1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 Changes in 2.0.8 (since 2.0.7):
12 Reorder points in order of importance and make comprehensible
26 The `guile.m4' autoconf macros have been rewritten to use `guild' and
27 `pkg-config' instead of the deprecated `guile-config' (which itself
30 There is also a new macro, `GUILE_PKG', which allows packages to select
31 the version of Guile that they want to compile against. See "Autoconf
32 Macros" in the manual, for more information.
34 ** Better Windows support.
36 Guile now correctly identifies absolute paths on Windows (MinGW), and
37 creates files on that platform according to its path conventions. See
38 XXX in the manual, for all details.
40 In addition, the new Gnulib imports provide `select' and `poll' on
43 As an incompatible change, systems that are missing <sys/select.h> were
44 previously provided a public `scm_std_select' C function that defined a
45 version of `select', but unhappily it also provided its own incompatible
46 definitions for FD_SET, FD_ZERO, and other system interface. Guile
47 should not be setting these macros in public API, so this interface was
48 removed on those plaforms (basically only MinGW).
52 Guile's copy of Gnulib was updated to v0.0-7865-ga828bb2. The following
53 modules were imported from Gnulib: select, times, pipe-posix, fstat,
58 There were a number of improvements to the partial evaluator, allowing
59 complete reduction of forms such as:
61 ((let ((_ 10)) (lambda () _)))
65 (apply (lambda _) 1 2 3 4)
67 (call-with-values (lambda () (values 1 2)) (lambda _ _))
69 A number (ahem) of numeric operations on have been made faster, among
70 them GCD and logarithms.
72 Finally, `array-ref' and `array-set!' on arrays of rank 1 or 2 is now
73 faster, because it avoids building a rest list.
75 ** `include' resolves relative file names relative to including file.
77 Given a relative file name, `include' will look for it relative to the
78 directory of the including file. This harmonizes the behavior of
79 `include' with that of `load'.
81 ** SLIB compatibility restored.
83 Guile 2.0.8 is now compatible with SLIB. You will have to use a
84 development version of SLIB, however, until a new version of SLIB is
87 ** Better ,trace REPL command.
89 Sometimes the ,trace output for nested function calls could overflow the
90 terminal width, which wasn't useful. Now there is a limit to the amount
91 of space the prefix will take. See the documentation for ",trace" for
94 ** Update predefined character sets to Unicode 6.2.
96 ** GMP 4.2 or later required
98 Guile used to require GMP at least version 4.1 (released in May 2002),
99 and now requires at least version 4.2 (released in March 2006).
103 ** Better SXML documentation.
105 The documentation for SXML modules was much improved, though there is
106 still far to go. See "SXML" in manual.
110 Use of "iff" was replaced with standard English. Keyword arguments are
111 now documented consistently, along with their default values.
113 ** An end to the generated-documentation experiment.
115 When Guile 2.0 imported some modules from Guile-Lib, they came with a
116 system that generated documentation from docstrings and module
117 commentaries. This produced terrible documentation. We finally bit the
118 bullet and incorporated these modules into the main text, and will be
119 improving them manually over time, as is the case with SXML. Help is
122 ** New documentation.
124 There is now documentation for `scm_array_type', and `scm_array_ref', as
125 well as for the new `array-length' / 'scm_c_array_length' /
126 `scm_array_length' functions. `array-in-bounds?' has better
127 documentation as well. The `program-arguments-alist' and
128 `program-lambda-list' functions are now documented. Finally, the GOOPS
129 class hierarchy diagram has been regenerated for the web and print
134 ** Deprecate generalized vector interface.
136 The generalized vector interface, introduced in 1.8.0, is simply a
137 redundant, verbose interface to arrays of rank 1. `array-ref' and
138 similar functions are entirely sufficient. Thus,
139 `scm_generalized_vector_p', `scm_generalized_vector_length',
140 `scm_generalized_vector_ref', `scm_generalized_vector_set_x', and
141 `scm_generalized_vector_to_list' are now deprecated.
143 ** Deprecate SCM_CHAR_CODE_LIMIT and char-code-limit.
145 These constants were defined to 256, which is not the highest codepoint
146 supported by Guile. Given that they were useless and incorrect, they
147 have been deprecated.
149 ** Deprecate `http-get*'.
151 The new `#:streaming?' argument to `http-get' subsumes the functionality
152 of `http-get*' (introduced in 2.0.7). Also, the `#:extra-headers'
153 argument is deprecated in favor of `#:headers'.
155 ** Deprecate (ice-9 mapping).
157 This module, present in Guile since 1996 but never used or documented,
158 has never worked in Guile 2.0. It has now been deprecated and will be
159 removed in Guile 2.2.
163 ** `round-ash', a bit-shifting operator that rounds on right-shift.
165 See "Bitwise Operations".
167 ** New environment variables: `GUILE_STACK_SIZE', `GUILE_INSTALL_LOCALE'.
169 See "Environment Variables".
171 ** New procedure `sendfile'.
175 ** New procedures for dealing with file names.
177 See XXX for documentation on `system-file-name-convention',
178 `file-name-separator?', `absolute-file-name?', and
179 `file-name-separator-string'.
181 ** `array-length', an array's first dimension.
183 See "Array Procedures".
185 ** `hash-count', for hash tables.
189 ** New foreign types: `ssize_t', `ptrdiff_t'.
193 ** New C helpers: `scm_from_ptrdiff_t', `scm_to_ptrdiff_t'.
197 ** Much more capable `xml->sxml'
199 See "Reading and Writing XML" for information on how the `xml->sxml'
200 parser deals with namespaces, processed entities, doctypes, and literal
201 strings. Incidentally, `current-ssax-error-port' is now a parameter
204 ** New command-line argument: `--language'
206 See XXX in the manual.
208 ** `current-language' in default environment.
210 Previously defined only in `(system base language)', `current-language'
211 is now defined in the default environment, and is used to determine the
212 language for the REPL, and for `compile-and-load'.
214 ** New procedure: `fluid->parameter'
216 See "Parameters", for information on how to convert a fluid to a
219 ** New procedures to read all characters from a port
221 See "Line/Delimited" in the manual for documentation on `read-string'
224 ** New HTTP client procedures.
226 See "Web Client" for documentation on the new `http-head', `http-post',
227 `http-put', `http-delete', `http-trace', and `http-options' procedures,
228 and also for more options to `http-get'.
230 ** New procedures for converting strings to and from bytevectors.
232 See "Representing Strings as Bytes" for documention on the new `(ice-9
233 iconv)' module and its `bytevector->string' and `string->bytevector'
236 ** New `print' REPL option.
238 See "REPL Commands" in the manual for information on the new
239 user-customizable REPL printer.
241 ** New variable: %site-ccache-dir.
243 The "Installing Site Packages" and "Build Config" manual sections now
244 refer to this variable to describe where users should install their
249 ** Fix compilation against libgc 7.3.
250 ** Fix cross-compilation of `c-tokenize.o'.
251 ** Fix warning when compiling against glibc 2.17.
252 ** Fix documentation build against Texinfo 5.0.
253 ** Fix building Guile from a directory with non-ASCII characters.
254 ** Fix native MinGW build.
255 ** Fix --disable-posix build.
256 ** Fix MinGW builds with networking, POSIX, and thread support.
260 ** SRFI-37: Fix infinite loop when parsing optional-argument short options
261 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13176)
262 ** web: Support non-GMT date headers in the HTTP client
263 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13544)
264 ** Avoid stack overflows with `par-map' and nested futures in general
265 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13188)
266 ** A fork when multiple threads are running will now print a warning.
267 ** Allow for spurious wakeups from pthread_cond_wait.
268 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10641)
269 ** Warn and ignore module autoload failures.
270 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12202)
271 ** Use chmod portably in (system base compile).
272 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10474)
273 ** Fix response-body-port for responses without content-length.
274 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13857)
275 ** Allow case-lambda expressions with no clauses.
276 (http://bugs.gnu.org/9776)
277 ** Improve standards conformance of string->number.
278 (http://bugs.gnu.org/11887)
279 ** Support calls and tail-calls with more than 255 formals.
280 ** ,option evaluates its right-hand-side.
281 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13076)
282 ** Structs with tail arrays are not simple.
283 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12808)
284 ** Make `SCM_LONG_BIT' usable in preprocessor conditionals.
285 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13848)
286 ** Fix thread-unsafe lazy initializations.
287 ** Allow SMOB mark procedures to be called from parallel markers.
288 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13611)
289 ** Fix later-bindings-win logic in with-fluids.
290 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13843)
291 ** Fix duplicate removal of with-fluids.
292 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13838)
293 ** Support calling foreign functions of 10 arguments or more.
294 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13809)
295 ** Let reverse! accept arbitrary types as second argument.
296 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13835)
297 ** Recognize the `x86_64.*-gnux32' triplet.
298 ** Check whether a triplet's OS part specifies an ABI.
299 ** Recognize mips64* as having 32-bit pointers by default.
300 ** Remove language/glil/decompile-assembly.scm.
301 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10622)
302 ** Use O_BINARY in `copy-file', `load-objcode', `mkstemp'.
303 ** Fix compilation of functions with more than 255 local variables.
304 ** Fix `getgroups' for when zero supplementary group IDs exist.
305 ** Allow (define-macro name (lambda ...)).
306 ** Various fixes to the (texinfo) modules.
307 ** guild: Gracefully handle failures to install the locale.
308 ** Fix format string warnings for ~!, ~|, ~/, ~q, ~Q, and ~^.
309 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13485)
310 ** Fix source annotation bug in psyntax 'expand-body'.
311 ** Ecmascript: Fix conversion to boolean for non-numbers.
312 ** A failure to find a module's file does not prevent future loading.
313 ** Many (oop goops save) fixes.
314 ** `http-get': don't shutdown write end of socket.
315 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13095)
316 ** Avoid signed integer overflow in scm_product.
317 ** http: read-response-body always returns bytevector or #f (not EOF in one case).
318 ** web: Correctly detect "No route to host" conditions.
319 ** `system*': failure to execvp no longer leaks dangling processes
320 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13166)
321 ** More sensible case-lambda* dispatch
322 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12929)
323 ** Do not defer expansion of internal define-syntax forms.
324 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13509)
328 Changes in 2.0.7 (since 2.0.6):
332 ** SRFI-105 curly infix expressions are supported
334 Curly infix expressions as described at
335 http://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-105/srfi-105.html are now supported by
336 Guile's reader. This allows users to write things like {a * {b + c}}
337 instead of (* a (+ b c)). SRFI-105 support is enabled by using the
338 `#!curly-infix' directive in source code, or the `curly-infix' reader
339 option. See the manual for details.
341 ** Reader options may now be per-port
343 Historically, `read-options' and related procedures would manipulate
344 global options, affecting the `read' procedure for all threads, and all
345 current uses of `read'.
347 Guile can now associate `read' options with specific ports, allowing
348 different ports to use different options. For instance, the
349 `#!fold-case' and `#!no-fold-case' reader directives have been
350 implemented, and their effect is to modify the current read options of
351 the current port only; similarly for `#!curly-infix'. Thus, it is
352 possible, for instance, to have one port reading case-sensitive code,
353 while another port reads case-insensitive code.
355 ** Futures may now be nested
357 Futures may now be nested: a future can itself spawn and then `touch'
358 other futures. In addition, any thread that touches a future that has
359 not completed now processes other futures while waiting for the touched
360 future to completed. This allows all threads to be kept busy, and was
361 made possible by the use of delimited continuations (see the manual for
364 Consequently, `par-map' and `par-for-each' have been rewritten and can
367 ** `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' et al can now add directories to the end of the path
369 `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' and `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' can now be used to add
370 directories to both ends of the load path. If the special path
371 component `...' (ellipsis) is present in these environment variables,
372 then the default path is put in place of the ellipsis, otherwise the
373 default path is placed at the end. See "Environment Variables" in the
376 ** `load-in-vicinity' search for `.go' files in `%load-compiled-path'
378 Previously, `load-in-vicinity' would look for compiled files in the
379 auto-compilation cache, but not in `%load-compiled-path'. This is now
380 fixed. This affects `load', and the `-l' command-line flag. See
381 <http://bugs.gnu.org/12519> for details.
383 ** Extension search order fixed, and LD_LIBRARY_PATH preserved
385 Up to 2.0.6, Guile would modify the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment
386 variable (or whichever is relevant for the host OS) to insert its own
387 default extension directories in the search path (using GNU libltdl
388 facilities was not possible here.) This approach was problematic in two
391 First, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification would be visible to
392 sub-processes, and would also affect future calls to `dlopen', which
393 could lead to subtle bugs in the application or sub-processes. Second,
394 when the installation prefix is /usr, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification
395 would typically end up inserting /usr/lib before /usr/local/lib in the
396 search path, which is often the opposite of system-wide settings such as
399 Both issues have now been fixed.
401 ** `make-vtable-vtable' is now deprecated
403 Programs should instead use `make-vtable' and `<standard-vtable>'.
405 ** The `-Wduplicate-case-datum' and `-Wbad-case-datum' are enabled
407 These recently introduced warnings have been documented and are now
408 enabled by default when auto-compiling.
410 ** Optimize calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant argument
412 The compiler simplifies calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant
413 argument to use `eq?' instead, when applicable.
417 ** SRFI-9 records now documented under "Compound Data Types"
419 The documentation of SRFI-9 record types has been moved in the "Compound
420 Data Types", next to Guile's other record APIs. A new section
421 introduces the various record APIs, and describes the trade-offs they
422 make. These changes were made in an attempt to better guide users
423 through the maze of records API, and to recommend SRFI-9 as the main
426 The documentation of Guile's raw `struct' API has also been improved.
428 ** (ice-9 and-let-star) and (ice-9 curried-definitions) now documented
430 These modules were missing from the manual.
434 ** New "functional record setters" as a GNU extension of SRFI-9
436 The (srfi srfi-9 gnu) module now provides three new macros to deal with
437 "updates" of immutable records: `define-immutable-record-type',
438 `set-field', and `set-fields'.
440 The first one allows record type "functional setters" to be defined;
441 such setters keep the record unchanged, and instead return a new record
442 with only one different field. The remaining macros provide the same
443 functionality, and also optimize updates of multiple or nested fields.
444 See the manual for details.
446 ** web: New `http-get*', `response-body-port', and `text-content-type?'
449 These procedures return a port from which to read the response's body.
450 Unlike `http-get' and `read-response-body', they allow the body to be
451 processed incrementally instead of being stored entirely in memory.
453 The `text-content-type?' predicate allows users to determine whether the
454 content type of a response is textual.
456 See the manual for details.
458 ** `string-split' accepts character sets and predicates
460 The `string-split' procedure can now be given a SRFI-14 character set or
461 a predicate, instead of just a character.
465 Previously, in R6RS modules, Guile incorrectly ignored components of
466 SRFI module names after the SRFI number, making it impossible to specify
467 sub-libraries. This release corrects this, bringing us into accordance
470 ** `define-public' is no a longer curried definition by default
472 The (ice-9 curried-definitions) should be used for such uses. See the
477 ** Remove reference to `scm_init_popen' when `fork' is unavailable
479 This fixes a MinGW build issue (http://bugs.gnu.org/12477).
481 ** Fix race between installing `guild' and the `guile-tools' symlink
485 ** Procedures returned by `eval' now have docstrings
486 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12173)
487 ** web client: correctly handle uri-query, etc. in relative URI headers
488 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12827)
489 ** Fix docs for R6RS `hashtable-copy'
490 ** R6RS `string-for-each' now accepts multiple string arguments
491 ** Fix out-of-range error in the compiler's CSE pass
492 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12883)
493 ** Add missing R6RS `open-file-input/output-port' procedure
494 ** Futures: Avoid creating the worker pool more than once
495 ** Fix invalid assertion about mutex ownership in threads.c
496 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12719)
497 ** Have `SCM_NUM2FLOAT' and `SCM_NUM2DOUBLE' use `scm_to_double'
498 ** The `scandir' procedure now uses `lstat' instead of `stat'
499 ** Fix `generalized-vector->list' indexing bug with shared arrays
500 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12465)
501 ** web: Change `http-get' to try all the addresses for the given URI
502 ** Implement `hash' for structs
503 (http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2012-10/msg00031.html)
504 ** `read' now adds source properties for data types beyond pairs
505 ** Improve error reporting in `append!'
506 ** In fold-matches, set regexp/notbol unless matching string start
507 ** Don't stat(2) and access(2) the .go location before using it
508 ** SRFI-19: use zero padding for hours in ISO 8601 format, not blanks
509 ** web: Fix uri-encoding for strings with no unreserved chars, and octets 0-15
510 ** More robust texinfo alias handling
511 ** Optimize `format' and `simple-format'
512 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12033)
513 ** Angle of -0.0 is pi, not zero
516 Changes in 2.0.6 (since 2.0.5):
520 ** New optimization pass: common subexpression elimination (CSE)
522 Guile's optimizer will now run a CSE pass after partial evaluation.
523 This pass propagates static information about branches taken, bound
524 lexicals, and effects from an expression's dominators. It can replace
525 common subexpressions with their boolean values (potentially enabling
526 dead code elimination), equivalent bound lexicals, or it can elide them
527 entirely, depending on the context in which they are executed. This
528 pass is especially useful in removing duplicate type checks, such as
529 those produced by SRFI-9 record accessors.
531 ** Improvements to the partial evaluator
533 Peval can now hoist tests that are common to both branches of a
534 conditional into the test. This can help with long chains of
535 conditionals, such as those generated by the `match' macro. Peval can
536 now do simple beta-reductions of procedures with rest arguments. It
537 also avoids residualizing degenerate lexical aliases, even when full
538 inlining is not possible. Finally, peval now uses the effects analysis
539 introduced for the CSE pass. More precise effects analysis allows peval
542 ** Run finalizers asynchronously in asyncs
544 Finalizers are now run asynchronously, via an async. See Asyncs in the
545 manual. This allows Guile and user code to safely allocate memory while
548 ** Update SRFI-14 character sets to Unicode 6.1
550 Note that this update causes the Latin-1 characters `§' and `¶' to be
551 reclassified as punctuation. They were previously considered to be part
552 of `char-set:symbol'.
554 ** Better source information for datums
556 When the `positions' reader option is on, as it is by default, Guile's
557 reader will record source information for more kinds of datums.
559 ** Improved error and warning messages
561 `syntax-violation' errors now prefer `subform' for source info, with
562 `form' as fallback. Syntactic errors in `cond' and `case' now produce
563 better errors. `case' can now warn on duplicate datums, or datums that
564 cannot be usefully compared with `eqv?'. `-Warity-mismatch' now handles
565 applicable structs. `-Wformat' is more robust in the presence of
566 `gettext'. Finally, various exceptions thrown by the Web modules now
567 define appropriate exception printers.
569 ** A few important bug fixes in the HTTP modules.
571 Guile's web server framework now checks if an application returns a body
572 where it is not permitted, for example in response to a HEAD request,
573 and warn or truncate the response as appropriate. Bad requests now
574 cause a 400 Bad Request response to be printed before closing the port.
575 Finally, some date-printing and URL-parsing bugs were fixed.
577 ** Pretty-print improvements
579 When Guile needs to pretty-print Tree-IL, it will try to reconstruct
580 `cond', `or`, and other derived syntax forms from the primitive tree-IL
581 forms. It also uses the original names instead of the fresh unique
582 names, when it is unambiguous to do so. This can be seen in the output
583 of REPL commands like `,optimize'.
585 Also, the `pretty-print' procedure has a new keyword argument,
588 ** Fix memory leak involving applicable SMOBs
590 At some point in the 1.9.x series, Guile began leaking any applicable
591 SMOB that was actually applied. (There was a weak-key map from SMOB to
592 trampoline functions, where the value had a strong reference on the
593 key.) This has been fixed. There was much rejoicing!
595 ** Support for HTTP/1.1 chunked transfer coding
597 See "Transfer Codings" in the manual, for more.
599 ** Micro-optimizations
601 A pile of micro-optimizations: the `string-trim' function when called
602 with `char-set:whitespace'; the `(web http)' parsers; SMOB application;
603 conversion of raw UTF-8 and UTF-32 data to and from SCM strings; vlists
604 and vhashes; `read' when processing string literals.
606 ** Incompatible change to `scandir'
608 As was the original intention, `scandir' now runs the `select?'
609 procedure on all items, including subdirectories and the `.' and `..'
610 entries. It receives the basename of the file in question instead of
611 the full name. We apologize for this incompatible change to this
612 function introduced in the 2.0.4 release.
616 The manual has been made much more consistent in its naming conventions
617 with regards to formal parameters of functions. Thanks to Bake Timmons.
621 ** New C function: `scm_to_pointer'
622 ** New C inline functions: `scm_new_smob', `scm_new_double_smob'
623 ** (ice-9 format): Add ~h specifier for localized number output.
624 ** (web response): New procedure: `response-must-not-include-body?'
625 ** New predicate: 'supports-source-properties?'
626 ** New C helpers: `scm_c_values', `scm_c_nvalues'
627 ** Newly public inline C function: `scm_unget_byte'
628 ** (language tree-il): New functions: `tree-il=?', `tree-il-hash'
629 ** New fluid: `%default-port-conversion-strategy'
630 ** New syntax: `=>' within `case'
631 ** (web http): `make-chunked-input-port', `make-chunked-output-port'
632 ** (web http): `declare-opaque-header!'
634 Search the manual for these identifiers, for more information.
638 ** `close-io-port' deprecated
642 ** `scm_sym2var' deprecated
644 In most cases, replace with `scm_lookup' or `scm_module_variable'. Use
645 `scm_define' or `scm_module_ensure_local_variable' if the second
646 argument is nonzero. See "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual, for
649 ** Lookup closures deprecated
651 These were never documented. See "Module System Reflection" in the
652 manual for replacements.
656 ** Fix compilation against uninstalled Guile on non-GNU platforms.
657 ** Fix `SCM_I_ERROR' definition for MinGW without networking.
658 ** Fix compilation with the Sun C compiler.
659 ** Fix check for `clock_gettime' on OpenBSD and some other systems.
660 ** Fix build with --enable-debug-malloc.
661 ** Honor $(program_transform_name) for the `guile-tools' symlink.
662 ** Fix cross-compilation of GOOPS-using code.
666 ** Fix use of unitialized stat buffer in search-path of absolute paths.
667 ** Avoid calling `freelocale' with a NULL argument.
668 ** Work around erroneous tr_TR locale in Darwin 8 in tests.
669 ** Fix `getaddrinfo' test for Darwin 8.
670 ** Use Gnulib's `regex' module for better regex portability.
671 ** `source-properties' and friends work on any object
672 ** Rewrite open-process in C, for robustness related to threads and fork
673 ** Fix <TAG>vector-length when applied to other uniform vector types
674 ** Fix escape-only prompt optimization (was disabled previously)
675 ** Fix a segfault when /dev/urandom is not accessible
676 ** Fix flush on soft ports, so that it actually runs.
677 ** Better compatibility of SRFI-9 records with core records
678 ** Fix and clarify documentation of `sorted?'.
679 ** Fix IEEE-754 endianness conversion in bytevectors.
680 ** Correct thunk check in the `wind' instruction.
681 ** Add @acronym support to texinfo modules
682 ** Fix docbook->texi for <ulink> without URL
683 ** Fix `setvbuf' to leave the line/column number unchanged.
684 ** Add missing public declaration for `scm_take_from_input_buffers'.
685 ** Fix relative file name canonicalization with empty %LOAD-PATH entries.
686 ** Import newer (ice-9 match) from Chibi-Scheme.
687 ** Fix unbound variables and unbound values in ECMAScript runtime.
688 ** Make SRFI-6 string ports Unicode-capable.
691 Changes in 2.0.5 (since 2.0.4):
693 This release fixes the binary interface information (SONAME) of
694 libguile, which was incorrect in 2.0.4. It does not contain other
698 Changes in 2.0.4 (since 2.0.3):
702 ** Better debuggability for interpreted procedures.
704 Guile 2.0 came with a great debugging experience for compiled
705 procedures, but the story for interpreted procedures was terrible. Now,
706 at least, interpreted procedures have names, and the `arity' procedure
707 property is always correct (or, as correct as it can be, in the presence
710 ** Support for cross-compilation.
712 One can now use a native Guile to cross-compile `.go' files for a
713 different architecture. See the documentation for `--target' in the
714 "Compilation" section of the manual, for information on how to use the
715 cross-compiler. See the "Cross building Guile" section of the README,
716 for more on how to cross-compile Guile itself.
718 ** The return of `local-eval'.
720 Back by popular demand, `the-environment' and `local-eval' allow the
721 user to capture a lexical environment, and then evaluate arbitrary
722 expressions in that context. There is also a new `local-compile'
723 command. See "Local Evaluation" in the manual, for more. Special
724 thanks to Mark Weaver for an initial implementation of this feature.
726 ** Fluids can now have default values.
728 Fluids are used for dynamic and thread-local binding. They have always
729 inherited their values from the context or thread that created them.
730 However, there was a case in which a new thread would enter Guile, and
731 the default values of all the fluids would be `#f' for that thread.
733 This has now been fixed so that `make-fluid' has an optional default
734 value for fluids in unrelated dynamic roots, which defaults to `#f'.
736 ** Garbage collector tuning.
738 The garbage collector has now been tuned to run more often under some
741 *** Unmanaged allocation
743 The new `scm_gc_register_allocation' function will notify the collector
744 of unmanaged allocation. This will cause the collector to run sooner.
745 Guile's `scm_malloc', `scm_calloc', and `scm_realloc' unmanaged
746 allocators eventually call this function. This leads to better
747 performance under steady-state unmanaged allocation.
749 *** Transient allocation
751 When the collector runs, it will try to record the total memory
752 footprint of a process, if the platform supports this information. If
753 the memory footprint is growing, the collector will run more frequently.
754 This reduces the increase of the resident size of a process in response
755 to a transient increase in allocation.
757 *** Management of threads, bignums
759 Creating a thread will allocate a fair amount of memory. Guile now does
760 some GC work (using `GC_collect_a_little') when allocating a thread.
761 This leads to a better memory footprint when creating many short-lived
764 Similarly, bignums can occupy a lot of memory. Guile now offers hooks
765 to enable custom GMP allocators that end up calling
766 `scm_gc_register_allocation'. These allocators are enabled by default
767 when running Guile from the command-line. To enable them in libraries,
768 set the `scm_install_gmp_memory_functions' variable to a nonzero value
769 before loading Guile.
771 ** SRFI-39 parameters are available by default.
773 Guile now includes support for parameters, as defined by SRFI-39, in the
774 default environment. See "Parameters" in the manual, for more
775 information. `current-input-port', `current-output-port', and
776 `current-error-port' are now parameters.
778 ** Add `current-warning-port'.
780 Guile now outputs warnings on a separate port, `current-warning-port',
781 initialized to the value that `current-error-port' has on startup.
783 ** Syntax parameters.
785 Following Racket's lead, Guile now supports syntax parameters. See
786 "Syntax parameters" in the manual, for more.
788 Also see Barzilay, Culpepper, and Flatt's 2011 SFP workshop paper,
789 "Keeping it Clean with syntax-parameterize".
791 ** Parse command-line arguments from the locale encoding.
793 Guile now attempts to parse command-line arguments using the user's
794 locale. However for backwards compatibility with other 2.0.x releases,
795 it does so without actually calling `setlocale'. Please report any bugs
796 in this facility to bug-guile@gnu.org.
798 ** One-armed conditionals: `when' and `unless'
800 Guile finally has `when' and `unless' in the default environment. Use
801 them whenever you would use an `if' with only one branch. See
802 "Conditionals" in the manual, for more.
804 ** `current-filename', `add-to-load-path'
806 There is a new form, `(current-filename)', which expands out to the
807 source file in which it occurs. Combined with the new
808 `add-to-load-path', this allows simple scripts to easily add nearby
809 directories to the load path. See "Load Paths" in the manual, for more.
811 ** `random-state-from-platform'
813 This procedure initializes a random seed using good random sources
814 available on your platform, such as /dev/urandom. See "Random Number
815 Generation" in the manual, for more.
817 ** Warn about unsupported `simple-format' options.
819 The `-Wformat' compilation option now reports unsupported format options
820 passed to `simple-format'.
824 Besides the sections already mentioned, the following manual sections
825 are new in this release: "Modules and the File System", "Module System
826 Reflection", "Syntax Transformer Helpers", and "Local Inclusion".
830 ** (ice-9 session): `apropos-hook'
831 ** New print option: `escape-newlines', defaults to #t.
832 ** (ice-9 ftw): `file-system-fold', `file-system-tree', `scandir'
833 ** `scm_c_value_ref': access to multiple returned values from C
834 ** scm_call (a varargs version), scm_call_7, scm_call_8, scm_call_9
835 ** Some new syntax helpers in (system syntax)
837 Search the manual for these identifiers and modules, for more.
841 ** FreeBSD build fixes.
842 ** OpenBSD compilation fixes.
843 ** Solaris 2.10 test suite fixes.
844 ** IA64 compilation fix.
845 ** MinGW build fixes.
846 ** Work around instruction reordering on SPARC and HPPA in the VM.
847 ** Gnulib updates: added `dirfd', `setenv' modules.
851 ** Add a deprecated alias for $expt.
852 ** Add an exception printer for `getaddrinfo-error'.
853 ** Add deprecated shim for `scm_display_error' with stack as first argument.
854 ** Add warnings for unsupported `simple-format' options.
855 ** Allow overlapping regions to be passed to `bytevector-copy!'.
856 ** Better function prologue disassembly
857 ** Compiler: fix miscompilation of (values foo ...) in some contexts.
858 ** Compiler: fix serialization of #nil-terminated lists.
859 ** Compiler: allow values bound in non-tail let expressions to be collected.
860 ** Deprecate SCM_ASRTGO.
861 ** Document invalidity of (begin) as expression; add back-compat shim.
862 ** Don't leak file descriptors when mmaping objcode.
863 ** Empty substrings no longer reference the original stringbuf.
864 ** FFI: Fix `set-pointer-finalizer!' to leave the type cell unchanged.
865 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the CIF made by `procedure->pointer'.
866 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the procedure passed to `procedure->pointer'.
867 ** FFI: Properly unpack small integer return values in closure call.
868 ** Fix R6RS `fold-left' so the accumulator is the first argument.
869 ** Fix bit-set*! bug from 2005.
870 ** Fix bug in `make-repl' when `lang' is actually a <language>.
871 ** Fix bugs related to mutation, the null string, and shared substrings.
872 ** Fix <dynwind> serialization.
873 ** Fix erroneous check in `set-procedure-properties!'.
874 ** Fix generalized-vector-{ref,set!} for slices.
875 ** Fix error messages involving definition forms.
876 ** Fix primitive-eval to return #<unspecified> for definitions.
877 ** HTTP: Extend handling of "Cache-Control" header.
878 ** HTTP: Fix qstring writing of cache-extension values
879 ** HTTP: Fix validators for various list-style headers.
880 ** HTTP: Permit non-date values for Expires header.
881 ** HTTP: `write-request-line' writes absolute paths, not absolute URIs.
882 ** Hack the port-column of current-output-port after printing a prompt.
883 ** Make sure `regexp-quote' tests use Unicode-capable string ports.
884 ** Peval: Fix bugs in the new optimizer.
885 ** Statistically unique marks and labels, for robust hygiene across sessions.
886 ** Web: Allow URIs with empty authorities, like "file:///etc/hosts".
887 ** `,language' at REPL sets the current-language fluid.
888 ** `primitive-load' returns the value(s) of the last expression.
889 ** `scm_from_stringn' always returns unique strings.
890 ** `scm_i_substring_copy' tries to narrow the substring.
891 ** i18n: Fix gc_malloc/free mismatch on non-GNU systems.
894 Changes in 2.0.3 (since 2.0.2):
898 ** Guile has a new optimizer, `peval'.
900 `Peval' is a partial evaluator that performs constant folding, dead code
901 elimination, copy propagation, and inlining. By default it runs on
902 every piece of code that Guile compiles, to fold computations that can
903 happen at compile-time, so they don't have to happen at runtime.
905 If we did our job right, the only impact you would see would be your
906 programs getting faster. But if you notice slowdowns or bloated code,
907 please send a mail to bug-guile@gnu.org with details.
909 Thanks to William R. Cook, Oscar Waddell, and Kent Dybvig for inspiring
910 peval and its implementation.
912 You can see what peval does on a given piece of code by running the new
913 `,optimize' REPL meta-command, and comparing it to the output of
914 `,expand'. See "Compile Commands" in the manual, for more.
916 ** Fewer calls to `stat'.
918 Guile now stats only the .go file and the .scm file when loading a fresh
923 ** New module: `(web client)', a simple synchronous web client.
925 See "Web Client" in the manual, for more.
927 ** Users can now install compiled `.go' files.
929 See "Installing Site Packages" in the manual.
931 ** Remove Front-Cover and Back-Cover text from the manual.
933 The manual is still under the GNU Free Documentation License, but no
934 longer has any invariant sections.
936 ** More helpful `guild help'.
938 `guild' is Guile's multi-tool, for use in shell scripting. Now it has a
939 nicer interface for querying the set of existing commands, and getting
940 help on those commands. Try it out and see!
942 ** New macro: `define-syntax-rule'
944 `define-syntax-rule' is a shorthand to make a `syntax-rules' macro with
945 one clause. See "Syntax Rules" in the manual, for more.
947 ** The `,time' REPL meta-command now has more precision.
949 The output of this command now has microsecond precision, instead of
950 10-millisecond precision.
952 ** `(ice-9 match)' can now match records.
954 See "Pattern Matching" in the manual, for more on matching records.
956 ** New module: `(language tree-il debug)'.
958 This module provides a tree-il verifier. This is useful for people that
959 generate tree-il, usually as part of a language compiler.
961 ** New functions: `scm_is_exact', `scm_is_inexact'.
963 These provide a nice C interface for Scheme's `exact?' and `inexact?',
968 See the git log (or the ChangeLog) for more details on these bugs.
970 ** Fix order of importing modules and resolving duplicates handlers.
971 ** Fix a number of bugs involving extended (merged) generics.
972 ** Fix invocation of merge-generics duplicate handler.
973 ** Fix write beyond array end in arrays.c.
974 ** Fix read beyond end of hashtable size array in hashtab.c.
975 ** (web http): Locale-independent parsing and serialization of dates.
976 ** Ensure presence of Host header in HTTP/1.1 requests.
977 ** Fix take-right and drop-right for improper lists.
978 ** Fix leak in get_current_locale().
979 ** Fix recursive define-inlinable expansions.
980 ** Check that srfi-1 procedure arguments are procedures.
981 ** Fix r6rs `map' for multiple returns.
982 ** Fix scm_tmpfile leak on POSIX platforms.
983 ** Fix a couple of leaks (objcode->bytecode, make-boot-program).
984 ** Fix guile-lib back-compatibility for module-stexi-documentation.
985 ** Fix --listen option to allow other ports.
986 ** Fix scm_to_latin1_stringn for substrings.
987 ** Fix compilation of untyped arrays of rank not 1.
988 ** Fix unparse-tree-il of <dynset>.
989 ** Fix reading of #||||#.
990 ** Fix segfault in GOOPS when class fields are redefined.
991 ** Prefer poll(2) over select(2) to allow file descriptors above FD_SETSIZE.
994 Changes in 2.0.2 (since 2.0.1):
998 ** `guile-tools' renamed to `guild'
1000 The new name is shorter. Its intended future use is for a CPAN-like
1001 system for Guile wizards and journeyfolk to band together to share code;
1002 hence the name. `guile-tools' is provided as a backward-compatible
1003 symbolic link. See "Using Guile Tools" in the manual, for more.
1005 ** New control operators: `shift' and `reset'
1007 See "Shift and Reset" in the manual, for more information.
1009 ** `while' as an expression
1011 Previously the return value of `while' was unspecified. Now its
1012 values are specified both in the case of normal termination, and via
1013 termination by invoking `break', possibly with arguments. See "while
1014 do" in the manual for more.
1016 ** Disallow access to handles of weak hash tables
1018 `hash-get-handle' and `hash-create-handle!' are no longer permitted to
1019 be called on weak hash tables, because the fields in a weak handle could
1020 be nulled out by the garbage collector at any time, but yet they are
1021 otherwise indistinguishable from pairs. Use `hash-ref' and `hash-set!'
1024 ** More precision for `get-internal-run-time', `get-internal-real-time'
1026 On 64-bit systems which support POSIX clocks, Guile's internal timing
1027 procedures offer nanosecond resolution instead of the 10-millisecond
1028 resolution previously available. 32-bit systems now use 1-millisecond
1031 ** Guile now measures time spent in GC
1033 `gc-stats' now returns a meaningful value for `gc-time-taken'.
1037 The statprof profiler now exports a `gcprof' procedure, driven by the
1038 `after-gc-hook', to see which parts of your program are causing GC. Let
1039 us know if you find it useful.
1041 ** `map', `for-each' and some others now implemented in Scheme
1043 We would not mention this in NEWS, as it is not a user-visible change,
1044 if it were not for one thing: `map' and `for-each' are no longer
1045 primitive generics. Instead they are normal bindings, which can be
1046 wrapped by normal generics. This fixes some modularity issues between
1047 core `map', SRFI-1 `map', and GOOPS.
1049 Also it's pretty cool that we can do this without a performance impact.
1051 ** Add `scm_peek_byte_or_eof'.
1053 This helper is like `scm_peek_char_or_eof', but for bytes instead of
1056 ** Implement #:stop-at-first-non-option option for getopt-long
1058 See "getopt-long Reference" in the manual, for more information.
1060 ** Improve R6RS conformance for conditions in the I/O libraries
1062 The `(rnrs io simple)' module now raises the correct R6RS conditions in
1063 error cases. `(rnrs io ports)' is also more correct now, though it is
1064 still a work in progress.
1066 ** All deprecated routines emit warnings
1068 A few deprecated routines were lacking deprecation warnings. This has
1071 * Speed improvements
1073 ** Constants in compiled code now share state better
1075 Constants with shared state, like `("foo")' and `"foo"', now share state
1076 as much as possible, in the entire compilation unit. This cuts compiled
1077 `.go' file sizes in half, generally, and speeds startup.
1079 ** VLists: optimize `vlist-fold-right', and add `vhash-fold-right'
1081 These procedures are now twice as fast as they were.
1083 ** UTF-8 ports to bypass `iconv' entirely
1085 This reduces memory usage in a very common case.
1087 ** Compiler speedups
1089 The compiler is now about 40% faster. (Note that this is only the case
1090 once the compiler is itself compiled, so the build still takes as long
1095 Some assertions that were mostly useful for sanity-checks on the
1096 bytecode compiler are now off for both "regular" and "debug" engines.
1097 This together with a fix to cache a TLS access and some other tweaks
1098 improve the VM's performance by about 20%.
1100 ** SRFI-1 list-set optimizations
1102 lset-adjoin and lset-union now have fast paths for eq? sets.
1104 ** `memq', `memv' optimizations
1106 These procedures are now at least twice as fast than in 2.0.1.
1110 ** Deprecate scm_whash API
1112 `scm_whash_get_handle', `SCM_WHASHFOUNDP', `SCM_WHASHREF',
1113 `SCM_WHASHSET', `scm_whash_create_handle', `scm_whash_lookup', and
1114 `scm_whash_insert' are now deprecated. Use the normal hash table API
1117 ** Deprecate scm_struct_table
1119 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME',
1120 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS',
1121 `scm_struct_table', and `scm_struct_create_handle' are now deprecated.
1122 These routines formed part of the internals of the map between structs
1125 ** Deprecate scm_internal_dynamic_wind
1127 The `scm_t_inner' type and `scm_internal_dynamic_wind' are deprecated,
1128 as the `scm_dynwind' API is better, and this API encourages users to
1129 stuff SCM values into pointers.
1131 ** Deprecate scm_immutable_cell, scm_immutable_double_cell
1133 These routines are deprecated, as the GC_STUBBORN API doesn't do
1138 Andreas Rottman kindly transcribed the missing parts of the `(rnrs io
1139 ports)' documentation from the R6RS documentation. Thanks Andreas!
1143 ** Fix double-loading of script in -ds case
1144 ** -x error message fix
1145 ** iconveh-related cross-compilation fixes
1146 ** Fix small integer return value packing on big endian machines.
1147 ** Fix hash-set! in weak-value table from non-immediate to immediate
1148 ** Fix call-with-input-file & relatives for multiple values
1149 ** Fix `hash' for inf and nan
1150 ** Fix libguile internal type errors caught by typing-strictness==2
1151 ** Fix compile error in MinGW fstat socket detection
1152 ** Fix generation of auto-compiled file names on MinGW
1153 ** Fix multithreaded access to internal hash tables
1154 ** Emit a 1-based line number in error messages
1155 ** Fix define-module ordering
1156 ** Fix several POSIX functions to use the locale encoding
1157 ** Add type and range checks to the complex generalized vector accessors
1158 ** Fix unaligned accesses for bytevectors of complex numbers
1160 ** Fix erroneous VM stack overflow for canceled threads
1163 Changes in 2.0.1 (since 2.0.0):
1167 ** guile.m4 supports linking with rpath
1169 The GUILE_FLAGS macro now sets GUILE_LIBS and GUILE_LTLIBS, which
1170 include appropriate directives to the linker to include libguile-2.0.so
1171 in the runtime library lookup path.
1173 ** `begin' expands macros in its body before other expressions
1175 This enables support for programs like the following:
1180 (or (= x 0) (odd? (- x 1)))))
1183 ((odd? x) (not (even? x)))))
1186 ** REPL reader usability enhancements
1188 The REPL now flushes input after a read error, which should prevent one
1189 error from causing other errors. The REPL also now interprets comments
1192 ** REPL output has configurable width
1194 The REPL now defaults to output with the current terminal's width, in
1195 columns. See "Debug Commands" in the manual for more information on
1198 ** Better C access to the module system
1200 Guile now has convenient C accessors to look up variables or values in
1201 modules and their public interfaces. See `scm_c_public_ref' and friends
1202 in "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual.
1204 ** Added `scm_call_5', `scm_call_6'
1206 See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
1208 ** Added `scm_from_latin1_keyword', `scm_from_utf8_keyword'
1210 See "Keyword Procedures" in the manual, for more. Note that
1211 `scm_from_locale_keyword' should not be used when the name is a C string
1214 ** R6RS unicode and string I/O work
1216 Added efficient implementations of `get-string-n' and `get-string-n!'
1217 for binary ports. Exported `current-input-port', `current-output-port'
1218 and `current-error-port' from `(rnrs io ports)', and enhanced support
1221 ** Added `pointer->scm', `scm->pointer' to `(system foreign)'
1223 These procedure are useful if one needs to pass and receive SCM values
1224 to and from foreign functions. See "Foreign Variables" in the manual,
1227 ** Added `heap-allocated-since-gc' to `(gc-stats)'
1229 Also fixed the long-standing bug in the REPL `,stat' command.
1231 ** Add `on-error' REPL option
1233 This option controls what happens when an error occurs at the REPL, and
1234 defaults to `debug', indicating that Guile should enter the debugger.
1235 Other values include `report', which will simply print a backtrace
1236 without entering the debugger. See "System Commands" in the manual.
1238 ** Enforce immutability of string literals
1240 Attempting to mutate a string literal now causes a runtime error.
1242 ** Fix pthread redirection
1244 Guile 2.0.0 shipped with headers that, if configured with pthread
1245 support, would re-define `pthread_create', `pthread_join', and other API
1246 to redirect to the BDW-GC wrappers, `GC_pthread_create', etc. This was
1247 unintended, and not necessary: because threads must enter Guile with
1248 `scm_with_guile', Guile can handle thread registration itself, without
1249 needing to make the GC aware of all threads. This oversight has been
1252 ** `with-continuation-barrier' now unwinds on `quit'
1254 A throw to `quit' in a continuation barrier will cause Guile to exit.
1255 Before, it would do so before unwinding to the barrier, which would
1256 prevent cleanup handlers from running. This has been fixed so that it
1257 exits only after unwinding.
1259 ** `string->pointer' and `pointer->string' have optional encoding arg
1261 This allows users of the FFI to more easily deal in strings with
1262 particular (non-locale) encodings, like "utf-8". See "Void Pointers and
1263 Byte Access" in the manual, for more.
1265 ** R6RS fixnum arithmetic optimizations
1267 R6RS fixnum operations are are still slower than generic arithmetic,
1270 ** New procedure: `define-inlinable'
1272 See "Inlinable Procedures" in the manual, for more.
1274 ** New procedure: `exact-integer-sqrt'
1276 See "Integer Operations" in the manual, for more.
1278 ** "Extended read syntax" for symbols parses better
1280 In #{foo}# symbols, backslashes are now treated as escapes, as the
1281 symbol-printing code intended. Additionally, "\x" within #{foo}# is now
1282 interpreted as starting an R6RS hex escape. This is backward compatible
1283 because the symbol printer would never produce a "\x" before. The
1284 printer also works better too.
1286 ** Added `--fresh-auto-compile' option
1288 This allows a user to invalidate the auto-compilation cache. It's
1289 usually not needed. See "Compilation" in the manual, for a discussion.
1293 ** GOOPS documentation updates
1297 Thanks to Mark Harig for improvements to guile.1.
1299 ** SRFI-23 documented
1301 The humble `error' SRFI now has an entry in the manual.
1305 ** `(ice-9 binary-ports)': "R6RS I/O Ports", in the manual
1306 ** `(ice-9 eval-string)': "Fly Evaluation", in the manual
1307 ** `(ice-9 command-line)', not documented yet
1311 ** Fixed `iconv_t' memory leak on close-port
1312 ** Fixed some leaks with weak hash tables
1313 ** Export `vhash-delq' and `vhash-delv' from `(ice-9 vlist)'
1314 ** `after-gc-hook' works again
1315 ** `define-record-type' now allowed in nested contexts
1316 ** `exact-integer-sqrt' now handles large integers correctly
1317 ** Fixed C extension examples in manual
1318 ** `vhash-delete' honors HASH argument
1319 ** Make `locale-digit-grouping' more robust
1320 ** Default exception printer robustness fixes
1321 ** Fix presence of non-I CPPFLAGS in `guile-2.0.pc'
1322 ** `read' updates line/column numbers when reading SCSH block comments
1323 ** Fix imports of multiple custom interfaces of same module
1324 ** Fix encoding scanning for non-seekable ports
1325 ** Fix `setter' when called with a non-setter generic
1326 ** Fix f32 and f64 bytevectors to not accept rationals
1327 ** Fix description of the R6RS `finite?' in manual
1328 ** Quotient, remainder and modulo accept inexact integers again
1329 ** Fix `continue' within `while' to take zero arguments
1330 ** Fix alignment for structures in FFI
1331 ** Fix port-filename of stdin, stdout, stderr to match the docs
1332 ** Fix weak hash table-related bug in `define-wrapped-pointer-type'
1333 ** Fix partial continuation application with pending procedure calls
1334 ** scm_{to,from}_locale_string use current locale, not current ports
1335 ** Fix thread cleanup, by using a pthread_key destructor
1336 ** Fix `quit' at the REPL
1337 ** Fix a failure to sync regs in vm bytevector ops
1338 ** Fix (texinfo reflection) to handle nested structures like syntax patterns
1339 ** Fix stexi->html double translation
1340 ** Fix tree-il->scheme fix for <prompt>
1341 ** Fix compilation of <prompt> in <fix> in single-value context
1342 ** Fix race condition in ensure-writable-dir
1343 ** Fix error message on ,disassemble "non-procedure"
1344 ** Fix prompt and abort with the boot evaluator
1345 ** Fix `procedure->pointer' for functions returning `void'
1346 ** Fix error reporting in dynamic-pointer
1347 ** Fix problems detecting coding: in block comments
1348 ** Fix duplicate load-path and load-compiled-path in compilation environment
1349 ** Add fallback read(2) suppport for .go files if mmap(2) unavailable
1350 ** Fix c32vector-set!, c64vector-set!
1351 ** Fix mistakenly deprecated read syntax for uniform complex vectors
1352 ** Fix parsing of exact numbers with negative exponents
1353 ** Ignore SIGPIPE in (system repl server)
1354 ** Fix optional second arg to R6RS log function
1355 ** Fix R6RS `assert' to return true value.
1356 ** Fix fencepost error when seeking in bytevector input ports
1357 ** Gracefully handle `setlocale' errors when starting the REPL
1358 ** Improve support of the `--disable-posix' configure option
1359 ** Make sure R6RS binary ports pass `binary-port?' regardless of the locale
1360 ** Gracefully handle unterminated UTF-8 sequences instead of hitting an `assert'
1364 Changes in 2.0.0 (changes since the 1.8.x series):
1366 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1368 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
1369 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
1370 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
1371 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
1372 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
1373 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
1374 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
1375 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
1376 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
1377 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
1378 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
1379 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
1380 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
1381 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
1382 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
1383 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
1384 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
1385 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
1386 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
1387 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
1388 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
1389 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
1390 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
1392 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
1394 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
1395 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
1396 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
1398 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
1399 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
1400 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
1402 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
1404 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
1405 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
1406 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
1408 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
1410 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
1411 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
1414 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1416 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
1418 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
1419 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
1421 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
1423 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
1424 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
1425 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
1427 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
1428 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
1430 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
1431 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
1432 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
1435 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
1437 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
1438 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
1440 ** Remove old Emacs interface
1442 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
1443 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
1444 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
1447 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
1449 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
1450 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
1451 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
1454 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
1456 ** Command line additions
1458 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
1459 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
1462 ** New reader options: `square-brackets', `r6rs-hex-escapes',
1463 `hungry-eol-escapes'
1465 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
1466 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
1467 parentheses. This option is on by default.
1469 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
1470 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
1471 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
1472 so this option is off by default.
1474 Additionally, Guile follows the R6RS newline escaping rules when the
1475 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled.
1477 See "String Syntax" in the manual, for more information.
1479 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
1481 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
1482 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
1483 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
1485 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
1486 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
1488 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
1490 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
1491 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
1492 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
1494 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
1495 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
1496 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
1497 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
1499 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
1500 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
1503 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
1505 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
1508 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
1510 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
1511 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
1512 include `/path/to/lib'.
1514 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
1516 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
1519 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
1521 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
1522 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
1523 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
1524 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
1527 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
1529 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
1530 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
1531 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
1533 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
1535 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
1536 just for the operator position.
1538 ** Expression-oriented readline history
1540 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
1541 input lines. Let us know what you think!
1543 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
1545 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
1546 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
1548 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1550 ** Support for R6RS libraries
1552 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
1553 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
1554 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
1555 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
1556 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
1558 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
1560 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
1561 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
1562 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
1564 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
1566 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
1569 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
1570 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
1571 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
1574 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
1575 mentioned in that compatibility list.
1577 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
1579 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
1580 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
1581 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
1582 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
1584 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
1585 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
1586 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
1587 code, and simplifying debugging.
1589 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
1590 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
1592 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
1593 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
1594 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
1595 both of these situations.
1597 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
1598 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
1599 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
1600 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
1602 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
1604 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
1605 not apply to the compiler.
1607 ** No more `local-eval'
1609 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
1610 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
1611 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
1612 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
1615 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
1616 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
1619 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
1621 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
1622 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
1623 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
1625 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
1626 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
1627 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
1630 Auto-compiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
1631 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
1632 will be created if needed.
1634 To inhibit automatic compilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
1635 variable to 0, or pass --no-auto-compile on the Guile command line.
1637 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
1639 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
1640 in the next prerelease.
1642 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
1644 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
1646 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
1648 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
1650 ** Multicast socket options
1652 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
1653 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
1656 ** `recv!', `recvfrom!', `send', `sendto' now deal in bytevectors
1658 These socket procedures now take bytevectors as arguments, instead of
1659 strings. There is some deprecated string support, however.
1661 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
1663 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
1665 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
1667 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
1669 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
1671 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
1672 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
1673 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
1675 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
1676 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
1677 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
1678 procedures' docstrings for more information.
1680 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
1681 combining arity and formals. For example:
1683 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
1684 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
1686 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
1689 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
1691 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
1692 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
1693 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
1694 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
1696 ** New language: ECMAScript
1698 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
1699 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
1700 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
1701 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
1703 ** New language: Brainfuck
1705 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
1706 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
1707 languages. See the manual for details, or
1708 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
1709 Brainfuck language itself.
1711 ** New language: Elisp
1713 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
1714 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
1715 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
1717 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
1719 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
1720 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
1721 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
1722 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
1725 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
1727 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
1728 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
1729 properties. For example:
1735 (procedure-properties foo)
1736 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
1738 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
1741 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
1743 (procedure-properties bar)
1744 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
1746 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
1749 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
1752 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
1754 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
1755 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
1756 like this works now:
1758 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
1759 (define (helper x) ...)
1761 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
1763 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
1766 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
1767 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
1769 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
1771 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
1772 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
1773 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
1775 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
1777 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
1778 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
1779 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
1780 for more information.
1782 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
1784 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
1785 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
1787 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
1789 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
1792 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
1794 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
1795 in the manual, for more information.
1797 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
1800 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
1801 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
1803 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
1805 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
1807 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
1809 It is possible to circumvent this restriction with e.g.
1810 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. Contact the list if you
1813 ** Support for `letrec*'
1815 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
1816 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
1817 manual, for more details.
1819 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
1821 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
1822 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
1827 (define baz (+ bar 20))
1830 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
1831 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
1832 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
1835 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
1836 in earlier Guile dialects.
1838 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
1840 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
1841 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
1842 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
1843 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
1845 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
1846 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
1847 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
1848 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
1851 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
1853 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
1854 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
1857 (define (helper x) ...)
1858 (define-macro (foo bar)
1861 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
1864 (define (helper x) ...)
1865 (define-macro (foo bar)
1866 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
1868 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
1872 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
1874 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
1876 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
1883 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
1884 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
1887 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
1889 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
1890 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
1893 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
1895 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
1896 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
1897 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
1899 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
1901 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
1905 (define-macro (ref x) x)
1908 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
1909 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
1910 macros before code that uses them.
1912 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
1915 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
1917 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
1918 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
1919 (double-literal 2) => 4
1921 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
1922 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
1923 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
1925 (eval-when (load compile eval)
1926 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
1927 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
1928 (double-literal 2) => 4
1930 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
1932 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
1934 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
1935 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
1936 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
1937 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
1940 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
1942 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
1943 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
1945 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
1947 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
1948 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
1949 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
1951 ** Incompatible change to #'
1953 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
1954 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
1955 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
1956 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
1958 ** `unquote' and `unquote-splicing' accept multiple expressions
1960 As per the R6RS, these syntax operators can now accept any number of
1961 expressions to unquote.
1963 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
1965 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
1968 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
1970 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
1971 in the manual, for more information.
1973 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
1974 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
1976 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
1977 works (with compiled procedures)
1979 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
1980 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
1981 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
1982 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
1984 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
1985 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
1986 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
1987 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
1988 number of stack frames.
1990 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
1991 active in the current continuation
1993 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
1994 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
1995 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
1996 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
1998 ** `positions' reader option enabled by default
2000 This change allows primitive-load without --auto-compile to also
2001 propagate source information through the expander, for better errors and
2002 to let macros know their source locations. The compiler was already
2003 turning it on anyway.
2005 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
2007 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
2009 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
2010 through to the expanded code
2012 This should result in better backtraces.
2014 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
2016 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
2018 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
2020 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
2021 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
2024 ** New procedure, `define!'
2026 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
2027 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
2028 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
2029 less verbose than `module-define!'.
2031 ** All modules have names now
2033 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
2034 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
2035 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
2036 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
2038 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
2040 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
2041 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
2042 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
2043 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
2045 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
2046 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
2047 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
2048 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
2049 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
2050 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
2052 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
2053 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
2054 days of Guile's modules.
2056 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
2057 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
2058 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
2059 record accessors appropriately.
2061 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
2062 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
2063 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
2065 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
2066 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
2067 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
2069 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
2070 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
2073 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
2074 namespaces instead of values.
2076 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
2078 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
2079 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
2080 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
2081 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
2083 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
2085 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
2087 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
2089 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
2090 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
2092 ** Modules load within a known environment
2094 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
2095 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
2096 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
2099 ** `load' is a macro (!) that resolves paths relative to source file dir
2101 The familiar Schem `load' procedure is now a macro that captures the
2102 name of the source file being expanded, and dispatches to the new
2103 `load-in-vicinity'. Referencing `load' by bare name returns a closure
2104 that embeds the current source file name.
2106 This fix allows `load' of relative paths to be resolved with respect to
2107 the location of the file that calls `load'.
2109 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
2111 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
2112 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
2113 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
2115 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
2116 values to the expected number
2118 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
2119 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
2120 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
2122 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
2123 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
2124 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
2125 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
2127 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
2128 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
2129 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
2131 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
2134 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
2136 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
2138 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
2139 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
2140 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
2141 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
2142 the interpreter would proceed.
2144 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
2145 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
2146 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
2147 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
2149 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
2151 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
2152 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
2153 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
2154 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
2155 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
2156 you to contact the Guile developers.
2158 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
2160 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
2161 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
2162 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
2164 ** psyntax is now the default expander
2166 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
2167 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
2170 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
2171 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
2172 code in question was memoized.
2174 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
2175 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
2176 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
2177 `x432' instead of `x'.
2179 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
2180 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
2181 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
2182 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
2184 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
2186 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
2187 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
2188 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
2191 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
2192 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
2193 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
2194 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
2196 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
2198 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
2199 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
2200 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
2201 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
2204 (syntax-rules (else)
2205 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
2208 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
2209 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
2210 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
2212 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
2213 by nonhygienic macros.
2215 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
2216 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
2219 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
2220 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
2221 (define-macro (ref x)
2223 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
2228 (define-syntax bind-x
2230 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
2231 (define-macro (ref x)
2233 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
2235 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
2236 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
2237 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
2238 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
2239 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
2240 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
2242 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
2244 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
2245 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
2247 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
2248 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
2251 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
2253 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
2254 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
2255 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
2256 transformer procedures.
2258 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
2260 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
2261 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
2262 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
2264 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
2266 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
2267 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
2268 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
2269 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
2271 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
2273 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
2274 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
2275 arity that the function has, in the same format as the old arity
2278 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
2280 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
2281 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
2282 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
2283 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
2285 ** New syntax: define-once
2287 `define-once' is like Lisp's `defvar': it creates a toplevel binding,
2288 but only if one does not exist already.
2290 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
2292 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
2293 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
2294 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
2297 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
2298 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
2299 documentation for more details.
2301 ** Better pretty-printing
2303 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
2304 macros like `quote' are printed better.
2306 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
2308 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
2309 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
2311 Also, it used to be that you could omit passing a port to `format', in
2312 some cases. This still works, but has been formally deprecated.
2314 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
2316 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
2317 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
2318 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
2319 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
2320 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
2321 addressed by element and not by byte.
2323 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
2324 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
2325 endianness, as one would expect.
2327 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
2328 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
2329 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
2330 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
2333 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
2334 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
2336 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
2337 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
2339 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
2341 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
2343 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
2344 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
2345 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
2347 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
2348 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
2350 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
2352 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
2354 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
2355 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
2357 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
2359 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
2360 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
2363 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
2365 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
2366 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
2368 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
2370 *** Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operators
2372 Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operator pairs with
2373 different semantics than the R5RS operators. They support not only
2374 integers, but all reals, including exact rationals and inexact
2375 floating point numbers.
2377 These procedures accept two real numbers N and D, where the divisor D
2378 must be non-zero. Each set of operators computes an integer quotient
2379 Q and a real remainder R such that N = Q*D + R and |R| < |D|. They
2380 differ only in how N/D is rounded to produce Q.
2382 `euclidean-quotient' returns the integer Q and `euclidean-remainder'
2383 returns the real R such that N = Q*D + R and 0 <= R < |D|. `euclidean/'
2384 returns both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each
2385 separately. Note that when D > 0, `euclidean-quotient' returns
2386 floor(N/D), and when D < 0 it returns ceiling(N/D).
2388 `centered-quotient', `centered-remainder', and `centered/' are similar
2389 except that the range of remainders is -abs(D/2) <= R < abs(D/2), and
2390 `centered-quotient' rounds N/D to the nearest integer. Note that these
2391 operators are equivalent to the R6RS integer division operators `div',
2392 `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', and `div0-and-mod0'.
2394 `floor-quotient' and `floor-remainder' compute Q and R, respectively,
2395 where Q has been rounded toward negative infinity. `floor/' returns
2396 both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each separately.
2397 Note that when applied to integers, `floor-remainder' is equivalent to
2398 the R5RS integer-only `modulo' operator. `ceiling-quotient',
2399 `ceiling-remainder', and `ceiling/' are similar except that Q is
2400 rounded toward positive infinity.
2402 For `truncate-quotient', `truncate-remainder', and `truncate/', Q is
2403 rounded toward zero. Note that when applied to integers,
2404 `truncate-quotient' and `truncate-remainder' are equivalent to the
2405 R5RS integer-only operators `quotient' and `remainder'.
2407 For `round-quotient', `round-remainder', and `round/', Q is rounded to
2408 the nearest integer, with ties going to the nearest even integer.
2410 *** Complex number changes
2412 Guile is now able to represent non-real complex numbers whose
2413 imaginary part is an _inexact_ zero (0.0 or -0.0), per R6RS.
2414 Previously, such numbers were immediately changed into inexact reals.
2416 (real? 0.0+0.0i) now returns #f, per R6RS, although (zero? 0.0+0.0i)
2417 still returns #t, per R6RS. (= 0 0.0+0.0i) and (= 0.0 0.0+0.0i) are
2418 #t, but the same comparisons using `eqv?' or `equal?' are #f.
2420 Like other non-real numbers, these complex numbers with inexact zero
2421 imaginary part will raise exceptions is passed to procedures requiring
2422 reals, such as `<', `>', `<=', `>=', `min', `max', `positive?',
2423 `negative?', `inf?', `nan?', `finite?', etc.
2425 **** `make-rectangular' changes
2427 scm_make_rectangular `make-rectangular' now returns a real number only
2428 if the imaginary part is an _exact_ 0. Previously, it would return a
2429 real number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
2431 scm_c_make_rectangular now always returns a non-real complex number,
2432 even if the imaginary part is zero. Previously, it would return a
2433 real number if the imaginary part was zero.
2435 **** `make-polar' changes
2437 scm_make_polar `make-polar' now returns a real number only if the
2438 angle or magnitude is an _exact_ 0. If the magnitude is an exact 0,
2439 it now returns an exact 0. Previously, it would return a real
2440 number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
2442 scm_c_make_polar now always returns a non-real complex number, even if
2443 the imaginary part is 0.0. Previously, it would return a real number
2444 if the imaginary part was 0.0.
2446 **** `imag-part' changes
2448 scm_imag_part `imag-part' now returns an exact 0 if applied to an
2449 inexact real number. Previously it returned an inexact zero in this
2452 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
2454 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
2455 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
2456 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
2457 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
2460 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
2462 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
2463 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
2464 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
2465 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
2467 *** Change in handling products `*' involving exact 0
2469 scm_product `*' now handles exact 0 differently. A product containing
2470 an exact 0 now returns an exact 0 if and only if the other arguments
2471 are all exact. An inexact zero is returned if and only if the other
2472 arguments are all finite but not all exact. If an infinite or NaN
2473 value is present, a NaN value is returned. Previously, any product
2474 containing an exact 0 yielded an exact 0, regardless of the other
2477 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
2479 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
2480 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
2481 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
2482 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
2485 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' are more generic, less strict
2487 When raising to an exact non-negative integer exponent, `expt' and
2488 `integer-expt' are now able to exponentiate any object that can be
2489 multiplied using `*'. They can also raise an object to an exact
2490 negative integer power if its reciprocal can be taken using `/'.
2491 In order to allow this, the type of the first argument is no longer
2492 checked when raising to an exact integer power. If the exponent is 0
2493 or 1, the first parameter is not manipulated at all, and need not
2494 even support multiplication.
2496 *** Infinities are no longer integers, nor rationals
2498 scm_integer_p `integer?' and scm_rational_p `rational?' now return #f
2499 for infinities, per R6RS. Previously they returned #t for real
2500 infinities. The real infinities and NaNs are still considered real by
2501 scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
2503 *** NaNs are no longer rationals
2505 scm_rational_p `rational?' now returns #f for NaN values, per R6RS.
2506 Previously it returned #t for real NaN values. They are still
2507 considered real by scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
2509 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
2511 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
2512 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
2513 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
2516 *** `rationalize' bugfixes and changes
2518 Fixed bugs in scm_rationalize `rationalize'. Previously, it returned
2519 exact integers unmodified, although that was incorrect if the epsilon
2520 was at least 1 or inexact, e.g. (rationalize 4 1) should return 3 per
2521 R5RS and R6RS, but previously it returned 4. It also now handles
2522 cases involving infinities and NaNs properly, per R6RS.
2524 *** Trigonometric functions now return exact numbers in some cases
2526 scm_sin `sin', scm_cos `cos', scm_tan `tan', scm_asin `asin', scm_acos
2527 `acos', scm_atan `atan', scm_sinh `sinh', scm_cosh `cosh', scm_tanh
2528 `tanh', scm_sys_asinh `asinh', scm_sys_acosh `acosh', and
2529 scm_sys_atanh `atanh' now return exact results in some cases.
2531 *** New procedure: `finite?'
2533 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
2534 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
2535 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
2536 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
2538 *** Improved exactness handling for complex number parsing
2540 When parsing non-real complex numbers, exactness specifiers are now
2541 applied to each component, as is done in PLT Scheme. For complex
2542 numbers written in rectangular form, exactness specifiers are applied
2543 to the real and imaginary parts before calling scm_make_rectangular.
2544 For complex numbers written in polar form, exactness specifiers are
2545 applied to the magnitude and angle before calling scm_make_polar.
2547 Previously, exactness specifiers were applied to the number as a whole
2548 _after_ calling scm_make_rectangular or scm_make_polar.
2550 For example, (string->number "#i5.0+0i") now does the equivalent of:
2552 (make-rectangular (exact->inexact 5.0) (exact->inexact 0))
2554 which yields 5.0+0.0i. Previously it did the equivalent of:
2556 (exact->inexact (make-rectangular 5.0 0))
2560 ** Unicode characters
2562 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
2563 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
2564 probably be introduced at some point.
2568 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
2569 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
2570 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
2572 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
2573 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
2574 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
2575 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
2579 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
2581 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
2583 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
2584 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
2585 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
2586 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
2587 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
2590 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
2591 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
2592 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
2594 ** Source files default to UTF-8.
2596 If source files do not specify their encoding via a `coding:' block,
2597 the default encoding is UTF-8, instead of being taken from the current
2600 ** Interactive Guile installs the current locale.
2602 Instead of leaving the user in the "C" locale, running the Guile REPL
2603 installs the current locale. [FIXME xref?]
2605 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
2607 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
2608 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
2609 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
2612 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
2613 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
2614 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
2616 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
2618 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
2620 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
2621 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
2622 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
2623 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
2625 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
2627 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
2628 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
2629 Unicode code points.
2631 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
2633 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
2634 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
2635 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
2638 ** EBCDIC support is removed
2640 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
2641 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
2642 and was unmaintained.
2644 ** Compile-time warnings
2646 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
2647 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
2648 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
2649 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
2652 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
2653 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
2654 `#:warnings' as above.
2656 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
2657 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
2658 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
2660 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
2662 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
2665 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
2667 This slightly improves program startup times.
2669 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
2671 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
2673 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
2675 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
2676 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
2677 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
2678 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
2680 ** New helpers: `print-exception', `set-exception-printer!'
2682 These functions implement an extensible exception printer. Guile
2683 registers printers for all of the exceptions it throws. Users may add
2684 their own printers. There is also `scm_print_exception', for use by C
2685 programs. Pleasantly, this allows SRFI-35 and R6RS exceptions to be
2686 printed appropriately.
2688 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
2690 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
2691 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
2692 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
2693 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
2695 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
2696 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
2697 implement method combinations.
2699 ** Applicable struct support
2701 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
2702 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
2703 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
2704 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
2705 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
2706 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
2707 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
2708 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
2712 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
2713 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
2714 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
2715 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
2716 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
2718 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
2720 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
2721 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
2722 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
2723 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
2725 ** eqv? not a generic
2727 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
2728 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
2729 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
2730 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
2732 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
2734 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
2735 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
2736 functions are deprecated.
2738 ** `getopt-long' parsing errors throw to `quit', not `misc-error'
2740 This change should inhibit backtraces on argument parsing errors.
2741 `getopt-long' has been modified to print out the error that it throws
2744 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
2746 See "File System" in the manual.
2748 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
2750 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
2751 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
2752 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
2754 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
2756 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
2757 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
2758 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
2760 ** Fast bit operations.
2762 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
2763 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
2764 it's for number crunching too.
2766 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
2768 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
2769 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
2770 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
2771 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
2773 ** R6RS block comment support
2775 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
2776 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
2778 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
2780 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
2781 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
2783 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
2784 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
2785 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
2787 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
2788 ;; separate compilation phase.
2789 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
2791 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
2793 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
2795 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
2797 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
2798 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
2799 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
2800 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
2801 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
2804 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
2805 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
2806 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
2807 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
2808 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
2810 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
2812 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
2814 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
2816 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
2818 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
2820 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
2822 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
2823 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
2824 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
2826 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
2828 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
2829 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
2831 ** New readline history functions
2833 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
2834 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
2835 History library functions.
2837 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
2838 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
2840 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
2843 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
2845 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
2846 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
2847 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
2848 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
2849 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
2850 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
2851 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
2853 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
2854 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
2856 The following bindings have been totally removed:
2857 `before-signal-stack'.
2859 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
2860 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
2861 a deprecation warning.
2863 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
2865 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
2866 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
2867 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
2868 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
2871 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
2873 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
2874 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
2875 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
2876 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
2878 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
2879 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
2881 ** `top-repl' has its own module
2883 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
2884 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
2885 left in the default environment.
2887 ** `display-error' takes a frame
2889 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
2890 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
2891 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
2892 information for the error.
2894 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
2896 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
2897 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
2898 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
2900 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
2902 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
2903 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
2905 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
2907 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
2910 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
2912 ** Remove obsolete print-options
2914 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
2917 ** Remove obsolete read-options
2919 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
2920 obsolete, so they have been removed.
2922 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
2924 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
2927 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
2929 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
2930 on their replacements.
2932 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
2934 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
2935 should use Guile with Emacs.
2937 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
2939 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
2940 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
2941 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
2942 `with-throw-handler'.
2944 ** Deprecated: primitive properties
2946 The `primitive-make-property', `primitive-property-set!',
2947 `primitive-property-ref', and `primitive-property-del!' procedures were
2948 crufty and only used to implement object properties, which has a new,
2949 threadsafe implementation. Use object properties or weak hash tables
2952 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
2954 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
2955 and is no longer used.
2957 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
2959 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
2960 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
2962 Additionally, the procedures `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
2963 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
2964 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', and `set-batch-mode?!' have all
2967 ** Add support for unbound fluids
2969 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
2972 ** Add `variable-unset!'
2974 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
2976 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
2978 * Changes to the C interface
2980 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
2982 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
2983 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
2984 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
2986 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
2987 code easier and less error-prone.
2989 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
2990 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,latin1}_symbol{n,}
2991 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,utf32,latin1}_string{n,}
2993 These new procedures convert to and from string representations in
2994 particular encodings.
2996 Users should continue to use locale encoding for user input, user
2997 output, or interacting with the C library.
2999 Use the Latin-1 functions for ASCII, and for literals in source code.
3001 Use UTF-8 functions for interaction with modern libraries which deal in
3002 UTF-8, and UTF-32 for interaction with utf32-using libraries.
3004 Otherwise, use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn with a specific
3007 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
3009 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
3010 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
3011 available to C. Have fun!
3013 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
3015 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
3017 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
3020 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
3021 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
3023 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
3025 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
3026 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
3027 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
3030 ** Remove old evaluator closures
3032 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
3033 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
3034 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
3035 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
3038 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
3040 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
3041 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
3042 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
3043 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
3044 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
3045 both with the old 1.8 and with the current 1.9 branch.
3047 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
3048 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
3049 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
3050 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
3051 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
3052 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
3054 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
3055 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
3056 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
3057 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
3058 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
3060 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
3061 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
3062 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
3063 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
3064 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
3065 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
3067 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
3068 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
3069 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
3070 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
3073 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
3074 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
3077 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
3079 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
3080 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
3081 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
3082 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
3083 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
3085 ** Remove unused snarf macros
3087 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
3088 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
3090 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
3092 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
3093 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
3095 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
3097 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
3098 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
3100 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
3102 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
3103 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
3104 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
3105 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
3106 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
3109 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
3111 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
3112 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
3113 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
3114 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
3117 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
3118 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
3119 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
3120 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
3122 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
3124 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
3125 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
3126 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
3129 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
3130 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
3131 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
3132 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
3134 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
3136 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
3138 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
3140 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
3143 ** Inline vector allocation
3145 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
3146 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
3147 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
3148 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
3151 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
3153 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
3154 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
3158 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
3159 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
3160 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
3161 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
3162 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
3164 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
3166 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
3167 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
3168 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
3169 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
3170 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
3171 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
3175 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
3176 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
3177 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
3178 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
3180 ** Deprecate trampolines
3182 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
3183 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
3184 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
3185 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
3186 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
3188 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
3190 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
3192 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
3194 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
3195 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
3196 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
3197 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
3199 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
3201 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
3202 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
3203 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
3204 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
3205 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
3206 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
3207 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
3209 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
3211 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
3212 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
3215 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
3216 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
3218 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
3220 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
3221 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
3223 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
3225 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
3226 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
3227 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
3228 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
3230 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
3232 * Changes to the distribution
3234 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
3236 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
3237 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
3242 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
3243 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
3245 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
3247 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
3248 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
3250 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
3252 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
3253 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
3254 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
3257 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
3259 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
3260 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
3262 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
3264 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
3265 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
3267 ** Parallel installability fixes
3269 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
3270 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
3271 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
3273 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
3274 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
3275 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
3278 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
3280 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
3281 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
3282 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
3283 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
3284 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
3286 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
3288 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
3289 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
3290 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
3291 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
3292 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
3293 searched before the global site directory.
3295 ** New dependency: libgc
3297 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
3299 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
3301 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
3302 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
3304 ** New dependency: libffi
3306 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
3310 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
3314 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
3315 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
3316 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
3319 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
3321 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3323 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
3327 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
3328 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
3329 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
3330 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
3331 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
3332 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
3333 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
3334 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
3335 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
3336 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
3337 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
3339 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
3341 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
3342 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
3343 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
3346 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
3349 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
3351 * New features (see the manual for details)
3353 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
3355 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
3357 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
3358 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
3359 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
3361 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
3363 * Changes to the distribution
3365 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
3367 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
3368 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
3370 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
3372 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
3373 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
3378 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
3379 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
3380 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
3381 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
3382 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
3383 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
3384 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
3385 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
3386 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
3387 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
3388 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
3389 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
3390 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
3391 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
3393 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
3394 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
3395 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
3396 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
3397 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
3400 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
3402 * Infrastructure changes
3404 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
3406 The new repository can be accessed using
3407 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
3408 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
3410 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
3412 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
3414 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3418 * New features (see the manual for details)
3420 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
3421 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
3422 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
3424 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
3425 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
3426 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
3427 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
3429 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
3431 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
3432 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
3433 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
3437 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
3438 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
3440 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
3441 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
3443 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
3444 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
3446 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
3447 lead to a stack overflow.
3449 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
3450 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
3451 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
3452 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
3453 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
3454 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
3455 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
3456 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
3457 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
3458 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
3459 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
3460 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
3461 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
3462 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
3463 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
3464 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
3467 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
3471 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
3472 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
3473 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
3474 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
3475 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
3476 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
3477 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
3478 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
3479 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
3480 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
3481 system and library calls.
3482 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
3483 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
3484 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
3485 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
3486 uniform vectors on AIX.
3487 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
3488 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
3489 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
3490 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
3491 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
3493 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3497 * Documentation fixes and improvements
3499 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
3501 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
3502 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
3504 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
3506 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
3508 * Changes to the distribution
3510 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
3512 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
3513 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
3514 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
3516 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
3518 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
3521 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
3523 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3530 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
3531 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
3532 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
3533 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
3534 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
3535 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
3536 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
3538 * Implementation improvements
3540 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
3541 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
3544 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
3546 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
3548 ** set-program-arguments
3551 * Incompatible changes
3553 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
3555 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
3556 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
3557 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
3558 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
3563 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
3564 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
3565 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
3566 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
3567 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
3568 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
3570 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
3571 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
3572 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
3573 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
3574 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
3575 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
3576 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
3577 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
3578 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
3579 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
3580 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
3581 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
3582 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
3583 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
3584 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
3585 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
3588 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
3590 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
3592 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
3594 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
3595 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
3596 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
3597 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
3598 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
3599 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
3607 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
3609 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
3611 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
3613 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
3615 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
3617 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
3619 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
3620 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
3621 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
3623 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
3625 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
3627 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
3628 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
3630 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
3632 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
3633 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
3635 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
3637 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
3639 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
3641 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
3643 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
3645 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
3647 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
3649 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
3651 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
3653 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
3654 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
3655 file was on a different device.
3658 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
3660 * Changes to the distribution
3662 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
3664 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
3666 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
3668 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
3670 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
3672 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
3675 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
3677 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
3678 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
3679 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
3680 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
3681 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
3682 items like the versioned share directory name
3683 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
3685 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
3686 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
3687 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
3688 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
3689 with each micro release during a stable series.
3691 ** Thread implementation has changed.
3693 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
3694 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
3695 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
3696 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
3697 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
3700 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
3701 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
3702 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
3703 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
3706 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
3707 in which case "null" threads are used.
3709 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
3710 "Blocking", and others.
3712 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
3714 This is a milder form of deprecation.
3716 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
3717 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
3718 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
3719 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
3720 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
3722 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
3723 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
3725 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
3727 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
3728 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
3730 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
3733 This SRFI is always available.
3735 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
3737 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
3738 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
3739 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
3740 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
3743 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
3745 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
3746 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
3747 parameters without currying.
3749 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
3751 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
3752 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
3754 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
3755 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
3758 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
3759 with a renaming import, for example.
3761 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
3763 The official version is good enough now.
3765 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
3767 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
3768 provided. Use 'make html'.
3770 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
3772 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
3773 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
3774 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
3775 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
3777 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
3779 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
3782 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3784 ** New command line option `-L'.
3786 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
3788 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
3790 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
3791 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
3793 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
3795 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
3796 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
3798 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
3800 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
3801 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
3804 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
3807 (define-module (demo)
3811 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
3814 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3816 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
3818 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
3819 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
3820 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
3822 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
3824 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
3825 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
3827 ** New function hashx-remove!
3829 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
3831 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
3832 barriers and dynamic states.
3834 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
3835 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
3836 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
3839 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
3840 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
3841 Barriers" in the manual.
3843 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
3844 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
3846 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
3848 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
3849 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
3850 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
3851 variable %load-path.
3853 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
3855 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
3856 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
3858 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
3859 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
3860 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
3862 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
3863 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
3865 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
3866 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
3867 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
3869 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
3870 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
3871 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
3874 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
3875 substrings and read-only strings.
3877 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
3878 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
3881 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
3883 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
3892 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
3893 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
3894 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
3896 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
3897 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
3898 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
3899 on an ANSI terminal:
3901 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
3902 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
3905 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
3907 See the manual for details.
3909 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
3911 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
3914 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
3916 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
3917 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
3918 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
3919 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
3921 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
3922 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
3923 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
3926 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
3928 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
3929 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
3940 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
3944 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
3949 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
3953 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
3957 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
3960 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
3961 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
3962 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
3963 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
3965 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
3966 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
3969 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
3972 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
3976 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
3978 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
3979 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
3980 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
3983 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
3986 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
3988 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
3991 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
3992 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
3995 (define-module (foo)
4000 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
4001 has been detected is to
4003 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
4004 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
4005 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
4008 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
4011 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
4013 to your .guile init file.
4015 ** New define-module option: :replace
4017 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
4020 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
4021 for the core binding `format'.
4023 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
4025 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
4026 a prefix to all imported bindings.
4028 (define-module (foo)
4029 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
4031 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
4034 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
4036 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
4037 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
4038 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
4040 ** New function: effective-version
4042 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
4043 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
4044 to the distribution" above.
4046 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
4048 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
4049 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
4051 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
4053 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
4054 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
4056 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
4058 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
4059 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
4062 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
4064 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
4066 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
4068 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
4069 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
4070 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
4073 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
4074 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
4075 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
4076 'system-async-mark'.
4078 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
4079 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
4081 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
4082 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
4083 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
4086 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
4088 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
4089 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
4092 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
4093 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4095 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
4096 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
4097 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
4098 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
4099 level for the current thread.
4101 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
4103 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
4105 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4106 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
4109 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
4111 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
4113 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
4116 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
4118 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
4121 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
4122 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
4123 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
4125 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
4126 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
4127 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
4128 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
4139 ERROR: Numerical overflow
4141 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
4144 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
4146 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
4147 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
4148 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
4159 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
4161 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
4162 them is also done exactly, of course:
4167 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
4168 for exact arguments.
4170 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
4171 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
4173 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
4175 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
4176 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
4177 equal to a floating point number. For example:
4179 (inexact->exact 1.234)
4180 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
4182 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
4184 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
4187 ** New function 'rationalize'.
4189 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
4190 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
4192 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
4195 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
4196 result when both its arguments are exact.
4198 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
4200 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
4201 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
4202 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
4204 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
4206 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
4207 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
4208 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
4210 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
4213 ** pretty-print has more options.
4215 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
4216 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
4217 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
4219 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
4221 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
4222 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
4223 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
4225 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
4227 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
4228 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
4230 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
4232 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
4233 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
4236 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
4238 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
4239 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
4240 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
4241 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
4242 without the soft port blocking.
4244 ** Deprecated: undefine
4246 There is no replacement for undefine.
4248 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
4249 have been discouraged.
4251 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
4252 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
4253 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
4256 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
4258 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
4260 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
4261 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
4262 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
4263 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
4266 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
4267 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
4268 be removed in the next major Guile release.
4270 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
4272 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
4273 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
4274 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
4275 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
4276 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
4277 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
4279 * Changes to the C interface
4281 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
4282 take a 'delete' function argument.
4284 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
4285 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
4287 This is an incompatible change.
4289 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
4291 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
4292 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
4293 --disable-deprecated.
4295 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
4297 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
4298 Scheme values has been added.
4300 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
4301 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
4304 - int scm_is_* (...)
4306 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
4307 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
4309 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
4311 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
4312 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
4315 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
4317 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
4318 scm_from_int for ints.
4320 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
4321 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
4322 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
4324 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
4326 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
4327 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
4328 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
4331 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
4333 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
4335 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
4337 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
4338 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
4339 following alternatives.
4341 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
4342 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
4343 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
4344 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
4346 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
4347 do the validating for you.
4349 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
4350 have been discouraged.
4352 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
4353 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
4356 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
4358 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
4359 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
4362 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
4364 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
4367 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
4370 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
4372 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
4373 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
4375 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
4376 scm_truncate_number should have.
4378 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
4379 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
4381 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
4384 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
4385 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
4386 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
4388 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
4389 easier to use from C.
4391 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
4392 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
4394 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
4395 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
4396 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
4399 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
4400 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
4401 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
4402 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
4405 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
4406 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
4407 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
4408 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
4409 and is thus quite efficient.
4411 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
4413 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
4414 about the character encoding.
4416 Replace according to the following table:
4418 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
4419 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
4420 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
4421 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
4422 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
4423 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
4424 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
4425 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
4426 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
4428 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
4429 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
4431 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
4433 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
4434 now also available to C code.
4436 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
4438 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
4439 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
4440 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
4442 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
4445 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
4447 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
4448 unceremoniously removed.
4450 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
4451 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
4452 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
4454 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
4455 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
4456 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
4457 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
4458 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
4459 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
4462 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
4464 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
4465 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
4466 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
4467 manual for more details.
4469 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
4470 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
4472 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
4473 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
4474 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
4476 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
4478 Migrate according to the following table:
4480 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
4481 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
4482 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
4483 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
4484 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
4485 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
4486 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
4488 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
4489 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
4490 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
4491 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
4492 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
4493 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
4494 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
4496 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
4498 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
4499 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
4501 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
4502 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
4503 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
4504 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
4506 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
4508 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
4509 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
4510 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
4512 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
4513 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
4515 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
4516 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
4517 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
4518 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
4520 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
4522 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
4523 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
4524 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
4525 prevent a potential memory leak:
4532 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
4534 mem = scm_malloc (100);
4535 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
4537 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
4538 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
4545 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
4546 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
4550 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
4552 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
4554 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
4555 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
4556 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
4558 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
4559 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
4561 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
4563 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
4565 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
4566 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
4567 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
4569 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
4570 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
4572 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
4573 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
4574 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
4575 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
4578 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
4580 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
4581 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
4582 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
4584 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
4586 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
4587 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
4589 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
4591 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
4592 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
4594 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
4596 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
4597 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
4598 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
4600 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
4602 You should not have used them.
4604 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
4606 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
4607 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
4609 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
4611 This macro is not intended for public use.
4613 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
4615 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
4617 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
4619 Use scm_is_real instead.
4621 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
4623 Use scm_is_complex instead.
4625 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
4627 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
4628 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
4630 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
4631 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
4633 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
4634 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
4636 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
4638 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
4641 ** New function: scm_effective_version
4643 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
4644 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
4645 to the distribution" above.
4647 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
4649 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
4650 arguments are now passed directly:
4652 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
4654 This is an incompatible change.
4656 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
4658 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
4659 function in the init section.
4661 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
4663 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
4665 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
4666 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
4667 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
4668 stays roughly constant.
4670 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
4671 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
4672 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
4673 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
4674 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
4677 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
4678 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
4679 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
4680 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
4682 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
4683 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
4684 objects for every type.
4687 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
4689 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
4691 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
4693 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
4694 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
4695 initializes a new cell (see below).
4697 ** New functions for memory management
4699 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
4700 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
4701 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
4702 cause aborts in long running programs.
4704 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
4705 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
4707 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
4708 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
4709 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
4710 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
4711 details and for upgrading instructions.
4713 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
4714 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
4715 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
4717 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
4719 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
4720 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
4721 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
4722 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
4723 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
4725 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
4726 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
4727 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
4729 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
4730 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
4732 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
4734 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
4735 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
4736 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
4737 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
4738 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
4740 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
4742 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
4745 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
4747 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
4749 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
4751 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
4752 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
4754 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
4756 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
4757 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
4759 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
4760 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
4762 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
4764 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
4766 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
4767 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
4768 blocking it is not well defined.
4770 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
4772 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
4773 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
4774 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
4775 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
4776 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
4777 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
4778 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
4779 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
4780 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
4781 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
4782 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
4783 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
4784 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
4785 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
4786 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
4787 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
4788 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
4789 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
4790 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
4791 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
4792 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
4793 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
4794 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
4795 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
4796 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
4797 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
4798 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
4799 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
4800 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
4801 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
4802 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
4804 * Changes to bundled modules
4808 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
4809 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
4810 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
4811 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
4812 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
4815 Changes since Guile 1.4:
4817 * Changes to the distribution
4819 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
4821 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
4823 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
4824 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
4825 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
4826 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
4827 indicate major changes in Guile.
4829 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
4830 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
4831 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
4832 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
4834 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
4835 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
4836 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
4837 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
4838 micro version number.
4840 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
4842 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
4844 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
4845 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
4847 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
4849 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
4850 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
4851 See INSTALL and README for more information.
4853 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
4855 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
4856 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
4857 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
4860 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
4862 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
4865 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
4867 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
4868 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
4870 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
4872 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
4873 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
4876 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
4878 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
4881 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
4884 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
4886 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
4888 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
4889 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
4890 open-output-string, get-output-string.
4892 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
4894 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
4896 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
4899 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
4901 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
4903 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
4905 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
4906 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
4907 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
4909 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
4911 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
4913 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
4914 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
4923 See README there for more info.
4925 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
4926 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
4929 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
4931 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
4933 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
4935 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
4936 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
4937 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
4939 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
4941 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
4942 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
4943 to be named `and-let*', of course.
4945 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
4946 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
4948 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
4951 (oop goops describe)
4953 (oop goops active-slot)
4954 (oop goops composite-slot)
4956 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
4957 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
4958 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
4960 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
4962 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
4963 in the default environment:
4965 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
4966 %read-line write-line
4968 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
4969 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
4971 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
4973 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
4976 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
4977 can be used for similar functionality.
4979 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
4981 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
4982 it defines two procedures:
4984 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
4986 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
4987 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
4988 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
4991 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
4993 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
4994 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
4995 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
4996 write large strings.
4998 ** New module (ice-9 match)
5000 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
5001 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
5003 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
5005 for complete documentation.
5007 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
5009 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
5010 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
5011 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
5012 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
5014 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
5015 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
5019 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
5020 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
5021 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
5024 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
5027 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
5028 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
5030 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
5031 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
5034 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
5037 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
5039 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
5041 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5043 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
5045 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
5046 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
5047 Scheme programs easier.
5049 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
5050 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
5051 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
5052 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
5053 `cond-expand' when using this option.
5056 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
5057 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
5059 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
5062 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
5064 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
5065 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
5066 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
5069 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5071 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
5073 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
5074 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
5075 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
5076 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
5077 was also ASCII, for example.
5079 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
5081 tag - no replacement.
5082 fseek - replaced by seek.
5083 list* - replaced by cons*.
5085 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
5089 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
5090 (define m (make-safe-module))
5091 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
5092 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
5093 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
5095 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
5097 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
5098 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
5099 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
5101 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
5103 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
5104 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
5105 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
5106 from the issues related to the module system.
5108 *** New function: load-extension
5110 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
5112 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
5114 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
5115 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
5116 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
5118 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
5120 This function registers a initialization function for use by
5121 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
5122 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
5123 support dynamic linking).
5125 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
5127 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
5128 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
5129 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
5130 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
5133 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
5134 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
5135 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
5136 library and initialize it explicitly.
5138 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
5139 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
5141 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
5143 (define-module (foo bar))
5145 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
5147 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
5149 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
5150 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
5152 (scheme-report-environment 5)
5153 (null-environment 5)
5154 (interaction-environment)
5160 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
5162 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
5163 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
5164 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
5165 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
5167 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
5168 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
5169 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
5170 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
5171 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
5172 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
5173 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
5174 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
5175 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
5176 one eval to the next.
5178 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
5179 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
5180 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
5181 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
5182 subforms are at the top-level as well.
5184 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
5185 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
5186 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
5187 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
5188 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
5189 used in a lexical environment.
5191 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
5192 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
5193 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
5194 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
5195 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
5196 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
5198 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
5200 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
5201 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
5202 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
5203 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
5204 new facilities: selection and renaming.
5206 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
5207 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
5208 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
5210 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
5211 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
5213 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
5214 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
5215 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5217 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5218 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
5220 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
5221 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
5222 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
5223 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
5226 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
5227 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
5228 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
5229 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5231 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5232 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
5233 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
5235 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
5236 ;; and all four by upcasing.
5237 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
5238 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
5239 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
5241 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5243 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5244 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
5245 :renamer upcase-symbol))
5247 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
5248 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
5249 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
5251 See manual for more info.
5253 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
5255 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
5256 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
5257 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
5259 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
5261 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
5262 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
5263 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
5265 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
5266 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
5267 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
5268 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
5270 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
5272 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
5273 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
5275 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
5276 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
5277 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
5278 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
5279 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
5282 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
5283 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
5284 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
5285 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
5286 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
5287 successful and #f if it wasn't.
5289 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
5290 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
5291 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
5292 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
5293 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
5295 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
5296 objects are usually permanent.
5298 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
5299 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
5301 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
5303 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
5304 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
5307 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
5311 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
5316 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
5318 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
5319 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
5320 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
5321 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
5323 ** New function `make-object-property'
5325 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
5326 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
5330 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
5331 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
5335 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
5336 source properties eventually.
5338 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
5340 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
5341 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
5342 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
5344 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
5345 will be removed in the next release.
5347 ** New define-module option: pure
5349 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
5354 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
5357 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
5359 Export names NAME1 ...
5361 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
5362 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
5366 (define-module (foo)
5368 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
5371 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
5376 ** New function: object->string OBJ
5378 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
5380 ** New function: port? X
5382 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
5383 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
5385 ** New function: file-port?
5387 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
5389 ** New function: port-for-each proc
5391 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
5392 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
5393 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
5394 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
5395 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
5397 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
5399 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
5400 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
5401 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
5402 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
5403 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
5406 ** New function: close-fdes fd
5408 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
5409 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
5410 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
5411 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
5414 ** New function: crypt password salt
5416 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
5419 ** New function: chroot path
5421 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
5423 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
5425 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
5428 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
5430 Get or set the priority of the running process.
5432 ** New function: getpass prompt
5434 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
5437 ** New function: flock file operation
5439 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
5441 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
5443 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
5446 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
5448 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
5449 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
5450 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
5451 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
5452 of the temporary file.
5454 ** New function: open-input-string string
5456 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
5457 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
5458 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
5460 ** New function: open-output-string
5462 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
5463 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
5465 ** New function: get-output-string
5467 Return the contents of an output string port.
5469 ** New function: identity
5471 Return the argument.
5473 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
5474 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
5476 ** New function: inet-pton family address
5478 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
5479 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
5480 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
5483 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
5484 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
5486 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
5488 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
5489 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
5490 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
5493 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
5494 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
5495 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
5499 Use `identity' instead.
5505 ** Deprecated: return-it
5509 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
5511 Use `string-length' instead.
5513 ** Deprecated: flags
5515 Use `logior' instead.
5517 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
5519 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
5520 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
5521 port-for-each is more flexible.
5523 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
5524 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
5525 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
5527 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
5529 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
5531 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
5533 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
5535 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
5537 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
5538 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
5540 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
5541 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
5543 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
5544 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
5546 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
5548 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
5549 Removed function: builtin-bindings
5551 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
5552 Use module system operations for all variables.
5554 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
5556 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
5559 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
5561 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
5562 The following bugs have been fixed:
5564 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
5565 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
5568 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
5569 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
5570 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
5572 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
5573 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
5575 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
5576 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
5579 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
5580 The expansion used to be like so:
5582 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
5584 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
5586 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
5588 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
5589 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
5591 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
5593 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
5594 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
5595 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
5599 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
5600 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
5602 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
5607 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
5608 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
5610 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
5611 and `d', other keywords allowed.
5612 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
5614 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
5617 * Changes to the C interface
5619 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
5621 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
5622 with "_t". What a concept.
5624 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
5626 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
5628 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
5632 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
5633 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
5635 *** C Functions removed
5637 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
5638 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
5639 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
5640 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
5641 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
5642 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
5643 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
5645 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
5647 Use scm_mem2string instead.
5649 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
5651 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
5653 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
5654 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
5656 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
5658 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
5661 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
5663 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
5665 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
5667 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
5668 Evaluation" in the manual.
5670 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
5672 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
5673 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
5675 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
5677 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
5678 Constructors" in the manual.
5680 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
5682 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
5683 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
5685 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
5687 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
5689 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
5690 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
5691 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
5693 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
5695 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
5697 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
5698 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
5699 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
5702 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
5704 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
5706 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
5707 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
5709 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
5711 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
5712 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
5713 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
5714 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
5716 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
5717 scm_primitive_property_ref
5718 scm_primitive_property_set_x
5719 scm_primitive_property_del_x
5721 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
5722 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
5724 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
5726 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
5727 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
5728 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
5729 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
5731 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
5733 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
5734 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
5735 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
5736 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
5737 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
5738 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
5739 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
5741 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
5742 scm_remember_upto_here
5744 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
5746 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
5748 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
5749 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
5751 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
5753 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
5755 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
5757 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
5759 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
5761 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
5762 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
5763 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
5764 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
5765 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
5766 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
5768 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
5770 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
5772 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
5773 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
5774 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
5776 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
5778 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
5779 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
5780 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
5782 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
5784 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
5785 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
5788 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
5791 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
5792 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
5795 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
5797 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
5799 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
5801 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
5803 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
5805 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
5807 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
5808 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
5809 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
5810 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
5811 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
5812 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
5813 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
5814 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
5815 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
5816 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
5817 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
5818 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
5819 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
5820 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
5821 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
5823 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
5824 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
5825 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
5826 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
5827 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
5828 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
5829 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
5830 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
5831 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
5832 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
5833 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
5834 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
5835 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
5836 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
5837 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
5838 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
5839 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
5840 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
5841 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
5842 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
5843 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
5844 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
5845 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
5846 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
5847 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
5848 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
5849 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
5850 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
5851 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
5853 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
5855 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
5857 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
5858 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
5860 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
5862 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
5864 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
5866 Use scm_string_hash instead.
5868 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
5870 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
5872 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
5874 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
5876 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
5879 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
5880 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
5882 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
5884 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
5886 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
5888 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
5890 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
5892 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
5894 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
5896 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
5899 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
5901 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
5903 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
5905 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
5906 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
5908 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
5909 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
5911 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
5913 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
5914 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
5915 scm_module_define, scm_define.
5917 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
5919 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
5921 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
5922 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
5924 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
5925 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
5926 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
5927 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
5929 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
5930 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
5931 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
5933 Use the new ones from above instead.
5935 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
5937 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
5938 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
5939 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
5941 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
5942 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
5944 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
5945 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
5948 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
5949 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
5951 Use the new functions instead.
5953 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
5956 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
5958 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
5960 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
5963 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
5965 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
5968 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
5970 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
5973 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
5974 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
5975 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
5977 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
5979 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
5980 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
5982 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
5983 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
5984 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
5985 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
5988 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
5990 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
5991 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
5992 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
5993 inexact for an exact.
5995 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
5996 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
5997 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
6000 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
6001 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
6002 accept an inexact argument.
6004 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
6005 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
6007 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
6010 ** New number validation macros:
6011 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
6015 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
6017 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
6018 scm_unprotect_object.
6020 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
6022 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
6024 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
6027 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
6029 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
6033 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
6035 * Changes to the distribution
6037 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
6039 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
6040 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
6041 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
6042 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
6043 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
6044 obtain these programs.
6045 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
6046 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
6048 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
6049 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
6050 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
6051 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
6052 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
6054 However, this approach means that minor differences between
6055 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
6056 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
6057 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
6061 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
6064 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
6065 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
6066 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
6067 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
6069 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
6071 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
6073 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
6074 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
6076 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
6077 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
6079 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
6080 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
6082 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
6083 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
6084 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
6085 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
6087 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
6089 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
6093 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
6094 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
6096 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
6098 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
6099 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
6101 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
6102 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
6103 number of objects of that kind.
6105 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
6107 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
6108 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
6109 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
6110 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
6111 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
6113 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
6115 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
6117 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
6119 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
6122 ** New module (ice-9 time)
6124 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
6126 ** New module (ice-9 history)
6128 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
6130 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6132 ** New command line option --debug
6134 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
6136 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
6138 ** New help facility
6140 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
6141 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
6142 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
6143 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
6144 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
6145 (help) gives this text
6147 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
6148 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
6150 Examples: (help help)
6152 (help "output-string")
6154 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
6156 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
6158 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
6159 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
6162 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
6163 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
6164 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
6167 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
6168 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
6169 use absolute filenames when possible.
6171 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
6172 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
6173 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
6176 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
6178 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
6179 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
6180 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
6181 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
6183 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
6185 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
6187 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
6188 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
6189 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
6191 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
6192 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
6193 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
6195 (read-enable 'positions)
6196 (debug-enable 'debug)
6198 ** Backtraces in scripts
6200 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
6204 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
6206 at the top of the script.
6208 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
6209 The second enables backtraces.)
6211 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
6213 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
6214 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
6215 substantially faster than before.
6217 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
6218 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
6220 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
6221 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
6223 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
6225 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
6226 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
6227 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
6229 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
6230 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
6231 when this hook is run in the future.
6233 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
6234 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
6236 ** Improvements to garbage collector
6238 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
6239 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
6242 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
6243 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
6244 more and more memory for certain programs.)
6246 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
6247 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
6249 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
6250 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
6252 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
6253 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
6254 in order not to need further allocation.)
6256 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
6259 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
6260 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
6261 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
6262 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
6264 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
6266 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
6269 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
6271 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
6274 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
6275 GC in percent of total heap size
6278 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
6279 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
6281 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
6283 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
6284 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
6286 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
6288 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
6289 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
6291 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
6293 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
6294 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
6298 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
6299 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
6301 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
6303 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6305 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
6307 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
6309 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
6311 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
6312 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
6314 (simple-format port message . args)
6315 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
6316 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
6317 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
6318 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
6319 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
6320 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
6321 Does not add a trailing newline."
6323 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
6325 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
6326 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
6328 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
6329 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
6331 ** Deprecated: list*
6333 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
6335 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
6337 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
6338 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
6340 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
6341 is returned as result.
6343 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
6345 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
6347 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
6349 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
6350 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
6353 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
6355 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
6357 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
6358 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
6360 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6362 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
6364 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
6366 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6368 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
6370 Thanks to Greg Badros!
6372 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
6374 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
6375 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
6376 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
6378 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
6381 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
6383 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
6384 the readability of argument checking.
6386 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
6388 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
6390 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
6392 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
6393 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
6394 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
6395 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
6396 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
6397 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
6398 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
6400 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
6402 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
6404 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
6405 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
6407 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
6409 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
6410 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
6413 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
6415 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
6416 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
6417 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
6419 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
6420 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
6421 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
6423 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
6424 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
6425 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
6426 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
6427 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
6428 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
6429 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
6431 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
6432 scm_end_input (object);
6433 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
6434 ptob->flush (object);
6436 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
6437 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
6440 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
6442 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
6444 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
6445 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
6446 removed in a future version.
6448 ** The format of error message strings has changed
6450 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
6451 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
6452 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
6453 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
6455 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
6456 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
6458 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
6461 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
6463 in your configure.in.
6465 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
6470 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
6476 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
6478 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
6482 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
6483 (define make-message string-append)
6485 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
6487 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
6491 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
6496 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
6500 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
6502 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
6503 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
6505 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
6507 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
6508 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
6509 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
6510 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
6511 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
6512 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
6514 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
6515 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
6516 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
6518 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
6519 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
6520 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
6523 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
6524 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
6525 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
6526 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
6527 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
6529 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
6530 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
6531 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
6532 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
6533 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
6534 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
6535 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
6537 Destructors are not yet implemented.
6539 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
6540 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
6541 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
6543 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
6544 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
6545 KEY in the calling thread.
6547 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
6548 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
6549 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
6550 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
6551 associated with the key.
6553 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
6555 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
6556 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
6558 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
6560 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
6561 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
6562 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
6564 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
6566 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
6567 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
6569 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
6571 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
6573 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
6574 returned is undefined.
6576 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
6577 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
6578 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
6580 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
6581 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
6582 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
6584 ** New C level GC hooks
6586 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
6588 scm_before_gc_c_hook
6591 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
6592 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
6593 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
6595 scm_before_mark_c_hook
6596 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
6597 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
6599 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
6600 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
6603 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
6605 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
6606 allocation parameters
6608 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
6609 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
6610 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
6614 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
6615 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
6616 scm_default_max_segment_size
6618 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
6620 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
6621 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
6623 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
6625 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
6626 object and count on the object being protected until
6627 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
6629 The functions also have better time complexity.
6631 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
6632 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
6633 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
6634 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
6635 are no longer needed.
6637 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
6639 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
6640 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
6641 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
6642 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
6644 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
6646 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
6648 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
6650 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
6651 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
6652 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
6653 until this issue has been settled.
6655 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
6657 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
6659 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
6662 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
6664 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6666 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
6667 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
6668 descriptors were checked.
6670 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
6671 atomically written to a pipe.
6673 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
6674 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
6675 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
6676 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
6677 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
6678 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
6679 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
6682 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
6683 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
6684 is changed without calling tzset.
6686 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
6688 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
6689 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
6690 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
6692 (define write-network-long
6693 (lambda (value port)
6694 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
6695 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
6696 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
6698 (define read-network-long
6700 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
6701 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
6702 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
6704 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
6705 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
6707 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
6708 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
6709 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
6710 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
6712 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
6713 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
6714 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
6715 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
6719 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
6721 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6725 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
6726 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
6727 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
6733 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
6734 for a description of available commands.
6736 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
6737 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
6738 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
6740 (debug-enable 'backwards)
6742 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
6743 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
6745 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
6747 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
6749 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
6750 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
6751 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
6752 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
6753 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
6754 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
6757 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
6759 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
6760 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
6761 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
6762 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
6764 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
6765 the file and should not be affected by this change.
6767 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
6769 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6771 ** Readline support has changed again.
6773 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
6774 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
6775 to activate readline is now
6777 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
6780 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
6782 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
6783 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
6784 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
6787 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
6788 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
6789 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
6792 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
6793 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
6794 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
6795 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
6796 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
6797 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
6799 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
6800 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
6802 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
6804 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
6805 object it receives is the same string passed to
6806 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
6807 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
6808 string, not the suffix.
6810 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
6811 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
6812 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
6814 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
6816 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
6817 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
6818 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
6819 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
6822 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
6824 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
6826 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
6827 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
6828 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
6829 appear from left to right.
6831 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
6834 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
6836 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
6837 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
6839 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
6843 *** New function: hook? OBJ
6845 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
6847 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
6849 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
6850 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
6851 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
6853 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
6855 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
6857 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
6859 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
6862 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
6864 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
6865 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
6866 mentioning it here anyway.
6868 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
6870 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
6871 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
6872 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
6873 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
6876 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
6878 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
6880 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
6882 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
6883 otherwise return #f.
6885 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
6887 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
6888 returned by `opendir'.
6890 ** New function: using-readline?
6892 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
6894 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
6896 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
6897 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
6899 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6901 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
6903 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
6904 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
6905 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
6907 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
6909 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
6910 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
6912 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
6914 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
6915 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
6916 documentation slots are not yet used.
6918 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
6920 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
6921 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
6922 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
6927 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
6928 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
6929 (string-append x y))
6931 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
6932 can also be used for concatenating strings.
6934 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
6935 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
6936 be made in a clean way.]
6938 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
6940 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
6942 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
6944 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
6945 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
6947 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
6949 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
6951 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
6953 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
6955 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
6956 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
6957 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
6958 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
6961 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
6963 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
6965 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
6967 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
6969 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
6970 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
6972 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
6974 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
6976 Evaluates the body of a special form.
6978 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
6980 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
6981 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
6982 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
6983 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
6984 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
6985 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
6987 This should not make any difference for most users.
6989 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
6991 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
6992 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
6994 *** New functions for applying generic functions
6996 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
6997 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
6998 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
6999 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
7000 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
7002 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
7004 It is now replaced by:
7006 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
7008 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
7009 binds a variable named NAME to it.
7011 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
7013 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
7014 This might change when we get the new module system.
7016 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
7020 Changes since Guile 1.3:
7022 * Changes to mailing lists
7024 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
7026 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
7029 * Changes to the distribution
7031 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
7033 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
7034 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
7035 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
7036 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
7037 you explicitly specify it.
7039 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
7040 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
7041 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
7042 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
7043 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
7046 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
7047 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
7048 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
7049 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
7051 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
7052 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
7053 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
7056 You can activate the readline support by issuing
7058 (use-modules (readline-activator))
7061 from your ".guile" file, for example.
7063 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7065 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
7066 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
7067 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
7068 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
7070 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
7071 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
7074 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7076 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
7077 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
7078 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
7079 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
7080 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
7081 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
7082 the Guile interpreter or other unwanted results. An example of
7083 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
7095 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
7096 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
7097 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
7098 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
7099 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
7104 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
7105 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
7113 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
7118 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
7119 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
7122 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
7123 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
7124 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
7125 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
7127 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
7129 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
7131 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
7132 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
7134 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
7136 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
7138 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
7139 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
7141 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
7144 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
7146 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
7148 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
7150 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
7152 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
7154 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
7156 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
7157 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
7158 when the hook was created.
7160 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
7161 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
7162 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
7163 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
7164 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
7165 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
7166 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
7167 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
7168 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
7170 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
7171 the dlopen family of functions.
7173 ** New function `provided?'
7175 - Function: provided? FEATURE
7176 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
7177 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
7178 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
7180 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
7182 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
7183 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
7184 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
7185 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
7188 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
7189 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
7190 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
7191 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
7193 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
7194 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
7195 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
7198 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
7199 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
7200 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
7201 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
7202 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
7203 but with the flag set.
7205 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
7207 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
7208 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
7210 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
7211 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
7212 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
7213 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
7214 available Scheme format implementations.
7216 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
7217 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
7218 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
7219 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
7220 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
7221 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
7222 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
7223 output is to the current error port if available by the
7224 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
7227 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
7228 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
7229 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
7230 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
7231 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
7232 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
7233 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
7234 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
7236 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
7237 be executed at a time.
7240 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
7242 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
7243 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
7244 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
7246 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
7247 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
7248 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
7249 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
7250 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
7251 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
7252 general form of a directive is:
7254 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
7256 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
7258 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
7260 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
7261 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
7262 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
7265 Any (print as `display' does).
7269 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
7273 S-expression (print as `write' does).
7277 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
7283 print number sign always.
7286 print comma separated.
7288 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
7294 print number sign always.
7297 print comma separated.
7299 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
7305 print number sign always.
7308 print comma separated.
7310 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
7316 print number sign always.
7319 print comma separated.
7321 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
7326 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
7330 print a number as a Roman numeral.
7333 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
7336 print a number as an ordinal English number.
7339 print a number as a cardinal English number.
7344 prints `y' and `ies'.
7347 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
7350 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
7355 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
7359 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
7362 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
7363 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
7365 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7368 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
7369 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
7371 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7374 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
7376 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
7378 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7381 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
7383 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
7385 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7388 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
7391 The sign appears before the padding.
7399 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
7401 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
7406 print N page separators.
7416 newline is ignored, white space left.
7419 newline is left, white space ignored.
7424 relative tabulation.
7430 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
7432 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
7435 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
7437 converts by `string-capitalize'.
7440 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
7443 converts by `string-upcase'.
7446 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
7448 jumps N arguments forward.
7451 jumps 1 argument backward.
7454 jumps N arguments backward.
7457 jumps to the 0th argument.
7460 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
7462 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
7463 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
7465 take argument from N.
7468 true test conditional.
7471 if-else-then conditional.
7477 default clause follows.
7480 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
7482 at most N iterations.
7485 args from next arg (a list of lists).
7488 args from the rest of arguments.
7491 args from the rest args (lists).
7502 aborts if N <= M <= K
7504 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
7507 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
7510 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
7516 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
7518 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
7520 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
7521 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
7522 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
7523 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
7524 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
7525 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
7529 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
7533 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
7539 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
7542 Print a `#\space' character
7544 print N `#\space' characters.
7547 Print a `#\tab' character
7549 print N `#\tab' characters.
7552 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
7553 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
7554 must be a positive decimal number.
7557 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
7558 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
7559 be processed by `read'.
7562 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
7563 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
7564 be processed by `read'.
7567 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
7570 prints format version.
7573 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
7574 and format it accordingly.
7576 *** Configuration Variables
7578 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
7579 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
7580 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
7581 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
7584 format:symbol-case-conv
7585 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
7586 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
7587 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
7588 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
7589 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
7591 format:iobj-case-conv
7592 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
7593 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
7596 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
7599 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
7605 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
7606 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
7607 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
7608 `format' padding style.
7611 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
7612 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
7613 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
7614 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
7618 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
7619 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
7620 directive parameters or modifiers)).
7623 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
7624 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
7625 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
7626 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
7627 parameters or modifiers)).
7630 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
7632 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
7634 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
7635 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
7637 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
7638 string-downcase! functions.
7640 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
7641 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
7643 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
7646 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
7649 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
7650 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
7652 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
7654 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
7655 the symbol had be read by `read'.
7657 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
7658 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
7659 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
7660 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
7661 would if STRING were input.
7663 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
7665 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
7666 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
7667 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
7668 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
7671 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
7673 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
7674 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
7677 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
7679 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
7680 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
7682 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
7683 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
7685 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
7686 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
7687 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
7688 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
7690 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
7691 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
7693 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
7694 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
7695 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
7697 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
7698 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
7700 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
7701 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
7702 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
7703 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
7704 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
7706 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
7707 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
7708 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
7709 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
7710 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
7711 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
7713 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
7714 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
7715 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
7718 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
7719 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
7720 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
7721 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
7722 the following grammar:
7723 ((apples (single-char #\a))
7724 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
7725 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
7726 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
7727 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
7728 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
7729 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
7730 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
7731 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
7732 last option in its combination)
7734 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
7735 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
7736 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
7737 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
7739 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
7740 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
7741 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
7743 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
7744 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
7745 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
7747 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
7748 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
7749 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
7750 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
7751 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
7752 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
7753 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
7754 ordinary argument strings.
7756 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
7757 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
7758 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
7759 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
7761 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
7762 as a list, associated with the empty list.
7764 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
7765 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
7766 - a required option is omitted
7767 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
7768 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
7769 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
7770 - an option predicate fails
7775 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
7778 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
7779 (verbose (required? #f)
7782 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
7783 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
7784 (predicate ,string?))))
7786 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
7787 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
7789 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
7790 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
7791 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
7792 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
7795 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
7797 It will be removed in a few releases.
7799 ** New syntax: lambda*
7800 ** New syntax: define*
7801 ** New syntax: define*-public
7802 ** New syntax: defmacro*
7803 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
7804 Guile now supports optional arguments.
7806 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
7807 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
7808 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
7809 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
7810 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
7812 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
7813 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
7814 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
7816 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
7818 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
7819 and examples for `lambda*':
7822 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
7824 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
7825 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
7826 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
7827 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
7828 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
7829 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
7830 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
7831 can be checked with the bound? macro.
7833 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
7835 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
7836 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
7837 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
7838 are given as keywords are bound to values.
7840 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
7841 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
7842 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
7843 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
7844 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
7845 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
7846 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
7847 and until the procedure is called.
7849 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
7851 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
7852 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
7853 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
7854 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
7855 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
7856 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
7857 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
7858 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
7859 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
7860 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
7862 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
7863 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
7864 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
7865 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
7868 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
7870 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
7871 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
7872 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
7873 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
7875 ** New syntax: and-let*
7876 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
7878 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
7879 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
7880 (<variable> <expression>)
7883 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
7884 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
7885 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
7888 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
7889 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
7890 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
7891 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
7892 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
7893 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
7894 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
7896 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
7897 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
7898 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
7899 shadow earlier bindings.
7901 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
7903 ** New sorting functions
7905 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
7906 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
7907 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
7908 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
7910 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
7911 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
7914 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
7915 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
7916 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
7918 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
7919 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
7920 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
7921 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
7923 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
7924 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
7925 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
7926 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
7927 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
7930 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
7931 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
7932 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
7933 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
7934 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
7935 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
7937 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
7938 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
7939 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
7941 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
7942 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
7943 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
7946 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
7947 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
7948 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
7950 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
7951 Added for compatibility with scsh.
7953 ** New built-in random number support
7955 *** New function: random N [STATE]
7956 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
7957 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
7958 returned have a uniform distribution.
7960 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
7961 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
7962 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
7963 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
7964 effect of the `random' operation.
7966 *** New variable: *random-state*
7967 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
7968 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
7969 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
7970 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
7971 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
7974 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
7975 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
7976 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
7977 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
7978 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
7980 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
7981 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
7982 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
7983 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
7984 initialized using SEED.
7986 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
7987 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
7988 range between 0 and 1.
7990 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
7991 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
7992 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
7993 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
7994 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
7995 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
7996 or a uniform vector of doubles.
7998 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
7999 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
8000 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
8001 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
8002 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
8003 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8005 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
8006 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
8007 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
8008 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
8010 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
8011 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
8012 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
8013 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8015 *** New function: random:exp STATE
8016 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
8017 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
8019 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
8021 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
8024 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
8025 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
8028 ** New function: make-guardian
8029 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
8030 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
8031 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
8032 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
8033 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
8035 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
8036 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
8037 one object if at all.
8039 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
8040 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
8041 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
8043 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
8044 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
8045 read again in last-in first-out order.
8047 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
8048 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
8050 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
8052 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
8053 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
8054 file position is used.
8056 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
8057 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
8058 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
8060 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
8061 redefined using seek.
8063 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
8064 size is not supplied.
8066 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
8067 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
8069 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
8070 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
8072 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
8074 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
8075 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
8076 and returns the contents as a single string.
8078 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
8079 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
8080 lists in serial order.
8082 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
8083 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
8084 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
8086 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
8087 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
8088 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
8089 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
8091 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
8092 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
8093 and #f if an error occured.
8095 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
8097 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
8098 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
8099 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
8100 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
8102 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
8104 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
8107 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
8109 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
8112 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8116 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
8117 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
8119 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
8120 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
8124 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8126 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
8128 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
8129 binds a variable named NAME to it.
8131 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
8133 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
8134 might change when we get the new module system.
8136 ** The smob interface
8138 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
8139 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
8141 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
8143 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
8147 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
8148 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
8149 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
8150 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
8151 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
8152 will be freed by the default free function.
8154 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8155 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
8156 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8157 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8159 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8160 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
8161 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8162 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8164 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
8166 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
8167 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
8171 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
8172 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8173 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8175 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
8176 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
8177 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8178 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8180 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
8181 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
8182 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
8184 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
8185 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
8186 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
8187 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
8189 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
8190 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
8191 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
8193 *** scm_newptob has been removed
8197 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
8199 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
8200 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
8201 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
8203 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
8204 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
8205 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
8207 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
8208 a string port's buffer.
8210 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
8211 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
8212 function pointers which together define the current random number
8213 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
8214 number library functions.
8216 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
8219 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
8220 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
8223 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
8224 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
8226 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
8227 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
8229 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
8230 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
8233 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
8234 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
8235 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
8236 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
8238 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
8239 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
8240 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
8241 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
8242 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
8243 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
8244 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
8246 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
8247 by libguile and the application.
8249 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
8250 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
8251 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
8252 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
8254 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
8255 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
8257 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
8258 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
8259 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
8261 ** Random number library functions
8262 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
8263 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
8264 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
8266 The default random state is stored in:
8268 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
8269 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
8270 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
8275 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
8277 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
8278 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
8279 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
8280 isn't a random state.
8282 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
8283 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
8285 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
8286 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
8287 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
8288 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
8290 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8291 Return 32 random bits.
8293 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8294 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
8296 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8297 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
8299 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8300 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
8302 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
8303 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
8305 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
8306 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
8307 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
8311 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
8313 * Changes to the distribution
8315 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
8316 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
8317 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
8320 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
8321 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
8322 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
8324 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
8325 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
8326 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
8327 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
8330 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
8331 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
8332 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
8334 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
8336 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
8338 *** Function: batch-mode?
8340 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
8343 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
8345 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
8346 case has not been implemented.
8348 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
8349 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
8350 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
8353 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
8354 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
8356 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
8358 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8360 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
8362 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
8363 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
8366 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
8367 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
8368 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
8369 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
8372 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
8374 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
8375 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
8376 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
8377 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
8378 find those libraries.
8380 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
8381 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
8384 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
8386 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
8387 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
8388 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
8389 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
8391 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
8392 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
8393 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
8397 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
8399 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
8400 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
8401 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
8404 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
8405 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
8406 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
8407 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
8409 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
8410 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
8413 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
8414 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
8415 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
8416 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
8417 compiler where to find the libraries.
8419 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
8420 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
8421 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
8423 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
8424 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
8425 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
8426 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
8427 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
8431 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
8433 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
8434 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
8435 internationalization support.
8437 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
8438 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
8439 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
8440 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
8441 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
8443 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
8444 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
8445 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
8446 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
8447 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
8449 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
8450 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
8451 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
8452 any GNU mirror site.
8454 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
8456 ** New function: add-history STRING
8457 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
8458 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
8459 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
8461 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
8463 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
8464 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
8465 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
8468 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
8469 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
8470 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
8472 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
8474 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
8477 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
8478 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
8481 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
8482 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
8483 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
8484 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
8485 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
8486 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
8488 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
8489 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
8490 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
8491 of the form mentioned above.
8493 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
8494 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
8495 returned in the special `rest' list.
8497 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
8498 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
8500 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
8502 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
8504 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
8506 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
8507 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
8508 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
8509 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
8510 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
8511 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
8512 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
8513 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
8516 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
8518 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
8520 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
8521 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
8524 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
8525 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
8526 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
8530 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
8531 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
8532 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
8533 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
8534 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
8535 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
8536 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
8537 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
8540 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
8542 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
8543 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
8544 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
8546 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
8548 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
8549 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
8551 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
8552 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
8553 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
8555 Why do we have this function?
8556 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
8557 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
8558 primitive, and display it differently, and
8559 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
8560 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
8563 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
8564 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
8567 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
8568 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
8569 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
8570 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
8572 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
8573 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
8576 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
8577 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
8579 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
8581 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
8582 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
8583 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
8584 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
8585 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
8586 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
8587 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
8590 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
8592 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
8593 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
8595 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
8596 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
8597 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
8598 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
8599 properly continue the print chain.
8601 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
8602 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
8603 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
8604 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
8605 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
8606 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
8607 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
8608 print-state, it is simply ignored.
8610 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
8611 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
8612 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
8613 safest to not check for these pairs.
8615 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
8616 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
8617 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
8618 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
8620 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
8622 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
8623 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
8625 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
8627 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
8629 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
8630 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
8631 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
8633 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
8634 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
8635 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
8637 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
8638 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
8639 the following functions and macros:
8641 Function: make-fluid
8643 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
8644 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
8645 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
8646 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
8647 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
8649 Function: fluid? OBJ
8651 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
8653 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
8654 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
8656 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
8657 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
8659 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
8661 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
8662 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
8663 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
8664 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
8665 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
8666 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
8667 modified by `with-fluids*'.
8669 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
8671 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
8672 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
8673 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
8674 should evaluate to a fluid.
8676 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
8678 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
8679 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
8680 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
8681 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
8682 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
8684 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
8687 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
8689 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
8691 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
8693 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
8696 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
8697 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
8698 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
8699 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
8700 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
8703 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
8704 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
8705 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
8707 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
8708 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
8709 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
8711 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
8712 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
8713 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
8714 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
8716 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
8717 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
8718 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
8719 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
8721 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
8722 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
8723 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
8724 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
8726 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
8727 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
8728 their revealed counts set to zero.
8730 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
8731 Returns an integer file descriptor.
8733 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
8734 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
8736 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
8737 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
8739 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
8740 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
8741 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
8743 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
8744 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
8745 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
8747 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
8748 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
8749 default environment inherited by child processes.
8751 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
8752 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
8753 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
8755 The return value is unspecified.
8757 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
8758 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
8759 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
8760 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
8761 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
8763 The return value is unspecified.
8765 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
8766 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
8774 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
8775 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
8778 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
8781 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
8782 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
8783 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
8785 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
8786 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
8787 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
8788 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
8791 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
8792 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
8794 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
8795 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
8796 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
8797 the `environ' procedure.
8799 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
8800 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
8803 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
8804 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
8806 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
8807 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
8808 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
8809 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
8811 *** procedure: times
8812 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
8813 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
8814 return a selected component:
8817 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
8821 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
8824 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
8828 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
8829 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
8833 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
8834 terminated child processes.
8836 ** Removed: list-length
8837 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
8838 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
8840 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
8842 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
8844 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
8846 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
8847 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
8848 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
8849 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
8851 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
8852 extra complexity it introduces.
8854 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
8855 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
8857 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
8858 variable to any non-empty value.
8860 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
8861 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
8863 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8865 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
8866 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
8868 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
8870 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
8871 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
8873 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
8875 ** vector handling routines
8877 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
8878 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
8879 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
8880 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
8881 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
8883 ** pair and list routines
8885 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
8888 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
8890 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
8893 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8895 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
8897 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
8898 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
8899 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
8900 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
8901 site-specific initialization code.
8903 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
8904 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
8905 initialization processes.
8907 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
8908 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
8909 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
8910 initialized properly.
8912 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
8913 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
8914 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
8916 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
8917 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
8918 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
8919 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
8920 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
8922 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
8924 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
8925 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
8926 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
8927 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
8928 objects the smob refers to get marked.
8930 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
8931 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
8932 which look like this:
8935 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
8937 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
8938 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
8941 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
8942 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
8945 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
8947 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
8948 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
8949 you will need to change your functions slightly.
8951 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
8952 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
8953 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
8954 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
8955 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
8957 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
8958 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
8960 int (*free) (SCM port);
8961 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
8962 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
8963 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
8967 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
8968 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
8969 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
8971 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
8974 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
8975 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
8976 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
8978 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
8979 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
8980 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
8983 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
8987 struct timeval *timeout);
8989 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
8990 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
8991 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
8992 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
8993 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
8994 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
8996 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
8997 scm_catch_body_t body,
8999 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9002 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
9003 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
9004 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
9005 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
9006 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
9007 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
9009 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
9011 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9014 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
9015 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
9016 spawning threads from application C code.
9018 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
9019 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
9020 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
9021 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
9022 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
9023 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
9025 ** Removed functions:
9027 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
9028 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
9030 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
9032 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
9033 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
9035 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
9037 ** mbstrings are now removed
9039 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
9040 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
9042 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
9044 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
9045 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
9046 their new names and arguments:
9048 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
9049 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
9050 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
9051 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
9054 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
9056 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
9058 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
9061 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
9063 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
9064 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
9065 pass a #f arg to catch.
9067 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
9069 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
9070 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
9073 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
9074 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
9075 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
9076 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
9077 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
9078 reclaim its storage.
9080 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
9081 worrying that some other function you call will call
9082 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
9083 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
9084 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
9085 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
9088 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
9090 * Changes to the distribution
9092 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
9093 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
9096 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
9097 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
9099 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9100 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9102 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
9104 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
9105 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
9106 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
9108 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
9110 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
9111 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
9112 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
9113 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
9114 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
9115 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
9117 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
9118 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
9119 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
9122 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
9123 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
9124 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
9125 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
9127 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
9128 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
9129 libraries to your link command:
9131 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
9132 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
9133 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
9134 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
9136 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
9137 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
9138 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
9140 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
9142 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
9143 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
9146 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
9148 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
9149 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
9150 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
9151 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
9152 searched is system dependent.
9154 (dynamic-object? VAL)
9156 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
9158 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
9160 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
9161 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
9163 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9165 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
9166 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
9167 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
9168 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
9169 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
9172 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9174 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
9175 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
9176 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
9177 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
9178 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
9180 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
9182 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
9183 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
9185 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
9187 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
9188 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
9189 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
9192 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
9194 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
9195 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
9196 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
9197 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
9199 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
9200 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
9202 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
9204 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
9205 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
9207 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
9209 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
9210 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
9218 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
9220 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
9221 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
9222 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
9223 a more informative way.
9225 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
9226 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
9227 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
9228 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
9229 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
9230 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
9232 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
9233 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
9236 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
9237 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
9238 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
9241 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
9242 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
9243 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
9244 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
9245 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
9246 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
9248 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
9249 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
9250 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
9251 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
9254 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
9255 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
9256 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
9257 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
9258 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
9259 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
9261 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
9262 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
9263 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
9264 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
9265 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
9267 *** regexp functions
9269 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
9270 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
9271 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
9273 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
9274 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
9275 with SCSH regular expressions.
9277 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
9278 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
9279 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
9280 position of STR at which to begin matching.
9282 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
9283 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
9284 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
9285 `string-match' returns `#f'.
9287 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
9288 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
9289 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
9290 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
9291 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
9292 match strings against the compiled regexp.
9294 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
9295 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
9296 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
9297 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
9298 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
9300 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
9302 **** Constant: regexp/extended
9303 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
9304 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
9305 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
9307 **** Constant: regexp/icase
9308 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
9309 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
9311 **** Constant: regexp/newline
9312 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
9314 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
9317 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
9318 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
9319 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
9321 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
9322 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
9323 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
9325 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
9326 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
9327 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
9328 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
9329 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
9332 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
9334 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
9335 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
9336 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
9337 used when different portions of a string are passed to
9338 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
9339 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
9341 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
9342 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
9343 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
9345 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
9346 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
9349 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
9350 and replace them with the contents of another string.
9352 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
9353 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
9354 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
9355 may be one of the following arguments:
9357 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
9359 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
9361 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
9362 the regexp match is written.
9364 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
9365 following the regexp match is written.
9367 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
9368 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
9371 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
9372 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
9373 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
9374 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
9375 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
9376 which should be matched against this regular expression.
9378 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
9381 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
9382 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
9383 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
9384 written out to PORT.
9386 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
9387 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
9388 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
9389 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
9390 will return after processing a single match.
9392 *** Match Structures
9394 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
9395 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
9396 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
9397 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
9398 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
9399 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
9402 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
9403 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
9404 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
9405 information about the original target string that was matched against a
9406 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
9408 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
9409 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
9410 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
9412 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
9413 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
9414 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
9415 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
9416 number N did not match, return `#f'.
9418 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
9419 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
9421 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
9422 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
9424 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
9425 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
9427 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
9428 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
9430 **** Function: match:count MATCH
9431 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
9432 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
9433 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
9435 **** Function: match:string MATCH
9436 Return the original TARGET string.
9438 *** Backslash Escapes
9440 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
9441 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
9442 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
9443 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
9444 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
9445 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
9447 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
9448 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
9449 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
9450 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
9451 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
9452 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
9453 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
9454 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
9456 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
9457 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
9458 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
9459 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
9460 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
9461 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
9462 each match a single backslash in the target string.
9464 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
9465 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
9466 return the resulting string.
9468 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
9469 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
9470 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
9471 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
9472 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
9473 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
9474 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
9475 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
9476 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
9477 translated to the single character `*'.
9479 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
9480 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
9481 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
9482 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
9483 consecutive backslashes:
9485 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
9487 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
9488 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
9489 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
9491 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
9492 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
9493 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
9494 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
9495 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
9496 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
9498 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
9500 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
9501 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
9502 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
9503 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
9504 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
9505 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
9506 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
9507 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
9508 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
9509 cumbersome escape syntax.
9511 * Changes to the gh_ interface
9513 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9515 * Changes to system call interfaces:
9517 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
9520 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
9522 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
9524 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
9527 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
9528 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
9529 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
9530 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
9531 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
9533 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
9534 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
9535 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
9536 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
9537 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
9538 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
9539 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
9542 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
9543 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
9544 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
9547 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
9548 `force-output' on every port open for output.
9550 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
9551 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
9552 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
9553 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
9554 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
9555 installed, you can say:
9557 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
9560 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9562 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
9563 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
9564 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
9565 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
9566 new dynamic roots and threads.
9569 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
9571 * Changes to the distribution.
9573 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
9575 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
9576 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
9577 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
9578 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
9579 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
9580 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
9581 programming language. These are packaged together because the
9582 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
9584 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
9587 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
9588 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
9593 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
9595 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
9596 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
9598 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
9599 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
9600 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
9601 the (command-line) function.
9602 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
9603 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
9604 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
9606 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
9607 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
9608 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
9609 command line arguments
9610 -ds do -s script at this point
9611 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
9612 -h, --help display this help and exit
9613 -v, --version display version information and exit
9614 \ read arguments from following script lines
9616 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
9617 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
9619 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
9622 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
9626 (main (command-line))
9628 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
9630 ekko a speckled gecko
9632 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
9633 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
9634 following list of command-line arguments:
9636 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
9638 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
9639 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
9640 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
9641 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
9642 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
9644 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
9646 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
9648 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
9649 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
9652 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
9653 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
9654 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
9655 SCSH) for circumventing them.
9657 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
9658 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
9659 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
9660 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
9662 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
9666 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
9670 If the user invokes this script as follows:
9672 ekko a speckled gecko
9674 Unix expands this into
9676 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
9678 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
9679 read from the second line of the script, producing:
9681 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
9683 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
9684 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
9686 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
9687 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
9688 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
9689 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
9690 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
9691 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
9692 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
9693 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
9694 it only terminates the argument list.)
9695 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
9696 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
9697 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
9698 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
9699 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
9700 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
9701 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
9702 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
9704 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
9706 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
9707 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
9708 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
9709 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
9710 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
9712 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
9713 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
9714 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
9716 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
9718 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
9719 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
9720 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
9721 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
9724 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
9725 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
9726 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
9728 * Changes to Scheme functions
9730 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
9731 and disabled by default.
9733 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
9734 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
9735 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
9736 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
9738 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
9740 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
9742 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
9743 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
9745 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
9746 (read-set! keywords #f)
9748 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
9749 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
9750 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
9753 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
9754 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
9755 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
9758 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
9759 support for Scheme functions.
9761 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
9762 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
9763 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
9764 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
9767 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
9768 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
9769 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
9772 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
9773 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
9774 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
9777 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
9778 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
9779 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
9780 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
9781 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
9782 display the result as a prompt.
9783 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
9785 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
9786 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
9787 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
9790 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
9791 procedure of zero arguments.
9793 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
9794 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
9795 argument is bound in the current module.
9797 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
9798 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
9799 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
9800 public bindings into the current module.
9802 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
9803 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
9805 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
9806 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
9808 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
9809 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
9811 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
9812 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
9814 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
9815 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
9817 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
9818 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
9819 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
9820 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
9821 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
9823 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
9824 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
9825 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
9826 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
9828 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
9831 ** Changes to I/O functions
9833 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
9834 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
9835 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
9837 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
9838 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
9839 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
9841 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
9842 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
9844 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
9845 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
9846 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
9847 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
9849 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
9851 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
9852 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
9854 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
9855 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
9856 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
9857 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
9858 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
9861 'trim omit delimiter from result
9862 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
9863 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
9864 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
9866 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
9868 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
9869 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
9871 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
9872 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
9873 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
9874 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
9875 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
9877 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
9878 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
9879 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
9881 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
9882 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
9883 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
9884 above, and defaults to 'peek.
9886 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
9887 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
9889 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
9890 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
9892 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
9894 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
9895 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
9896 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
9897 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
9898 a delimiting character.
9899 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
9901 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
9902 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
9903 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
9904 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
9905 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
9906 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
9908 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
9909 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
9911 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
9912 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
9913 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
9915 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
9916 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
9917 the array to read and write.
9919 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
9920 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
9923 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
9925 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
9928 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
9929 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
9930 Values for COMMAND are:
9932 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
9933 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
9934 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
9935 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
9936 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
9937 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
9938 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
9939 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
9941 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
9943 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
9944 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
9945 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
9946 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
9947 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
9948 corresponding return set will be the same.
9950 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
9953 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
9954 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
9955 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
9956 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
9957 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
9958 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
9959 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
9960 special file being created.
9962 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
9963 clashing with various SCSH forks.
9965 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
9966 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
9967 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
9968 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
9969 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
9970 and originating address.
9972 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
9973 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
9974 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
9976 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
9979 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
9980 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
9983 (status:exit-val STATUS)
9984 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
9985 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
9986 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
9987 this function returns #f.
9989 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
9990 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
9991 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
9994 (status:term-sig STATUS)
9995 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
9996 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
9999 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
10000 a valid STATUS value.
10002 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
10004 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
10005 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
10007 Component Accessor Setter
10008 ========================= ============ ============
10009 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
10010 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
10011 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
10012 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
10013 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
10014 year tm:year set-tm:year
10015 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
10016 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
10017 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
10018 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
10019 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
10021 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
10022 describing the host system:
10025 ============================================== ================
10026 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
10027 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
10028 release level of the operating system utsname:release
10029 version level of the operating system utsname:version
10030 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
10032 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
10033 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
10034 system's user database:
10037 ====================== =================
10038 user name passwd:name
10039 user password passwd:passwd
10041 group id passwd:gid
10042 real name passwd:gecos
10043 home directory passwd:dir
10044 shell program passwd:shell
10046 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
10047 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
10048 system's group database:
10051 ======================= ============
10052 group name group:name
10053 group password group:passwd
10055 group members group:mem
10057 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
10058 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
10062 ========================= ===============
10063 official name of host hostent:name
10064 alias list hostent:aliases
10065 host address type hostent:addrtype
10066 length of address hostent:length
10067 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
10069 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
10070 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
10074 ========================= ===============
10075 official name of net netent:name
10076 alias list netent:aliases
10077 net number type netent:addrtype
10078 net number netent:net
10080 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
10081 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
10082 internet protocols:
10085 ========================= ===============
10086 official protocol name protoent:name
10087 alias list protoent:aliases
10088 protocol number protoent:proto
10090 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
10091 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
10092 internet protocols:
10095 ========================= ===============
10096 official service name servent:name
10097 alias list servent:aliases
10098 port number servent:port
10099 protocol to use servent:proto
10101 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
10102 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
10105 ======================================== ===============
10106 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
10107 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
10108 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
10109 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
10111 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
10112 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
10113 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
10115 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
10116 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
10118 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
10119 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
10121 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
10122 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
10124 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
10126 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
10128 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
10129 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
10130 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
10132 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
10133 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
10134 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
10135 return the remaining characters as a string.
10137 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
10138 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
10139 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
10141 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
10143 * Changes to the gh_ interface
10145 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
10148 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
10151 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
10152 and returns the array
10154 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
10155 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
10156 the user to interpret the data both ways.
10158 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10160 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
10161 symbol's value from C code:
10163 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
10164 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
10165 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
10166 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
10168 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
10169 without assigning them a value.
10171 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
10172 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
10173 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
10175 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
10176 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
10177 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
10179 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
10180 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
10182 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
10183 doesn't actually care about that.
10185 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
10186 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
10187 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
10189 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
10190 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
10191 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
10192 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
10193 which we have just created and initialized.
10195 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
10196 should one occur. We call it like this:
10197 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
10199 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
10200 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
10201 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
10202 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
10203 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
10204 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
10207 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
10208 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
10209 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
10210 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
10211 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
10212 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
10213 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
10214 enclosed variables.
10216 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
10217 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
10218 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
10219 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
10220 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
10223 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
10224 scm_internal_catch, except:
10226 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
10227 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
10228 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
10229 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
10232 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
10233 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
10234 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
10236 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
10237 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
10238 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
10239 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
10242 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
10243 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
10244 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
10246 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
10247 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
10248 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
10249 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
10250 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
10252 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
10253 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
10254 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
10256 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
10257 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
10258 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
10260 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
10261 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
10263 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
10264 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
10265 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
10268 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
10269 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
10270 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
10271 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
10272 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
10273 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
10274 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
10275 interpreter" above.
10277 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
10278 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
10280 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
10281 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
10282 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
10283 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
10284 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
10287 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
10288 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
10290 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
10291 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
10294 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
10295 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
10297 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10300 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
10301 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
10302 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
10303 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
10304 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
10305 given the following arguments:
10307 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
10309 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
10311 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
10313 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10316 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
10317 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
10318 command-line arguments.
10320 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
10321 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
10322 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
10323 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
10324 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
10325 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
10328 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10331 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
10332 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
10334 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
10335 rearranged slightly. They are now:
10337 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10338 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
10339 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
10340 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
10342 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10343 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
10345 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10346 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
10347 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
10348 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
10350 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10351 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
10353 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
10354 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
10356 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
10358 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
10359 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
10360 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
10363 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
10364 returns a port instead of an FD object.
10366 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
10367 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
10372 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
10375 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
10377 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
10378 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
10379 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
10380 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
10382 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
10384 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
10386 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
10387 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
10388 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
10389 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
10390 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
10391 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
10392 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
10393 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
10394 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
10395 for more information.
10397 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
10398 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
10400 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
10401 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
10402 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
10403 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
10404 following two lines at the top of the file:
10406 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10409 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
10410 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
10411 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
10413 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
10415 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10417 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
10420 (display (car args))
10421 (if (pair? (cdr args))
10423 (loop (cdr args)))))
10426 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
10427 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
10428 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
10429 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
10430 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
10431 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
10435 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
10438 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
10441 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
10443 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
10444 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
10445 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
10446 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
10447 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
10450 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
10451 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
10452 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
10453 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
10454 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
10457 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
10460 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
10461 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
10462 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
10465 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
10466 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
10467 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
10469 to see a backtrace, and
10470 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
10471 to see them by default.
10475 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
10477 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
10479 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
10480 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
10483 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
10484 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
10485 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
10486 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
10489 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
10490 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
10491 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
10492 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
10493 functions which inspired them.
10495 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
10496 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
10500 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
10502 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
10504 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
10505 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
10508 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
10509 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
10510 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
10512 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
10513 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
10514 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
10515 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
10516 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
10518 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
10520 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
10521 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
10522 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
10525 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
10528 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
10530 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
10531 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
10532 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
10533 above should serve their purposes.
10535 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
10536 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
10537 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
10538 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
10540 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
10543 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
10544 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
10545 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
10546 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
10548 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
10549 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
10550 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
10551 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
10553 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
10554 for the `read' function.
10557 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
10558 to that of `integer?'.
10560 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
10561 use the R4RS names for these functions.
10563 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
10564 it simply returns the object's property list.
10566 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
10567 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
10568 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
10569 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
10571 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
10573 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
10576 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
10578 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
10579 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
10581 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
10583 void (*main_func) (),
10586 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
10587 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
10588 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
10589 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
10590 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
10592 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
10593 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
10594 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
10595 know which arguments have been processed.
10597 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
10598 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
10599 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
10600 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
10601 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
10603 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
10604 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
10605 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
10606 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
10607 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
10608 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
10609 people from making that mistake.
10611 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
10612 convenient ways to override these when desired.
10614 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
10616 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
10620 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
10623 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
10624 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
10625 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
10626 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
10629 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
10630 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
10631 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
10632 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
10635 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
10636 have been added to the Guile library.
10638 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
10639 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
10640 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
10643 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
10644 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
10645 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
10647 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
10648 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
10649 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
10650 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
10651 argument from the list.
10654 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
10657 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
10658 null-terminated string, and returns it.
10660 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
10661 to a Scheme port object.
10663 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
10664 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
10669 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
10671 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
10672 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
10673 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
10674 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
10675 code as a special datatype.
10677 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
10678 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
10679 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
10680 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
10681 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
10684 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
10685 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
10686 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
10687 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
10688 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
10690 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
10693 Copyright information:
10695 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
10697 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
10698 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
10699 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
10700 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
10702 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
10703 of this document, or of portions of it,
10704 under the above conditions, provided also that they
10705 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
10710 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"