Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
04873705 | 1 | !!! This is not a Guile release; it is a source tree retrieved via |
4b824aae | 2 | Git or as a nightly snapshot at some random time after the |
4800a61a | 3 | Guile 1.8 release. If this were a Guile release, you would not see |
04873705 | 4 | this message. !!! [fixme: zonk on release] |
c299f186 | 5 | |
0f24e75b | 6 | This is a 1.9 development version of Guile, Project GNU's extension |
f2a75d81 RB |
7 | language library. Guile is an interpreter for Scheme, packaged as a |
8 | library that you can link into your applications to give them their | |
9 | own scripting language. Guile will eventually support other languages | |
10 | as well, giving users of Guile-based applications a choice of | |
11 | languages. | |
12 | ||
0f24e75b | 13 | Guile versions with an odd middle number, i.e. 1.9.* are unstable |
f2a75d81 RB |
14 | development versions. Even middle numbers indicate stable versions. |
15 | This has been the case since the 1.3.* series. | |
16 | ||
0f24e75b | 17 | The next stable release will likely be version 1.10.0. |
7fcc90c4 | 18 | |
1e457544 | 19 | Please send bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org. |
86f40248 | 20 | |
d165aa15 RB |
21 | See the LICENSE file for the specific terms that apply to Guile. |
22 | ||
23 | ||
24 | Additional INSTALL instructions =========================================== | |
25 | ||
26 | Generic instructions for configuring and compiling Guile can be found | |
27 | in the INSTALL file. Guile specific information and configure options | |
28 | can be found below, including instructions for installing SLIB. | |
29 | ||
a98dbc87 MV |
30 | Guile requires a few external packages and can optionally use a number |
31 | of external packages such as `readline' when they are available. | |
32 | Guile expects to be able to find these packages in the default | |
33 | compiler setup, it does not try to make any special arrangements | |
34 | itself. For example, for the `readline' package, Guile expects to be | |
35 | able to find the include file <readline/readline.h>, without passing | |
36 | any special `-I' options to the compiler. | |
d165aa15 RB |
37 | |
38 | If you installed an external package, and you used the --prefix | |
39 | installation option to install it somewhere else than /usr/local, you | |
40 | must arrange for your compiler to find it by default. If that | |
41 | compiler is gcc, one convenient way of making such arrangements is to | |
42 | use the --with-local-prefix option during installation, naming the | |
43 | same directory as you used in the --prefix option of the package. In | |
44 | particular, it is not good enough to use the same --prefix option when | |
45 | you install gcc and the package; you need to use the | |
46 | --with-local-prefix option as well. See the gcc documentation for | |
47 | more details. | |
48 | ||
49 | ||
a98dbc87 MV |
50 | Required External Packages ================================================ |
51 | ||
52 | Guile requires the following external packages: | |
53 | ||
54 | - GNU MP, at least version 4.1 | |
55 | ||
56 | GNU MP is used for bignum arithmetic. It is available from | |
57 | http://swox.com/gmp | |
58 | ||
59 | - libltdl from libtool, at least from libtool version 1.5.6 | |
60 | ||
61 | libltdl is used for loading extensions at run-time. It is | |
62 | available from http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/ | |
63 | ||
64 | ||
d165aa15 RB |
65 | Special Instructions For Some Systems ===================================== |
66 | ||
67 | We would like Guile to build on all systems using the simple | |
68 | instructions above, but it seems that a few systems still need special | |
69 | treatment. If you can send us fixes for these problems, we'd be | |
70 | grateful. | |
71 | ||
70bb8113 | 72 | <none yet listed> |
d165aa15 RB |
73 | |
74 | Guile specific flags Accepted by Configure ================================= | |
75 | ||
76 | If you run the configure script with no arguments, it should examine | |
77 | your system and set things up appropriately. However, there are a few | |
78 | switches specific to Guile you may find useful in some circumstances. | |
79 | ||
4f416616 | 80 | --without-threads --- Build without thread support |
d165aa15 | 81 | |
70bb8113 | 82 | Build a Guile executable and library that supports multi-threading. |
d165aa15 | 83 | |
70bb8113 MV |
84 | The default is to enable threading support when your operating |
85 | system offsers 'POSIX threads'. When you do not want threading, use | |
86 | `--without-threads'. | |
d165aa15 RB |
87 | |
88 | --enable-deprecated=LEVEL | |
89 | ||
90 | Guile may contain features that are `deprecated'. When a feature is | |
3623a170 MV |
91 | deprecated, it means that it is still there, but that there is a |
92 | better way of achieving the same thing, and we'd rather have you use | |
93 | this better way. This allows us to eventually remove the old | |
94 | implementation and helps to keep Guile reasonably clean of historic | |
95 | baggage. | |
96 | ||
97 | Deprecated features are considered harmful; using them is likely a | |
98 | bug. See below for the related notion of `discouraged' features, | |
70bb8113 | 99 | which are OK but have fallen out of favor. |
d165aa15 RB |
100 | |
101 | See the file NEWS for a list of features that are currently | |
102 | deprecated. Each entry will also tell you what you should replace | |
103 | your code with. | |
104 | ||
105 | To give you some help with this process, and to encourage (OK, | |
106 | nudge) people to switch to the newer methods, Guile can emit | |
107 | warnings or errors when you use a deprecated feature. There is | |
108 | quite a range of possibilities, from being completely silent to | |
109 | giving errors at link time. What exactly happens is determined both | |
110 | by the value of the `--enable-deprecated' configuration option when | |
111 | Guile was built, and by the GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED environment | |
112 | variable. | |
113 | ||
114 | It works like this: | |
115 | ||
116 | When Guile has been configured with `--enable-deprecated=no' (or, | |
117 | equivalently, with `--disable-deprecated') then all deprecated | |
118 | features are omitted from Guile. You will get "undefined | |
119 | reference", "variable unbound" or similar errors when you try to | |
120 | use them. | |
121 | ||
122 | When `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' has been specified (for LEVEL not | |
123 | "no"), LEVEL will be used as the default value of the environment | |
124 | variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED. A value of "yes" is changed to | |
125 | "summary" and "shutup" is changed to "no", however. | |
126 | ||
127 | When GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED has the value "no", nothing special | |
128 | will happen when a deprecated feature is used. | |
129 | ||
130 | When GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED has the value "summary", and a | |
131 | deprecated feature has been used, Guile will print this message at | |
132 | exit: | |
133 | ||
134 | Some deprecated features have been used. Set the environment | |
135 | variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED to "detailed" and rerun the | |
136 | program to get more information. Set it to "no" to suppress | |
137 | this message. | |
138 | ||
139 | When GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED has the value "detailed", a detailed | |
140 | warning is emitted immediatly for the first use of a deprecated | |
141 | feature. | |
142 | ||
143 | The default is `--enable-deprecated=yes'. | |
144 | ||
8f305401 MV |
145 | In addition to setting GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED in the environment, you |
146 | can also use (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) and (debug-disable | |
147 | 'warn-deprecated) to enable and disable the detailed messaged at run | |
148 | time. | |
149 | ||
3623a170 MV |
150 | --disable-discouraged |
151 | ||
152 | In addition to deprecated features, Guile can also contain things | |
153 | that are merely `discouraged'. It is OK to continue to use these | |
154 | features in old code, but new code should avoid them since there are | |
155 | better alternatives. | |
156 | ||
157 | There is nothing wrong with a discouraged feature per se, but they | |
158 | might have strange names, or be non-standard, for example. Avoiding | |
159 | them will make your code better. | |
160 | ||
d165aa15 RB |
161 | --disable-shared --- Do not build shared libraries. |
162 | --disable-static --- Do not build static libraries. | |
163 | ||
164 | Normally, both static and shared libraries will be built if your | |
165 | system supports them. | |
166 | ||
d165aa15 RB |
167 | --enable-debug-freelist --- Enable freelist debugging. |
168 | ||
70bb8113 MV |
169 | This enables a debugging version of scm_cell and scm_double_cell, |
170 | and also registers an extra primitive, the setter | |
d165aa15 RB |
171 | `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'. |
172 | ||
173 | Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable the | |
174 | gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use: | |
175 | ||
176 | (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist | |
177 | (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking | |
178 | ||
179 | Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and a | |
180 | garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can slow | |
181 | down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to | |
182 | turn on this extra processing only when necessary. | |
183 | ||
d165aa15 RB |
184 | --enable-debug-malloc --- Enable malloc debugging. |
185 | ||
70bb8113 | 186 | Include code for debugging of calls to scm_malloc, scm_realloc, etc. |
d165aa15 | 187 | |
70bb8113 MV |
188 | It records the number of allocated objects of each kind. This is |
189 | useful when searching for memory leaks. | |
d165aa15 RB |
190 | |
191 | A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive | |
192 | `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the | |
193 | number of objects of that kind. | |
194 | ||
d165aa15 | 195 | --enable-guile-debug --- Include internal debugging functions |
d165aa15 RB |
196 | --disable-posix --- omit posix interfaces |
197 | --disable-networking --- omit networking interfaces | |
198 | --disable-regex --- omit regular expression interfaces | |
199 | ||
200 | ||
201 | Cross building Guile ===================================================== | |
202 | ||
203 | As of guile-1.5.x, the build process uses compiled C files for | |
204 | snarfing, and (indirectly, through libtool) for linking, and uses the | |
205 | guile executable for generating documentation. | |
206 | ||
207 | When cross building guile, you first need to configure, build and | |
208 | install guile for your build host. | |
209 | ||
210 | Then, you may configure guile for cross building, eg: | |
211 | ||
212 | ./configure --host=i686-pc-cygwin --disable-shared | |
213 | ||
cd9d439e KR |
214 | A C compiler for the build system is required. The default is |
215 | "PATH=/usr/bin:$PATH cc". If that doesn't suit it can be specified | |
216 | with the CC_FOR_BUILD variable in the usual way, for instance | |
d165aa15 | 217 | |
cd9d439e KR |
218 | ./configure --host=m68k-unknown-linux-gnu CC_FOR_BUILD=/my/local/gcc |
219 | ||
1028fcb2 KR |
220 | Guile for the build system can be specified similarly with the |
221 | GUILE_FOR_BUILD variable, it defaults to just "guile". | |
d165aa15 RB |
222 | |
223 | ||
224 | Using Guile Without Installing It ========================================= | |
225 | ||
0b6d8fdc AW |
226 | The "meta/" subdirectory of the Guile sources contains a script called |
227 | "guile" that can be used to run the Guile that has just been built. Note | |
228 | that this is not the same "guile" as the one that is installed; this | |
229 | "guile" is a wrapper script that sets up the environment appropriately, | |
230 | then invokes the Guile binary. | |
231 | ||
4ea9429e AW |
232 | You may also build external packages against an uninstalled Guile build |
233 | tree. The "uninstalled-env" script in the "meta/" subdirectory will set | |
234 | up an environment with a path including "meta/", a modified dynamic | |
235 | linker path, a modified PKG_CONFIG_PATH, etc. | |
0b6d8fdc AW |
236 | |
237 | For example, you can enter this environment via invoking | |
238 | ||
239 | meta/uninstalled-env bash | |
240 | ||
241 | Within that shell, other packages should be able to build against | |
242 | uninstalled Guile. | |
d165aa15 RB |
243 | |
244 | ||
245 | Installing SLIB =========================================================== | |
246 | ||
247 | In order to use SLIB from Guile you basically only need to put the | |
248 | `slib' directory _in_ one of the directories on Guile's load path. | |
249 | ||
250 | The standard installation is: | |
251 | ||
252 | 1. Obtain slib from http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~jaffer/SLIB.html | |
253 | ||
254 | 2. Put it in Guile's data directory, that is the directory printed when | |
255 | you type | |
256 | ||
257 | guile-config info pkgdatadir | |
258 | ||
259 | at the shell prompt. This is normally `/usr/local/share/guile', so the | |
260 | directory will normally have full path `/usr/local/share/guile/slib'. | |
261 | ||
262 | 3. Start guile as a user with write access to the data directory and type | |
263 | ||
264 | (use-modules (ice-9 slib)) | |
265 | ||
266 | at the Guile prompt. This will generate the slibcat catalog next to | |
267 | the slib directory. | |
268 | ||
269 | SLIB's `require' is provided by the Guile module (ice-9 slib). | |
270 | ||
271 | Example: | |
272 | ||
273 | (use-modules (ice-9 slib)) | |
274 | (require 'primes) | |
275 | (prime? 7) | |
276 | ||
70bb8113 | 277 | |
394a535e MD |
278 | Guile Documentation ================================================== |
279 | ||
ea8ac9ac KR |
280 | If you've never used Scheme before, then the Guile Tutorial |
281 | (guile-tut.info) is a good starting point. The Guile Reference Manual | |
282 | (guile.info) is the primary documentation for Guile. The Goops object | |
283 | system is documented separately (goops.info). A copy of the R5RS | |
284 | Scheme specification is included too (r5rs.info). | |
285 | ||
286 | Info format versions of this documentation are installed as part of | |
287 | the normal build process. The texinfo sources are under the doc | |
288 | directory, and other formats like Postscript, PDF, DVI or HTML can be | |
289 | generated from them with Tex and Texinfo tools. | |
290 | ||
291 | The doc directory also includes an example-smob subdirectory which has | |
292 | the example code from the "Defining New Types (Smobs)" chapter of the | |
293 | reference manual. | |
394a535e | 294 | |
b5074b23 MD |
295 | The Guile WWW page is at |
296 | ||
297 | http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html | |
298 | ||
299 | It contains a link to the Guile FAQ. | |
300 | ||
cf78e9e8 JB |
301 | About This Distribution ============================================== |
302 | ||
f89a27fa | 303 | Interesting files include: |
ae8de16e | 304 | |
d165aa15 RB |
305 | - LICENSE, which contains the exact terms of the Guile license. |
306 | - COPYING, which contains the terms of the GNU General Public License. | |
307 | - INSTALL, which contains general instructions for building/installing Guile. | |
f89a27fa | 308 | - NEWS, which describes user-visible changes since the last release of Guile. |
f89a27fa | 309 | |
ae8de16e GH |
310 | Files are usually installed according to the prefix specified to |
311 | configure, /usr/local by default. Building and installing gives you: | |
312 | ||
313 | Executables, in ${prefix}/bin: | |
314 | ||
04873705 TTN |
315 | guile --- a stand-alone interpreter for Guile. With no arguments, this |
316 | is a simple interactive Scheme interpreter. It can also be used | |
317 | as an interpreter for script files; see the NEWS file for details. | |
318 | guile-config --- a Guile script which provides the information necessary | |
319 | to link your programs against the Guile library. | |
320 | guile-snarf --- a script to parse declarations in your C code for | |
321 | Scheme-visible C functions, Scheme objects to be used by C code, | |
322 | etc. | |
ae8de16e GH |
323 | |
324 | Libraries, in ${prefix}/lib. Depending on the platform and options | |
325 | given to configure, you may get shared libraries in addition | |
326 | to or instead of these static libraries: | |
0a7fcdbc | 327 | |
04873705 TTN |
328 | libguile.a --- an object library containing the Guile interpreter, |
329 | You can use Guile in your own programs by linking against this. | |
04873705 | 330 | libguilereadline.a --- an object library containing glue code for the |
70bb8113 MV |
331 | GNU readline library. |
332 | ||
04873705 | 333 | libguile-srfi-*.a --- various SRFI support libraries |
ae8de16e GH |
334 | |
335 | Header files, in ${prefix}/include: | |
336 | ||
04873705 TTN |
337 | libguile.h, guile/gh.h, libguile/*.h --- for libguile. |
338 | guile-readline/readline.h --- for guile-readline. | |
ae8de16e GH |
339 | |
340 | Support files, in ${prefix}/share/guile/<version>: | |
341 | ||
04873705 TTN |
342 | ice-9/* --- run-time support for Guile: the module system, |
343 | read-eval-print loop, some R4RS code and other infrastructure. | |
344 | oop/* --- the Guile Object-Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) | |
345 | scripts/* --- executable modules, i.e., scheme programs that can be both | |
346 | called as an executable from the shell, and loaded and used as a | |
347 | module from scheme code. See scripts/README for more info. | |
348 | srfi/* --- SRFI support modules. See srfi/README for more info. | |
ae8de16e GH |
349 | |
350 | Automake macros, in ${prefix}/share/aclocal: | |
351 | ||
04873705 | 352 | guile.m4 |
ae8de16e GH |
353 | |
354 | Documentation in Info format, in ${prefix}/info: | |
355 | ||
c08a1190 GH |
356 | guile --- Guile reference manual. |
357 | ||
358 | guile-tut --- Guile tutorial. | |
359 | ||
360 | GOOPS --- GOOPS reference manual. | |
361 | ||
362 | r5rs --- Revised(5) Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme. | |
363 | ||
0196b30a | 364 | |
5c54da76 JB |
365 | The Guile source tree is laid out as follows: |
366 | ||
1325feea | 367 | libguile: |
cf78e9e8 JB |
368 | The Guile Scheme interpreter --- both the object library |
369 | for you to link with your programs, and the executable you can run. | |
1325feea | 370 | ice-9: Guile's module system, initialization code, and other infrastructure. |
17f8d40c JB |
371 | guile-config: |
372 | Source for the guile-config script. | |
621e8324 MV |
373 | guile-readline: |
374 | The glue code for using GNU readline with Guile. This | |
375 | will be build when configure can find a recent enough readline | |
376 | library on your system. | |
ae8de16e | 377 | doc: Documentation (see above). |
4c8980a2 | 378 | |
4b824aae | 379 | Git Repository Access ================================================ |
c11f9405 | 380 | |
4b824aae LC |
381 | Guile's source code is stored in a Git repository at Savannah. Anyone |
382 | can access it using `git-clone' from one of the following URLs: | |
c11f9405 | 383 | |
4b824aae LC |
384 | git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git |
385 | http://git.sv.gnu.org/r/guile.git | |
349d9c1f | 386 | |
4b824aae LC |
387 | Developers with a Savannah SSH account can also access it from: |
388 | ||
389 | ssh://git.sv.gnu.org/srv/git/guile.git | |
390 | ||
391 | The repository can also be browsed on-line at the following address: | |
392 | ||
393 | http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git | |
394 | ||
395 | For more information on Git, please see: | |
396 | ||
397 | http://git.or.cz/ | |
398 | ||
399 | Please send problem reports to <bug-guile@gnu.org>. |