update tour.texi for site modules and extensions
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1@c -*-texinfo-*-
2@c This is part of the GNU Guile Reference Manual.
4b93693d 3@c Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011
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4@c Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5@c See the file guile.texi for copying conditions.
6
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7@raisesections
8
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9@node Hello Guile!
10@section Hello Guile!
11
12This chapter presents a quick tour of all the ways that Guile can be
13used. There are additional examples in the @file{examples/}
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14directory in the Guile source distribution. It also explains how best to report
15any problems that you find.
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16
17The following examples assume that Guile has been installed in
18@code{/usr/local/}.
19
20@menu
21* Running Guile Interactively::
22* Running Guile Scripts::
23* Linking Guile into Programs::
24* Writing Guile Extensions::
25* Using the Guile Module System::
46733b42 26* Reporting Bugs::
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27@end menu
28
29
30@node Running Guile Interactively
31@subsection Running Guile Interactively
32
33In its simplest form, Guile acts as an interactive interpreter for the
34Scheme programming language, reading and evaluating Scheme expressions
35the user enters from the terminal. Here is a sample interaction between
36Guile and a user; the user's input appears after the @code{$} and
04ca2043 37@code{scheme@@(guile-user)>} prompts:
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38
39@example
40$ guile
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41scheme@@(guile-user)> (+ 1 2 3) ; add some numbers
42$1 = 6
43scheme@@(guile-user)> (define (factorial n) ; define a function
21476d84 44 (if (zero? n) 1 (* n (factorial (- n 1)))))
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45scheme@@(guile-user)> (factorial 20)
46$2 = 2432902008176640000
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47scheme@@(guile-user)> (getpwnam "root") ; look in /etc/passwd
48$3 = #("root" "x" 0 0 "root" "/root" "/bin/bash")
04ca2043 49scheme@@(guile-user)> @kbd{C-d}
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50$
51@end example
52
53
54@node Running Guile Scripts
55@subsection Running Guile Scripts
56
57Like AWK, Perl, or any shell, Guile can interpret script files. A Guile
58script is simply a file of Scheme code with some extra information at
59the beginning which tells the operating system how to invoke Guile, and
60then tells Guile how to handle the Scheme code.
61
ced9917e 62Here is a trivial Guile script. @xref{Guile Scripting}, for more details.
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63
64@example
65#!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
66!#
67(display "Hello, world!")
68(newline)
69@end example
70
71
72@node Linking Guile into Programs
73@subsection Linking Guile into Programs
74
75The Guile interpreter is available as an object library, to be linked
76into applications using Scheme as a configuration or extension
77language.
78
79Here is @file{simple-guile.c}, source code for a program that will
80produce a complete Guile interpreter. In addition to all usual
81functions provided by Guile, it will also offer the function
82@code{my-hostname}.
83
84@example
85#include <stdlib.h>
86#include <libguile.h>
87
88static SCM
89my_hostname (void)
90@{
91 char *s = getenv ("HOSTNAME");
92 if (s == NULL)
93 return SCM_BOOL_F;
94 else
95 return scm_from_locale_string (s);
96@}
97
98static void
99inner_main (void *data, int argc, char **argv)
100@{
101 scm_c_define_gsubr ("my-hostname", 0, 0, 0, my_hostname);
102 scm_shell (argc, argv);
103@}
104
105int
106main (int argc, char **argv)
107@{
108 scm_boot_guile (argc, argv, inner_main, 0);
109 return 0; /* never reached */
110@}
111@end example
112
113When Guile is correctly installed on your system, the above program
114can be compiled and linked like this:
115
116@example
117$ gcc -o simple-guile simple-guile.c \
4b93693d 118 `pkg-config --cflags --libs guile-@value{EFFECTIVE-VERSION}`
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119@end example
120
121When it is run, it behaves just like the @code{guile} program except
122that you can also call the new @code{my-hostname} function.
123
124@example
125$ ./simple-guile
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126scheme@@(guile-user)> (+ 1 2 3)
127$1 = 6
128scheme@@(guile-user)> (my-hostname)
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129"burns"
130@end example
131
132@node Writing Guile Extensions
133@subsection Writing Guile Extensions
134
135You can link Guile into your program and make Scheme available to the
136users of your program. You can also link your library into Guile and
137make its functionality available to all users of Guile.
138
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139A library that is linked into Guile is called an @dfn{extension}, but it
140really just is an ordinary object library.
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141
142The following example shows how to write a simple extension for Guile
143that makes the @code{j0} function available to Scheme code.
144
145@smallexample
146#include <math.h>
147#include <libguile.h>
148
149SCM
150j0_wrapper (SCM x)
151@{
152 return scm_make_real (j0 (scm_num2dbl (x, "j0")));
153@}
154
155void
156init_bessel ()
157@{
158 scm_c_define_gsubr ("j0", 1, 0, 0, j0_wrapper);
159@}
160@end smallexample
161
162This C source file needs to be compiled into a shared library. Here is
163how to do it on GNU/Linux:
164
165@smallexample
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166gcc `pkg-config --cflags guile-@value{EFFECTIVE-VERSION}` \
167 -shared -o libguile-bessel.so -fPIC bessel.c
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168@end smallexample
169
170For creating shared libraries portably, we recommend the use of GNU
171Libtool (@pxref{Top, , Introduction, libtool, GNU Libtool}).
172
173A shared library can be loaded into a running Guile process with the
174function @code{load-extension}. The @code{j0} is then immediately
175available:
176
177@smallexample
178$ guile
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179scheme@@(guile-user)> (load-extension "./libguile-bessel" "init_bessel")
180scheme@@(guile-user)> (j0 2)
181$1 = 0.223890779141236
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182@end smallexample
183
184
185@node Using the Guile Module System
186@subsection Using the Guile Module System
187
188Guile has support for dividing a program into @dfn{modules}. By using
189modules, you can group related code together and manage the
190composition of complete programs from largely independent parts.
191
9866cfe4 192For more details on the module system beyond this introductory material,
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193@xref{Modules}.
194
195@menu
196* Using Modules::
197* Writing new Modules::
198* Putting Extensions into Modules::
199@end menu
200
201
202@node Using Modules
203@subsubsection Using Modules
204
205Guile comes with a lot of useful modules, for example for string
206processing or command line parsing. Additionally, there exist many
207Guile modules written by other Guile hackers, but which have to be
208installed manually.
209
210Here is a sample interactive session that shows how to use the
211@code{(ice-9 popen)} module which provides the means for communicating
212with other processes over pipes together with the @code{(ice-9
213rdelim)} module that provides the function @code{read-line}.
214
215@smallexample
216$ guile
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217scheme@@(guile-user)> (use-modules (ice-9 popen))
218scheme@@(guile-user)> (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
219scheme@@(guile-user)> (define p (open-input-pipe "ls -l"))
220scheme@@(guile-user)> (read-line p)
221$1 = "total 30"
222scheme@@(guile-user)> (read-line p)
223$2 = "drwxr-sr-x 2 mgrabmue mgrabmue 1024 Mar 29 19:57 CVS"
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224@end smallexample
225
226@node Writing new Modules
227@subsubsection Writing new Modules
228
229You can create new modules using the syntactic form
230@code{define-module}. All definitions following this form until the
231next @code{define-module} are placed into the new module.
232
233One module is usually placed into one file, and that file is installed
234in a location where Guile can automatically find it. The following
235session shows a simple example.
236
237@smallexample
067df233 238$ cat /usr/local/share/guile/site/foo/bar.scm
45a272c5 239
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240(define-module (foo bar)
241 #:export (frob))
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242
243(define (frob x) (* 2 x))
244
245$ guile
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246scheme@@(guile-user)> (use-modules (foo bar))
247scheme@@(guile-user)> (frob 12)
248$1 = 24
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249@end smallexample
250
251@node Putting Extensions into Modules
252@subsubsection Putting Extensions into Modules
253
254In addition to Scheme code you can also put things that are defined in
255C into a module.
256
257You do this by writing a small Scheme file that defines the module and
258call @code{load-extension} directly in the body of the module.
259
260@smallexample
067df233 261$ cat /usr/local/share/guile/site/math/bessel.scm
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263(define-module (math bessel)
264 #:export (j0))
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265
266(load-extension "libguile-bessel" "init_bessel")
267
067df233 268$ file /usr/local/lib/guile/@value{EFFECTIVE-VERSION}/extensions/libguile-bessel.so
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269@dots{} ELF 32-bit LSB shared object @dots{}
270$ guile
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271scheme@@(guile-user)> (use-modules (math bessel))
272scheme@@(guile-user)> (j0 2)
273$1 = 0.223890779141236
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274@end smallexample
275
9866cfe4 276@xref{Modules and Extensions}, for more information.
45a272c5 277
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278@lowersections
279
280@node Reporting Bugs
281@section Reporting Bugs
282
283Any problems with the installation should be reported to
284@email{bug-guile@@gnu.org}.
285
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286If you find a bug in Guile, please report it to the Guile developers, so
287they can fix it. They may also be able to suggest workarounds when it
288is not possible for you to apply the bug-fix or install a new version of
289Guile yourself.
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290
291Before sending in bug reports, please check with the following list that
292you really have found a bug.
293
294@itemize @bullet
295@item
296Whenever documentation and actual behavior differ, you have certainly
297found a bug, either in the documentation or in the program.
298
299@item
300When Guile crashes, it is a bug.
301
302@item
303When Guile hangs or takes forever to complete a task, it is a bug.
304
305@item
306When calculations produce wrong results, it is a bug.
307
308@item
309When Guile signals an error for valid Scheme programs, it is a bug.
310
311@item
312When Guile does not signal an error for invalid Scheme programs, it may
313be a bug, unless this is explicitly documented.
314
315@item
316When some part of the documentation is not clear and does not make sense
317to you even after re-reading the section, it is a bug.
318@end itemize
319
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320Before reporting the bug, check whether any programs you have loaded
321into Guile, including your @file{.guile} file, set any variables that
322may affect the functioning of Guile. Also, see whether the problem
323happens in a freshly started Guile without loading your @file{.guile}
324file (start Guile with the @code{-q} switch to prevent loading the init
325file). If the problem does @emph{not} occur then, you must report the
326precise contents of any programs that you must load into Guile in order
327to cause the problem to occur.
328
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329When you write a bug report, please make sure to include as much of the
330information described below in the report. If you can't figure out some
331of the items, it is not a problem, but the more information we get, the
332more likely we can diagnose and fix the bug.
333
334@itemize @bullet
335@item
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336The version number of Guile. You can get this information from invoking
337@samp{guile --version} at your shell, or calling @code{(version)} from
338within Guile.
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339
340@item
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341Your machine type, as determined by the @code{config.guess} shell
342script. If you have a Guile checkout, this file is located in
343@code{build-aux}; otherwise you can fetch the latest version from
344@uref{http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=config.git;a=blob_plain;f=config.guess;hb=HEAD}.
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345
346@example
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347$ build-aux/config.guess
348x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
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349@end example
350
351@item
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352If you installed Guile from a binary package, the version of that
353package. On systems that use RPM, use @code{rpm -qa | grep guile}. On systems
354that use DPKG, @code{dpkg -l | grep guile}.
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355
356@item
04ca2043 357If you built Guile yourself, the build configuration that you used:
46733b42 358
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359@example
360$ ./config.status --config
ced9917e 361'--enable-error-on-warning' '--disable-deprecated'...
04ca2043 362@end example
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363
364@item
04ca2043 365A complete description of how to reproduce the bug.
46733b42 366
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367If you have a Scheme program that produces the bug, please include it in
368the bug report. If your program is too big to include. please try to
369reduce your code to a minimal test case.
46733b42 370
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371If you can reproduce your problem at the REPL, that is best. Give a
372transcript of the expressions you typed at the REPL.
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373
374@item
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375A description of the incorrect behavior. For example, "The Guile
376process gets a fatal signal," or, "The resulting output is as follows,
377which I think is wrong."
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378
379If the manifestation of the bug is a Guile error message, it is
380important to report the precise text of the error message, and a
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381backtrace showing how the Scheme program arrived at the error. This can
382be done using the @code{,backtrace} command in Guile's debugger.
383@end itemize
46733b42 384
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385If your bug causes Guile to crash, additional information from a
386low-level debugger such as GDB might be helpful. If you have built Guile
387yourself, you can run Guile under GDB via the
388@code{meta/gdb-uninstalled-guile} script. Instead of invoking Guile as
389usual, invoke the wrapper script, type @code{run} to start the process,
390then @code{backtrace} when the crash comes. Include that backtrace in
391your report.
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394
395@c Local Variables:
396@c TeX-master: "guile.texi"
397@c End: