1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
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12 * New modules (see the manual for details)
14 ** The `(ice-9 i18n)' module provides internationalization support
16 * Changes to the distribution
18 ** Guile now uses Gnulib as a portability aid
20 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
21 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
23 ** A new 'memoize-symbol evaluator trap has been added. This trap can
24 be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code coverage.
26 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
27 This slightly improves program startup times.
29 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
30 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
32 * Changes to the C interface
34 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
35 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
39 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
43 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
44 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
46 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
47 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
49 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
50 ** Fixed build issue on NetBSD 1.6
51 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
54 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
58 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
59 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
60 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
61 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
62 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
63 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
64 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
65 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
66 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
67 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
68 system and library calls.
69 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
70 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
71 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
72 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
73 uniform vectors on AIX.
74 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
75 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
76 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
77 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
78 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
80 * New modules (see the manual for details)
84 * Documentation fixes and improvements
86 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
88 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
89 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
91 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
93 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
95 * Changes to the distribution
97 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
99 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
100 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
101 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
103 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
105 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
108 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
110 * New modules (see the manual for details)
117 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
118 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
119 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
120 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
121 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
122 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
123 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
125 * Implementation improvements
127 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
128 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
132 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
134 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
136 ** set-program-arguments
141 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
142 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
143 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
144 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
145 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
146 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
148 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
149 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
150 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
151 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
152 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
153 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
154 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
155 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
156 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
157 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
158 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
159 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
160 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
161 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
162 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
163 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
166 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
168 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
170 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
172 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
173 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
174 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
175 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
176 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
177 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
183 * New `(ice-9 i18n)' module (see the manual for details)
187 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
189 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
191 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
193 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
195 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
197 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
199 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
200 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
201 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
203 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
205 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
207 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
208 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
210 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
212 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
213 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
215 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
217 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
219 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
221 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
223 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
225 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
227 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
229 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
231 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
233 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
234 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
235 file was on a different device.
238 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
240 * Changes to the distribution
242 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
244 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
246 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
248 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
250 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
252 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
255 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
257 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
258 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
259 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
260 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
261 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
262 items like the versioned share directory name
263 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
265 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
266 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
267 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
268 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
269 with each micro release during a stable series.
271 ** Thread implementation has changed.
273 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
274 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
275 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
276 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
277 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
280 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
281 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
282 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
283 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
286 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
287 in which case "null" threads are used.
289 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
290 "Blocking", and others.
292 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
294 This is a milder form of deprecation.
296 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
297 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
298 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
299 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
300 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
302 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
303 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
305 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
307 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
308 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
310 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
313 This SRFI is always available.
315 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
317 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
318 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
319 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
320 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
323 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
325 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
326 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
327 parameters without currying.
329 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
331 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
332 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
334 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
335 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
338 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
339 with a renaming import, for example.
341 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
343 The official version is good enough now.
345 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
347 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
348 provided. Use 'make html'.
350 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
352 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
353 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
354 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
355 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
357 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
359 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
362 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
364 ** New command line option `-L'.
366 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
368 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
370 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
371 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
373 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
375 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
376 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
378 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
380 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
381 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
384 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
387 (define-module (demo)
391 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
394 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
396 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
398 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
399 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
400 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
402 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
404 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
405 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
407 ** New function hashx-remove!
409 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
411 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
412 barriers and dynamic states.
414 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
415 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
416 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
419 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
420 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
421 Barriers" in the manual.
423 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
424 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
426 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
428 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
429 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
430 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
433 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
435 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
436 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
438 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
439 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
440 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
442 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
443 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
445 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
446 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
447 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
449 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
450 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
451 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
454 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
455 substrings and read-only strings.
457 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
458 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
461 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
463 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
472 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
473 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
474 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
476 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
477 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
478 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
481 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
482 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
485 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
487 See the manual for details.
489 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
491 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
494 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
496 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
497 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
498 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
499 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
501 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
502 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
503 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
506 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
508 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
509 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
520 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
524 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
529 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
533 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
537 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
540 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
541 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
542 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
543 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
545 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
546 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
549 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
552 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
556 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
558 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
559 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
560 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
563 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
566 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
568 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
571 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
572 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
580 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
581 has been detected is to
583 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
584 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
585 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
588 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
591 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
593 to your .guile init file.
595 ** New define-module option: :replace
597 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
600 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
601 for the core binding `format'.
603 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
605 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
606 a prefix to all imported bindings.
609 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
611 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
614 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
616 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
617 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
618 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
620 ** New function: effective-version
622 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
623 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
624 to the distribution" above.
626 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
628 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
629 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
631 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
633 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
634 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
636 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
638 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
639 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
642 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
644 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
646 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
648 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
649 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
650 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
653 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
654 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
655 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
658 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
659 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
661 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
662 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
663 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
666 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
668 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
669 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
672 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
673 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
675 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
676 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
677 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
678 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
679 level for the current thread.
681 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
683 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
685 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
686 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
689 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
691 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
693 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
696 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
698 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
701 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
702 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
703 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
705 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
706 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
707 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
708 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
719 ERROR: Numerical overflow
721 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
724 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
726 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
727 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
728 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
739 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
741 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
742 them is also done exactly, of course:
747 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
750 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
751 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
753 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
755 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
756 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
757 equal to a floating point number. For example:
759 (inexact->exact 1.234)
760 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
762 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
764 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
767 ** New function 'rationalize'.
769 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
770 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
772 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
775 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
776 result when both its arguments are exact.
778 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
780 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
781 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
782 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
784 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
786 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
787 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
788 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
790 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
793 ** pretty-print has more options.
795 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
796 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
797 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
799 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
801 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
802 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
803 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
805 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
807 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
808 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
810 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
812 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
813 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
816 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
818 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
819 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
820 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
821 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
822 without the soft port blocking.
824 ** Deprecated: undefine
826 There is no replacement for undefine.
828 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
829 have been discouraged.
831 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
832 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
833 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
836 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
838 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
840 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
841 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
842 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
843 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
846 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
847 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
848 be removed in the next major Guile release.
850 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
852 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
853 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
854 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
855 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
856 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
857 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
859 * Changes to the C interface
861 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
862 take a 'delete' function argument.
864 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
865 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
867 This is an incompatible change.
869 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
871 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
872 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
873 --disable-deprecated.
875 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
877 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
878 Scheme values has been added.
880 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
881 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
886 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
887 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
889 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
891 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
892 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
895 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
897 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
898 scm_from_int for ints.
900 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
901 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
902 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
904 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
906 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
907 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
908 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
911 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
913 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
915 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
917 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
918 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
919 following alternatives.
921 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
922 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
923 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
924 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
926 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
927 do the validating for you.
929 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
930 have been discouraged.
932 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
933 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
936 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
938 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
939 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
942 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
944 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
947 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
950 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
952 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
953 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
955 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
956 scm_truncate_number should have.
958 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
959 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
961 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
964 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
965 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
966 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
968 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
969 easier to use from C.
971 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
972 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
974 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
975 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
976 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
979 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
980 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
981 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
982 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
985 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
986 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
987 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
988 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
989 and is thus quite efficient.
991 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
993 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
994 about the character encoding.
996 Replace according to the following table:
998 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
999 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1000 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1001 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1002 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1003 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1004 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1005 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1006 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1008 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1009 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1011 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1013 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1014 now also available to C code.
1016 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1018 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1019 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1020 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1022 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1025 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1027 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1028 unceremoniously removed.
1030 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1031 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1032 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1034 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1035 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1036 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1037 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1038 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1039 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1042 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1044 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1045 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1046 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1047 manual for more details.
1049 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1050 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1052 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1053 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1054 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1056 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1058 Migrate according to the following table:
1060 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1061 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1062 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1063 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1064 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1065 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1066 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1068 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1069 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1070 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1071 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1072 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1073 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1074 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1076 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1078 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1079 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1081 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1082 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1083 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1084 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1086 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1088 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1089 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1090 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1092 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1093 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1095 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1096 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1097 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1098 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1100 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1102 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1103 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1104 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1105 prevent a potential memory leak:
1112 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1114 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1115 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1117 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1118 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1125 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1126 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1130 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1132 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1134 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1135 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1136 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1138 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1139 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1141 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1143 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1145 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1146 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1147 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1149 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1150 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1152 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1153 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1154 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1155 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1158 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1160 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1161 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1162 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1164 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1166 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1167 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1169 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1171 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1172 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1174 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1176 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1177 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1178 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1180 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1182 You should not have used them.
1184 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1186 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1187 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1189 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1191 This macro is not intended for public use.
1193 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1195 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1197 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1199 Use scm_is_real instead.
1201 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1203 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1205 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1207 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1208 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1210 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1211 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1213 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1214 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1216 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1218 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1221 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1223 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1224 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1225 to the distribution" above.
1227 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1229 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1230 arguments are now passed directly:
1232 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1234 This is an incompatible change.
1236 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1238 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1239 function in the init section.
1241 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1243 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1245 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1246 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1247 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1248 stays roughly constant.
1250 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1251 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1252 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1253 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1254 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1257 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1258 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1259 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1260 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1262 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1263 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1264 objects for every type.
1267 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1269 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1271 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1273 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1274 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1275 initializes a new cell (see below).
1277 ** New functions for memory management
1279 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1280 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1281 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1282 cause aborts in long running programs.
1284 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1285 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1287 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1288 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1289 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1290 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1291 details and for upgrading instructions.
1293 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1294 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1295 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1297 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1299 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1300 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1301 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1302 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1303 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1305 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1306 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1307 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1309 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1310 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1312 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1314 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1315 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1316 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1317 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1318 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1320 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1322 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1325 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1327 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1329 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1331 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1332 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1334 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1336 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1337 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1339 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1340 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1342 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1344 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1346 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1347 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1348 blocking it is not well defined.
1350 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1352 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1353 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1354 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1355 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1356 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1357 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1358 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1359 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1360 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1361 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1362 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1363 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1364 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1365 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1366 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1367 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1368 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1369 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1370 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1371 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1372 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1373 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1374 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1375 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1376 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1377 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1378 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1379 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1380 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1381 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1382 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1384 * Changes to bundled modules
1388 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1389 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1390 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1391 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1392 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1395 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1397 * Changes to the distribution
1399 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1401 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1403 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1404 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1405 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1406 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1407 indicate major changes in Guile.
1409 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1410 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1411 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1412 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1414 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1415 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1416 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1417 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1418 micro version number.
1420 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1422 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1424 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1425 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1427 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1429 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1430 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1431 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1433 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1435 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1436 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1437 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1440 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1442 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1445 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1447 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1448 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1450 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1452 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1453 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1456 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1458 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1461 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1464 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1466 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1468 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1469 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1470 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1472 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1474 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1476 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1479 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1481 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1483 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1485 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1486 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1487 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1489 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1491 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1493 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1494 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1503 See README there for more info.
1505 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1506 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1509 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1511 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1513 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1515 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1516 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1517 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1519 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1521 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1522 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1523 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1525 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1526 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1528 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1531 (oop goops describe)
1533 (oop goops active-slot)
1534 (oop goops composite-slot)
1536 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1537 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1538 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1540 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1542 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1543 in the default environment:
1545 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1546 %read-line write-line
1548 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1549 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1551 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1553 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1556 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1557 can be used for similar functionality.
1559 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1561 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1562 it defines two procedures:
1564 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1566 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1567 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1568 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1571 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1573 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1574 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1575 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1576 write large strings.
1578 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1580 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1581 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1583 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1585 for complete documentation.
1587 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1589 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1590 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1591 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1592 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1594 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1595 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1599 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1600 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1601 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1604 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1607 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1608 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1610 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1611 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1614 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1617 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1619 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1621 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1623 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1625 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1626 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1627 Scheme programs easier.
1629 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1630 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1631 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1632 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1633 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1636 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1637 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1639 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1642 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1644 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1645 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1646 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1649 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1651 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1653 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1654 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1655 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1656 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1657 was also ASCII, for example.
1659 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1661 tag - no replacement.
1662 fseek - replaced by seek.
1663 list* - replaced by cons*.
1665 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1669 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1670 (define m (make-safe-module))
1671 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1672 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1673 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1675 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1677 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1678 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1679 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1681 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1683 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1684 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1685 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1686 from the issues related to the module system.
1688 *** New function: load-extension
1690 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1692 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1694 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1695 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1696 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1698 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1700 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1701 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1702 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1703 support dynamic linking).
1705 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1707 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1708 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1709 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1710 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1713 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1714 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1715 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1716 library and initialize it explicitly.
1718 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1719 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1721 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1723 (define-module (foo bar))
1725 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1727 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1729 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1730 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1732 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1733 (null-environment 5)
1734 (interaction-environment)
1740 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1742 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1743 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1744 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1745 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1747 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1748 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1749 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1750 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1751 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1752 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1753 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1754 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1755 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1756 one eval to the next.
1758 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1759 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1760 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1761 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1762 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1764 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1765 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1766 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1767 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1768 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1769 used in a lexical environment.
1771 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1772 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1773 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1774 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1775 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1776 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1778 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1780 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1781 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1782 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1783 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1784 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1786 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1787 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1788 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1790 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1791 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1793 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1794 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1795 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1797 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1798 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1800 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1801 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1802 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1803 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1806 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1807 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1808 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1809 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1811 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1812 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1813 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1815 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1816 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1817 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1818 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1819 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1821 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1823 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1824 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1825 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1827 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1828 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1829 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1831 See manual for more info.
1833 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1835 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1836 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1837 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1839 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1841 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1842 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1843 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1845 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1846 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1847 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1848 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1850 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1852 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1853 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1855 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1856 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1857 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1858 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1859 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1862 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1863 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1864 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1865 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1866 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1867 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1869 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1870 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1871 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1872 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1873 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1875 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1876 objects are usually permanent.
1878 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1879 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1881 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1883 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1884 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1887 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1891 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1896 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1898 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1899 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1900 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1901 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1903 ** New function `make-object-property'
1905 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1906 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1910 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1911 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1915 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1916 source properties eventually.
1918 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1920 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1921 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1922 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1924 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1925 will be removed in the next release.
1927 ** New define-module option: pure
1929 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1934 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1937 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1939 Export names NAME1 ...
1941 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1942 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1946 (define-module (foo)
1948 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1951 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1956 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1958 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1960 ** New function: port? X
1962 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1963 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1965 ** New function: file-port?
1967 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1969 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1971 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1972 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1973 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1974 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1975 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1977 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1979 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1980 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1981 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1982 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1983 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1986 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1988 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1989 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1990 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1991 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1994 ** New function: crypt password salt
1996 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1999 ** New function: chroot path
2001 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2003 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2005 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2008 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2010 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2012 ** New function: getpass prompt
2014 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2017 ** New function: flock file operation
2019 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2021 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2023 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2026 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2028 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2029 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2030 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2031 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2032 of the temporary file.
2034 ** New function: open-input-string string
2036 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2037 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2038 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2040 ** New function: open-output-string
2042 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2043 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2045 ** New function: get-output-string
2047 Return the contents of an output string port.
2049 ** New function: identity
2051 Return the argument.
2053 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2054 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2056 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2058 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2059 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2060 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2063 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2064 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2066 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2068 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2069 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2070 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2073 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2074 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2075 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2079 Use `identity' instead.
2085 ** Deprecated: return-it
2089 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2091 Use `string-length' instead.
2093 ** Deprecated: flags
2095 Use `logior' instead.
2097 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2099 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2100 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2101 port-for-each is more flexible.
2103 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2104 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2105 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2107 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2109 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2111 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2113 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2115 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2117 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2118 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2120 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2121 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2123 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2124 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2126 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2128 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2129 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2131 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2132 Use module system operations for all variables.
2134 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2136 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2139 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2141 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2142 The following bugs have been fixed:
2144 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2145 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2148 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2149 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2150 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2152 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2153 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2155 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2156 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2159 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2160 The expansion used to be like so:
2162 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2164 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2166 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2168 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2169 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2171 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2173 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2174 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2175 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2179 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2180 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2182 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2187 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2188 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2190 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2191 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2192 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2194 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2197 * Changes to the C interface
2199 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2201 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2202 with "_t". What a concept.
2204 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2206 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2208 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2212 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2213 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2215 *** C Functions removed
2217 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2218 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2219 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2220 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2221 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2222 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2223 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2225 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2227 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2229 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2231 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2233 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2234 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2236 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2238 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2241 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2243 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2245 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2247 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2248 Evaluation" in the manual.
2250 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2252 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2253 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2255 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2257 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2258 Constructors" in the manual.
2260 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2262 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2263 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2265 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2267 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2269 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2270 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2271 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2273 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2275 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2277 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2278 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2279 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2282 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2284 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2286 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2287 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2289 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2291 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2292 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2293 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2294 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2296 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2297 scm_primitive_property_ref
2298 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2299 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2301 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2302 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2304 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2306 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2307 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2308 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2309 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2311 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2313 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2314 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2315 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2316 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2317 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2318 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2319 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2321 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2322 scm_remember_upto_here
2324 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2326 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2328 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2329 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2331 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2333 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2335 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2337 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2339 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2341 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2342 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2343 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2344 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2345 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2346 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2348 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2350 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2352 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2353 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2354 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2356 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2358 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2359 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2360 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2362 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2364 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2365 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2368 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2371 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2372 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2375 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2377 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2379 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2381 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2383 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2385 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2387 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2388 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2389 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2390 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2391 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2392 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2393 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2394 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2395 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2396 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2397 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2398 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2399 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2400 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2401 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2403 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2404 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2405 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2406 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2407 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2408 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2409 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2410 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2411 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2412 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2413 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2414 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2415 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2416 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2417 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2418 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2419 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2420 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2421 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2422 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2423 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2424 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2425 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2426 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2427 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2428 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2429 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2430 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2431 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2433 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2435 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2437 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2438 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2440 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2442 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2444 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2446 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2448 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2450 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2452 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2454 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2456 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2459 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2460 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2462 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2464 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2466 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2468 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2470 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2472 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2474 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2476 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2479 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2481 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2483 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2485 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2486 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2488 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2489 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2491 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2493 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2494 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2495 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2497 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2499 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2501 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2502 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2504 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2505 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2506 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2507 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2509 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2510 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2511 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2513 Use the new ones from above instead.
2515 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2517 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2518 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2519 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2521 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2522 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2524 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2525 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2528 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2529 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2531 Use the new functions instead.
2533 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2536 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2538 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2540 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2543 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2545 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2548 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2550 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2553 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2554 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2555 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2557 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2559 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2560 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2562 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2563 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2564 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2565 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2568 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2570 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2571 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2572 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2573 inexact for an exact.
2575 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2576 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2577 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2580 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2581 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2582 accept an inexact argument.
2584 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2585 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2587 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2590 ** New number validation macros:
2591 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2595 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2597 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2598 scm_unprotect_object.
2600 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2602 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2604 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2607 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2609 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2613 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2615 * Changes to the distribution
2617 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2619 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2620 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2621 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2622 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2623 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2624 obtain these programs.
2625 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2626 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2628 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2629 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2630 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2631 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2632 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2634 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2635 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2636 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2637 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2641 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2644 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2645 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2646 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2647 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2649 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2651 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2653 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2654 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2656 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2657 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2659 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2660 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2662 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2663 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2664 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2665 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2667 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2669 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2673 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2674 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2676 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2678 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2679 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2681 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2682 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2683 number of objects of that kind.
2685 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2687 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2688 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2689 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2690 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2691 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2693 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2695 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2697 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2699 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2702 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2704 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2706 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2708 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2710 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2712 ** New command line option --debug
2714 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2716 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2718 ** New help facility
2720 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2721 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2722 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2723 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2724 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2725 (help) gives this text
2727 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2728 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2730 Examples: (help help)
2732 (help "output-string")
2734 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2736 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2738 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2739 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2742 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2743 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2744 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2747 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2748 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2749 use absolute filenames when possible.
2751 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2752 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2753 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2756 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2758 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2759 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2760 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2761 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2763 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2765 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2767 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2768 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2769 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2771 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2772 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2773 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2775 (read-enable 'positions)
2776 (debug-enable 'debug)
2778 ** Backtraces in scripts
2780 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2784 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2786 at the top of the script.
2788 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2789 The second enables backtraces.)
2791 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2793 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2794 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2795 substantially faster than before.
2797 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2798 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2800 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2801 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2803 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2805 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2806 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2807 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2809 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2810 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2811 when this hook is run in the future.
2813 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2814 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2816 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2818 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2819 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2822 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2823 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2824 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2826 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2827 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2829 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2830 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2832 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2833 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2834 in order not to need further allocation.)
2836 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2839 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2840 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2841 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2842 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2844 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2846 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2849 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2851 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2854 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2855 GC in percent of total heap size
2858 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2859 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2861 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2863 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2864 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2866 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2868 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2869 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2871 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2873 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2874 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2878 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2879 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2881 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2883 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2885 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2887 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2889 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2891 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2892 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2894 (simple-format port message . args)
2895 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2896 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2897 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2898 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2899 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2900 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2901 Does not add a trailing newline."
2903 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2905 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2906 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2908 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2909 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2911 ** Deprecated: list*
2913 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2915 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2917 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2918 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2920 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2921 is returned as result.
2923 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2925 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2927 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2929 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2930 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2933 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2935 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2937 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2938 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2940 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2942 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2944 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2946 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2948 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2950 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2952 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2954 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2955 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2956 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2958 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2961 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2963 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2964 the readability of argument checking.
2966 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2968 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2970 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2972 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2973 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2974 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2975 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2976 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2977 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2978 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2980 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2982 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2984 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2985 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2987 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2989 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2990 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2993 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2995 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2996 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2997 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2999 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3000 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3001 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3003 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3004 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3005 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3006 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3007 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3008 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3009 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3011 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3012 scm_end_input (object);
3013 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3014 ptob->flush (object);
3016 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3017 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3020 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3022 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3024 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3025 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3026 removed in a future version.
3028 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3030 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3031 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3032 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3033 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3035 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3036 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3038 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3041 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3043 in your configure.in.
3045 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3050 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3056 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3058 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3062 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3063 (define make-message string-append)
3065 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3067 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3071 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3076 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3080 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3082 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3083 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3085 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3087 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3088 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3089 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3090 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3091 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3092 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3094 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3095 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3096 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3098 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3099 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3100 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3103 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3104 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3105 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3106 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3107 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3109 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3110 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3111 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3112 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3113 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3114 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3115 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3117 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3119 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3120 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3121 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3123 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3124 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3125 KEY in the calling thread.
3127 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3128 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3129 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3130 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3131 associated with the key.
3133 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3135 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3136 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3138 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3140 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3141 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3142 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3144 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3146 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3147 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3149 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3151 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3153 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3154 returned is undefined.
3156 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3157 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3158 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3160 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3161 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3162 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3164 ** New C level GC hooks
3166 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3168 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3171 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3172 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3173 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3175 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3176 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3177 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3179 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3180 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3183 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3185 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3186 allocation parameters
3188 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3189 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3190 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3194 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3195 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3196 scm_default_max_segment_size
3198 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3200 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3201 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3203 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3205 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3206 object and count on the object being protected until
3207 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3209 The functions also have better time complexity.
3211 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3212 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3213 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3214 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3215 are no longer needed.
3217 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3219 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3220 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3221 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3222 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3224 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3226 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3228 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3230 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3231 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3232 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3233 until this issue has been settled.
3235 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3237 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3239 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3242 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3244 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3246 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3247 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3248 descriptors were checked.
3250 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3251 atomically written to a pipe.
3253 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3254 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3255 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3256 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3257 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3258 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3259 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3262 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3263 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3264 is changed without calling tzset.
3266 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3268 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3269 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3270 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3272 (define write-network-long
3273 (lambda (value port)
3274 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3275 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3276 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3278 (define read-network-long
3280 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3281 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3282 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3284 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3285 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3287 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3288 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3289 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3290 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3292 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3293 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3294 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3295 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3299 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3301 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3305 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3306 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3307 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3313 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3314 for a description of available commands.
3316 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3317 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3318 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3320 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3322 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3323 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3325 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3327 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3329 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3330 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3331 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3332 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3333 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3334 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3337 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3339 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3340 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3341 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3342 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3344 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3345 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3347 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3349 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3351 ** Readline support has changed again.
3353 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3354 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3355 to activate readline is now
3357 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3360 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3362 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3363 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3364 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3367 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3368 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3369 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3372 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3373 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3374 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3375 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3376 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3377 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3379 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3380 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3382 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3384 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3385 object it receives is the same string passed to
3386 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3387 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3388 string, not the suffix.
3390 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3391 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3392 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3394 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3396 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3397 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3398 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3399 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3402 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3404 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3406 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3407 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3408 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3409 appear from left to right.
3411 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3414 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3416 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3417 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3419 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3423 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3425 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3427 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3429 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3430 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3431 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3433 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3435 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3437 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3439 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3442 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3444 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3445 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3446 mentioning it here anyway.
3448 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3450 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3451 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3452 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3453 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3456 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3458 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3460 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3462 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3463 otherwise return #f.
3465 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3467 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3468 returned by `opendir'.
3470 ** New function: using-readline?
3472 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3474 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3476 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3477 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3479 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3481 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3483 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3484 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3485 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3487 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3489 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3490 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3492 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3494 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3495 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3496 documentation slots are not yet used.
3498 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3500 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3501 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3502 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3507 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3508 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3509 (string-append x y))
3511 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3512 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3514 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3515 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3516 be made in a clean way.]
3518 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3520 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3522 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3524 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3525 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3527 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3529 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3531 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3533 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3535 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3536 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3537 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3538 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3541 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3543 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3545 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3547 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3549 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3550 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3552 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3554 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3556 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3558 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3560 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3561 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3562 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3563 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3564 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3565 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3567 This should not make any difference for most users.
3569 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3571 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3572 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3574 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3576 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3577 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3578 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3579 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3580 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3582 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3584 It is now replaced by:
3586 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3588 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3589 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3591 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3593 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3594 This might change when we get the new module system.
3596 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3600 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3602 * Changes to mailing lists
3604 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3606 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3609 * Changes to the distribution
3611 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3613 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3614 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3615 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3616 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3617 you explicitly specify it.
3619 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3620 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3621 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3622 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3623 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3626 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3627 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3628 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3629 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3631 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3632 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3633 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3636 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3638 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3641 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3643 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3645 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3646 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3647 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3648 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3650 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3651 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3654 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3656 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3657 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3658 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3659 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3660 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3661 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3662 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3663 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3675 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3676 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3677 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3678 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3679 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3684 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3685 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3693 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3698 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3699 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3702 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3703 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3704 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3705 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3707 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3709 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3711 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3712 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3714 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3716 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3718 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3719 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3721 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3724 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3726 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3728 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3730 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3732 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3734 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3736 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3737 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3738 when the hook was created.
3740 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3741 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3742 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3743 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3744 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3745 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3746 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3747 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3748 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3750 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3751 the dlopen family of functions.
3753 ** New function `provided?'
3755 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3756 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3757 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3758 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3760 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3762 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3763 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3764 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3765 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3768 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3769 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3770 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3771 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3773 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3774 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3775 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3778 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3779 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3780 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3781 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3782 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3783 but with the flag set.
3785 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3787 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3788 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3790 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3791 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3792 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3793 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3794 available Scheme format implementations.
3796 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3797 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3798 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3799 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3800 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3801 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3802 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3803 output is to the current error port if available by the
3804 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3807 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3808 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3809 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3810 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3811 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3812 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3813 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3814 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3816 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3817 be executed at a time.
3820 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3822 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3823 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3824 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3826 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3827 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3828 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3829 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3830 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3831 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3832 general form of a directive is:
3834 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3836 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3838 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3840 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3841 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3842 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3845 Any (print as `display' does).
3849 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3853 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3857 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3863 print number sign always.
3866 print comma separated.
3868 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3874 print number sign always.
3877 print comma separated.
3879 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3885 print number sign always.
3888 print comma separated.
3890 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3896 print number sign always.
3899 print comma separated.
3901 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3906 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3910 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3913 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3916 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3919 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3924 prints `y' and `ies'.
3927 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3930 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3935 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3939 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3942 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3943 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3945 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3948 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3949 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3951 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3954 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3956 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3958 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3961 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3963 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3965 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3968 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3971 The sign appears before the padding.
3979 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3981 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3986 print N page separators.
3996 newline is ignored, white space left.
3999 newline is left, white space ignored.
4004 relative tabulation.
4010 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4012 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4015 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4017 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4020 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4023 converts by `string-upcase'.
4026 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4028 jumps N arguments forward.
4031 jumps 1 argument backward.
4034 jumps N arguments backward.
4037 jumps to the 0th argument.
4040 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4042 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4043 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4045 take argument from N.
4048 true test conditional.
4051 if-else-then conditional.
4057 default clause follows.
4060 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4062 at most N iterations.
4065 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4068 args from the rest of arguments.
4071 args from the rest args (lists).
4082 aborts if N <= M <= K
4084 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4087 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4090 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4096 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4098 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4100 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4101 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4102 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4103 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4104 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4105 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4109 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4113 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4119 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4122 Print a `#\space' character
4124 print N `#\space' characters.
4127 Print a `#\tab' character
4129 print N `#\tab' characters.
4132 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4133 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4134 must be a positive decimal number.
4137 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4138 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4139 be processed by `read'.
4142 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4143 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4144 be processed by `read'.
4147 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4150 prints format version.
4153 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4154 and format it accordingly.
4156 *** Configuration Variables
4158 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4159 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4160 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4161 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4164 format:symbol-case-conv
4165 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4166 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4167 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4168 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4169 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4171 format:iobj-case-conv
4172 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4173 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4176 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4179 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4185 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4186 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4187 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4188 `format' padding style.
4191 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4192 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4193 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4194 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4198 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4199 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4200 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4203 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4204 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4205 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4206 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4207 parameters or modifiers)).
4210 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4212 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4214 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4215 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4217 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4218 string-downcase! functions.
4220 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4221 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4223 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4226 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4229 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4230 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4232 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4234 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4235 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4237 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4238 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4239 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4240 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4241 would if STRING were input.
4243 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4245 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4246 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4247 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4248 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4251 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4253 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4254 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4257 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4259 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4260 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4262 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4263 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4265 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4266 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4267 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4268 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4270 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4271 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4273 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4274 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4275 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4277 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4278 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4280 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4281 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4282 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4283 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4284 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4286 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4287 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4288 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4289 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4290 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4291 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4293 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4294 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4295 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4298 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4299 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4300 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4301 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4302 the following grammar:
4303 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4304 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4305 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4306 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4307 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4308 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4309 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4310 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4311 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4312 last option in its combination)
4314 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4315 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4316 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4317 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4319 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4320 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4321 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4323 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4324 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4325 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4327 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4328 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4329 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4330 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4331 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4332 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4333 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4334 ordinary argument strings.
4336 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4337 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4338 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4339 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4341 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4342 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4344 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4345 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4346 - a required option is omitted
4347 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4348 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4349 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4350 - an option predicate fails
4355 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4358 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4359 (verbose (required? #f)
4362 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4363 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4364 (predicate ,string?))))
4366 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4367 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4369 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4370 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4371 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4372 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4375 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4377 It will be removed in a few releases.
4379 ** New syntax: lambda*
4380 ** New syntax: define*
4381 ** New syntax: define*-public
4382 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4383 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4384 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4386 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4387 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4388 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4389 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4390 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4392 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4393 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4394 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4396 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4398 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4399 and examples for `lambda*':
4402 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4404 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4405 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4406 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4407 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4408 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4409 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4410 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4411 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4413 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4415 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4416 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4417 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4418 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4420 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4421 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4422 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4423 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4424 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4425 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4426 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4427 and until the procedure is called.
4429 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4431 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4432 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4433 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4434 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4435 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4436 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4437 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4438 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4439 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4440 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4442 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4443 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4444 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4445 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4448 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4450 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4451 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4452 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4453 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4455 ** New syntax: and-let*
4456 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4458 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4459 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4460 (<variable> <expression>)
4463 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4464 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4465 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4468 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4469 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4470 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4471 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4472 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4473 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4474 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4476 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4477 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4478 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4479 shadow earlier bindings.
4481 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4483 ** New sorting functions
4485 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4486 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4487 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4488 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4490 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4491 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4494 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4495 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4496 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4498 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4499 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4500 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4501 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4503 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4504 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4505 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4506 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4507 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4510 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4511 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4512 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4513 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4514 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4515 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4517 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4518 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4519 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4521 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4522 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4523 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4526 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4527 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4528 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4530 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4531 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4533 ** New built-in random number support
4535 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4536 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4537 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4538 returned have a uniform distribution.
4540 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4541 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4542 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4543 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4544 effect of the `random' operation.
4546 *** New variable: *random-state*
4547 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4548 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4549 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4550 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4551 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4554 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4555 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4556 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4557 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4558 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4560 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4561 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4562 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4563 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4564 initialized using SEED.
4566 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4567 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4568 range between 0 and 1.
4570 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4571 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4572 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4573 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4574 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4575 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4576 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4578 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4579 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4580 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4581 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4582 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4583 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4585 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4586 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4587 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4588 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4590 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4591 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4592 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4593 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4595 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4596 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4597 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4599 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4601 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4604 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4605 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4608 ** New function: make-guardian
4609 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4610 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4611 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4612 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4613 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4615 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4616 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4617 one object if at all.
4619 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4620 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4621 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4623 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4624 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4625 read again in last-in first-out order.
4627 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4628 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4630 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4632 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4633 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4634 file position is used.
4636 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4637 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4638 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4640 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4641 redefined using seek.
4643 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4644 size is not supplied.
4646 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4647 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4649 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4650 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4652 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4654 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4655 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4656 and returns the contents as a single string.
4658 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4659 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4660 lists in serial order.
4662 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4663 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4664 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4666 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4667 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4668 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4669 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4671 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4672 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4673 and #f if an error occured.
4675 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4677 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4678 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4679 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4680 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4682 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4684 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4687 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4689 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4692 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4696 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4697 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4699 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4700 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4704 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4706 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4708 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4709 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4711 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4713 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4714 might change when we get the new module system.
4716 ** The smob interface
4718 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4719 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4721 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4723 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4727 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4728 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4729 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4730 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4731 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4732 will be freed by the default free function.
4734 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4735 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4736 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4737 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4739 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4740 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4741 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4742 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4744 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4746 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4747 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4751 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4752 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4753 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4755 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4756 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4757 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4758 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4760 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4761 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4762 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4764 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4765 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4766 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4767 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4769 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4770 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4771 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4773 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4777 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4779 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4780 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4781 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4783 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4784 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4785 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4787 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4788 a string port's buffer.
4790 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4791 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4792 function pointers which together define the current random number
4793 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4794 number library functions.
4796 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4799 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4800 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4803 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4804 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4806 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4807 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4809 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4810 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4813 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4814 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4815 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4816 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4818 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4819 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4820 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4821 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4822 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4823 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4824 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4826 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4827 by libguile and the application.
4829 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4830 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4831 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4832 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4834 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4835 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4837 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4838 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4839 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4841 ** Random number library functions
4842 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4843 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4844 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4846 The default random state is stored in:
4848 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4849 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4850 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4855 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4857 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4858 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4859 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4860 isn't a random state.
4862 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4863 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4865 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4866 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4867 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4868 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4870 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4871 Return 32 random bits.
4873 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4874 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4876 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4877 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4879 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4880 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4882 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4883 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4885 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4886 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4887 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4891 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4893 * Changes to the distribution
4895 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4896 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4897 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4900 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4901 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4902 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4904 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4905 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4906 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4907 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4910 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4911 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4912 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4914 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4916 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4918 *** Function: batch-mode?
4920 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4923 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4925 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4926 case has not been implemented.
4928 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4929 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4930 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4933 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4934 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4936 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4938 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4940 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4942 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4943 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4946 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4947 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4948 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4949 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4952 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4954 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4955 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4956 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4957 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4958 find those libraries.
4960 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4961 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4964 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4966 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4967 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4968 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4969 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4971 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4972 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4973 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4977 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4979 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4980 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4981 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4984 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4985 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4986 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4987 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4989 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4990 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4993 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4994 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4995 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4996 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4997 compiler where to find the libraries.
4999 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5000 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5001 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5003 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5004 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5005 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5006 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5007 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5011 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5013 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5014 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5015 internationalization support.
5017 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5018 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5019 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5020 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5021 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5023 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5024 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5025 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5026 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5027 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5029 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5030 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5031 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5032 any GNU mirror site.
5034 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5036 ** New function: add-history STRING
5037 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5038 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5039 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5041 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5043 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5044 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5045 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5048 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5049 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5050 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5052 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5054 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5057 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5058 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5061 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5062 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5063 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5064 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5065 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5066 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5068 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5069 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5070 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5071 of the form mentioned above.
5073 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5074 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5075 returned in the special `rest' list.
5077 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5078 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5080 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5082 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5084 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5086 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5087 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5088 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5089 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5090 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5091 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5092 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5093 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5096 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5098 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5100 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5101 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5104 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5105 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5106 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5110 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5111 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5112 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5113 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5114 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5115 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5116 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5117 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5120 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5122 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5123 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5124 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5126 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5128 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5129 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5131 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5132 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5133 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5135 Why do we have this function?
5136 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5137 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5138 primitive, and display it differently, and
5139 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5140 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5143 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5144 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5147 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5148 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5149 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5150 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5152 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5153 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5156 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5157 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5159 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5161 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5162 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5163 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5164 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5165 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5166 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5167 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5170 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5172 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5173 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5175 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5176 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5177 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5178 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5179 properly continue the print chain.
5181 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5182 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5183 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5184 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5185 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5186 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5187 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5188 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5190 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5191 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5192 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5193 safest to not check for these pairs.
5195 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5196 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5197 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5198 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5200 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5202 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5203 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5205 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5207 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5209 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5210 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5211 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5213 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5214 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5215 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5217 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5218 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5219 the following functions and macros:
5221 Function: make-fluid
5223 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5224 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5225 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5226 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5227 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5229 Function: fluid? OBJ
5231 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5233 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5234 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5236 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5237 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5239 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5241 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5242 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5243 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5244 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5245 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5246 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5247 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5249 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5251 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5252 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5253 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5254 should evaluate to a fluid.
5256 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5258 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5259 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5260 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5261 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5262 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5264 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5267 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5269 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5271 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5273 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5276 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5277 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5278 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5279 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5280 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5283 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5284 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5285 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5287 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5288 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5289 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5291 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5292 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5293 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5294 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5296 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5297 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5298 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5299 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5301 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5302 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5303 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5304 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5306 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5307 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5308 their revealed counts set to zero.
5310 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5311 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5313 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5314 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5316 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5317 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5319 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5320 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5321 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5323 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5324 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5325 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5327 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5328 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5329 default environment inherited by child processes.
5331 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5332 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5333 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5335 The return value is unspecified.
5337 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5338 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5339 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5340 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5341 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5343 The return value is unspecified.
5345 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5346 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5354 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5355 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5358 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5361 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5362 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5363 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5365 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5366 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5367 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5368 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5371 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5372 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5374 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5375 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5376 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5377 the `environ' procedure.
5379 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5380 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5383 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5384 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5386 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5387 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5388 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5389 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5391 *** procedure: times
5392 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5393 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5394 return a selected component:
5397 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5401 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5404 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5408 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5409 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5413 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5414 terminated child processes.
5416 ** Removed: list-length
5417 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5418 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5420 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5422 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5424 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5426 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5427 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5428 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5429 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5431 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5432 extra complexity it introduces.
5434 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5435 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5437 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5438 variable to any non-empty value.
5440 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5441 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5443 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5445 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5446 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5448 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5450 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5451 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5453 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5455 ** vector handling routines
5457 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5458 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5459 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5460 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5461 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5463 ** pair and list routines
5465 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5468 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5470 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5473 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5475 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5477 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5478 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5479 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5480 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5481 site-specific initialization code.
5483 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5484 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5485 initialization processes.
5487 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5488 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5489 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5490 initialized properly.
5492 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5493 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5494 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5496 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5497 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5498 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5499 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5500 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5502 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5504 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5505 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5506 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5507 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5508 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5510 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5511 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5512 which look like this:
5515 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5517 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5518 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5521 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5522 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5525 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5527 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5528 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5529 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5531 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5532 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5533 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5534 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5535 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5537 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5538 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5540 int (*free) (SCM port);
5541 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5542 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5543 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5547 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5548 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5549 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5551 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5554 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5555 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5556 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5558 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5559 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5560 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5563 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5567 struct timeval *timeout);
5569 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5570 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5571 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5572 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5573 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5574 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5576 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5577 scm_catch_body_t body,
5579 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5582 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5583 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5584 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5585 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5586 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5587 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5589 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5591 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5594 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5595 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5596 spawning threads from application C code.
5598 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5599 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5600 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5601 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5602 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5603 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5605 ** Removed functions:
5607 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5608 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5610 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5612 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5613 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5615 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5617 ** mbstrings are now removed
5619 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5620 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5622 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5624 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5625 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5626 their new names and arguments:
5628 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5629 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5630 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5631 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5634 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5636 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5638 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5641 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5643 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5644 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5645 pass a #f arg to catch.
5647 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5649 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5650 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5653 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5654 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5655 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5656 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5657 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5658 reclaim its storage.
5660 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5661 worrying that some other function you call will call
5662 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5663 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5664 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5665 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5668 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5670 * Changes to the distribution
5672 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5673 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5676 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5677 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5679 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5680 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5682 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5684 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5685 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5686 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5688 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5690 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5691 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5692 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5693 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5694 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5695 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5697 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5698 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5699 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5702 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5703 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5704 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5705 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5707 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5708 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5709 libraries to your link command:
5711 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5712 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5713 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5714 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5716 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5717 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5718 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5720 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5722 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5723 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5726 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5728 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5729 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5730 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5731 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5732 searched is system dependent.
5734 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5736 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5738 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5740 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5741 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5743 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5745 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5746 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5747 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5748 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5749 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5752 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5754 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5755 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5756 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5757 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5758 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5760 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5762 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5763 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5765 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5767 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5768 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5769 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5772 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5774 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5775 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5776 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5777 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5779 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5780 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5782 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5784 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5785 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5787 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5789 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5790 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5798 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5800 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5801 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5802 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5803 a more informative way.
5805 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5806 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5807 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5808 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5809 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5810 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5812 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5813 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5816 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5817 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5818 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5821 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5822 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5823 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5824 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5825 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5826 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5828 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5829 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5830 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5831 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5834 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5835 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5836 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5837 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5838 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5839 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5841 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5842 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5843 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5844 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5845 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5847 *** regexp functions
5849 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5850 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5851 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5853 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5854 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5855 with SCSH regular expressions.
5857 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5858 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5859 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5860 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5862 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5863 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5864 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5865 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5867 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5868 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5869 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5870 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5871 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5872 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5874 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5875 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5876 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5877 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5878 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5880 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5882 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5883 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5884 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5885 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5887 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5888 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5889 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5891 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5892 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5894 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5897 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5898 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5899 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5901 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5902 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5903 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5905 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5906 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5907 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5908 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5909 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5912 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5914 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5915 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5916 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5917 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5918 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5919 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5921 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5922 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5923 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5925 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5926 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5929 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5930 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5932 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5933 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5934 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5935 may be one of the following arguments:
5937 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5939 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5941 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5942 the regexp match is written.
5944 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5945 following the regexp match is written.
5947 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5948 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5951 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5952 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5953 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5954 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5955 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5956 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5958 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5961 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5962 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5963 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5964 written out to PORT.
5966 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5967 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5968 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5969 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5970 will return after processing a single match.
5972 *** Match Structures
5974 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5975 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5976 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5977 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5978 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5979 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5982 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5983 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5984 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5985 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5986 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5988 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5989 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5990 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5992 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5993 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5994 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5995 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5996 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5998 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5999 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6001 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6002 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6004 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6005 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6007 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6008 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6010 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6011 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6012 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6013 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6015 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6016 Return the original TARGET string.
6018 *** Backslash Escapes
6020 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6021 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6022 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6023 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6024 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6025 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6027 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6028 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6029 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6030 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6031 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6032 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6033 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6034 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6036 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6037 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6038 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6039 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6040 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6041 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6042 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6044 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6045 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6046 return the resulting string.
6048 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6049 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6050 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6051 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6052 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6053 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6054 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6055 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6056 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6057 translated to the single character `*'.
6059 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6060 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6061 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6062 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6063 consecutive backslashes:
6065 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6067 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6068 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6069 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6071 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6072 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6073 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6074 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6075 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6076 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6078 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6080 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6081 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6082 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6083 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6084 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6085 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6086 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6087 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6088 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6089 cumbersome escape syntax.
6091 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6093 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6095 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6097 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6100 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6102 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6104 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6107 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6108 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6109 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6110 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6111 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6113 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6114 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6115 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6116 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6117 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6118 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6119 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6122 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6123 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6124 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6127 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6128 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6130 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6131 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6132 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6133 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6134 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6135 installed, you can say:
6137 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6140 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6142 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6143 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6144 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6145 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6146 new dynamic roots and threads.
6149 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6151 * Changes to the distribution.
6153 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6155 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6156 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6157 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6158 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6159 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6160 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6161 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6162 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6164 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6167 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6168 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6173 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6175 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6176 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6178 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6179 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6180 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6181 the (command-line) function.
6182 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6183 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6184 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6186 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6187 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6188 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6189 command line arguments
6190 -ds do -s script at this point
6191 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6192 -h, --help display this help and exit
6193 -v, --version display version information and exit
6194 \ read arguments from following script lines
6196 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6197 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6199 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6202 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6206 (main (command-line))
6208 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6210 ekko a speckled gecko
6212 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6213 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6214 following list of command-line arguments:
6216 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6218 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6219 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6220 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6221 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6222 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6224 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6226 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6228 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6229 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6232 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6233 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6234 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6235 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6237 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6238 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6239 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6240 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6242 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6246 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6250 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6252 ekko a speckled gecko
6254 Unix expands this into
6256 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6258 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6259 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6261 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6263 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6264 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6266 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6267 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6268 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6269 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6270 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6271 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6272 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6273 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6274 it only terminates the argument list.)
6275 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6276 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6277 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6278 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6279 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6280 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6281 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6282 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6284 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6286 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6287 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6288 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6289 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6290 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6292 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6293 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6294 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6296 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6298 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6299 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6300 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6301 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6304 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6305 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6306 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6308 * Changes to Scheme functions
6310 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6311 and disabled by default.
6313 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6314 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6315 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6316 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6318 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6320 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6322 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6323 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6325 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6326 (read-set! keywords #f)
6328 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6329 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6330 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6333 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6334 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6335 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6338 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6339 support for Scheme functions.
6341 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6342 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6343 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6344 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6347 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6348 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6349 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6352 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6353 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6354 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6357 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6358 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6359 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6360 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6361 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6362 display the result as a prompt.
6363 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6365 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6366 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6367 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6370 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6371 procedure of zero arguments.
6373 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6374 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6375 argument is bound in the current module.
6377 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6378 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6379 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6380 public bindings into the current module.
6382 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6383 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6385 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6386 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6388 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6389 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6391 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6392 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6394 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6395 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6397 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6398 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6399 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6400 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6401 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6403 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6404 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6405 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6406 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6408 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6411 ** Changes to I/O functions
6413 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6414 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6415 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6417 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6418 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6419 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6421 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6422 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6424 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6425 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6426 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6427 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6429 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6431 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6432 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6434 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6435 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6436 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6437 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6438 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6441 'trim omit delimiter from result
6442 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6443 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6444 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6446 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6448 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6449 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6451 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6452 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6453 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6454 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6455 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6457 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6458 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6459 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6461 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6462 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6463 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6464 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6466 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6467 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6469 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6470 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6472 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6474 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6475 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6476 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6477 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6478 a delimiting character.
6479 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6481 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6482 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6483 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6484 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6485 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6486 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6488 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6489 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6491 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6492 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6493 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6495 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6496 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6497 the array to read and write.
6499 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6500 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6503 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6505 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6508 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6509 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6510 Values for COMMAND are:
6512 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6513 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6514 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6515 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6516 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6517 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6518 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6519 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6521 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6523 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6524 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6525 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6526 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6527 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6528 corresponding return set will be the same.
6530 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6533 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6534 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6535 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6536 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6537 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6538 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6539 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6540 special file being created.
6542 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6543 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6545 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6546 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6547 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6548 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6549 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6550 and originating address.
6552 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6553 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6554 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6556 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6559 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6560 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6563 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6564 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6565 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6566 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6567 this function returns #f.
6569 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6570 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6571 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6574 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6575 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6576 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6579 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6580 a valid STATUS value.
6582 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6584 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6585 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6587 Component Accessor Setter
6588 ========================= ============ ============
6589 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6590 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6591 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6592 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6593 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6594 year tm:year set-tm:year
6595 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6596 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6597 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6598 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6599 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6601 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6602 describing the host system:
6605 ============================================== ================
6606 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6607 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6608 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6609 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6610 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6612 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6613 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6614 system's user database:
6617 ====================== =================
6618 user name passwd:name
6619 user password passwd:passwd
6622 real name passwd:gecos
6623 home directory passwd:dir
6624 shell program passwd:shell
6626 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6627 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6628 system's group database:
6631 ======================= ============
6632 group name group:name
6633 group password group:passwd
6635 group members group:mem
6637 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6638 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6642 ========================= ===============
6643 official name of host hostent:name
6644 alias list hostent:aliases
6645 host address type hostent:addrtype
6646 length of address hostent:length
6647 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6649 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6650 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6654 ========================= ===============
6655 official name of net netent:name
6656 alias list netent:aliases
6657 net number type netent:addrtype
6658 net number netent:net
6660 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6661 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6665 ========================= ===============
6666 official protocol name protoent:name
6667 alias list protoent:aliases
6668 protocol number protoent:proto
6670 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6671 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6675 ========================= ===============
6676 official service name servent:name
6677 alias list servent:aliases
6678 port number servent:port
6679 protocol to use servent:proto
6681 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6682 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6685 ======================================== ===============
6686 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6687 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6688 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6689 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6691 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6692 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6693 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6695 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6696 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6698 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6699 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6701 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6702 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6704 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6706 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6708 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6709 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6710 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6712 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6713 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6714 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6715 return the remaining characters as a string.
6717 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6718 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6719 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6721 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6723 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6725 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6728 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6731 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6732 and returns the array
6734 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6735 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6736 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6738 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6740 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6741 symbol's value from C code:
6743 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6744 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6745 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6746 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6748 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6749 without assigning them a value.
6751 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6752 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6753 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6755 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6756 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6757 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6759 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6760 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6762 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6763 doesn't actually care about that.
6765 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6766 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6767 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6769 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6770 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6771 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6772 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6773 which we have just created and initialized.
6775 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6776 should one occur. We call it like this:
6777 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6779 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6780 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6781 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6782 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6783 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6784 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6787 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6788 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6789 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6790 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6791 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6792 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6793 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6796 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6797 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6798 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6799 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6800 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6803 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6804 scm_internal_catch, except:
6806 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6807 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6808 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6809 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6812 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6813 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6814 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6816 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6817 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6818 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6819 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6822 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6823 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6824 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6826 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6827 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6828 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6829 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6830 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6832 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6833 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6834 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6836 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6837 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6838 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6840 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6841 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6843 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6844 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6845 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6848 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6849 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6850 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6851 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6852 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6853 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6854 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6857 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6858 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6860 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6861 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6862 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6863 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6864 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6867 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6868 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6870 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6871 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6874 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6875 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6877 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6880 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6881 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6882 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6883 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6884 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6885 given the following arguments:
6887 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6889 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6891 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6893 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6896 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6897 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6898 command-line arguments.
6900 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6901 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6902 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6903 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6904 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6905 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6908 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6911 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6912 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6914 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6915 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6917 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6918 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6919 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6920 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6922 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6923 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6925 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6926 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6927 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6928 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6930 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6931 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6933 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6934 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6936 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6938 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6939 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6940 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6943 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6944 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6946 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6947 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6952 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6955 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6957 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6958 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6959 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6960 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6962 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6964 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6966 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6967 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6968 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6969 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6970 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6971 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6972 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6973 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6974 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6975 for more information.
6977 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6978 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6980 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6981 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6982 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6983 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6984 following two lines at the top of the file:
6986 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6989 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6990 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6991 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6993 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6995 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6997 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7000 (display (car args))
7001 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7003 (loop (cdr args)))))
7006 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7007 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7008 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7009 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7010 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7011 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7015 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7018 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7021 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7023 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7024 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7025 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7026 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7027 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7030 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7031 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7032 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7033 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7034 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7037 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7040 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7041 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7042 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7045 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7046 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7047 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7049 to see a backtrace, and
7050 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7051 to see them by default.
7055 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7057 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7059 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7060 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7063 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7064 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7065 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7066 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7069 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7070 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7071 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7072 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7073 functions which inspired them.
7075 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7076 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7080 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7082 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7084 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7085 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7088 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7089 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7090 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7092 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7093 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7094 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7095 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7096 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7098 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7100 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7101 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7102 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7105 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7108 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7110 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7111 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7112 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7113 above should serve their purposes.
7115 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7116 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7117 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7118 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7120 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7123 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7124 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7125 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7126 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7128 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7129 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7130 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7131 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7133 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7134 for the `read' function.
7137 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7138 to that of `integer?'.
7140 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7141 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7143 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7144 it simply returns the object's property list.
7146 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7147 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7148 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7149 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7151 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7153 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7156 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7158 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7159 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7161 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7163 void (*main_func) (),
7166 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7167 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7168 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7169 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7170 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7172 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7173 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7174 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7175 know which arguments have been processed.
7177 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7178 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7179 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7180 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7181 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7183 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7184 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7185 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7186 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7187 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7188 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7189 people from making that mistake.
7191 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7192 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7194 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7196 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7200 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7203 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7204 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7205 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7206 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7209 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7210 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7211 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7212 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7215 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7216 have been added to the Guile library.
7218 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7219 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7220 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7223 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7224 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7225 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7227 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7228 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7229 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7230 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7231 argument from the list.
7234 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7237 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7238 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7240 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7241 to a Scheme port object.
7243 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7244 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7249 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7251 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7252 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7253 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7254 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7255 code as a special datatype.
7257 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7258 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7259 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7260 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7261 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7264 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7265 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7266 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7267 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7268 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7270 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7273 Copyright information:
7275 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7277 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7278 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7279 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7280 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7282 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7283 of this document, or of portions of it,
7284 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7285 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7290 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"