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Changelog

All notable changes are recorded here. The format follows Keep a Changelog, and versions follow Semantic Versioning. Before 1.0, a minor version may change the index format or command-line behavior, and its entry says so.

Unreleased

0.2.0 - 2026-10-20

This release changes only the Emacs integration. Emacs users need to update their settings and, for xcscope’s keys, add one line, as described below. The index format, the command line, the JSON interface and the Vim and Neovim plugins are unchanged.

Editors

  • The Emacs package is Ripscope’s own and searches through xref: M-. finds a definition and M-? the uses of a symbol in C buffers, and results open in the xref buffer. All nine searches are commands, such as ripscope-find-callers, and ripscope-command-map holds them on xcscope’s keys. To keep C-c s g and the rest, add (define-key ripscope-mode-map (kbd "C-c s") 'ripscope-command-map) to your init file. Result paths may hold spaces. It replaces the bundled xcscope, which no longer ships, and needs Emacs 28.1 or newer and no other package.
  • The Emacs settings are now ripscope-include-directories, ripscope-auto-refresh, ripscope-executable and ripscope-timeout. M-x ripscope-index-project indexes a project again and M-x ripscope-stop-sessions stops the sessions.
  • The Emacs package is licensed MIT or Apache-2.0, as the rest of Ripscope is, so release archives and system packages are too.

0.1.1 - 2026-10-20

Freshness

  • On Windows, a session’s next search after a build writes hundreds of files into the project no longer waits about half a second. When the file watcher reports lost events, the session refreshes at once.

Editors

  • A project reached through a symbolic link and by its own path shares one index.
  • :RipscopeInstall and M-x ripscope-install leave the decision to the installer. Run with --plugin (-Plugin on Windows) from a checkout, it installs the checkout’s version unless the executable found is that version or newer, or one it did not put there. A prerelease now counts as older than its release in every editor.
  • Neovim settings that choose an index or sources build it on the first search until it is published with those sources, not only when the file is missing.
  • ripscope --project PATH takes an index build’s -f, -k, -R, -i and files, and judges publication by them.
  • The Windows uninstaller names the cache folder Ripscope uses when RIPSCOPE_CACHE_DIR is \cache or another path without a drive.

0.1.0 - 2026-10-20

The first release. Ripscope answers cscope’s searches over C source from the command line, Vim, Neovim and Emacs, on x86-64 Linux and Windows.

Searches

  • All of cscope’s line-mode searches: symbols, definitions, functions called, callers, text, egrep patterns, files, includers and assignments. They run as one-shot queries (-L) or in line-oriented sessions (-l), with cscope’s output format and session protocol. -C matches ASCII letters in either case.
  • Each name takes the function or macro it sits in as its context, within its own file, so callers and callees come from where each call is written.
  • Corrections read constructs that cscope misreads, such as extern "C" blocks, macros with CR LF line endings and pointer declarators.
  • Assignment search also finds array initializers, subscript stores, and ++ and -- on a named variable.
  • Text and egrep searches read the files as they are now.
  • An optional JSON interface (--json) keeps paths with spaces and non-ASCII bytes exact.

See differences from cscope and the benchmarks.

Editors

  • Integrations for Vim, through its built-in cscope support, for Neovim, and for Emacs, through xcscope.
  • One-step setup. A plugin-manager line (lazy.nvim, vim-plug, or use-package :vc on Emacs 30 and newer) installs the integration and the executable of the same version.
  • Each search finds its project: the nearest directory with cscope.files, else the Git repository, else the editor’s current directory. The first search builds the project’s index in your cache directory, and later searches keep it current. ripscope --project PATH reports the project and its index, and RIPSCOPE_CACHE_DIR moves the cache.

Freshness

  • Index builds from explicit files, file lists (-i), cscope.files or directory discovery (-R), following literal includes through -I directories. Each update applies the selection again, so added, removed and renamed files are picked up.
  • An update analyses again only the files whose size, times or identity changed, and commits in one SQLite transaction. Queries read a complete revision while another process updates.
  • A session watches the files its index was made from and refreshes after a change, before the next query. No build or compilation database is needed.
  • --verify checks the index and reads every file again, and -bu rebuilds a damaged index.

Platforms

  • x86-64 Linux with glibc 2.28 or newer, and x86-64 Windows.
  • The index lives on local storage. The limitations list the details.

Installation

  • install.sh and install.ps1 verify and install the executable, set up Vim and Neovim, and print the line Emacs needs. --uninstall (-Uninstall in PowerShell) removes them again.
  • Release archives for Linux and Windows, and Debian and RPM packages, each with a SHA-256 checksum.
  • Source builds with Cargo.