Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
c6ae9c77 MV |
1 | @c -*-texinfo-*- |
2 | @c This is part of the GNU Guile Reference Manual. | |
9813088c | 3 | @c Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011 |
c6ae9c77 MV |
4 | @c Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
5 | @c See the file guile.texi for copying conditions. | |
6 | ||
3229f68b | 7 | @node Preface |
064f84ae | 8 | @unnumbered Preface |
a0e07ba4 | 9 | |
064f84ae NJ |
10 | This manual describes how to use Guile, GNU's Ubiquitous Intelligent |
11 | Language for Extensions. It relates particularly to Guile version | |
79bd99b3 | 12 | @value{VERSION}. |
a0e07ba4 | 13 | |
064f84ae NJ |
14 | @menu |
15 | * Contributors:: | |
16 | * Guile License:: | |
17 | @end menu | |
a0e07ba4 | 18 | |
916542f1 | 19 | @node Contributors |
064f84ae | 20 | @unnumberedsec Contributors to this Manual |
916542f1 | 21 | |
47bce022 AW |
22 | Like Guile itself, the Guile reference manual is a living entity, cared |
23 | for by many people over a long period of time. As such, it is hard to | |
24 | identify individuals of whom to say ``yes, this person, she wrote the | |
25 | manual.'' | |
26 | ||
27 | Still, among the many contributions, some caretakers stand out. First | |
28 | among them is Neil Jerram, who has been working on this document for ten | |
29 | years now. Neil's attention both to detail and to the big picture have | |
30 | made a real difference in the understanding of a generation of Guile | |
31 | hackers. | |
32 | ||
33 | Next we should note Marius Vollmer's effect on this document. Marius | |
34 | maintained Guile during a period in which Guile's API was | |
35 | clarified---put to the fire, so to speak---and he had the good sense to | |
36 | effect the same change on the manual. | |
37 | ||
38 | Martin Grabmueller made substantial contributions throughout the manual | |
39 | in preparation for the Guile 1.6 release, including filling out a lot of | |
40 | the documentation of Scheme data types, control mechanisms and | |
41 | procedures. In addition, he wrote the documentation for Guile's SRFI | |
42 | modules and modules associated with the Guile REPL. | |
43 | ||
9813088c | 44 | Ludovic Court@`es and Andy Wingo, the Guile maintainers at the time of |
47bce022 AW |
45 | this writing (late 2010), have also made their dent in the manual, |
46 | writing documentation for new modules and subsystems in Guile 2.0. They | |
47 | are also responsible for ensuring that the existing text retains its | |
48 | relevance as Guile evolves. @xref{Reporting Bugs}, for more information | |
49 | on reporting problems in this manual. | |
50 | ||
51 | The content for the first versions of this manual incorporated and was | |
52 | inspired by documents from Aubrey Jaffer, author of the SCM system on | |
9322905c | 53 | which Guile was based, and from Tom Lord, Guile's first maintainer. |
47bce022 AW |
54 | Although most of this text has been rewritten, all of it was important, |
55 | and some of the structure remains. | |
56 | ||
9322905c AW |
57 | The manual for the first versions of Guile were largely written, edited, |
58 | and compiled by Mark Galassi and Jim Blandy. In particular, Jim wrote | |
47bce022 | 59 | the original tutorial on Guile's data representation and the C API for |
916542f1 MV |
60 | accessing Guile objects. |
61 | ||
47bce022 AW |
62 | Significant portions were also contributed by Thien-Thi Nguyen, Kevin |
63 | Ryde, Mikael Djurfeldt, Christian Lynbech, Julian Graham, Gary Houston, | |
64 | Tim Pierce, and a few dozen more. You, reader, are most welcome to join | |
65 | their esteemed ranks. Visit Guile's web site at | |
66 | @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/} to find out how to get | |
67 | involved. | |
68 | ||
eb12b401 | 69 | |
916542f1 | 70 | @node Guile License |
064f84ae | 71 | @unnumberedsec The Guile License |
d10196fc | 72 | @cindex copying |
ed435f86 KR |
73 | @cindex GPL |
74 | @cindex LGPL | |
d10196fc | 75 | @cindex license |
916542f1 MV |
76 | |
77 | Guile is Free Software. Guile is copyrighted, not public domain, and | |
78 | there are restrictions on its distribution or redistribution, but | |
79 | these restrictions are designed to permit everything a cooperating | |
80 | person would want to do. | |
81 | ||
82 | @itemize @bullet | |
83 | @item | |
84 | The Guile library (libguile) and supporting files are published under | |
53befeb7 NJ |
85 | the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 or later. |
86 | See the files @file{COPYING.LESSER} and @file{COPYING}. | |
916542f1 MV |
87 | |
88 | @item | |
89 | The Guile readline module is published under the terms of the GNU | |
53befeb7 | 90 | General Public License version 3 or later. See the file @file{COPYING}. |
916542f1 MV |
91 | |
92 | @item | |
93 | The manual you're now reading is published under the terms of the GNU | |
94 | Free Documentation License (@pxref{GNU Free Documentation License}). | |
95 | @end itemize | |
96 | ||
97 | C code linking to the Guile library is subject to terms of that | |
98 | library. Basically such code may be published on any terms, provided | |
99 | users can re-link against a new or modified version of Guile. | |
100 | ||
101 | C code linking to the Guile readline module is subject to the terms of | |
102 | that module. Basically such code must be published on Free terms. | |
103 | ||
104 | Scheme level code written to be run by Guile (but not derived from | |
31c73458 | 105 | Guile itself) is not restricted in any way, and may be published on any |
916542f1 MV |
106 | terms. We encourage authors to publish on Free terms. |
107 | ||
108 | You must be aware there is no warranty whatsoever for Guile. This is | |
109 | described in full in the licenses. | |
110 | ||
a0e07ba4 NJ |
111 | |
112 | @c Local Variables: | |
113 | @c TeX-master: "guile.texi" | |
114 | @c End: |