1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 Note: During the 1.9 series, we will keep an incremental NEWS for the
9 latest prerelease, and a full NEWS corresponding to 1.8 -> 2.0.
11 Changes in 1.9.15 (since the 1.9.14 prerelease):
13 ** Formally deprecate omission of port to `format'
15 It used to be that you could omit passing a port to `format', in some
16 cases. This still works, but has been formally deprecated.
20 Noah Lavine and Kan-Ru Chen noticed and fixed a number of embarrassing
21 bugs in object creation, unicode literals in strings, empty function
22 bodies, non-breaking whitespace, and numeric literals.
24 ** `(web ...)' changes
26 *** `parse-uri', `unparse-uri' now called `string->uri', `uri->string'
28 *** `uri-decode' takes `#:encoding' keyword argument, not `#:charset'
30 *** HTTP header representation change
32 Guile properly garbage-collects symbols, so there's no need to read some
33 headers as symbols and some as strings: all header names are symbols
34 now. The same goes for many key-value constructs in headers. Guile
35 parses the challenge/authentication headers now, as well. Header decl
36 objects are no longer exposed to the user.
38 *** Request and response bodies are always bytevectors
40 Reading bodies as latin-1 strings was a cute hack, but not general, so
41 Guile's only official fetch-me-the-body procedures return bytevectors
44 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,latin1}_symbol{n,}
45 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,utf32,latin1}_symbol{n,}
47 These new procedures convert to and from string representations in
50 Basically, continue to use locale encoding for user input, user output,
51 or interacting with the C library. Use latin1 for ASCII, and for
52 literals in source code. Use utf8 for interaction with modern libraries
53 which deal in UTF-8. Use utf32 for interaction with utf32-using
54 libraries. Otherwise use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn with a
57 Also, scm_from_latin1_symbol is quite a bit faster now.
59 ** Documentation updates
61 The GOOPS manual saw a lot of work, as well as documentation for the
64 ** Guile uses iconv directly for reading from and writing to ports.
66 In addition to providing faster Unicode I/O (e.g., `display',
67 `read-char'), this change improves error reporting.
69 For instance, the `encoding-error' exception conveys information about
70 the port and character that could not be encoded. Likewise, the new
71 `decoding-error' exception conveys information about the port from which
72 data failed to be decoded, and leaves the port in a known position.
74 ** Source files default to UTF-8.
76 If source files do not specify their encoding via a `coding:' block,
77 the default encoding is UTF-8, instead of being taken from the current
82 Thanks to Mark Harig for many suggestions regarding the manual page,
83 which is getting better.
85 ** Interactive Guile installs the current locale.
87 Instead of leaving the user in the "C" locale, running the Guile REPL
88 installs the current locale. [FIXME xref?]
90 ** `recv!', `recvfrom!', `send', `sendto' now deal in bytevectors
92 These socket procedures now take bytevectors as arguments, instead of
93 strings. There is some deprecated string support, however.
95 ** New foreign API: `define-wrapped-pointer-type', `pointer?'
97 See "Foreign Types", for more.
99 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
101 *** Added two new sets of fast quotient and remainder operators
103 Added two new sets of fast quotient and remainder operator pairs with
104 different semantics than the R5RS operators. They support not only
105 integers, but all reals, including exact rationals and inexact
106 floating point numbers.
108 These procedures accept two real numbers N and D, where the divisor D
109 must be non-zero. `euclidean-quotient' returns the integer Q and
110 `euclidean-remainder' returns the real R such that N = Q*D + R and
111 0 <= R < |D|. `euclidean/' returns both Q and R, and is more
112 efficient than computing each separately. Note that when D > 0,
113 `euclidean-quotient' returns floor(N/D), and when D < 0 it returns
116 `centered-quotient', `centered-remainder', and `centered/' are similar
117 except that the range of remainders is -abs(D/2) <= R < abs(D/2), and
118 `centered-quotient' rounds N/D to the nearest integer.
120 Note that these operators are equivalent to the R6RS integer division
121 operators `div', `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', and
124 *** Complex number changes
126 Guile is now able to represent non-real complex numbers whose
127 imaginary part is an _inexact_ zero (0.0 or -0.0), per R6RS.
128 Previously, such numbers were immediately changed into inexact reals.
130 (real? 0.0+0.0i) now returns #f, per R6RS, although (zero? 0.0+0.0i)
131 still returns #t, per R6RS. (= 0 0.0+0.0i) and (= 0.0 0.0+0.0i) are
132 #t, but the same comparisons using `eqv?' or `equal?' are #f.
134 Like other non-real numbers, these complex numbers with inexact zero
135 imaginary part will raise exceptions is passed to procedures requiring
136 reals, such as `<', `>', `<=', `>=', `min', `max', `positive?',
137 `negative?', `inf?', `nan?', `finite?', etc.
139 **** `make-rectangular' changes
141 scm_make_rectangular `make-rectangular' now returns a real number only
142 if the imaginary part is an _exact_ 0. Previously, it would return a
143 real number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
145 scm_c_make_rectangular now always returns a non-real complex number,
146 even if the imaginary part is zero. Previously, it would return a
147 real number if the imaginary part was zero.
149 **** `make-polar' changes
151 scm_make_polar `make-polar' now returns a real number only if the
152 angle or magnitude is an _exact_ 0. If the magnitude is an exact 0,
153 it now returns an exact 0. Previously, it would return a real
154 number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
156 scm_c_make_polar now always returns a non-real complex number, even if
157 the imaginary part is 0.0. Previously, it would return a real number
158 if the imaginary part was 0.0.
160 **** `imag-part' changes
162 scm_imag_part `imag-part' now returns an exact 0 if applied to an
163 inexact real number. Previously it returned an inexact zero in this
166 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
168 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
169 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
170 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
171 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
174 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
176 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
177 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
178 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
179 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
181 *** Change in handling products `*' involving exact 0
183 scm_product `*' now handles exact 0 differently. A product containing
184 an exact 0 now returns an exact 0 if and only if the other arguments
185 are all exact. An inexact zero is returned if and only if the other
186 arguments are all finite but not all exact. If an infinite or NaN
187 value is present, a NaN value is returned. Previously, any product
188 containing an exact 0 yielded an exact 0, regardless of the other
191 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
193 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
194 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
195 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
196 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
199 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' are more generic, less strict
201 When raising to an exact non-negative integer exponent, `expt' and
202 `integer-expt' are now able to exponentiate any object that can be
203 multiplied using `*'. They can also raise an object to an exact
204 negative integer power if its reciprocal can be taken using `/'.
205 In order to allow this, the type of the first argument is no longer
206 checked when raising to an exact integer power. If the exponent is 0
207 or 1, the first parameter is not manipulated at all, and need not
208 even support multiplication.
210 *** Infinities are no longer integers, nor rationals
212 scm_integer_p `integer?' and scm_rational_p `rational?' now return #f
213 for infinities, per R6RS. Previously they returned #t for real
214 infinities. The real infinities and NaNs are still considered real by
215 scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
217 *** NaNs are no longer rationals
219 scm_rational_p `rational?' now returns #f for NaN values, per R6RS.
220 Previously it returned #t for real NaN values. They are still
221 considered real by scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
223 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
225 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
226 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
227 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
230 *** `rationalize' bugfixes and changes
232 Fixed bugs in scm_rationalize `rationalize'. Previously, it returned
233 exact integers unmodified, although that was incorrect if the epsilon
234 was at least 1 or inexact, e.g. (rationalize 4 1) should return 3 per
235 R5RS and R6RS, but previously it returned 4. It also now handles
236 cases involving infinities and NaNs properly, per R6RS.
238 *** Trigonometric functions now return exact numbers in some cases
240 scm_sin `sin', scm_cos `cos', scm_tan `tan', scm_asin `asin', scm_acos
241 `acos', scm_atan `atan', scm_sinh `sinh', scm_cosh `cosh', scm_tanh
242 `tanh', scm_sys_asinh `asinh', scm_sys_acosh `acosh', and
243 scm_sys_atanh `atanh' now return exact results in some cases.
245 *** New procedure: `finite?'
247 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
248 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
249 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
250 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
252 *** R6RS base library changes
254 **** `div', `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', `div0-and-mod0'
256 Efficient versions of these R6RS division operators are now supported.
257 See the NEWS entry entitled `Added two new sets of fast quotient and
258 remainder operators' for more information.
260 **** `infinite?' changes
262 `infinite?' and `finite?' now throw exceptions for non-numbers. (Note
263 that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite their name).
265 **** `real-valued?', `rational-valued?' and `integer-valued?' changes
267 These predicates are now implemented in accordance with R6RS.
269 ** R6RS textual I/O procedures raise R6RS error conditions
271 R6RS procedures `get-char', `put-string', etc. now raise the correct
272 R6RS error coding, i.e., `&i/o-decoding-error' or `&i/o-encoding-error'.
274 ** New reader option: `hungry-eol-escapes'
276 Guile's string syntax is more compatible with R6RS when the
277 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled. See "String Syntax" in the
278 manual, for more information.
280 ** And of course, the usual collection of bugfixes
282 Interested users should see the ChangeLog for more information.
286 Changes in 1.9.x (since the 1.8.x series):
288 * New modules (see the manual for details)
290 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
291 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
292 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
293 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
294 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
295 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
296 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
297 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
298 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
299 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
300 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
301 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
302 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
303 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
304 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
305 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
306 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
307 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
308 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
309 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
310 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
311 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
312 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
314 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
316 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
317 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
318 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
320 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
321 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
322 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
324 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
326 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
327 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
328 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
330 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
332 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
333 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
336 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
338 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
340 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
341 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
343 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
345 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
346 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
347 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
349 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
350 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
352 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
353 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
354 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
357 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
359 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
360 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
362 ** Remove old Emacs interface
364 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
365 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
366 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
369 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
371 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
372 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
373 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
376 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
378 ** Command line additions
380 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
381 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
384 ** New reader options: `square-brackets' and `r6rs-hex-escapes'
386 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
387 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
388 parentheses. This option is on by default.
390 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
391 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
392 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
393 so this option is off by default.
395 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
397 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
398 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
399 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
401 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
402 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
404 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
406 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
407 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
408 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
410 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
411 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
412 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
413 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
415 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
416 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
419 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
421 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
424 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
426 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
427 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
428 include `/path/to/lib'.
430 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
432 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
435 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
437 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
438 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
439 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
440 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
443 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
445 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
446 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
447 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
449 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
451 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
452 just for the operator position.
454 ** Expression-oriented readline history
456 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
457 input lines. Let us know what you think!
459 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
461 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
462 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
464 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
466 ** Support for R6RS libraries
468 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
469 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
470 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
471 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
472 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
474 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
476 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
477 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
478 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
480 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
482 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
485 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
486 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
487 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
490 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
491 mentioned in that compatibility list.
493 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
495 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
496 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
497 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
498 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
500 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
501 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
502 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
503 code, and simplifying debugging.
505 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
506 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
508 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
509 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
510 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
511 both of these situations.
513 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
514 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
515 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
516 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
518 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
520 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
521 not apply to the compiler.
523 ** No more `local-eval'
525 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
526 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
527 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
528 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
531 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
532 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
535 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
537 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
538 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
539 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
541 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
542 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
543 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
546 Autocompiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
547 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
548 will be created if needed.
550 To inhibit autocompilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
551 variable to 0, or pass --no-autocompile on the Guile command line.
553 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
555 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
556 in the next prerelease.
558 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
560 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
562 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
564 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
566 ** Multicast socket options
568 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
569 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
572 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
574 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
576 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
578 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
580 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
582 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
583 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
584 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
586 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
587 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
588 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
589 procedures' docstrings for more information.
591 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
592 combining arity and formals. For example:
594 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
595 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
597 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
600 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
602 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
603 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
604 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
605 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
607 ** New language: ECMAScript
609 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
610 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
611 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
612 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
614 ** New language: Brainfuck
616 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
617 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
618 languages. See the manual for details, or
619 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
620 Brainfuck language itself.
622 ** New language: Elisp
624 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
625 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
626 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
628 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
630 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
631 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
632 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
633 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
636 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
638 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
639 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
640 properties. For example:
646 (procedure-properties foo)
647 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
649 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
652 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
654 (procedure-properties bar)
655 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
657 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
660 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
663 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
665 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
666 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
669 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
670 (define (helper x) ...)
672 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
674 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
677 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
678 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
680 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
682 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
683 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
684 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
686 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
688 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
689 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
690 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
691 for more information.
693 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
695 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
696 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
698 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
700 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
703 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
705 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
706 in the manual, for more information.
708 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
711 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
712 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
714 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
716 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
718 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
720 It is certainly possible to circumvent this resriction with e.g.
721 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. We would appreciate
722 feedback about this change (a consequence of using psyntax as the
723 default expander), and may choose to revisit this situation before 2.0
724 in response to user feedback.
726 ** Support for `letrec*'
728 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
729 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
730 manual, for more details.
732 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
734 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
735 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
740 (define baz (+ bar 20))
743 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
744 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
745 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
748 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
749 in earlier Guile dialects.
751 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
753 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
754 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
755 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
756 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
758 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
759 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
760 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
761 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
764 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
766 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
767 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
770 (define (helper x) ...)
771 (define-macro (foo bar)
774 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
777 (define (helper x) ...)
778 (define-macro (foo bar)
779 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
781 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
785 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
787 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
789 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
796 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
797 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
800 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
802 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
803 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
806 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
808 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
809 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
810 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
812 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
814 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
818 (define-macro (ref x) x)
821 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
822 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
823 macros before code that uses them.
825 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
828 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
830 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
831 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
832 (double-literal 2) => 4
834 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
835 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
836 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
838 (eval-when (load compile eval)
839 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
840 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
841 (double-literal 2) => 4
843 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
845 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
847 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
848 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
849 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
850 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
853 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
855 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
856 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
858 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
860 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
861 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
862 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
864 ** Incompatible change to #'
866 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
867 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
868 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
869 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
871 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
873 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
876 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
878 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
879 in the manual, for more information.
881 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
882 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
884 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
885 works (with compiled procedures)
887 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
888 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
889 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
890 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
892 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
893 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
894 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
895 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
896 number of stack frames.
898 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
899 active in the current continuation
901 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
902 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
903 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
904 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
906 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
908 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
910 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
911 through to the expanded code
913 This should result in better backtraces.
915 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
917 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
919 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
921 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
922 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
925 ** New procedure, `define!'
927 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
928 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
929 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
930 less verbose than `module-define!'.
932 ** All modules have names now
934 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
935 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
936 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
937 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
939 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
941 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
942 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
943 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
944 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
946 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
947 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
948 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
949 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
950 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
951 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
953 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
954 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
955 days of Guile's modules.
957 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
958 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
959 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
960 record accessors appropriately.
962 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
963 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
964 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
966 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
967 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
968 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
970 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
971 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
974 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
975 namespaces instead of values.
977 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
979 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
980 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
981 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
982 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
984 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
986 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
988 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
990 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
991 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
993 ** Modules load within a known environment
995 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
996 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
997 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
1000 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
1002 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
1003 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
1004 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
1006 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
1007 values to the expected number
1009 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
1010 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
1011 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
1013 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
1014 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
1015 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
1016 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
1018 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
1019 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
1020 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
1022 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
1025 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
1027 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
1029 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
1030 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
1031 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
1032 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
1033 the interpreter would proceed.
1035 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
1036 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
1037 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
1038 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
1040 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
1042 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
1043 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
1044 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
1045 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
1046 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
1047 you to contact the Guile developers.
1049 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
1051 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
1052 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
1053 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
1055 ** psyntax is now the default expander
1057 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
1058 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
1061 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
1062 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
1063 code in question was memoized.
1065 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
1066 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
1067 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
1068 `x432' instead of `x'.
1070 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
1071 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
1072 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
1073 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
1075 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
1077 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
1078 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
1079 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
1082 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
1083 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
1084 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
1085 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
1087 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
1089 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
1090 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
1091 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
1092 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
1095 (syntax-rules (else)
1096 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
1099 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
1100 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
1101 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
1103 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
1104 by nonhygienic macros.
1106 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
1107 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
1110 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
1111 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
1112 (define-macro (ref x)
1114 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
1119 (define-syntax bind-x
1121 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
1122 (define-macro (ref x)
1124 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
1126 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
1127 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
1128 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
1129 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
1130 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
1131 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
1133 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
1135 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
1136 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
1138 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
1139 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
1142 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
1144 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
1145 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
1146 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
1147 transformer procedures.
1149 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
1151 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
1152 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
1153 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
1155 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
1157 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
1158 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
1159 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
1160 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
1162 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
1164 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
1165 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
1166 arity that the the function has, in the same format as the old arity
1169 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
1171 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
1172 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
1173 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
1174 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
1176 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
1178 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
1179 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
1180 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
1183 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
1184 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
1185 documentation for more details.
1187 ** Better pretty-printing
1189 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
1190 macros like `quote' are printed better.
1192 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
1194 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
1195 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
1197 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
1199 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
1200 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
1201 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
1202 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
1203 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
1204 addressed by element and not by byte.
1206 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
1207 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
1208 endianness, as one would expect.
1210 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
1211 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
1212 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
1213 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
1216 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
1217 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
1219 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
1220 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
1222 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
1224 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
1226 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
1227 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
1228 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
1230 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
1231 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
1233 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
1235 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
1237 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
1238 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
1240 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
1242 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
1243 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
1246 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
1248 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
1249 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
1251 ** Unicode characters
1253 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
1254 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
1255 probably be introduced at some point.
1259 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
1260 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
1261 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
1263 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
1264 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
1265 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
1266 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
1270 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
1272 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
1274 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
1275 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
1276 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
1277 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
1278 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
1281 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
1282 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
1283 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
1285 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
1287 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
1288 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
1289 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
1292 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
1293 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
1294 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
1296 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
1298 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
1300 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
1301 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
1302 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
1303 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
1305 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
1307 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
1308 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
1309 Unicode code points.
1311 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
1313 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
1314 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
1315 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
1318 ** EBCDIC support is removed
1320 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
1321 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
1322 and was unmaintained.
1324 ** Compile-time warnings
1326 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
1327 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
1328 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
1329 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
1332 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
1333 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
1334 `#:warnings' as above.
1336 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
1337 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
1338 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
1340 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
1342 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
1345 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
1347 This slightly improves program startup times.
1349 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
1351 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
1353 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
1355 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
1356 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
1357 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
1358 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
1360 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
1362 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
1363 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
1364 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
1365 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
1367 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
1368 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
1369 implement method combinations.
1371 ** Applicable struct support
1373 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
1374 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
1375 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
1376 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
1377 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
1378 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
1379 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
1380 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
1384 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
1385 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
1386 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
1387 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
1388 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
1390 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
1392 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
1393 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
1394 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
1395 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
1397 ** eqv? not a generic
1399 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
1400 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
1401 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
1402 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
1404 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
1406 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
1407 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
1408 functions are deprecated.
1410 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
1412 See "File System" in the manual.
1414 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
1416 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
1417 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
1418 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
1420 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
1422 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
1423 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
1424 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
1426 ** Fast bit operations.
1428 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
1429 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
1430 it's for number crunching too.
1432 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
1434 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
1435 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
1436 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
1437 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
1439 ** R6RS block comment support
1441 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
1442 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
1444 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
1446 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
1447 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
1449 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
1450 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
1451 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1453 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
1454 ;; separate compilation phase.
1455 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1457 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
1459 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
1461 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
1463 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
1464 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
1465 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
1466 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
1467 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
1470 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
1471 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
1472 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
1473 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
1474 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
1476 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
1478 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
1480 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
1482 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
1484 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
1486 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
1488 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
1489 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
1490 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
1492 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
1494 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
1495 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
1497 ** New readline history functions
1499 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
1500 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
1501 History library functions.
1503 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
1504 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
1506 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
1509 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
1511 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
1512 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
1513 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
1514 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
1515 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
1516 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
1517 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
1519 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
1520 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
1522 The following bindings have been totally removed:
1523 `before-signal-stack'.
1525 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
1526 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
1527 a deprecation warning.
1529 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
1531 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
1532 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
1533 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
1534 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
1537 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
1539 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
1540 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
1541 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
1542 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
1544 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
1545 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
1547 ** `top-repl' has its own module
1549 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
1550 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
1551 left in the default environment.
1553 ** `display-error' takes a frame
1555 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
1556 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
1557 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
1558 information for the error.
1560 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
1562 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
1563 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
1564 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
1566 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
1568 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
1569 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
1571 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
1573 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
1576 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
1578 ** Remove obsolete print-options
1580 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
1583 ** Remove obsolete read-options
1585 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
1586 obsolete, so they have been removed.
1588 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
1590 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
1593 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
1595 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
1596 on their replacements.
1598 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
1600 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
1601 should use Guile with Emacs.
1603 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
1605 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
1606 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
1607 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
1608 `with-throw-handler'.
1610 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
1612 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
1613 and is no longer used.
1615 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
1617 `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
1618 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
1619 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', `set-batch-mode?!',
1621 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
1622 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
1624 ** Add support for unbound fluids
1626 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
1629 ** Add `variable-unset!'
1631 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
1633 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
1635 * Changes to the C interface
1637 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
1639 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
1640 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
1641 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
1643 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
1644 code easier and less error-prone.
1646 ** New procedures: `scm_to_latin1_stringn', `scm_from_latin1_stringn'
1648 Use these procedures when you know you have latin1-encoded or
1649 ASCII-encoded strings.
1651 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
1653 Use these procedures if you want to encode or decode from a particular
1656 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
1658 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
1659 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
1660 available to C. Have fun!
1662 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
1664 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
1666 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
1669 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
1670 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
1672 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
1674 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
1675 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
1676 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
1679 ** Remove old evaluator closures
1681 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
1682 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
1683 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
1684 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
1687 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
1689 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
1690 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
1691 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
1692 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
1693 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
1694 both with the old 1.8 and and with the current 1.9 branch.
1696 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
1697 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
1698 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
1699 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
1700 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
1701 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
1703 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
1704 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
1705 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
1706 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
1707 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
1709 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
1710 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
1711 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
1712 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
1713 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
1714 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
1716 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
1717 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
1718 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
1719 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
1722 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
1723 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
1726 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
1728 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
1729 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
1730 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
1731 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
1732 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
1734 ** Remove unused snarf macros
1736 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
1737 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
1739 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
1741 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
1742 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
1744 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
1746 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
1747 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
1749 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
1751 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
1752 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
1753 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
1754 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
1755 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
1758 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
1760 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
1761 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
1762 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
1763 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
1766 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
1767 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
1768 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
1769 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
1771 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
1773 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
1774 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
1775 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
1778 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
1779 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
1780 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
1781 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
1783 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
1785 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
1787 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
1789 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
1792 ** Inline vector allocation
1794 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
1795 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
1796 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
1797 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
1800 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
1802 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
1803 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
1807 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
1808 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
1809 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
1810 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
1811 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
1813 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
1815 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
1816 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
1817 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
1818 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
1819 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
1820 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
1824 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
1825 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
1826 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
1827 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
1829 ** Deprecate trampolines
1831 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
1832 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
1833 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
1834 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
1835 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
1837 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
1839 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
1841 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
1843 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
1844 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
1845 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
1846 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
1848 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
1850 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
1851 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
1852 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
1853 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
1854 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
1855 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
1856 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
1858 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
1860 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
1861 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
1864 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
1865 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
1867 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
1869 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
1870 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
1872 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
1874 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
1875 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
1876 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
1877 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
1879 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
1881 * Changes to the distribution
1883 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
1885 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
1886 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
1891 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
1892 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
1894 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
1896 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
1897 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
1899 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
1901 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
1902 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
1903 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
1906 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
1908 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
1909 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
1911 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
1913 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
1914 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
1916 ** Parallel installability fixes
1918 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
1919 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
1920 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
1922 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
1923 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
1924 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
1927 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
1929 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
1930 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
1931 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
1932 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
1933 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
1935 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
1937 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
1938 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
1939 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
1940 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
1941 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
1942 searched before the global site directory.
1944 ** New dependency: libgc
1946 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
1948 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
1950 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
1951 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
1953 ** New dependency: libffi
1955 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
1959 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
1963 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
1964 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
1965 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
1968 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
1970 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1972 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
1976 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
1977 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
1978 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
1979 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
1980 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
1981 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
1982 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
1983 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
1984 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
1985 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
1986 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
1988 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
1990 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
1991 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
1992 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
1995 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
1998 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
2000 * New features (see the manual for details)
2002 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
2004 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
2006 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
2007 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
2008 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
2010 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
2012 * Changes to the distribution
2014 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
2016 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
2017 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
2019 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
2021 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
2022 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
2027 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
2028 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
2029 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
2030 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
2031 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
2032 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
2033 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
2034 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
2035 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
2036 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
2037 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
2038 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
2039 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
2040 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
2042 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
2043 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
2044 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
2045 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
2046 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
2049 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
2051 * Infrastructure changes
2053 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
2055 The new repository can be accessed using
2056 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
2057 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
2059 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
2061 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
2063 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2067 * New features (see the manual for details)
2069 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
2070 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
2071 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
2073 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
2074 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
2075 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
2076 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
2078 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
2080 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
2081 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
2082 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
2086 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
2087 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
2089 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
2090 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
2092 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
2093 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
2095 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
2096 lead to a stack overflow.
2098 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
2099 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
2100 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
2101 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
2102 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
2103 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
2104 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
2105 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
2106 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
2107 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
2108 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
2109 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
2110 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
2111 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
2112 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
2113 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
2116 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
2120 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
2121 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
2122 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
2123 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
2124 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
2125 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
2126 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
2127 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
2128 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
2129 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
2130 system and library calls.
2131 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
2132 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
2133 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
2134 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
2135 uniform vectors on AIX.
2136 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
2137 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
2138 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
2139 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
2140 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
2142 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2146 * Documentation fixes and improvements
2148 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
2150 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
2151 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
2153 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
2155 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
2157 * Changes to the distribution
2159 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
2161 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
2162 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
2163 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
2165 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
2167 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
2170 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
2172 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2179 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
2180 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
2181 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
2182 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
2183 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
2184 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
2185 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
2187 * Implementation improvements
2189 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
2190 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
2193 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
2195 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
2197 ** set-program-arguments
2200 * Incompatible changes
2202 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
2204 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
2205 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
2206 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
2207 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
2212 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
2213 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
2214 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
2215 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
2216 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
2217 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
2219 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
2220 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
2221 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
2222 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
2223 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
2224 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
2225 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
2226 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
2227 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
2228 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
2229 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
2230 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
2231 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
2232 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
2233 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
2234 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
2237 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
2239 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
2241 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
2243 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
2244 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
2245 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
2246 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
2247 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
2248 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
2256 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
2258 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
2260 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
2262 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
2264 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
2266 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
2268 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
2269 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
2270 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
2272 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
2274 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
2276 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
2277 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
2279 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
2281 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
2282 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
2284 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
2286 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
2288 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
2290 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
2292 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
2294 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
2296 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
2298 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
2300 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
2302 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
2303 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
2304 file was on a different device.
2307 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
2309 * Changes to the distribution
2311 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
2313 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
2315 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
2317 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
2319 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
2321 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
2324 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
2326 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
2327 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
2328 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
2329 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
2330 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
2331 items like the versioned share directory name
2332 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
2334 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
2335 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
2336 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
2337 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
2338 with each micro release during a stable series.
2340 ** Thread implementation has changed.
2342 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
2343 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
2344 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
2345 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
2346 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
2349 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
2350 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
2351 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
2352 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
2355 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
2356 in which case "null" threads are used.
2358 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
2359 "Blocking", and others.
2361 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
2363 This is a milder form of deprecation.
2365 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
2366 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
2367 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
2368 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
2369 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
2371 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
2372 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
2374 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
2376 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
2377 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
2379 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
2382 This SRFI is always available.
2384 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
2386 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
2387 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
2388 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
2389 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
2392 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
2394 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
2395 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
2396 parameters without currying.
2398 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
2400 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
2401 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
2403 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
2404 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
2407 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
2408 with a renaming import, for example.
2410 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
2412 The official version is good enough now.
2414 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
2416 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
2417 provided. Use 'make html'.
2419 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
2421 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
2422 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
2423 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
2424 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
2426 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
2428 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
2431 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2433 ** New command line option `-L'.
2435 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
2437 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
2439 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
2440 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
2442 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
2444 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
2445 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
2447 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
2449 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
2450 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
2453 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
2456 (define-module (demo)
2460 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
2463 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2465 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
2467 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
2468 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
2469 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
2471 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
2473 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
2474 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
2476 ** New function hashx-remove!
2478 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
2480 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
2481 barriers and dynamic states.
2483 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
2484 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
2485 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
2488 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
2489 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
2490 Barriers" in the manual.
2492 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
2493 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
2495 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
2497 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
2498 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
2499 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
2500 variable %load-path.
2502 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
2504 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
2505 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
2507 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
2508 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
2509 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
2511 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
2512 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
2514 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
2515 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
2516 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
2518 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
2519 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
2520 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
2523 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
2524 substrings and read-only strings.
2526 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
2527 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
2530 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
2532 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
2541 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
2542 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
2543 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
2545 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
2546 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
2547 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
2548 on an ANSI terminal:
2550 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
2551 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
2554 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
2556 See the manual for details.
2558 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
2560 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
2563 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
2565 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
2566 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
2567 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
2568 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
2570 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
2571 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
2572 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
2575 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
2577 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
2578 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
2589 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
2593 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
2598 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
2602 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
2606 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
2609 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
2610 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
2611 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
2612 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
2614 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
2615 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
2618 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
2621 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
2625 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
2627 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
2628 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
2629 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
2632 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
2635 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
2637 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
2640 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
2641 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
2644 (define-module (foo)
2649 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
2650 has been detected is to
2652 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
2653 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
2654 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
2657 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
2660 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
2662 to your .guile init file.
2664 ** New define-module option: :replace
2666 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
2669 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
2670 for the core binding `format'.
2672 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
2674 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
2675 a prefix to all imported bindings.
2677 (define-module (foo)
2678 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
2680 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
2683 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
2685 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
2686 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
2687 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
2689 ** New function: effective-version
2691 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
2692 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
2693 to the distribution" above.
2695 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
2697 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
2698 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
2700 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
2702 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
2703 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
2705 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
2707 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
2708 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
2711 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
2713 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
2715 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
2717 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
2718 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
2719 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
2722 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
2723 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
2724 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
2725 'system-async-mark'.
2727 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
2728 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
2730 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
2731 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
2732 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
2735 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
2737 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
2738 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
2741 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
2742 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2744 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
2745 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
2746 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
2747 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
2748 level for the current thread.
2750 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
2752 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
2754 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2755 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
2758 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
2760 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
2762 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
2765 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
2767 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
2770 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
2771 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
2772 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
2774 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
2775 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
2776 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
2777 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
2788 ERROR: Numerical overflow
2790 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
2793 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
2795 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
2796 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
2797 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
2808 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
2810 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
2811 them is also done exactly, of course:
2816 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
2817 for exact arguments.
2819 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
2820 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
2822 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
2824 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
2825 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
2826 equal to a floating point number. For example:
2828 (inexact->exact 1.234)
2829 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
2831 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
2833 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
2836 ** New function 'rationalize'.
2838 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
2839 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
2841 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
2844 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
2845 result when both its arguments are exact.
2847 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
2849 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
2850 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
2851 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
2853 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
2855 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
2856 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
2857 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
2859 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
2862 ** pretty-print has more options.
2864 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
2865 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
2866 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
2868 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
2870 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
2871 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
2872 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
2874 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
2876 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
2877 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
2879 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
2881 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
2882 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
2885 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
2887 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
2888 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
2889 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
2890 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
2891 without the soft port blocking.
2893 ** Deprecated: undefine
2895 There is no replacement for undefine.
2897 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
2898 have been discouraged.
2900 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
2901 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
2902 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
2905 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
2907 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
2909 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
2910 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
2911 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
2912 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
2915 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
2916 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
2917 be removed in the next major Guile release.
2919 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
2921 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
2922 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
2923 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
2924 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
2925 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
2926 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
2928 * Changes to the C interface
2930 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
2931 take a 'delete' function argument.
2933 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
2934 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
2936 This is an incompatible change.
2938 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
2940 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
2941 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
2942 --disable-deprecated.
2944 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
2946 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
2947 Scheme values has been added.
2949 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
2950 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
2953 - int scm_is_* (...)
2955 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
2956 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
2958 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
2960 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
2961 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
2964 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
2966 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
2967 scm_from_int for ints.
2969 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
2970 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
2971 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
2973 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
2975 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
2976 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
2977 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
2980 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
2982 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
2984 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
2986 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
2987 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
2988 following alternatives.
2990 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
2991 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
2992 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
2993 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
2995 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
2996 do the validating for you.
2998 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
2999 have been discouraged.
3001 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
3002 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
3005 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
3007 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
3008 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
3011 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
3013 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
3016 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
3019 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
3021 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
3022 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
3024 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
3025 scm_truncate_number should have.
3027 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
3028 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
3030 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
3033 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
3034 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
3035 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
3037 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
3038 easier to use from C.
3040 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
3041 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
3043 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
3044 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
3045 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
3048 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
3049 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
3050 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
3051 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
3054 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
3055 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
3056 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
3057 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
3058 and is thus quite efficient.
3060 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
3062 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
3063 about the character encoding.
3065 Replace according to the following table:
3067 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
3068 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
3069 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
3070 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
3071 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
3072 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
3073 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
3074 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
3075 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
3077 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
3078 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
3080 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
3082 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
3083 now also available to C code.
3085 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
3087 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
3088 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
3089 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
3091 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
3094 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
3096 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
3097 unceremoniously removed.
3099 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
3100 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
3101 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
3103 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
3104 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
3105 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
3106 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
3107 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
3108 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
3111 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
3113 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
3114 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
3115 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
3116 manual for more details.
3118 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
3119 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
3121 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
3122 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
3123 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
3125 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
3127 Migrate according to the following table:
3129 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
3130 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
3131 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
3132 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
3133 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
3134 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
3135 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
3137 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
3138 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
3139 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
3140 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
3141 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
3142 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
3143 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
3145 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
3147 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
3148 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
3150 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
3151 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
3152 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
3153 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
3155 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
3157 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
3158 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
3159 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
3161 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
3162 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
3164 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
3165 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
3166 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
3167 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
3169 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
3171 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
3172 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
3173 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
3174 prevent a potential memory leak:
3181 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
3183 mem = scm_malloc (100);
3184 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
3186 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
3187 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
3194 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
3195 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
3199 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
3201 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
3203 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
3204 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
3205 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
3207 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
3208 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
3210 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
3212 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
3214 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
3215 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
3216 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
3218 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
3219 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
3221 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
3222 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
3223 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
3224 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
3227 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
3229 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
3230 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
3231 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
3233 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
3235 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
3236 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
3238 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
3240 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
3241 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
3243 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
3245 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
3246 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
3247 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
3249 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
3251 You should not have used them.
3253 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
3255 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
3256 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
3258 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
3260 This macro is not intended for public use.
3262 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
3264 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
3266 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
3268 Use scm_is_real instead.
3270 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
3272 Use scm_is_complex instead.
3274 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
3276 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
3277 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
3279 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
3280 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
3282 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
3283 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
3285 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
3287 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
3290 ** New function: scm_effective_version
3292 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
3293 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
3294 to the distribution" above.
3296 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
3298 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
3299 arguments are now passed directly:
3301 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
3303 This is an incompatible change.
3305 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
3307 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
3308 function in the init section.
3310 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
3312 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
3314 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
3315 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
3316 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
3317 stays roughly constant.
3319 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
3320 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
3321 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
3322 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
3323 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
3326 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
3327 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
3328 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
3329 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
3331 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
3332 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
3333 objects for every type.
3336 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
3338 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
3340 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
3342 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
3343 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
3344 initializes a new cell (see below).
3346 ** New functions for memory management
3348 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
3349 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
3350 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
3351 cause aborts in long running programs.
3353 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
3354 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
3356 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
3357 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
3358 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
3359 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
3360 details and for upgrading instructions.
3362 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
3363 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
3364 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
3366 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
3368 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
3369 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
3370 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
3371 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
3372 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
3374 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
3375 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
3376 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
3378 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
3379 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
3381 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
3383 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
3384 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
3385 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
3386 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
3387 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
3389 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
3391 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
3394 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
3396 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
3398 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
3400 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
3401 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
3403 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
3405 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
3406 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
3408 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
3409 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
3411 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
3413 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
3415 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
3416 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
3417 blocking it is not well defined.
3419 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
3421 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
3422 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
3423 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
3424 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
3425 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
3426 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
3427 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
3428 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
3429 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
3430 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
3431 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
3432 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
3433 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
3434 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
3435 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
3436 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
3437 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
3438 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
3439 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
3440 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
3441 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
3442 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
3443 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
3444 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
3445 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
3446 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
3447 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
3448 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
3449 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
3450 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
3451 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
3453 * Changes to bundled modules
3457 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
3458 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
3459 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
3460 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
3461 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
3464 Changes since Guile 1.4:
3466 * Changes to the distribution
3468 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
3470 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
3472 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
3473 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
3474 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
3475 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
3476 indicate major changes in Guile.
3478 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
3479 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
3480 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
3481 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
3483 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
3484 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
3485 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
3486 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
3487 micro version number.
3489 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
3491 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
3493 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
3494 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
3496 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
3498 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
3499 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
3500 See INSTALL and README for more information.
3502 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
3504 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
3505 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
3506 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
3509 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
3511 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
3514 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
3516 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
3517 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
3519 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
3521 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
3522 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
3525 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
3527 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
3530 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
3533 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
3535 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
3537 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
3538 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
3539 open-output-string, get-output-string.
3541 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
3543 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
3545 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
3548 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
3550 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
3552 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
3554 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
3555 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
3556 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
3558 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
3560 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
3562 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
3563 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
3572 See README there for more info.
3574 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
3575 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
3578 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
3580 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
3582 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
3584 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
3585 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
3586 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
3588 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
3590 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
3591 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
3592 to be named `and-let*', of course.
3594 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
3595 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
3597 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
3600 (oop goops describe)
3602 (oop goops active-slot)
3603 (oop goops composite-slot)
3605 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
3606 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
3607 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
3609 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
3611 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
3612 in the default environment:
3614 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
3615 %read-line write-line
3617 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
3618 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
3620 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
3622 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
3625 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
3626 can be used for similar functionality.
3628 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
3630 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
3631 it defines two procedures:
3633 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
3635 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
3636 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
3637 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
3640 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
3642 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
3643 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
3644 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
3645 write large strings.
3647 ** New module (ice-9 match)
3649 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
3650 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
3652 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
3654 for complete documentation.
3656 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
3658 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
3659 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
3660 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
3661 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
3663 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
3664 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
3668 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
3669 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
3670 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
3673 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
3676 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
3677 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
3679 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
3680 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
3683 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
3686 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
3688 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
3690 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3692 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
3694 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
3695 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
3696 Scheme programs easier.
3698 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
3699 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
3700 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
3701 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
3702 `cond-expand' when using this option.
3705 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
3706 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
3708 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
3711 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
3713 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
3714 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
3715 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
3718 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3720 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
3722 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
3723 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
3724 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
3725 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
3726 was also ASCII, for example.
3728 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
3730 tag - no replacement.
3731 fseek - replaced by seek.
3732 list* - replaced by cons*.
3734 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
3738 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
3739 (define m (make-safe-module))
3740 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
3741 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
3742 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
3744 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
3746 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
3747 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
3748 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
3750 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
3752 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
3753 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
3754 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
3755 from the issues related to the module system.
3757 *** New function: load-extension
3759 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
3761 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
3763 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
3764 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
3765 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
3767 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
3769 This function registers a initialization function for use by
3770 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
3771 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
3772 support dynamic linking).
3774 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
3776 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
3777 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
3778 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
3779 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
3782 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
3783 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
3784 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
3785 library and initialize it explicitly.
3787 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
3788 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
3790 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
3792 (define-module (foo bar))
3794 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
3796 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
3798 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
3799 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
3801 (scheme-report-environment 5)
3802 (null-environment 5)
3803 (interaction-environment)
3809 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
3811 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
3812 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
3813 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
3814 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
3816 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
3817 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
3818 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
3819 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
3820 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
3821 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
3822 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
3823 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
3824 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
3825 one eval to the next.
3827 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
3828 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
3829 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
3830 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
3831 subforms are at the top-level as well.
3833 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
3834 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
3835 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
3836 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
3837 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
3838 used in a lexical environment.
3840 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
3841 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
3842 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
3843 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
3844 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
3845 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
3847 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
3849 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
3850 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
3851 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
3852 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
3853 new facilities: selection and renaming.
3855 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
3856 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
3857 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
3859 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
3860 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
3862 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
3863 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
3864 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3866 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3867 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
3869 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
3870 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
3871 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
3872 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
3875 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
3876 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
3877 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
3878 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3880 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3881 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
3882 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
3884 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
3885 ;; and all four by upcasing.
3886 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
3887 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
3888 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
3890 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3892 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3893 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
3894 :renamer upcase-symbol))
3896 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
3897 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
3898 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
3900 See manual for more info.
3902 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
3904 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
3905 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
3906 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
3908 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
3910 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
3911 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
3912 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
3914 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
3915 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
3916 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
3917 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
3919 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
3921 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
3922 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
3924 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
3925 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
3926 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
3927 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
3928 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
3931 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
3932 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
3933 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
3934 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
3935 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
3936 successful and #f if it wasn't.
3938 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
3939 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
3940 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
3941 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
3942 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
3944 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
3945 objects are usually permanent.
3947 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
3948 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
3950 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
3952 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
3953 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
3956 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
3960 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
3965 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
3967 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
3968 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
3969 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
3970 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
3972 ** New function `make-object-property'
3974 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
3975 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
3979 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
3980 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
3984 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
3985 source properties eventually.
3987 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
3989 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
3990 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
3991 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
3993 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
3994 will be removed in the next release.
3996 ** New define-module option: pure
3998 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
4003 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
4006 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
4008 Export names NAME1 ...
4010 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
4011 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
4015 (define-module (foo)
4017 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
4020 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
4025 ** New function: object->string OBJ
4027 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
4029 ** New function: port? X
4031 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
4032 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
4034 ** New function: file-port?
4036 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
4038 ** New function: port-for-each proc
4040 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
4041 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
4042 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
4043 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
4044 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
4046 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
4048 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
4049 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
4050 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
4051 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
4052 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
4055 ** New function: close-fdes fd
4057 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
4058 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
4059 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
4060 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
4063 ** New function: crypt password salt
4065 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
4068 ** New function: chroot path
4070 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
4072 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
4074 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
4077 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
4079 Get or set the priority of the running process.
4081 ** New function: getpass prompt
4083 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
4086 ** New function: flock file operation
4088 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
4090 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
4092 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
4095 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
4097 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
4098 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
4099 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
4100 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
4101 of the temporary file.
4103 ** New function: open-input-string string
4105 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
4106 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
4107 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
4109 ** New function: open-output-string
4111 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
4112 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
4114 ** New function: get-output-string
4116 Return the contents of an output string port.
4118 ** New function: identity
4120 Return the argument.
4122 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
4123 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
4125 ** New function: inet-pton family address
4127 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
4128 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
4129 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
4132 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
4133 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
4135 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
4137 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
4138 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
4139 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
4142 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
4143 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
4144 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
4148 Use `identity' instead.
4154 ** Deprecated: return-it
4158 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
4160 Use `string-length' instead.
4162 ** Deprecated: flags
4164 Use `logior' instead.
4166 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
4168 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
4169 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
4170 port-for-each is more flexible.
4172 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
4173 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
4174 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
4176 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
4178 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
4180 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
4182 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
4184 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
4186 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
4187 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
4189 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
4190 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
4192 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
4193 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
4195 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
4197 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
4198 Removed function: builtin-bindings
4200 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
4201 Use module system operations for all variables.
4203 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
4205 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
4208 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
4210 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
4211 The following bugs have been fixed:
4213 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
4214 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
4217 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
4218 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
4219 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
4221 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
4222 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
4224 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
4225 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
4228 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
4229 The expansion used to be like so:
4231 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
4233 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
4235 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
4237 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
4238 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
4240 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
4242 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
4243 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
4244 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
4248 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
4249 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
4251 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
4256 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
4257 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
4259 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
4260 and `d', other keywords allowed.
4261 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
4263 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
4266 * Changes to the C interface
4268 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
4270 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
4271 with "_t". What a concept.
4273 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
4275 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
4277 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
4281 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
4282 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
4284 *** C Functions removed
4286 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
4287 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
4288 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
4289 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
4290 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
4291 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
4292 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
4294 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
4296 Use scm_mem2string instead.
4298 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
4300 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
4302 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
4303 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
4305 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
4307 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
4310 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
4312 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
4314 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
4316 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
4317 Evaluation" in the manual.
4319 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
4321 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
4322 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
4324 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
4326 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
4327 Constructors" in the manual.
4329 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
4331 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
4332 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
4334 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
4336 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
4338 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
4339 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
4340 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
4342 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
4344 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
4346 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
4347 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
4348 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
4351 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
4353 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
4355 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
4356 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
4358 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
4360 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
4361 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
4362 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
4363 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
4365 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
4366 scm_primitive_property_ref
4367 scm_primitive_property_set_x
4368 scm_primitive_property_del_x
4370 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
4371 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
4373 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
4375 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
4376 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
4377 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
4378 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
4380 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
4382 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
4383 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
4384 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
4385 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
4386 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
4387 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
4388 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
4390 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
4391 scm_remember_upto_here
4393 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
4395 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
4397 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
4398 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
4400 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
4402 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
4404 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
4406 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
4408 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
4410 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
4411 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
4412 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
4413 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
4414 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
4415 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
4417 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
4419 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
4421 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
4422 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
4423 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
4425 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
4427 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
4428 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
4429 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
4431 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
4433 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
4434 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
4437 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
4440 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
4441 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
4444 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
4446 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
4448 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
4450 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
4452 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
4454 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
4456 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
4457 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
4458 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
4459 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
4460 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
4461 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
4462 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
4463 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
4464 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
4465 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
4466 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
4467 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
4468 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
4469 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
4470 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
4472 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
4473 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
4474 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
4475 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
4476 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
4477 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
4478 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
4479 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
4480 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
4481 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
4482 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
4483 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
4484 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
4485 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
4486 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
4487 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
4488 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
4489 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
4490 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
4491 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
4492 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
4493 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
4494 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
4495 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
4496 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
4497 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
4498 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
4499 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
4500 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
4502 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
4504 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
4506 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
4507 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
4509 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
4511 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
4513 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
4515 Use scm_string_hash instead.
4517 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
4519 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
4521 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
4523 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
4525 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
4528 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
4529 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
4531 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
4533 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
4535 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
4537 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
4539 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
4541 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
4543 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
4545 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
4548 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
4550 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
4552 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
4554 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
4555 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
4557 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
4558 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
4560 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
4562 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
4563 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
4564 scm_module_define, scm_define.
4566 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
4568 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
4570 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
4571 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
4573 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
4574 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
4575 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
4576 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
4578 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
4579 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
4580 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
4582 Use the new ones from above instead.
4584 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
4586 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
4587 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
4588 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
4590 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
4591 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
4593 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
4594 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
4597 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
4598 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
4600 Use the new functions instead.
4602 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
4605 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
4607 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
4609 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
4612 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
4614 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
4617 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
4619 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
4622 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
4623 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
4624 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
4626 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
4628 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
4629 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
4631 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
4632 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
4633 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
4634 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
4637 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
4639 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
4640 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
4641 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
4642 inexact for an exact.
4644 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
4645 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
4646 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
4649 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
4650 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
4651 accept an inexact argument.
4653 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
4654 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
4656 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
4659 ** New number validation macros:
4660 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
4664 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
4666 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
4667 scm_unprotect_object.
4669 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
4671 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
4673 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
4676 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
4678 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
4682 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
4684 * Changes to the distribution
4686 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
4688 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
4689 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
4690 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
4691 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
4692 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
4693 obtain these programs.
4694 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
4695 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
4697 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
4698 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
4699 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
4700 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
4701 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
4703 However, this approach means that minor differences between
4704 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
4705 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
4706 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
4710 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
4713 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
4714 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
4715 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
4716 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
4718 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
4720 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
4722 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
4723 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
4725 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
4726 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
4728 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
4729 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
4731 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
4732 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
4733 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
4734 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
4736 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
4738 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
4742 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
4743 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
4745 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
4747 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
4748 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
4750 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
4751 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
4752 number of objects of that kind.
4754 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
4756 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
4757 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
4758 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
4759 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
4760 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
4762 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
4764 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
4766 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
4768 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
4771 ** New module (ice-9 time)
4773 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
4775 ** New module (ice-9 history)
4777 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
4779 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4781 ** New command line option --debug
4783 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
4785 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
4787 ** New help facility
4789 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
4790 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
4791 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
4792 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
4793 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
4794 (help) gives this text
4796 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
4797 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
4799 Examples: (help help)
4801 (help "output-string")
4803 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
4805 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
4807 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
4808 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
4811 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
4812 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
4813 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
4816 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
4817 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
4818 use absolute filenames when possible.
4820 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
4821 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
4822 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
4825 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
4827 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
4828 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
4829 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
4830 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
4832 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
4834 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
4836 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
4837 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
4838 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
4840 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
4841 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
4842 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
4844 (read-enable 'positions)
4845 (debug-enable 'debug)
4847 ** Backtraces in scripts
4849 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
4853 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
4855 at the top of the script.
4857 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
4858 The second enables backtraces.)
4860 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
4862 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
4863 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
4864 substantially faster than before.
4866 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
4867 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
4869 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
4870 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
4872 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
4874 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
4875 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
4876 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
4878 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
4879 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
4880 when this hook is run in the future.
4882 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
4883 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
4885 ** Improvements to garbage collector
4887 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
4888 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
4891 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
4892 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
4893 more and more memory for certain programs.)
4895 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
4896 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
4898 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
4899 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
4901 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
4902 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
4903 in order not to need further allocation.)
4905 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
4908 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
4909 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
4910 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
4911 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
4913 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
4915 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
4918 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
4920 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
4923 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
4924 GC in percent of total heap size
4927 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
4928 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
4930 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
4932 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
4933 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
4935 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
4937 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
4938 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
4940 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
4942 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
4943 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
4947 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
4948 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
4950 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
4952 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4954 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
4956 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
4958 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
4960 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
4961 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
4963 (simple-format port message . args)
4964 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
4965 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
4966 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
4967 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
4968 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
4969 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
4970 Does not add a trailing newline."
4972 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
4974 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
4975 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
4977 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
4978 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
4980 ** Deprecated: list*
4982 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
4984 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
4986 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
4987 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
4989 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
4990 is returned as result.
4992 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
4994 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
4996 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
4998 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
4999 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
5002 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
5004 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
5006 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
5007 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
5009 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5011 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
5013 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
5015 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5017 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
5019 Thanks to Greg Badros!
5021 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
5023 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
5024 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
5025 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
5027 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
5030 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
5032 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
5033 the readability of argument checking.
5035 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
5037 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
5039 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
5041 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
5042 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
5043 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
5044 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
5045 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
5046 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
5047 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
5049 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
5051 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
5053 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
5054 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
5056 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
5058 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
5059 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
5062 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
5064 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
5065 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
5066 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
5068 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
5069 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
5070 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
5072 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
5073 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
5074 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
5075 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
5076 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
5077 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
5078 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
5080 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
5081 scm_end_input (object);
5082 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
5083 ptob->flush (object);
5085 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
5086 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
5089 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
5091 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
5093 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
5094 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
5095 removed in a future version.
5097 ** The format of error message strings has changed
5099 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
5100 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
5101 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
5102 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
5104 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
5105 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
5107 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
5110 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
5112 in your configure.in.
5114 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
5119 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
5125 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
5127 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
5131 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
5132 (define make-message string-append)
5134 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
5136 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
5140 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
5145 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
5149 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
5151 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
5152 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
5154 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
5156 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
5157 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
5158 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
5159 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
5160 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
5161 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
5163 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
5164 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
5165 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
5167 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
5168 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
5169 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
5172 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
5173 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
5174 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
5175 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
5176 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
5178 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
5179 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
5180 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
5181 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
5182 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
5183 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
5184 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
5186 Destructors are not yet implemented.
5188 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
5189 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
5190 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
5192 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
5193 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
5194 KEY in the calling thread.
5196 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
5197 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
5198 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
5199 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
5200 associated with the key.
5202 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
5204 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
5205 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
5207 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
5209 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
5210 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
5211 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
5213 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
5215 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
5216 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
5218 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
5220 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
5222 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
5223 returned is undefined.
5225 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
5226 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
5227 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
5229 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
5230 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
5231 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
5233 ** New C level GC hooks
5235 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
5237 scm_before_gc_c_hook
5240 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
5241 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
5242 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
5244 scm_before_mark_c_hook
5245 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
5246 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
5248 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
5249 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
5252 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
5254 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
5255 allocation parameters
5257 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
5258 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
5259 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
5263 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
5264 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
5265 scm_default_max_segment_size
5267 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
5269 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
5270 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
5272 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
5274 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
5275 object and count on the object being protected until
5276 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
5278 The functions also have better time complexity.
5280 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
5281 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
5282 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
5283 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
5284 are no longer needed.
5286 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
5288 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
5289 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
5290 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
5291 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
5293 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
5295 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
5297 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
5299 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
5300 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
5301 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
5302 until this issue has been settled.
5304 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
5306 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
5308 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
5311 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
5313 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5315 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
5316 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
5317 descriptors were checked.
5319 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
5320 atomically written to a pipe.
5322 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
5323 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
5324 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
5325 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
5326 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
5327 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
5328 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
5331 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
5332 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
5333 is changed without calling tzset.
5335 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
5337 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
5338 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
5339 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
5341 (define write-network-long
5342 (lambda (value port)
5343 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
5344 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
5345 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
5347 (define read-network-long
5349 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
5350 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
5351 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
5353 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
5354 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
5356 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
5357 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
5358 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
5359 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
5361 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
5362 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
5363 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
5364 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
5368 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
5370 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5374 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
5375 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
5376 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
5382 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
5383 for a description of available commands.
5385 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
5386 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
5387 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
5389 (debug-enable 'backwards)
5391 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
5392 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
5394 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
5396 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
5398 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
5399 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
5400 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
5401 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
5402 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
5403 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
5406 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
5408 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
5409 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
5410 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
5411 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
5413 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
5414 the file and should not be affected by this change.
5416 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
5418 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5420 ** Readline support has changed again.
5422 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
5423 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
5424 to activate readline is now
5426 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
5429 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
5431 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
5432 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
5433 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
5436 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
5437 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
5438 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
5441 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
5442 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
5443 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
5444 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
5445 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
5446 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
5448 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
5449 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
5451 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
5453 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
5454 object it receives is the same string passed to
5455 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
5456 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
5457 string, not the suffix.
5459 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
5460 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
5461 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
5463 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
5465 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
5466 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
5467 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
5468 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
5471 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
5473 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
5475 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
5476 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
5477 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
5478 appear from left to right.
5480 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
5483 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
5485 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
5486 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
5488 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
5492 *** New function: hook? OBJ
5494 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
5496 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
5498 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
5499 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
5500 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
5502 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
5504 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
5506 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
5508 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
5511 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
5513 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
5514 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
5515 mentioning it here anyway.
5517 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
5519 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
5520 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
5521 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
5522 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
5525 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
5527 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
5529 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
5531 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
5532 otherwise return #f.
5534 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
5536 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
5537 returned by `opendir'.
5539 ** New function: using-readline?
5541 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
5543 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
5545 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
5546 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
5548 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5550 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
5552 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
5553 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
5554 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
5556 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
5558 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
5559 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
5561 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
5563 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
5564 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
5565 documentation slots are not yet used.
5567 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
5569 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
5570 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
5571 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
5576 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
5577 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
5578 (string-append x y))
5580 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
5581 can also be used for concatenating strings.
5583 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
5584 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
5585 be made in a clean way.]
5587 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
5589 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
5591 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
5593 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
5594 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
5596 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5598 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
5600 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
5602 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
5604 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
5605 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
5606 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
5607 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
5610 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5612 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
5614 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
5616 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
5618 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
5619 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
5621 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5623 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
5625 Evaluates the body of a special form.
5627 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
5629 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
5630 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
5631 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
5632 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
5633 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
5634 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
5636 This should not make any difference for most users.
5638 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
5640 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
5641 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
5643 *** New functions for applying generic functions
5645 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
5646 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
5647 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
5648 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
5649 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
5651 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
5653 It is now replaced by:
5655 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
5657 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
5658 binds a variable named NAME to it.
5660 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
5662 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
5663 This might change when we get the new module system.
5665 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
5669 Changes since Guile 1.3:
5671 * Changes to mailing lists
5673 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
5675 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
5678 * Changes to the distribution
5680 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
5682 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
5683 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
5684 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
5685 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
5686 you explicitly specify it.
5688 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
5689 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
5690 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
5691 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
5692 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
5695 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
5696 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
5697 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
5698 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
5700 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
5701 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
5702 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
5705 You can activate the readline support by issuing
5707 (use-modules (readline-activator))
5710 from your ".guile" file, for example.
5712 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5714 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
5715 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
5716 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
5717 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
5719 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
5720 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
5723 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5725 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
5726 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
5727 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
5728 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
5729 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
5730 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
5731 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
5732 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
5744 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
5745 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
5746 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
5747 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
5748 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
5753 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
5754 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
5762 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
5767 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
5768 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
5771 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
5772 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
5773 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
5774 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
5776 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
5778 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
5780 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
5781 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
5783 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
5785 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
5787 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
5788 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
5790 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
5793 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
5795 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
5797 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
5799 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
5801 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
5803 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
5805 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
5806 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
5807 when the hook was created.
5809 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
5810 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
5811 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
5812 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
5813 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
5814 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
5815 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
5816 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
5817 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
5819 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
5820 the dlopen family of functions.
5822 ** New function `provided?'
5824 - Function: provided? FEATURE
5825 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
5826 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
5827 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
5829 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
5831 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
5832 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
5833 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
5834 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
5837 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
5838 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
5839 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
5840 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
5842 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
5843 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
5844 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
5847 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
5848 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
5849 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
5850 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
5851 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
5852 but with the flag set.
5854 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
5856 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
5857 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
5859 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
5860 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
5861 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
5862 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
5863 available Scheme format implementations.
5865 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
5866 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
5867 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
5868 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
5869 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
5870 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
5871 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
5872 output is to the current error port if available by the
5873 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
5876 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
5877 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
5878 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
5879 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
5880 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
5881 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
5882 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
5883 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
5885 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
5886 be executed at a time.
5889 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
5891 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
5892 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
5893 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
5895 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
5896 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
5897 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
5898 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
5899 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
5900 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
5901 general form of a directive is:
5903 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
5905 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
5907 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
5909 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
5910 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
5911 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
5914 Any (print as `display' does).
5918 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
5922 S-expression (print as `write' does).
5926 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
5932 print number sign always.
5935 print comma separated.
5937 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
5943 print number sign always.
5946 print comma separated.
5948 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
5954 print number sign always.
5957 print comma separated.
5959 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
5965 print number sign always.
5968 print comma separated.
5970 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
5975 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
5979 print a number as a Roman numeral.
5982 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
5985 print a number as an ordinal English number.
5988 print a number as a cardinal English number.
5993 prints `y' and `ies'.
5996 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
5999 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
6004 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
6008 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
6011 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
6012 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
6014 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6017 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
6018 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
6020 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6023 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
6025 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
6027 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6030 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
6032 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
6034 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6037 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
6040 The sign appears before the padding.
6048 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
6050 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
6055 print N page separators.
6065 newline is ignored, white space left.
6068 newline is left, white space ignored.
6073 relative tabulation.
6079 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
6081 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
6084 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
6086 converts by `string-capitalize'.
6089 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
6092 converts by `string-upcase'.
6095 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
6097 jumps N arguments forward.
6100 jumps 1 argument backward.
6103 jumps N arguments backward.
6106 jumps to the 0th argument.
6109 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
6111 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
6112 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
6114 take argument from N.
6117 true test conditional.
6120 if-else-then conditional.
6126 default clause follows.
6129 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
6131 at most N iterations.
6134 args from next arg (a list of lists).
6137 args from the rest of arguments.
6140 args from the rest args (lists).
6151 aborts if N <= M <= K
6153 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
6156 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
6159 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
6165 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
6167 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
6169 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
6170 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
6171 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
6172 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
6173 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
6174 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
6178 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
6182 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
6188 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
6191 Print a `#\space' character
6193 print N `#\space' characters.
6196 Print a `#\tab' character
6198 print N `#\tab' characters.
6201 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
6202 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
6203 must be a positive decimal number.
6206 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
6207 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
6208 be processed by `read'.
6211 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
6212 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
6213 be processed by `read'.
6216 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
6219 prints format version.
6222 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
6223 and format it accordingly.
6225 *** Configuration Variables
6227 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
6228 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
6229 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
6230 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
6233 format:symbol-case-conv
6234 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
6235 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
6236 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
6237 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
6238 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
6240 format:iobj-case-conv
6241 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
6242 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
6245 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
6248 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
6254 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
6255 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
6256 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
6257 `format' padding style.
6260 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
6261 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
6262 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
6263 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
6267 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
6268 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
6269 directive parameters or modifiers)).
6272 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
6273 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
6274 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
6275 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
6276 parameters or modifiers)).
6279 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
6281 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
6283 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
6284 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
6286 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
6287 string-downcase! functions.
6289 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
6290 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
6292 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
6295 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
6298 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
6299 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
6301 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
6303 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
6304 the symbol had be read by `read'.
6306 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
6307 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
6308 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
6309 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
6310 would if STRING were input.
6312 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
6314 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
6315 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
6316 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
6317 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
6320 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
6322 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
6323 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
6326 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
6328 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
6329 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
6331 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
6332 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
6334 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
6335 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
6336 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
6337 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
6339 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
6340 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
6342 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
6343 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
6344 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
6346 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
6347 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
6349 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
6350 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
6351 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
6352 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
6353 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
6355 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
6356 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
6357 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
6358 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
6359 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
6360 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
6362 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
6363 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
6364 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
6367 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
6368 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
6369 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
6370 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
6371 the following grammar:
6372 ((apples (single-char #\a))
6373 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
6374 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
6375 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
6376 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
6377 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
6378 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
6379 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
6380 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
6381 last option in its combination)
6383 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
6384 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
6385 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
6386 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
6388 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
6389 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
6390 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
6392 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
6393 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
6394 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
6396 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
6397 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
6398 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
6399 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
6400 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
6401 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
6402 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
6403 ordinary argument strings.
6405 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
6406 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
6407 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
6408 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
6410 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
6411 as a list, associated with the empty list.
6413 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
6414 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
6415 - a required option is omitted
6416 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
6417 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
6418 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
6419 - an option predicate fails
6424 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
6427 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
6428 (verbose (required? #f)
6431 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
6432 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
6433 (predicate ,string?))))
6435 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
6436 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
6438 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
6439 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
6440 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
6441 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
6444 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
6446 It will be removed in a few releases.
6448 ** New syntax: lambda*
6449 ** New syntax: define*
6450 ** New syntax: define*-public
6451 ** New syntax: defmacro*
6452 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
6453 Guile now supports optional arguments.
6455 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
6456 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
6457 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
6458 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
6459 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
6461 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
6462 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
6463 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
6465 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
6467 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
6468 and examples for `lambda*':
6471 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
6473 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
6474 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
6475 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
6476 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
6477 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
6478 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
6479 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
6480 can be checked with the bound? macro.
6482 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
6484 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
6485 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
6486 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
6487 are given as keywords are bound to values.
6489 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
6490 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
6491 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
6492 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
6493 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
6494 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
6495 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
6496 and until the procedure is called.
6498 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
6500 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
6501 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
6502 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
6503 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
6504 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
6505 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
6506 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
6507 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
6508 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
6509 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
6511 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
6512 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
6513 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
6514 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
6517 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
6519 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
6520 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
6521 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
6522 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
6524 ** New syntax: and-let*
6525 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
6527 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
6528 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
6529 (<variable> <expression>)
6532 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
6533 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
6534 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
6537 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
6538 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
6539 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
6540 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
6541 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
6542 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
6543 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
6545 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
6546 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
6547 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
6548 shadow earlier bindings.
6550 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
6552 ** New sorting functions
6554 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
6555 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
6556 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
6557 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
6559 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
6560 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
6563 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
6564 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
6565 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
6567 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
6568 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
6569 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
6570 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
6572 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
6573 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
6574 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
6575 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
6576 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
6579 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
6580 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
6581 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
6582 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
6583 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
6584 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
6586 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
6587 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
6588 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
6590 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
6591 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
6592 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
6595 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
6596 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
6597 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
6599 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
6600 Added for compatibility with scsh.
6602 ** New built-in random number support
6604 *** New function: random N [STATE]
6605 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
6606 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
6607 returned have a uniform distribution.
6609 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
6610 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
6611 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
6612 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
6613 effect of the `random' operation.
6615 *** New variable: *random-state*
6616 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
6617 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
6618 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
6619 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
6620 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
6623 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
6624 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
6625 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
6626 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
6627 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
6629 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
6630 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
6631 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
6632 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
6633 initialized using SEED.
6635 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
6636 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
6637 range between 0 and 1.
6639 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
6640 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
6641 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
6642 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
6643 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
6644 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
6645 or a uniform vector of doubles.
6647 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
6648 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
6649 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
6650 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
6651 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
6652 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
6654 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
6655 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
6656 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
6657 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
6659 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
6660 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
6661 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
6662 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
6664 *** New function: random:exp STATE
6665 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
6666 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
6668 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
6670 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
6673 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
6674 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
6677 ** New function: make-guardian
6678 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
6679 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
6680 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
6681 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
6682 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
6684 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
6685 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
6686 one object if at all.
6688 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
6689 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
6690 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
6692 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
6693 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
6694 read again in last-in first-out order.
6696 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
6697 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
6699 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
6701 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
6702 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
6703 file position is used.
6705 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
6706 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
6707 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
6709 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
6710 redefined using seek.
6712 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
6713 size is not supplied.
6715 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
6716 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
6718 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
6719 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
6721 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
6723 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
6724 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
6725 and returns the contents as a single string.
6727 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
6728 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
6729 lists in serial order.
6731 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
6732 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
6733 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
6735 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
6736 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
6737 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
6738 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
6740 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
6741 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
6742 and #f if an error occured.
6744 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
6746 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
6747 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
6748 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
6749 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
6751 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
6753 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
6756 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
6758 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
6761 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6765 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
6766 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
6768 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
6769 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
6773 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6775 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
6777 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
6778 binds a variable named NAME to it.
6780 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
6782 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
6783 might change when we get the new module system.
6785 ** The smob interface
6787 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
6788 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
6790 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
6792 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
6796 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
6797 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
6798 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
6799 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
6800 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
6801 will be freed by the default free function.
6803 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6804 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
6805 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6806 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6808 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6809 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
6810 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6811 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6813 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
6815 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
6816 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
6820 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
6821 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6822 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6824 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
6825 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
6826 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6827 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6829 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
6830 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
6831 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
6833 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
6834 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
6835 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
6836 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
6838 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
6839 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
6840 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
6842 *** scm_newptob has been removed
6846 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
6848 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
6849 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
6850 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
6852 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
6853 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
6854 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
6856 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
6857 a string port's buffer.
6859 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
6860 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
6861 function pointers which together define the current random number
6862 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
6863 number library functions.
6865 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
6868 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
6869 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
6872 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
6873 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
6875 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
6876 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
6878 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
6879 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
6882 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
6883 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
6884 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
6885 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
6887 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
6888 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
6889 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
6890 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
6891 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
6892 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
6893 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
6895 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
6896 by libguile and the application.
6898 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
6899 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
6900 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
6901 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
6903 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
6904 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
6906 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
6907 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
6908 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
6910 ** Random number library functions
6911 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
6912 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
6913 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
6915 The default random state is stored in:
6917 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
6918 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
6919 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
6924 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
6926 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
6927 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
6928 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
6929 isn't a random state.
6931 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
6932 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
6934 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
6935 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
6936 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
6937 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
6939 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6940 Return 32 random bits.
6942 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6943 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
6945 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6946 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
6948 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6949 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
6951 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
6952 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
6954 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
6955 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
6956 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
6960 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
6962 * Changes to the distribution
6964 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
6965 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
6966 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
6969 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
6970 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
6971 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
6973 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
6974 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
6975 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
6976 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
6979 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
6980 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
6981 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
6983 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6985 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
6987 *** Function: batch-mode?
6989 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
6992 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
6994 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
6995 case has not been implemented.
6997 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
6998 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
6999 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
7002 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
7003 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
7005 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
7007 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7009 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
7011 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
7012 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
7015 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
7016 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
7017 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
7018 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
7021 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
7023 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
7024 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
7025 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
7026 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
7027 find those libraries.
7029 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
7030 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
7033 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
7035 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
7036 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
7037 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
7038 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
7040 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
7041 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
7042 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
7046 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
7048 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
7049 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
7050 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
7053 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
7054 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
7055 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
7056 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
7058 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
7059 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
7062 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
7063 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
7064 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
7065 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
7066 compiler where to find the libraries.
7068 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
7069 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
7070 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
7072 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
7073 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
7074 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
7075 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
7076 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
7080 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7082 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
7083 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
7084 internationalization support.
7086 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
7087 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
7088 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
7089 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
7090 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
7092 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
7093 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
7094 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
7095 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
7096 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
7098 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
7099 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
7100 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
7101 any GNU mirror site.
7103 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
7105 ** New function: add-history STRING
7106 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
7107 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
7108 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
7110 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
7112 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
7113 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
7114 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
7117 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
7118 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
7119 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
7121 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
7123 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
7126 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
7127 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
7130 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
7131 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
7132 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
7133 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
7134 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
7135 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
7137 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
7138 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
7139 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
7140 of the form mentioned above.
7142 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
7143 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
7144 returned in the special `rest' list.
7146 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
7147 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
7149 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
7151 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
7153 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
7155 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
7156 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
7157 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
7158 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
7159 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
7160 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
7161 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
7162 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
7165 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
7167 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
7169 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
7170 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
7173 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
7174 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
7175 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
7179 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
7180 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
7181 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
7182 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
7183 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
7184 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
7185 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
7186 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
7189 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
7191 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
7192 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
7193 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
7195 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
7197 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
7198 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
7200 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
7201 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
7202 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
7204 Why do we have this function?
7205 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
7206 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
7207 primitive, and display it differently, and
7208 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
7209 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
7212 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
7213 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
7216 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
7217 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
7218 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
7219 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
7221 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
7222 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
7225 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
7226 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
7228 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
7230 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
7231 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
7232 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
7233 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
7234 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
7235 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
7236 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
7239 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
7241 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
7242 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
7244 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
7245 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
7246 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
7247 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
7248 properly continue the print chain.
7250 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
7251 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
7252 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
7253 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
7254 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
7255 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
7256 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
7257 print-state, it is simply ignored.
7259 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
7260 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
7261 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
7262 safest to not check for these pairs.
7264 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
7265 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
7266 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
7267 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
7269 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
7271 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
7272 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
7274 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
7276 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
7278 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
7279 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
7280 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
7282 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
7283 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
7284 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
7286 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
7287 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
7288 the following functions and macros:
7290 Function: make-fluid
7292 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
7293 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
7294 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
7295 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
7296 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
7298 Function: fluid? OBJ
7300 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
7302 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
7303 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
7305 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
7306 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
7308 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
7310 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
7311 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
7312 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
7313 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
7314 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
7315 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
7316 modified by `with-fluids*'.
7318 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
7320 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
7321 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
7322 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
7323 should evaluate to a fluid.
7325 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
7327 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
7328 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
7329 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
7330 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
7331 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
7333 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
7336 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
7338 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
7340 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
7342 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
7345 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
7346 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
7347 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
7348 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
7349 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
7352 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
7353 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
7354 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
7356 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
7357 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
7358 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
7360 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
7361 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
7362 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
7363 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
7365 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
7366 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
7367 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
7368 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
7370 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
7371 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
7372 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
7373 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
7375 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
7376 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
7377 their revealed counts set to zero.
7379 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7380 Returns an integer file descriptor.
7382 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7383 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
7385 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7386 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
7388 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7389 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
7390 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
7392 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
7393 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
7394 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
7396 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
7397 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
7398 default environment inherited by child processes.
7400 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
7401 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
7402 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
7404 The return value is unspecified.
7406 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
7407 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
7408 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
7409 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
7410 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
7412 The return value is unspecified.
7414 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
7415 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
7423 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
7424 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
7427 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
7430 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
7431 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
7432 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
7434 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
7435 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
7436 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
7437 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
7440 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
7441 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
7443 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
7444 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
7445 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
7446 the `environ' procedure.
7448 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
7449 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
7452 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
7453 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
7455 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
7456 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
7457 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
7458 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
7460 *** procedure: times
7461 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
7462 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
7463 return a selected component:
7466 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
7470 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
7473 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
7477 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
7478 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
7482 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
7483 terminated child processes.
7485 ** Removed: list-length
7486 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
7487 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
7489 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
7491 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
7493 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
7495 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
7496 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
7497 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
7498 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
7500 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
7501 extra complexity it introduces.
7503 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
7504 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
7506 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
7507 variable to any non-empty value.
7509 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
7510 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
7512 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7514 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
7515 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
7517 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
7519 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
7520 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
7522 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
7524 ** vector handling routines
7526 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
7527 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
7528 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
7529 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
7530 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
7532 ** pair and list routines
7534 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
7537 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
7539 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
7542 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7544 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
7546 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
7547 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
7548 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
7549 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
7550 site-specific initialization code.
7552 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
7553 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
7554 initialization processes.
7556 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
7557 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
7558 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
7559 initialized properly.
7561 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
7562 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
7563 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
7565 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
7566 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
7567 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
7568 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
7569 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
7571 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
7573 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
7574 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
7575 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
7576 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
7577 objects the smob refers to get marked.
7579 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
7580 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
7581 which look like this:
7584 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
7586 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
7587 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
7590 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
7591 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
7594 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
7596 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
7597 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
7598 you will need to change your functions slightly.
7600 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
7601 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
7602 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
7603 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
7604 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
7606 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
7607 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
7609 int (*free) (SCM port);
7610 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
7611 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
7612 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
7616 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
7617 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
7618 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
7620 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
7623 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
7624 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
7625 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
7627 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
7628 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
7629 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
7632 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
7636 struct timeval *timeout);
7638 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
7639 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
7640 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
7641 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
7642 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
7643 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
7645 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
7646 scm_catch_body_t body,
7648 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
7651 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
7652 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
7653 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
7654 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
7655 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
7656 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
7658 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
7660 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
7663 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
7664 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
7665 spawning threads from application C code.
7667 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
7668 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
7669 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
7670 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
7671 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
7672 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
7674 ** Removed functions:
7676 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
7677 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
7679 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
7681 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
7682 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
7684 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
7686 ** mbstrings are now removed
7688 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
7689 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
7691 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
7693 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
7694 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
7695 their new names and arguments:
7697 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
7698 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
7699 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
7700 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
7703 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
7705 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
7707 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
7710 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
7712 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
7713 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
7714 pass a #f arg to catch.
7716 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
7718 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
7719 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
7722 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
7723 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
7724 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
7725 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
7726 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
7727 reclaim its storage.
7729 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
7730 worrying that some other function you call will call
7731 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
7732 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
7733 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
7734 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
7737 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
7739 * Changes to the distribution
7741 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
7742 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
7745 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
7746 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
7748 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7749 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7751 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
7753 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
7754 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
7755 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
7757 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7759 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
7760 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
7761 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
7762 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
7763 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
7764 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
7766 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
7767 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
7768 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
7771 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
7772 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
7773 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
7774 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
7776 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
7777 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
7778 libraries to your link command:
7780 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
7781 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
7782 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7783 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7785 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
7786 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
7787 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
7789 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7791 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
7792 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
7795 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
7797 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
7798 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
7799 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
7800 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
7801 searched is system dependent.
7803 (dynamic-object? VAL)
7805 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
7807 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
7809 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
7810 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
7812 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
7814 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
7815 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
7816 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
7817 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
7818 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
7821 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
7823 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
7824 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
7825 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
7826 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
7827 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
7829 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
7831 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
7832 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
7834 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
7836 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
7837 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
7838 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
7841 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
7843 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
7844 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
7845 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
7846 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
7848 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
7849 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
7851 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
7853 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
7854 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
7856 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
7858 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
7859 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
7867 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
7869 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
7870 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
7871 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
7872 a more informative way.
7874 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
7875 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
7876 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
7877 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
7878 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
7879 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
7881 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
7882 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
7885 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
7886 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
7887 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
7890 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
7891 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
7892 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
7893 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
7894 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
7895 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
7897 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
7898 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
7899 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
7900 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
7903 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
7904 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
7905 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
7906 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
7907 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
7908 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
7910 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
7911 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
7912 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
7913 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
7914 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
7916 *** regexp functions
7918 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
7919 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
7920 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
7922 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
7923 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
7924 with SCSH regular expressions.
7926 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
7927 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
7928 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
7929 position of STR at which to begin matching.
7931 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
7932 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
7933 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
7934 `string-match' returns `#f'.
7936 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
7937 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
7938 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
7939 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
7940 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
7941 match strings against the compiled regexp.
7943 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
7944 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
7945 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
7946 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
7947 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
7949 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
7951 **** Constant: regexp/extended
7952 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
7953 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
7954 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
7956 **** Constant: regexp/icase
7957 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
7958 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
7960 **** Constant: regexp/newline
7961 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
7963 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
7966 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
7967 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
7968 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
7970 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
7971 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
7972 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
7974 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
7975 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
7976 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
7977 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
7978 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
7981 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
7983 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
7984 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
7985 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
7986 used when different portions of a string are passed to
7987 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
7988 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
7990 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
7991 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
7992 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
7994 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
7995 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
7998 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
7999 and replace them with the contents of another string.
8001 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
8002 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
8003 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
8004 may be one of the following arguments:
8006 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
8008 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
8010 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
8011 the regexp match is written.
8013 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
8014 following the regexp match is written.
8016 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
8017 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
8020 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
8021 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
8022 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
8023 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
8024 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
8025 which should be matched against this regular expression.
8027 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
8030 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
8031 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
8032 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
8033 written out to PORT.
8035 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
8036 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
8037 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
8038 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
8039 will return after processing a single match.
8041 *** Match Structures
8043 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
8044 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
8045 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
8046 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
8047 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
8048 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
8051 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
8052 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
8053 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
8054 information about the original target string that was matched against a
8055 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
8057 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
8058 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
8059 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
8061 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
8062 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
8063 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
8064 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
8065 number N did not match, return `#f'.
8067 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
8068 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
8070 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
8071 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
8073 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
8074 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
8076 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
8077 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
8079 **** Function: match:count MATCH
8080 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
8081 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
8082 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
8084 **** Function: match:string MATCH
8085 Return the original TARGET string.
8087 *** Backslash Escapes
8089 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
8090 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
8091 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
8092 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
8093 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
8094 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
8096 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
8097 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
8098 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
8099 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
8100 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
8101 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
8102 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
8103 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
8105 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
8106 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
8107 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
8108 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
8109 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
8110 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
8111 each match a single backslash in the target string.
8113 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
8114 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
8115 return the resulting string.
8117 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
8118 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
8119 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
8120 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
8121 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
8122 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
8123 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
8124 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
8125 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
8126 translated to the single character `*'.
8128 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
8129 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
8130 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
8131 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
8132 consecutive backslashes:
8134 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
8136 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
8137 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
8138 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
8140 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
8141 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
8142 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
8143 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
8144 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
8145 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
8147 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
8149 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
8150 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
8151 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
8152 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
8153 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
8154 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
8155 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
8156 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
8157 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
8158 cumbersome escape syntax.
8160 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8162 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8164 * Changes to system call interfaces:
8166 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
8169 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
8171 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
8173 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
8176 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
8177 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
8178 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
8179 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
8180 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
8182 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
8183 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
8184 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
8185 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
8186 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
8187 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
8188 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
8191 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
8192 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
8193 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
8196 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
8197 `force-output' on every port open for output.
8199 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
8200 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
8201 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
8202 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
8203 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
8204 installed, you can say:
8206 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
8209 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8211 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
8212 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
8213 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
8214 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
8215 new dynamic roots and threads.
8218 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
8220 * Changes to the distribution.
8222 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
8224 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
8225 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
8226 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
8227 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
8228 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
8229 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
8230 programming language. These are packaged together because the
8231 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
8233 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
8236 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
8237 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
8242 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
8244 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
8245 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
8247 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
8248 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
8249 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
8250 the (command-line) function.
8251 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
8252 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
8253 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
8255 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
8256 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
8257 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
8258 command line arguments
8259 -ds do -s script at this point
8260 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
8261 -h, --help display this help and exit
8262 -v, --version display version information and exit
8263 \ read arguments from following script lines
8265 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
8266 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
8268 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8271 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
8275 (main (command-line))
8277 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
8279 ekko a speckled gecko
8281 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
8282 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
8283 following list of command-line arguments:
8285 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
8287 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
8288 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
8289 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
8290 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
8291 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
8293 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
8295 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
8297 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
8298 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
8301 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
8302 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
8303 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
8304 SCSH) for circumventing them.
8306 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
8307 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
8308 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
8309 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
8311 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
8315 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
8319 If the user invokes this script as follows:
8321 ekko a speckled gecko
8323 Unix expands this into
8325 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
8327 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
8328 read from the second line of the script, producing:
8330 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
8332 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
8333 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
8335 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
8336 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
8337 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
8338 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
8339 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
8340 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
8341 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
8342 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
8343 it only terminates the argument list.)
8344 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
8345 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
8346 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
8347 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
8348 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
8349 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
8350 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
8351 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
8353 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8355 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
8356 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
8357 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
8358 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
8359 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
8361 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
8362 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
8363 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
8365 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
8367 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
8368 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
8369 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
8370 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
8373 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
8374 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
8375 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
8377 * Changes to Scheme functions
8379 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
8380 and disabled by default.
8382 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
8383 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
8384 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
8385 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
8387 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
8389 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
8391 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
8392 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
8394 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
8395 (read-set! keywords #f)
8397 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
8398 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
8399 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
8402 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
8403 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
8404 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
8407 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
8408 support for Scheme functions.
8410 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
8411 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
8412 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
8413 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
8416 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
8417 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
8418 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
8421 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
8422 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
8423 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
8426 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
8427 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
8428 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
8429 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
8430 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
8431 display the result as a prompt.
8432 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
8434 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
8435 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
8436 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
8439 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
8440 procedure of zero arguments.
8442 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
8443 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
8444 argument is bound in the current module.
8446 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
8447 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
8448 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
8449 public bindings into the current module.
8451 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
8452 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
8454 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
8455 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
8457 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
8458 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
8460 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
8461 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
8463 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
8464 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
8466 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
8467 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
8468 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
8469 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
8470 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
8472 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
8473 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
8474 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
8475 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
8477 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
8480 ** Changes to I/O functions
8482 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
8483 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
8484 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
8486 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
8487 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
8488 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
8490 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
8491 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
8493 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
8494 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
8495 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
8496 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
8498 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
8500 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
8501 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
8503 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
8504 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
8505 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
8506 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
8507 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
8510 'trim omit delimiter from result
8511 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
8512 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
8513 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
8515 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
8517 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
8518 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
8520 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
8521 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
8522 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
8523 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
8524 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
8526 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
8527 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
8528 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
8530 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
8531 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
8532 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
8533 above, and defaults to 'peek.
8535 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
8536 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
8538 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
8539 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
8541 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
8543 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
8544 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
8545 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
8546 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
8547 a delimiting character.
8548 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
8550 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
8551 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
8552 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
8553 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
8554 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
8555 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
8557 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
8558 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
8560 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
8561 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
8562 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
8564 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
8565 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
8566 the array to read and write.
8568 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
8569 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
8572 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
8574 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
8577 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
8578 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
8579 Values for COMMAND are:
8581 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
8582 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
8583 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
8584 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
8585 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
8586 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
8587 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
8588 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
8590 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
8592 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
8593 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
8594 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
8595 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
8596 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
8597 corresponding return set will be the same.
8599 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
8602 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
8603 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
8604 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
8605 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
8606 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
8607 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
8608 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
8609 special file being created.
8611 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
8612 clashing with various SCSH forks.
8614 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
8615 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
8616 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
8617 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
8618 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
8619 and originating address.
8621 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
8622 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
8623 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
8625 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
8628 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
8629 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
8632 (status:exit-val STATUS)
8633 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
8634 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
8635 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
8636 this function returns #f.
8638 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
8639 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
8640 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
8643 (status:term-sig STATUS)
8644 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
8645 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
8648 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
8649 a valid STATUS value.
8651 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
8653 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
8654 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
8656 Component Accessor Setter
8657 ========================= ============ ============
8658 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
8659 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
8660 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
8661 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
8662 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
8663 year tm:year set-tm:year
8664 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
8665 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
8666 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
8667 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
8668 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
8670 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
8671 describing the host system:
8674 ============================================== ================
8675 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
8676 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
8677 release level of the operating system utsname:release
8678 version level of the operating system utsname:version
8679 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
8681 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
8682 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
8683 system's user database:
8686 ====================== =================
8687 user name passwd:name
8688 user password passwd:passwd
8691 real name passwd:gecos
8692 home directory passwd:dir
8693 shell program passwd:shell
8695 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
8696 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
8697 system's group database:
8700 ======================= ============
8701 group name group:name
8702 group password group:passwd
8704 group members group:mem
8706 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
8707 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
8711 ========================= ===============
8712 official name of host hostent:name
8713 alias list hostent:aliases
8714 host address type hostent:addrtype
8715 length of address hostent:length
8716 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
8718 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
8719 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
8723 ========================= ===============
8724 official name of net netent:name
8725 alias list netent:aliases
8726 net number type netent:addrtype
8727 net number netent:net
8729 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
8730 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
8734 ========================= ===============
8735 official protocol name protoent:name
8736 alias list protoent:aliases
8737 protocol number protoent:proto
8739 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
8740 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
8744 ========================= ===============
8745 official service name servent:name
8746 alias list servent:aliases
8747 port number servent:port
8748 protocol to use servent:proto
8750 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
8751 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
8754 ======================================== ===============
8755 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
8756 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
8757 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
8758 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
8760 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
8761 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
8762 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
8764 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
8765 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
8767 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
8768 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
8770 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
8771 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
8773 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
8775 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
8777 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
8778 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
8779 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
8781 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
8782 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
8783 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
8784 return the remaining characters as a string.
8786 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
8787 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
8788 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
8790 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
8792 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8794 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
8797 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
8800 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
8801 and returns the array
8803 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
8804 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
8805 the user to interpret the data both ways.
8807 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8809 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
8810 symbol's value from C code:
8812 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
8813 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
8814 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
8815 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
8817 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
8818 without assigning them a value.
8820 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
8821 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
8822 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
8824 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
8825 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
8826 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
8828 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
8829 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
8831 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
8832 doesn't actually care about that.
8834 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
8835 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
8836 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
8838 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
8839 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
8840 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
8841 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
8842 which we have just created and initialized.
8844 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
8845 should one occur. We call it like this:
8846 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
8848 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
8849 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
8850 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
8851 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
8852 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
8853 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
8856 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
8857 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
8858 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
8859 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
8860 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
8861 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
8862 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
8865 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
8866 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
8867 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
8868 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
8869 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
8872 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
8873 scm_internal_catch, except:
8875 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
8876 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
8877 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
8878 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
8881 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
8882 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
8883 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
8885 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
8886 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
8887 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
8888 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
8891 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
8892 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
8893 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
8895 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
8896 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
8897 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
8898 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
8899 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
8901 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
8902 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
8903 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
8905 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
8906 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
8907 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
8909 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
8910 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
8912 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
8913 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
8914 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
8917 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
8918 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
8919 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
8920 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
8921 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
8922 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
8923 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
8926 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
8927 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
8929 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
8930 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
8931 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
8932 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
8933 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
8936 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
8937 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
8939 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
8940 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
8943 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
8944 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
8946 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8949 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
8950 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
8951 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
8952 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
8953 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
8954 given the following arguments:
8956 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
8958 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
8960 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
8962 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8965 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
8966 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
8967 command-line arguments.
8969 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
8970 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
8971 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
8972 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
8973 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
8974 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
8977 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8980 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
8981 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
8983 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
8984 rearranged slightly. They are now:
8986 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8987 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
8988 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
8989 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
8991 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8992 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
8994 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8995 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
8996 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
8997 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
8999 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9000 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
9002 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
9003 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
9005 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
9007 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
9008 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
9009 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
9012 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
9013 returns a port instead of an FD object.
9015 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
9016 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
9021 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
9024 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
9026 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
9027 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
9028 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
9029 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
9031 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
9033 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
9035 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
9036 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
9037 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
9038 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
9039 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
9040 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
9041 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
9042 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
9043 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
9044 for more information.
9046 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
9047 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
9049 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
9050 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
9051 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
9052 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
9053 following two lines at the top of the file:
9055 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
9058 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
9059 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
9060 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
9062 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
9064 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
9066 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
9069 (display (car args))
9070 (if (pair? (cdr args))
9072 (loop (cdr args)))))
9075 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
9076 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
9077 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
9078 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
9079 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
9080 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
9084 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
9087 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
9090 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
9092 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
9093 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
9094 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
9095 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
9096 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
9099 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
9100 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
9101 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
9102 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
9103 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
9106 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
9109 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
9110 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
9111 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
9114 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
9115 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
9116 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
9118 to see a backtrace, and
9119 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
9120 to see them by default.
9124 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
9126 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
9128 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
9129 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
9132 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
9133 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
9134 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
9135 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
9138 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
9139 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
9140 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
9141 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
9142 functions which inspired them.
9144 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
9145 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
9149 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
9151 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
9153 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
9154 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
9157 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
9158 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
9159 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
9161 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
9162 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
9163 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
9164 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
9165 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
9167 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
9169 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
9170 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
9171 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
9174 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
9177 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
9179 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
9180 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
9181 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
9182 above should serve their purposes.
9184 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
9185 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
9186 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
9187 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
9189 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
9192 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
9193 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
9194 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
9195 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
9197 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
9198 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
9199 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
9200 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
9202 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
9203 for the `read' function.
9206 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
9207 to that of `integer?'.
9209 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
9210 use the R4RS names for these functions.
9212 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
9213 it simply returns the object's property list.
9215 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
9216 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
9217 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
9218 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
9220 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
9222 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
9225 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
9227 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
9228 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
9230 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
9232 void (*main_func) (),
9235 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
9236 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
9237 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
9238 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
9239 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
9241 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
9242 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
9243 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
9244 know which arguments have been processed.
9246 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
9247 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
9248 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
9249 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
9250 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
9252 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
9253 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
9254 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
9255 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
9256 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
9257 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
9258 people from making that mistake.
9260 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
9261 convenient ways to override these when desired.
9263 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
9265 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
9269 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
9272 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
9273 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
9274 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
9275 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
9278 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
9279 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
9280 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
9281 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
9284 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
9285 have been added to the Guile library.
9287 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
9288 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
9289 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
9292 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
9293 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
9294 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
9296 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
9297 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
9298 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
9299 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
9300 argument from the list.
9303 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
9306 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
9307 null-terminated string, and returns it.
9309 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
9310 to a Scheme port object.
9312 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
9313 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
9318 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
9320 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
9321 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
9322 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
9323 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
9324 code as a special datatype.
9326 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
9327 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
9328 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
9329 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
9330 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
9333 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
9334 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
9335 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
9336 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
9337 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
9339 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
9342 Copyright information:
9344 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
9346 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
9347 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
9348 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
9349 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
9351 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
9352 of this document, or of portions of it,
9353 under the above conditions, provided also that they
9354 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
9359 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"