System's fonts. Emacs 23.1 Features (released 2009-07) • Installing ELPA Package System for Emacs 23
• 2010-05-08 → Emacs 23.2. • open large files → up to 512 mb. Emacs 23.2 Features (released 2010-05) • Emacs nxml-mode Fontification Changes
• 2011-03-10 → Emacs 23.3
• 2012-01-29 → Emacs 23.4
• 2012-06-10 → Emacs 24.1 • Bidirectional text display Emacs 24.1 Features (released 2012-06)
• 2012-08-27 → Emacs 24.2
• 2013-03-11 → Emacs 24.3 Emacs 24.3 Common Lisp Package Name Change
• 2014-10-20 → Emacs 24.4 Emacs 24.4 Features (released 2014-10)
• 2015-04-10 → Emacs 24.5
• 2016-09-17 → Emacs 25.1
• 2017-04-21 → Emacs 25.2
• 2017-09-11 → Emacs 25.3
• 2018-05-28 → Emacs 26.1 Concurrency/threads Emacs 26.1 Features (released 2018-06)
• 2019-04-12 → Emacs 26.2
• 2019-08-28 → Emacs 26.3
• 2020-08-10 → Emacs 27.1 Emacs 27.1 Features (released 2020-08)
• 2021-03-25 → Emacs 27.2
• 2022-04-04 → Emacs 28.1 Emacs 28.1 Features (released 2022-04)

2017-12-22 parts are based on Eli Zaretskii's post at https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/7kpwmb/how_much_has_emacs_core_changed_over_the_years/drgtqyx/ (Eli is a long time core emacs developer.)