1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Each release reports the NEWS in the following sections:
9 * Changes to the distribution
10 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
11 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
12 * Changes to the C interface
15 Changes since the stable branch:
17 * Changes to the distribution
19 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
21 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
23 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
25 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
26 At the moment it is being used to handle Guile's bignums.
28 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
30 Guile now has config.h and libguile/scmconfig.h. The former is not
31 installed and is private. The latter is installed and used by Guile's
32 public headers. config.h is generated by configure and autoheader,
33 and scmconfig.h is generated by a small C program, gen-scmconfig at
34 build time based in part on the contents of config.h.
36 Seen libguile/__scm.h and gen-scmconfig.c for more information.
38 Note too that nearly all public defines are now set to either 1 or 0
39 rather than being set to 1 or left undefined. See gen-scmconfig.c and
40 the GNU Coding Guidelines for the rationale. However, pre-existing
41 defines that were not renamed were not changed. i.e. GUILE_DEBUG is
42 still either 1 or undefined.
44 ** The INSTALL file is now the generic automake installed one.
46 Guile specific instructions can be found in the README.
48 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
50 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
51 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
52 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
53 so the current effective-version is "1.6". The effective version
54 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
55 items like the versioned share directory name
56 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.6.
58 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
59 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
60 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
61 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
62 with each micro release during a stable series.
64 ** Thread implementation has changed.
66 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
67 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
68 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
69 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
70 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
73 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
74 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
75 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
76 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
77 the GC. See the manual for details. [XXX - write this.]
79 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
80 in which case "null" threads are used.
82 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
84 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when
85 you don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but
86 where you have some section(s) of code which you consider can run
87 in parallel to other sections.
89 They "flag" (with dynamic extent) sections of code to be of
90 "serial" or "parallel" nature and have the single effect of
91 preventing a serial section from being run in parallel with any
92 serial section (including itself).
94 Both serialize and parallelize can be nested. If so, the
95 inner-most construct is in effect.
97 NOTE 1: A serial section can run in parallel with a parallel
100 NOTE 2: If a serial section S is "interrupted" by a parallel
101 section P in the following manner: S = S1 P S2, S2 is not
102 guaranteed to be resumed by the same thread that previously
105 WARNING: Spawning new threads within a serial section have
106 undefined effects. It is OK, though, to spawn threads in unflagged
107 sections of code where neither serialize or parallelize is in
110 A typical usage is when Guile is used as scripting language in some
111 application doing heavy computations. If each thread is
112 encapsulated with a serialize form, you can then put a parallelize
113 form around the code performing the heavy computations (typically a
114 C code primitive), enabling the computations to run in parallel
115 while the scripting code runs single-threadedly.
117 ** New module (srfi srfi-26)
119 This is an implementation of SRFI-26.
121 ** Guile now includes its own version of libltdl.
123 We now use a modified version of libltdl that allows us to make
124 improvements to it without having to rely on libtool releases.
126 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
128 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
130 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
131 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
133 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
135 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
136 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
138 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
140 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
141 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
144 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
147 (define-module (demo)
151 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
154 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
156 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
158 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
161 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
163 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
164 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
165 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
168 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
169 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
170 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
173 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
175 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
176 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
177 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
180 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
183 ** Checking for duplicate bindings in module system
185 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
188 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more duplicates
189 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
197 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
198 has been detected is to
200 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
201 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
202 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
205 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
208 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
210 to your .guile init file.
212 The syntax for the :duplicates option is:
214 :duplicates HANDLER-NAME | (HANDLER1-NAME HANDLER2-NAME ...)
216 Specifying multiple handlers is useful since some handlers (such as
217 replace) can defer conflict resolution to others. Each handler is
218 tried until a binding is selected.
220 Currently available duplicates handlers are:
222 check report an error for bindings with a common name
223 warn issue a warning for bindings with a common name
224 replace replace bindings which have an imported replacement
225 warn-override-core issue a warning for imports which override core bindings
226 and accept the override
227 first select the first encountered binding (override)
228 last select the last encountered binding (override)
230 These two are provided by the (oop goops) module:
232 merge-generics merge generic functions with a common name
233 into an <extended-generic>
234 merge-accessors merge accessors with a common name
236 The default duplicates handler is:
238 (replace warn-override-core warn last)
240 A recommended handler (which is likely to correspond to future Guile
241 behavior) can be installed with:
243 (default-duplicate-binding-handler '(replace warn-override-core check))
245 ** New define-module option: :replace
247 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
250 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
251 for the core binding `format'.
253 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
255 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
256 a prefix to all imported bindings.
259 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
261 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
264 ** Merging generic functions
266 It is sometimes tempting to use GOOPS accessors with short names.
267 For example, it is tempting to use the name `x' for the x-coordinate
270 Assume that we work with a graphical package which needs to use two
271 independent vector packages for 2D and 3D vectors respectively. If
272 both packages export `x' we will encounter a name collision.
274 This can now be resolved automagically with the duplicates handler
275 `merge-generics' which gives the module system license to merge all
276 generic functions sharing a common name:
278 (define-module (math 2D-vectors)
279 :use-module (oop goops)
282 (define-module (math 3D-vectors)
283 :use-module (oop goops)
286 (define-module (my-module)
287 :use-module (math 2D-vectors)
288 :use-module (math 3D-vectors)
289 :duplicates merge-generics)
291 x in (my-module) will now share methods with x in both imported
294 There will, in fact, now be three distinct generic functions named
295 `x': x in (2D-vectors), x in (3D-vectors), and x in (my-module). The
296 last function will be an <extended-generic>, extending the previous
299 Let's call the imported generic functions the "ancestor functions". x
300 in (my-module) is, in turn, a "descendant function" of the imported
301 functions, extending its ancestors.
303 For any generic function G, the applicable methods are selected from
304 the union of the methods of the descendant functions, the methods of G
305 itself and the methods of the ancestor functions.
307 This, ancestor functions share methods with their descendants and vice
308 versa. This implies that x in (math 2D-vectors) can will share the
309 methods of x in (my-module) and vice versa, while x in (math 2D-vectors)
310 doesn't share the methods of x in (math 3D-vectors), thus preserving
313 Sharing is dynamic, so that adding new methods to a descendant implies
314 adding it to the ancestor.
316 If duplicates checking is desired in the above example, the following
317 form of the :duplicates option can be used instead:
319 :duplicates (merge-generics check)
321 ** New function: effective-version
323 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
324 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
325 to the distribution" above.
327 ** Futures: future, make-future, future-ref
329 Futures are like promises, but begun immediately in a new thread. See
330 the "Futures" section in the reference manual.
332 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
334 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
335 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
337 ** Fair mutexes and condition variables
339 Fair mutexes and condition variables have been added. The fairness
340 means that scheduling is arranged to give as equal time shares as
341 possible and that threads are awakened in a first-in-first-out
342 manner. This is not guaranteed with standard mutexes and condition
345 In addition, fair mutexes are recursive. Locking a fair mutex that
346 you have already locked will succeed. Every call to lock-mutex must
347 be matched with a call to unlock-mutex. Only the last call to
348 unlock-mutex will actually unlock the mutex.
350 A fair condition variable must be used together with a fair mutex,
351 just as a standard condition variable must be used together with a
354 ** New functions: make-fair-mutex, make-fair-condition-variable'
356 Make a new fair mutex and a new fair condition variable respectively.
358 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
360 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
361 instead if blocking and indicate failure.
363 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
365 The funtion 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
366 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
369 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
371 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
373 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
375 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
376 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
377 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
380 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
381 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
382 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
385 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
386 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
388 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
390 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
391 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
394 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
395 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
397 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
398 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
399 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
400 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
401 level for the current thread.
403 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
405 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
407 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
408 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
411 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
413 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
415 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
418 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
420 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
423 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
424 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
425 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
427 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
428 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
429 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
430 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
441 ERROR: Numerical overflow
443 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
446 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
448 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
449 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
450 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
461 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
463 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
464 them is also done exactly, of course:
469 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
472 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
473 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
475 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
477 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
478 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
479 equal to a floating point number. For example:
481 (inexact->exact 1.234)
482 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
484 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitely:
486 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
489 ** New function 'rationalize'.
491 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
492 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
494 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
497 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
498 result when both its arguments are exact.
500 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
502 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
503 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
504 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
506 ** We now have uninterned symbols.
508 The new function 'make-symbol' will return a uninterned symbol. This
509 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
510 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
512 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
515 ** pretty-print has more options.
517 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
518 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
519 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
521 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
523 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
524 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
525 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
527 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
529 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
530 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
532 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
534 Change your code to use either procedure->memoizing-macro or, probably better,
535 to use r5rs macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done
536 during evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
538 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
540 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
541 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
542 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
543 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
544 without the soft port blocking.
546 ** New debugging feature: breakpoints.
548 Guile now has breakpoints. For details see the `Debugging Features'
549 chapter in the reference manual.
551 ** Deprecated: undefine
553 There is no replacement for undefine.
555 ** call-with-output-string doesn't segv on closed port
557 Previously call-with-output-string would give a segmentation fault if
558 the string port was closed by the called function. An exception is
561 ** (ice-9 popen) duplicate pipe fd fix
563 open-pipe, open-input-pipe and open-output-pipe left an extra copy of
564 their pipe file descriptor in the child, which was normally harmless,
565 but it can prevent the parent seeing eof or a broken pipe immediately
566 and has now been fixed.
568 ** source-properties and set-source-properties! fix
570 Properties set with set-source-properties! can now be read back
571 correctly with source-properties.
575 delete and delete! now call the "=" procedure with arguments in the
576 order described by the SRFI-1 specification
578 list-copy now accepts improper lists, per the specification.
582 date-week-number now correctly respects the requested day of week
585 * Changes to the C interface
587 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and reentries.
589 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
590 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
591 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
592 prevent a potential memory leak:
601 mem = scm_malloc (100);
602 scm_frame_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITELY);
604 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
605 SCM_FRAME_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless. */
611 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITELY, MEM will be freed by
612 SCM_FRAME_END as well.
616 For full documentation, see the node "Frames" in the manual.
618 ** New way to block and unblock asyncs
620 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
621 scm_frame_block_asyncs in a 'frame' (see above). Likewise for
622 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_frame_unblock_asyncs.
624 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
626 C code can now use scm_frame_current_<foo>_port in a 'frame' (see
627 above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
629 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
631 C code can now use scm_frame_fluid in a 'frame' (see
632 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
634 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
636 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
637 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
638 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
640 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
642 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
643 private or renamed with a more suitable public name. See below for
644 the ones which have been renamed.
646 ** HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H have been removed from public use.
648 HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H removed from public use. These are
649 no longer needed since the older uses of stdint.h and inttypes.h are
650 now handled by configure.in and gen-scmconfig.c.
652 ** USE_DLL_IMPORT is no longer defined publically.
654 gen-scmconfig now uses it to decide what contents to place in the
655 public scmconfig.h header without adding the USE_DLL_IMPORT itself.
657 ** HAVE_LIMITS_H has been removed from public use.
659 gen-scmconfig now just uses HAVE_LIMITS_H to decide whether or not to
660 add a limits.h include in scmconfig.h.
662 ** time.h, sys/time.h, etc. #ifdefery has been removed from public headers.
664 gen-scmconfig now just uses the same logic to decide what time related
665 #includes to add to scmconfig.h.
667 ** HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC has been removed from public use.
669 scmconfig.h now just defines scm_t_timespec.
671 ** HAVE_PTRDIFF has been removed from public use and Guile doesn't
674 Guile now publically defines scm_t_ptrdiff and
675 SCM_SIZEOF_SCM_T_PTRDIFF in scmconfig.h, and all occurrences of
676 ptrdiff_t have been replaced with scm_t_ptrdiff.
678 Guile defines its own type this rather than just relying on ptrdiff_t
679 and SCM_SIZEOF_PTRDIFF_T because Guile actually typedefs long to
680 scm_t_ptrdiff when ptrdiff_t isn't available. A public "typedef long
681 ptrdiff_t" could conflict with other headers.
683 ** HAVE_UINTPTR_T and HAVE_UINTPTR_T have been removed from public use.
685 They are replaced by public definitions of SCM_SIZEOF_UINTPTR_T and
686 SCM_SIZEOF_INTPTR_T. These are defined to 0 if the corresponding type
689 ** The public #define STDC_HEADERS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_STDC_HEADERS.
691 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
693 ** The public #define HAVE_SYS_SELECT has been renamed to
694 SCM_HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H.
696 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
698 ** The public #define HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H has been renamed to
699 SCM_HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H.
701 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
703 ** The public #define HAVE_IEEEFP_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_IEEEFP_H.
705 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
707 ** The public #define HAVE_NAN_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_NAN_H.
709 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
711 ** The public #define HAVE_WINSOCK2_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_WINSOCK2_H.
713 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
715 ** The public #define HAVE_ARRAYS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_ARRAYS.
717 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
719 ** The public #define STACK_GROWS_UP has been renamed to SCM_STACK_GROWS_UP.
721 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
723 ** The public #define USE_PTHREAD_THREADS has been renamed to
724 SCM_USE_PTHREAD_THREADS.
726 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
728 ** The public #define USE_NULL_THREADS has been renamed to
729 SCM_USE_NULL_THREADS.
731 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
733 ** The public #define USE_COOP_THREADS has been renamed to
734 SCM_USE_COOP_THREADS.
736 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
738 ** SCM_C_INLINE is publically defined if possible.
740 If the platform has a way to define inline functions, SCM_C_INLINE
741 will be defined to that text. Otherwise it will be undefined. This
742 is a little bit different than autoconf's normal handling of the
743 inline define via AC_C_INLINE.
745 ** Guile now publically defines some basic type infrastructure.
750 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_CHAR
752 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_SHORT
754 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG
756 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_INT
757 SCM_SIZEOF_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
758 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
767 Guile always defines these to 0 or 1
772 and when either of these are defined to 1, also defines
783 ** The macro SCM_IFLAGP now only returns true for flags
785 User code should never have used this macro anyway. And, you should not use
786 it in the future either. Thus, the following explanation is just for the
787 impropable case that your code actually made use of this macro, and that you
788 are willing to depend on internals which will probably change in the near
791 Formerly, SCM_IFLAGP also returned true for evaluator bytecodes created with
792 SCM_MAKSPCSYM (short instructions) and evaluator bytecodes created with
793 SCM_MAKISYM (short instructions). Now, SCM_IFLAG only returns true for
794 Guile's special constants created with SCM_MAKIFLAG. To achieve the old
795 behaviour, instead of
799 you would have to write
801 (SCM_ISYMP(x) || SCM_IFLAGP(x))
803 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
805 This macro is not intended for public use. However, if you allocated types
806 with tc16 type codes in a way that you would have needed this macro, you are
807 expected to have a deep knowledge of Guile's type system. Thus, you should
808 know how to replace this macro.
810 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
812 Use SCM_INEXACTP instead.
814 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
816 Use SCM_REALP instead.
818 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
820 Use SCM_COMPLEXP instead.
822 ** The preprocessor define USE_THREADS has been deprecated.
824 Going forward, assume that the thread API is always present.
826 ** The preprocessor define GUILE_ISELECT has been deprecated.
828 Going forward, assume that scm_internal_select is always present.
830 ** The preprocessor define READER_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
832 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
833 READER_EXTENSIONS are always present.
835 ** The preprocessor define DEBUG_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
837 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
838 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS are always present.
840 ** The preprocessor define DYNAMIC_LINKING has been deprecated.
842 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
843 DYNAMIC_LINKING are always present.
845 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
847 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
848 programs. (Do not use.)
850 ** New function: scm_effective_version
852 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
853 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
854 to the distribution" above.
856 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
858 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
859 arguments are now passed directly:
861 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
863 This is an incompatible change.
865 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
867 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
868 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
869 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
871 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
872 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
874 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
876 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
878 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
879 function in the init section.
881 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
883 ** New macros SCM_VECTOR_REF and SCM_VECTOR_SET.
885 Use these in preference to SCM_VELTS.
887 ** The SCM_VELTS macros now returns a read-only vector. For writing,
888 use the new macros SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS or SCM_VECTOR_SET. The use of
889 SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS is discouraged, though.
891 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
893 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
894 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
895 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
896 stays roughly constant.
898 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
899 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
900 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
901 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
902 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
905 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
906 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
907 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
908 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
910 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
912 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
914 ** The struct scm_cell has been renamed to scm_t_cell
916 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
917 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
918 initializes a new cell (see below).
920 ** New functions for memory management
922 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
923 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
924 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
925 cause aborts in long running programs.
927 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
928 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
930 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
931 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
932 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
933 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
934 details and for upgrading instructions.
936 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
937 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
938 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
940 ** New function: scm_str2string
942 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
945 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
947 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
948 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
949 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
950 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
951 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
953 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
954 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
955 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
957 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, QT_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
958 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
960 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
962 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old macros
963 had problems because with them allocation and initialization was separated and
964 the GC could sometimes observe half initialized cells. Only careful coding by
965 the user of SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
967 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
969 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
972 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
974 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
976 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
978 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or, probably better, to use r5rs
979 macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done during
980 evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
982 ** Removed from scm_root_state: def_inp, def_outp, def_errp, together
983 with corresponding macros scm_def_inp, scm_def_outp and scm_def_errp.
984 These were undocumented and unused copies of the standard ports at the
985 time that Guile was initialised. Normally the current ports should be
986 used instead, obtained from scm_current_input_port () etc. If an
987 application needs to retain earlier ports, it should save them in a
988 gc-protected location.
990 ** Removed compile time option MEMOIZE_LOCALS
992 Now, caching of local variable positions during memoization is mandatory.
993 However, the option to disable the caching has most probably not been used
996 ** Removed compile time option SCM_RECKLESS
998 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
999 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
1001 ** Removed compile time option SCM_CAUTIOUS
1003 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
1004 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
1006 ** Deprecated configure flags USE_THREADS and GUILE_ISELECT
1008 Previously, when the C preprocessor macro USE_THREADS was defined,
1009 libguile included a thread API. This API is now always included, even
1010 when threads are not really supported. Thus, you don't need to test
1013 Analogously, GUILE_ISELECT was defined when the function
1014 scm_internal_select was provided by Guile. This function is now
1015 always defined, and GUILE_ISELECT with it.
1017 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1019 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1020 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1022 ** Deprecated definitions of error strings: scm_s_expression, scm_s_test,
1023 scm_s_body, scm_s_bindings, scm_s_variable, scm_s_clauses, scm_s_formals
1025 These error message strings were used to issue syntax error messages by
1026 guile's evaluator. It's unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1028 ** Deprecated helper macros for evaluation and application: SCM_EVALIM2,
1029 SCM_EVALIM, SCM_XEVAL, SCM_XEVALCAR
1031 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
1032 that they have been used by user code.
1034 ** Deprecated helper functions for evaluation and application:
1035 scm_m_expand_body, scm_macroexp
1037 These functions were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's
1038 unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1040 ** Deprecated functions and variables for evaluation and application:
1041 scm_ceval, scm_deval and scm_ceval_ptr
1043 These functions and variables were used in the implementation of the
1044 evaluator. It's unlikely that they have been used by user code. If you have
1045 used these functions, switch to scm_eval or scm_eval_x.
1047 ** Deprecated functions for unmemoization: scm_unmemocar
1049 ** Deprecated macros for iloc handling: SCM_ILOC00, SCM_IDINC, SCM_IDSTMSK
1051 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
1052 that they have been used by user code.
1054 ** Removed definitions: scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify,
1055 scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify, scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify,
1056 scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify, scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell,
1057 scm_debug_newcell2, scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH,
1058 SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY, SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY,
1059 SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED, scm_debug_newcell,
1060 scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL,
1061 SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL,
1062 SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS,
1063 scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var, *top-level-lookup-closure*,
1064 scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3, scm_eval2,
1065 root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP,
1066 scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring, scm_tc7_substring,
1067 sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP, SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig,
1068 scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big,
1069 scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT, SCM_SETCHARS,
1070 SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_LENGTH_MAX,
1071 SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS,
1072 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern,
1073 scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1074 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1075 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1076 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1077 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1078 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1079 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1080 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1081 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1082 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1083 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1084 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable
1086 ** Deprecated definitions for debugging: scm_debug_mode, SCM_DEBUGGINGP
1088 These functions were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's
1089 unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1092 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1094 * Changes to the distribution
1096 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1098 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1100 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1101 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1102 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1103 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1104 indicate major changes in Guile.
1106 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1107 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1108 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1109 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1111 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1112 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1113 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1114 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1115 micro version number.
1117 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1119 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1121 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1122 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1124 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1126 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1127 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1128 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1130 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1132 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1133 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1134 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1137 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1139 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1142 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1144 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1145 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1147 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1149 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1150 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1153 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1155 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1158 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1161 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1163 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1165 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1166 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1167 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1169 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1171 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1173 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1176 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1178 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1180 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1182 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1183 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1184 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1186 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1188 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1190 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1191 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1200 See README there for more info.
1202 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1203 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1206 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1208 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1210 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1212 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1213 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1214 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1216 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1218 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1219 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1220 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1222 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1223 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1225 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1228 (oop goops describe)
1230 (oop goops active-slot)
1231 (oop goops composite-slot)
1233 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1234 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1235 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1237 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1239 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1240 in the default environment:
1242 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1243 %read-line write-line
1245 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1246 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1248 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1250 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1253 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1254 can be used for similar functionality.
1256 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1258 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1259 it defines two procedures:
1261 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1263 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1264 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1265 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1268 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1270 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1271 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1272 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1273 write large strings.
1275 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1277 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1278 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1280 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1282 for complete documentation.
1284 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1286 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1287 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1288 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1289 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1291 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1292 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1296 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1297 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1298 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1301 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1304 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1305 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1307 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1308 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1311 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1314 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1316 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1318 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1320 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1322 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1323 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1324 Scheme programs easier.
1326 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1327 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1328 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1329 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1330 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1333 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1334 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1336 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1339 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1341 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1342 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1343 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1346 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1348 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1350 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1351 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1352 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1353 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1354 was also ASCII, for example.
1356 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1358 tag - no replacement.
1359 fseek - replaced by seek.
1360 list* - replaced by cons*.
1362 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1366 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1367 (define m (make-safe-module))
1368 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1369 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1370 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1372 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1374 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1375 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1376 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1378 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1380 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1381 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1382 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1383 from the issues related to the module system.
1385 *** New function: load-extension
1387 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1389 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1391 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1392 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1393 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1395 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1397 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1398 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1399 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1400 support dynamic linking).
1402 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1404 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1405 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1406 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1407 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1410 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1411 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1412 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1413 library and initialize it explicitely.
1415 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1416 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1418 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1420 (define-module (foo bar))
1422 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1424 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1426 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1427 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1429 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1430 (null-environment 5)
1431 (interaction-environment)
1437 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1439 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1440 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1441 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1442 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1444 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1445 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1446 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1447 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1448 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1449 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1450 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1451 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1452 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1453 one eval to the next.
1455 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1456 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1457 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1458 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1459 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1461 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1462 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1463 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1464 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1465 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1466 used in a lexical environment.
1468 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1469 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1470 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1471 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1472 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1473 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1475 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1477 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1478 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1479 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1480 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1481 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1483 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1484 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1485 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1487 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1488 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1490 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1491 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1492 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1494 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1495 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1497 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1498 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1499 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1500 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1503 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1504 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1505 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1506 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1508 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1509 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1510 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1512 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1513 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1514 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1515 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1516 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1518 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1520 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1521 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1522 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1524 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1525 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1526 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1528 See manual for more info.
1530 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1532 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1533 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1534 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1536 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1538 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1539 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1540 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1542 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1543 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1544 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1545 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1547 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1549 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1550 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1552 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1553 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1554 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1555 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1556 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1559 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1560 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1561 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1562 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1563 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1564 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1566 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1567 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1568 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1569 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1570 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1572 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1573 objects are usually permanent.
1575 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1576 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1578 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1580 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1581 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1584 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1588 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1593 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1595 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1596 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1597 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1598 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1600 ** New function `make-object-property'
1602 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1603 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1607 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1608 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1612 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1613 source properties eventually.
1615 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1617 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1618 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1619 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1621 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1622 will be removed in the next release.
1624 ** New define-module option: pure
1626 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1631 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1634 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1636 Export names NAME1 ...
1638 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1639 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1643 (define-module (foo)
1645 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1648 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1653 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1655 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1657 ** New function: port? X
1659 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1660 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1662 ** New function: file-port?
1664 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1666 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1668 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1669 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1670 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1671 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1672 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1674 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1676 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1677 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1678 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1679 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1680 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1683 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1685 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1686 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1687 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1688 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1691 ** New function: crypt password salt
1693 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1696 ** New function: chroot path
1698 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1700 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1702 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1705 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1707 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1709 ** New function: getpass prompt
1711 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1714 ** New function: flock file operation
1716 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1718 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1720 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1723 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1725 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1726 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1727 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1728 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1729 of the temporary file.
1731 ** New function: open-input-string string
1733 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1734 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1735 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1737 ** New function: open-output-string
1739 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1740 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1742 ** New function: get-output-string
1744 Return the contents of an output string port.
1746 ** New function: identity
1748 Return the argument.
1750 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1751 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1753 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1755 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1756 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1757 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1760 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1761 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1763 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1765 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1766 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1767 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1770 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1771 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1772 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1776 Use `identity' instead.
1782 ** Deprecated: return-it
1786 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1788 Use `string-length' instead.
1790 ** Deprecated: flags
1792 Use `logior' instead.
1794 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1796 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1797 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
1798 port-for-each is more flexible.
1800 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
1801 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
1802 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
1804 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
1806 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
1808 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
1810 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
1812 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
1814 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
1815 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
1817 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
1818 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
1820 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
1821 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
1823 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
1825 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
1826 Removed function: builtin-bindings
1828 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
1829 Use module system operations for all variables.
1831 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
1833 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
1836 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
1838 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
1839 The following bugs have been fixed:
1841 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
1842 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
1845 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
1846 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
1847 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
1849 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
1850 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
1852 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
1853 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
1856 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
1857 The expansion used to be like so:
1859 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
1861 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
1863 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
1865 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
1866 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
1868 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
1870 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
1871 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
1872 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
1876 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
1877 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
1879 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
1884 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
1885 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
1887 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
1888 and `d', other keywords allowed.
1889 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
1891 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
1894 * Changes to the C interface
1896 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
1898 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
1899 with "_t". What a concept.
1901 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
1903 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
1905 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
1909 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
1910 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
1912 *** C Functions removed
1914 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
1915 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
1916 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
1917 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
1918 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
1919 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
1920 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
1922 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
1924 Use scm_mem2string instead.
1926 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
1928 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
1930 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
1931 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
1933 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
1935 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
1938 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
1940 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
1942 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
1944 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
1945 Evaluation" in the manual.
1947 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
1949 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
1950 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
1952 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
1954 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
1955 Constructors" in the manual.
1957 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
1959 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
1960 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
1962 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
1964 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
1966 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
1967 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
1968 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
1970 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1972 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
1974 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
1975 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
1976 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
1979 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1981 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
1983 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
1984 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
1986 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
1988 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
1989 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
1990 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
1991 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
1993 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
1994 scm_primitive_property_ref
1995 scm_primitive_property_set_x
1996 scm_primitive_property_del_x
1998 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
1999 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2001 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2003 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2004 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2005 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2006 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2008 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2010 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2011 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2012 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2013 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2014 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2015 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2016 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2018 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2019 scm_remember_upto_here
2021 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2023 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2025 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2026 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2028 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2030 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2032 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2034 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2036 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2038 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2039 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2040 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2041 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2042 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2043 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2045 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2047 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2049 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2050 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2051 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2053 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2055 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2056 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2057 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2059 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2061 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2062 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2065 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2068 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2069 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2072 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2074 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2076 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2078 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2080 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2082 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2084 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2085 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2086 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2087 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2088 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2089 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2090 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2091 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2092 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2093 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2094 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2095 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2096 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2097 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2098 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2100 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2101 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2102 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2103 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2104 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2105 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2106 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2107 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2108 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2109 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2110 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2111 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2112 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2113 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2114 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2115 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2116 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2117 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2118 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2119 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2120 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2121 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2122 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2123 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2124 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2125 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2126 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2127 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2128 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2130 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2132 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2134 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2135 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2137 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2139 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2141 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2143 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2145 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2147 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2149 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2151 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2153 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2156 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2157 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2159 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2161 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2163 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2165 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2167 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2169 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2171 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2173 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2176 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2178 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2180 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2182 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2183 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2185 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2186 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2188 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2190 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2191 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2192 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2194 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2196 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2198 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2199 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2201 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2202 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2203 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2204 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2206 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2207 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2208 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2210 Use the new ones from above instead.
2212 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2214 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2215 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2216 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2218 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2219 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2221 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2222 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2225 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2226 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2228 Use the new functions instead.
2230 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2233 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2235 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2237 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2240 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2242 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2245 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2247 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2250 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2251 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2252 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2254 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2256 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2257 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2259 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2260 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2261 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2262 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2265 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2267 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2268 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2269 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2270 inexact for an exact.
2272 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2273 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2274 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2277 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2278 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2279 accept an inexact argument.
2281 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2282 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2284 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2287 ** New number validation macros:
2288 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2292 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2294 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2295 scm_unprotect_object.
2297 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2299 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2301 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2304 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2306 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2310 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2312 * Changes to the distribution
2314 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2316 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2317 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2318 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2319 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2320 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2321 obtain these programs.
2322 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2323 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2325 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2326 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2327 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2328 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2329 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2331 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2332 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2333 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2334 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2338 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2341 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2342 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2343 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2344 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2346 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2348 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2350 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2351 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2353 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2354 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2356 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2357 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2359 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2360 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2361 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2362 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2364 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2366 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2370 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2371 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2373 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2375 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2376 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2378 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2379 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2380 number of objects of that kind.
2382 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2384 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2385 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2386 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2387 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2388 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2390 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2392 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2394 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2396 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2399 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2401 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2403 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2405 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2407 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2409 ** New command line option --debug
2411 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2413 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2415 ** New help facility
2417 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2418 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2419 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2420 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2421 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2422 (help) gives this text
2424 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2425 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2427 Examples: (help help)
2429 (help "output-string")
2431 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2433 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2435 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2436 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2439 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2440 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2441 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2444 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2445 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2446 use absolute filenames when possible.
2448 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2449 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2450 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2453 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2455 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2456 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2457 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2458 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2460 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2462 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2464 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2465 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2466 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2468 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2469 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2470 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2472 (read-enable 'positions)
2473 (debug-enable 'debug)
2475 ** Backtraces in scripts
2477 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2481 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2483 at the top of the script.
2485 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2486 The second enables backtraces.)
2488 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2490 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2491 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2492 substantially faster than before.
2494 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2495 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2497 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2498 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2500 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2502 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2503 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2504 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2506 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2507 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2508 when this hook is run in the future.
2510 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2511 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2513 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2515 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2516 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2519 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2520 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2521 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2523 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2524 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2526 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2527 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2529 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2530 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2531 in order not to need further allocation.)
2533 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2536 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2537 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2538 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2539 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2541 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2543 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2546 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2548 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2551 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2552 GC in percent of total heap size
2555 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2556 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2558 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2560 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2561 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2563 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2565 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2566 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2568 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2570 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2571 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2575 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2576 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2578 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2580 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2582 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2584 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2586 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2588 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2589 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2591 (simple-format port message . args)
2592 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2593 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2594 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2595 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2596 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2597 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2598 Does not add a trailing newline."
2600 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2602 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2603 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2605 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2606 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2608 ** Deprecated: list*
2610 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2612 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2614 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2615 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2617 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2618 is returned as result.
2620 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2622 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2624 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2626 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2627 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2630 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2632 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2634 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2635 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2637 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2639 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2641 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2643 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2645 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2647 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2649 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2651 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2652 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2653 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2655 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2658 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2660 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2661 the readability of argument checking.
2663 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2665 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2667 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2669 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2670 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2671 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2672 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2673 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2674 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2675 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2677 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2679 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2681 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2682 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2684 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2686 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2687 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2690 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2692 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2693 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2694 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2696 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2697 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2698 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2700 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2701 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2702 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2703 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2704 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2705 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2706 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2708 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2709 scm_end_input (object);
2710 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2711 ptob->flush (object);
2713 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2714 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2717 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2719 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2721 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2722 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2723 removed in a future version.
2725 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2727 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2728 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2729 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2730 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2732 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2733 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2735 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2738 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2740 in your configure.in.
2742 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2747 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2753 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2755 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2759 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2760 (define make-message string-append)
2762 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2764 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2768 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2773 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2777 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2779 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2780 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2782 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2784 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2785 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2786 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2787 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2788 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2789 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2791 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2792 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2793 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2795 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2796 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2797 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
2800 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
2801 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
2802 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
2803 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
2804 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
2806 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
2807 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
2808 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
2809 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
2810 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
2811 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
2812 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
2814 Destructors are not yet implemented.
2816 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
2817 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
2818 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
2820 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
2821 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
2822 KEY in the calling thread.
2824 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
2825 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
2826 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
2827 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
2828 associated with the key.
2830 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
2832 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
2833 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
2835 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
2837 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
2838 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
2839 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
2841 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
2843 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
2844 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
2846 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
2848 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
2850 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
2851 returned is undefined.
2853 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
2854 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
2855 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
2857 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
2858 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
2859 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
2861 ** New C level GC hooks
2863 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
2865 scm_before_gc_c_hook
2868 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
2869 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
2870 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
2872 scm_before_mark_c_hook
2873 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
2874 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
2876 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
2877 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
2880 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
2882 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
2883 allocation parameters
2885 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
2886 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
2887 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
2891 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
2892 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
2893 scm_default_max_segment_size
2895 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
2897 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
2898 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
2900 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
2902 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
2903 object and count on the object being protected until
2904 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
2906 The functions also have better time complexity.
2908 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
2909 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
2910 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
2911 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
2912 are no longer needed.
2914 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
2916 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
2917 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
2918 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
2919 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
2921 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
2923 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
2925 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
2927 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
2928 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
2929 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
2930 until this issue has been settled.
2932 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
2934 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
2936 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
2939 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
2941 * Changes to system call interfaces:
2943 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
2944 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
2945 descriptors were checked.
2947 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
2948 atomically written to a pipe.
2950 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
2951 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
2952 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
2953 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
2954 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
2955 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
2956 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
2959 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
2960 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
2961 is changed without calling tzset.
2963 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
2965 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
2966 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
2967 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
2969 (define write-network-long
2970 (lambda (value port)
2971 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2972 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
2973 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
2975 (define read-network-long
2977 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2978 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
2979 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
2981 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
2982 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
2984 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
2985 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
2986 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
2987 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
2989 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
2990 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
2991 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
2992 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
2996 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
2998 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3002 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3003 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3004 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3010 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3011 for a description of available commands.
3013 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3014 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3015 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3017 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3019 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3020 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3022 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3024 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3026 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3027 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3028 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3029 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3030 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3031 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3034 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3036 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3037 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3038 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3039 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3041 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3042 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3044 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3046 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3048 ** Readline support has changed again.
3050 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3051 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3052 to activate readline is now
3054 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3057 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3059 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3060 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3061 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3064 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3065 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3066 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3069 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3070 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3071 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3072 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3073 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3074 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3076 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3077 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3079 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3081 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3082 object it receives is the same string passed to
3083 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3084 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3085 string, not the suffix.
3087 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3088 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3089 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3091 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3093 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3094 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3095 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3096 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3099 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3101 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3103 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3104 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3105 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3106 appear from left to right.
3108 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3111 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3113 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3114 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3116 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3120 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3122 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3124 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3126 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3127 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3128 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3130 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3132 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3134 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3136 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3139 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3141 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3142 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3143 mentioning it here anyway.
3145 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3147 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3148 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3149 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3150 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3153 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3155 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3157 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3159 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3160 otherwise return #f.
3162 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3164 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3165 returned by `opendir'.
3167 ** New function: using-readline?
3169 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3171 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3173 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3174 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3176 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3178 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3180 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3181 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3182 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3184 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3186 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3187 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3189 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3191 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3192 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3193 documentation slots are not yet used.
3195 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3197 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3198 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3199 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3204 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3205 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3206 (string-append x y))
3208 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3209 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3211 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3212 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3213 be made in a clean way.]
3215 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3217 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3219 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3221 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3222 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3224 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3226 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3228 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3230 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3232 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3233 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3234 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3235 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3238 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3240 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3242 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3244 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3246 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3247 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3249 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3251 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3253 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3255 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3257 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3258 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3259 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3260 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3261 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3262 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3264 This should not make any difference for most users.
3266 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3268 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3269 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3271 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3273 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3274 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3275 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3276 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3277 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3279 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3281 It is now replaced by:
3283 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3285 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3286 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3288 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3290 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3291 This might change when we get the new module system.
3293 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3297 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3299 * Changes to mailing lists
3301 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3303 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3306 * Changes to the distribution
3308 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3310 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3311 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3312 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3313 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3314 you explicitly specify it.
3316 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3317 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3318 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3319 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3320 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3323 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3324 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3325 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3326 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3328 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3329 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3330 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3333 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3335 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3338 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3340 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3342 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3343 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3344 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3345 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3347 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3348 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3351 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3353 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3354 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3355 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3356 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3357 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3358 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3359 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3360 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3372 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3373 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3374 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3375 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3376 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3381 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3382 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3390 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3395 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3396 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3399 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3400 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3401 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3402 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3404 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3406 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3408 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3409 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3411 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3413 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3415 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3416 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3418 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3421 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3423 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3425 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3427 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3429 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3431 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3433 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3434 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3435 when the hook was created.
3437 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3438 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3439 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3440 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3441 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3442 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3443 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3444 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3445 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3447 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3448 the dlopen family of functions.
3450 ** New function `provided?'
3452 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3453 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3454 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3455 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3457 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3459 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3460 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3461 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3462 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3465 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3466 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3467 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3468 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3470 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3471 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3472 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3475 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3476 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3477 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3478 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3479 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3480 but with the flag set.
3482 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3484 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3485 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3487 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3488 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3489 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3490 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3491 available Scheme format implementations.
3493 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3494 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3495 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3496 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3497 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3498 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3499 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3500 output is to the current error port if available by the
3501 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3504 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3505 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3506 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3507 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3508 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3509 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3510 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3511 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3513 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3514 be executed at a time.
3517 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3519 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3520 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3521 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3523 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3524 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3525 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3526 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3527 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3528 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3529 general form of a directive is:
3531 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3533 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3535 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3537 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3538 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3539 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3542 Any (print as `display' does).
3546 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3550 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3554 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3560 print number sign always.
3563 print comma separated.
3565 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3571 print number sign always.
3574 print comma separated.
3576 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3582 print number sign always.
3585 print comma separated.
3587 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3593 print number sign always.
3596 print comma separated.
3598 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3603 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3607 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3610 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3613 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3616 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3621 prints `y' and `ies'.
3624 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3627 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3632 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3636 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3639 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3640 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3642 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3645 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3646 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3648 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3651 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3653 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3655 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3658 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3660 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3662 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3665 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3668 The sign appears before the padding.
3676 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3678 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3683 print N page separators.
3693 newline is ignored, white space left.
3696 newline is left, white space ignored.
3701 relative tabulation.
3707 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3709 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3712 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3714 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3717 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3720 converts by `string-upcase'.
3723 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3725 jumps N arguments forward.
3728 jumps 1 argument backward.
3731 jumps N arguments backward.
3734 jumps to the 0th argument.
3737 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3739 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3740 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3742 take argument from N.
3745 true test conditional.
3748 if-else-then conditional.
3754 default clause follows.
3757 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3759 at most N iterations.
3762 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3765 args from the rest of arguments.
3768 args from the rest args (lists).
3779 aborts if N <= M <= K
3781 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3784 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3787 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3793 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3795 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3797 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
3798 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
3799 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
3800 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
3801 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
3802 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
3806 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
3810 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
3816 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
3819 Print a `#\space' character
3821 print N `#\space' characters.
3824 Print a `#\tab' character
3826 print N `#\tab' characters.
3829 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
3830 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
3831 must be a positive decimal number.
3834 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3835 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3836 be processed by `read'.
3839 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3840 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3841 be processed by `read'.
3844 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
3847 prints format version.
3850 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
3851 and format it accordingly.
3853 *** Configuration Variables
3855 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
3856 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
3857 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
3858 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
3861 format:symbol-case-conv
3862 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
3863 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
3864 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
3865 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
3866 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
3868 format:iobj-case-conv
3869 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
3870 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
3873 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
3876 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
3882 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
3883 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
3884 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
3885 `format' padding style.
3888 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
3889 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
3890 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
3891 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
3895 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
3896 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
3897 directive parameters or modifiers)).
3900 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
3901 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
3902 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
3903 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
3904 parameters or modifiers)).
3907 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
3909 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
3911 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
3912 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
3914 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
3915 string-downcase! functions.
3917 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
3918 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
3920 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
3923 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
3926 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
3927 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
3929 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
3931 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
3932 the symbol had be read by `read'.
3934 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
3935 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
3936 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
3937 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
3938 would if STRING were input.
3940 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
3942 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
3943 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
3944 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
3945 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
3948 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
3950 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
3951 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
3954 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
3956 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
3957 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
3959 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
3960 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
3962 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
3963 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
3964 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
3965 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
3967 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
3968 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
3970 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
3971 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
3972 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
3974 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
3975 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
3977 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
3978 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
3979 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
3980 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
3981 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
3983 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
3984 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
3985 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
3986 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
3987 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
3988 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
3990 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
3991 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
3992 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
3995 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
3996 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
3997 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
3998 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
3999 the following grammar:
4000 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4001 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4002 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4003 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4004 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4005 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4006 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4007 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4008 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4009 last option in its combination)
4011 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4012 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4013 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4014 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4016 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4017 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4018 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4020 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4021 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4022 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4024 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4025 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4026 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4027 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4028 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4029 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4030 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4031 ordinary argument strings.
4033 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4034 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4035 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4036 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4038 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4039 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4041 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4042 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4043 - a required option is omitted
4044 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4045 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4046 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4047 - an option predicate fails
4052 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4055 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4056 (verbose (required? #f)
4059 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4060 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4061 (predicate ,string?))))
4063 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4064 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4066 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4067 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4068 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4069 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4072 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4074 It will be removed in a few releases.
4076 ** New syntax: lambda*
4077 ** New syntax: define*
4078 ** New syntax: define*-public
4079 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4080 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4081 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4083 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4084 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4085 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4086 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4087 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4089 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4090 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4091 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4093 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4095 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4096 and examples for `lambda*':
4099 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4101 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4102 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4103 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4104 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4105 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4106 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4107 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4108 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4110 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4112 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4113 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4114 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4115 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4117 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4118 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4119 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4120 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4121 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4122 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4123 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4124 and until the procedure is called.
4126 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4128 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4129 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4130 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4131 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4132 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4133 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4134 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4135 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4136 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4137 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4139 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4140 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4141 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4142 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4145 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4147 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4148 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4149 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4150 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4152 ** New syntax: and-let*
4153 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4155 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4156 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4157 (<variable> <expression>)
4160 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4161 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4162 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4165 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4166 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4167 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4168 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4169 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4170 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4171 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4173 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4174 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4175 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4176 shadow earlier bindings.
4178 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4180 ** New sorting functions
4182 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4183 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4184 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4185 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4187 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4188 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4191 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4192 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4193 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4195 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4196 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4197 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4198 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4200 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4201 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4202 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4203 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4204 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4207 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4208 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4209 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4210 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4211 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4212 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4214 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4215 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4216 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4218 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4219 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4220 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4223 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4224 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4225 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4227 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4228 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4230 ** New built-in random number support
4232 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4233 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4234 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4235 returned have a uniform distribution.
4237 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4238 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4239 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4240 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4241 effect of the `random' operation.
4243 *** New variable: *random-state*
4244 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4245 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4246 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4247 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4248 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4251 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4252 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4253 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4254 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4255 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4257 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4258 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4259 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4260 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4261 initialized using SEED.
4263 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4264 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4265 range between 0 and 1.
4267 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4268 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4269 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4270 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4271 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4272 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4273 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4275 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4276 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4277 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4278 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4279 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4280 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4282 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4283 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4284 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4285 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4287 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4288 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4289 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4290 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4292 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4293 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4294 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4296 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4298 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4301 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4302 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4305 ** New function: make-guardian
4306 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4307 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4308 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4309 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4310 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4312 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4313 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4314 one object if at all.
4316 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4317 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4318 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4320 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4321 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4322 read again in last-in first-out order.
4324 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4325 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4327 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4329 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4330 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4331 file position is used.
4333 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4334 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4335 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4337 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4338 redefined using seek.
4340 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4341 size is not supplied.
4343 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4344 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4346 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4347 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4349 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4351 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4352 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4353 and returns the contents as a single string.
4355 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4356 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4357 lists in serial order.
4359 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4360 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4361 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4363 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4364 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4365 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4366 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4368 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4369 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4370 and #f if an error occured.
4372 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4374 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4375 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4376 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4377 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4379 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4381 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4384 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4386 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4389 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4393 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4394 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4396 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4397 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4401 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4403 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4405 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4406 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4408 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4410 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4411 might change when we get the new module system.
4413 ** The smob interface
4415 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4416 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4418 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4420 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4424 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4425 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4426 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4427 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4428 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4429 will be freed by the default free function.
4431 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4432 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4433 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4434 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4436 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4437 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4438 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4439 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4441 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4443 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4444 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4448 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4449 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4450 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4452 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4453 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4454 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4455 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4457 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4458 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4459 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4461 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4462 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4463 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4464 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4466 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4467 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4468 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4470 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4474 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4476 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4477 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4478 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4480 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4481 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4482 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4484 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4485 a string port's buffer.
4487 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4488 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4489 function pointers which together define the current random number
4490 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4491 number library functions.
4493 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4496 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4497 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4500 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4501 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4503 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4504 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4506 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4507 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4510 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4511 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4512 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4513 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4515 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4516 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4517 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4518 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4519 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4520 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4521 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4523 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4524 by libguile and the application.
4526 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4527 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4528 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4529 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4531 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4532 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4534 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4535 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4536 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4538 ** Random number library functions
4539 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4540 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4541 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4543 The default random state is stored in:
4545 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4546 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4547 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4552 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4554 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4555 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4556 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4557 isn't a random state.
4559 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4560 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4562 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4563 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4564 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4565 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4567 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4568 Return 32 random bits.
4570 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4571 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4573 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4574 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4576 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4577 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4579 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4580 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4582 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4583 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4584 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4588 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4590 * Changes to the distribution
4592 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4593 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4594 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4597 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4598 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4599 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4601 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4602 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4603 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4604 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4607 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4608 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4609 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4611 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4613 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4615 *** Function: batch-mode?
4617 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4620 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4622 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4623 case has not been implemented.
4625 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4626 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4627 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4630 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4631 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4633 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4635 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4637 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4639 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4640 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4643 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4644 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4645 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4646 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4649 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4651 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4652 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4653 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4654 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4655 find those libraries.
4657 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4658 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4661 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4663 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4664 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4665 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4666 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4668 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4669 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4670 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4674 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4676 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4677 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4678 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4681 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4682 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4683 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4684 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4686 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4687 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4690 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4691 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4692 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4693 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4694 compiler where to find the libraries.
4696 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4697 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4698 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4700 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4701 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4702 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4703 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4704 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4708 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4710 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4711 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4712 internationalization support.
4714 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4715 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4716 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4717 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4718 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4720 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4721 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4722 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4723 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4724 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4726 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4727 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4728 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4729 any GNU mirror site.
4731 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4733 ** New function: add-history STRING
4734 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4735 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4736 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4738 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4740 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4741 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4742 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4745 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4746 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4747 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4749 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4751 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4754 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4755 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4758 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4759 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4760 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4761 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4762 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4763 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4765 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4766 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4767 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4768 of the form mentioned above.
4770 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4771 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4772 returned in the special `rest' list.
4774 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4775 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4777 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4779 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4781 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4783 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4784 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4785 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4786 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4787 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4788 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4789 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4790 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4793 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4795 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4797 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
4798 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
4801 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
4802 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
4803 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
4807 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
4808 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
4809 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
4810 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
4811 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
4812 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
4813 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
4814 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
4817 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
4819 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
4820 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
4821 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
4823 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
4825 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
4826 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
4828 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
4829 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
4830 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
4832 Why do we have this function?
4833 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
4834 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
4835 primitive, and display it differently, and
4836 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
4837 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
4840 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
4841 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
4844 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
4845 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
4846 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
4847 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
4849 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
4850 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
4853 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
4854 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
4856 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
4858 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
4859 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
4860 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
4861 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
4862 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
4863 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
4864 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
4867 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
4869 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
4870 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
4872 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
4873 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
4874 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
4875 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
4876 properly continue the print chain.
4878 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
4879 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
4880 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
4881 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
4882 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
4883 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
4884 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
4885 print-state, it is simply ignored.
4887 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
4888 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
4889 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
4890 safest to not check for these pairs.
4892 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
4893 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
4894 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
4895 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
4897 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
4899 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
4900 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
4902 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
4904 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
4906 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
4907 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
4908 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
4910 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
4911 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
4912 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
4914 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
4915 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
4916 the following functions and macros:
4918 Function: make-fluid
4920 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
4921 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
4922 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
4923 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
4924 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
4926 Function: fluid? OBJ
4928 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
4930 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
4931 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
4933 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
4934 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
4936 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
4938 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
4939 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
4940 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
4941 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
4942 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
4943 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
4944 modified by `with-fluids*'.
4946 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
4948 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
4949 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
4950 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
4951 should evaluate to a fluid.
4953 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
4955 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
4956 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
4957 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
4958 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
4959 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
4961 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
4964 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
4966 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
4968 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
4970 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
4973 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
4974 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
4975 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
4976 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
4977 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
4980 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
4981 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
4982 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
4984 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
4985 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
4986 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
4988 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
4989 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
4990 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4991 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
4993 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
4994 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
4995 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4996 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
4998 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
4999 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5000 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5001 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5003 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5004 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5005 their revealed counts set to zero.
5007 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5008 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5010 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5011 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5013 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5014 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5016 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5017 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5018 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5020 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5021 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5022 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5024 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5025 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5026 default environment inherited by child processes.
5028 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5029 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5030 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5032 The return value is unspecified.
5034 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5035 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5036 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5037 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5038 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5040 The return value is unspecified.
5042 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5043 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5051 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5052 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5055 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5058 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5059 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5060 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5062 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5063 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5064 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5065 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5068 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5069 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5071 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5072 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5073 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5074 the `environ' procedure.
5076 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5077 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5080 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5081 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5083 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5084 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5085 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5086 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5088 *** procedure: times
5089 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5090 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5091 return a selected component:
5094 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5098 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5101 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5105 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5106 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5110 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5111 terminated child processes.
5113 ** Removed: list-length
5114 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5115 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5117 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5119 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5121 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5123 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5124 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5125 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5126 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5128 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5129 extra complexity it introduces.
5131 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5132 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5134 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5135 variable to any non-empty value.
5137 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5138 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5140 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5142 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5143 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5145 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5147 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5148 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5150 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5152 ** vector handling routines
5154 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5155 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5156 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5157 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5158 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5160 ** pair and list routines
5162 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5165 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5167 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5170 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5172 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5174 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5175 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5176 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5177 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5178 site-specific initialization code.
5180 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5181 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5182 initialization processes.
5184 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5185 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5186 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5187 initialized properly.
5189 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5190 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5191 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5193 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5194 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5195 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5196 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5197 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5199 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5201 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5202 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5203 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5204 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5205 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5207 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5208 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5209 which look like this:
5212 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5214 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5215 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5218 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5219 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5222 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5224 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5225 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5226 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5228 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5229 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5230 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5231 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5232 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5234 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5235 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5237 int (*free) (SCM port);
5238 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5239 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5240 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5244 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5245 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5246 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5248 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5251 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5252 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5253 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5255 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5256 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5257 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5260 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5264 struct timeval *timeout);
5266 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5267 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5268 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5269 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5270 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5271 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5273 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5274 scm_catch_body_t body,
5276 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5279 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5280 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5281 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5282 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5283 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5284 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5286 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5288 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5291 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5292 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5293 spawning threads from application C code.
5295 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5296 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5297 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5298 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5299 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5300 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5302 ** Removed functions:
5304 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5305 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5307 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5309 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5310 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5312 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5314 ** mbstrings are now removed
5316 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5317 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5319 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5321 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5322 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5323 their new names and arguments:
5325 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5326 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5327 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5328 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5331 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5333 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5335 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5338 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5340 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5341 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5342 pass a #f arg to catch.
5344 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5346 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5347 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5350 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5351 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5352 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5353 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5354 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5355 reclaim its storage.
5357 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5358 worrying that some other function you call will call
5359 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5360 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5361 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5362 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5365 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5367 * Changes to the distribution
5369 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5370 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5373 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5374 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5376 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5377 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5379 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5381 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5382 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5383 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5385 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5387 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5388 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5389 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5390 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5391 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5392 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5394 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5395 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5396 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5399 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5400 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5401 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5402 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5404 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5405 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5406 libraries to your link command:
5408 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5409 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5410 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5411 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5413 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5414 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5415 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5417 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5419 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5420 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5423 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5425 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5426 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5427 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5428 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5429 searched is system dependent.
5431 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5433 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5435 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5437 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5438 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5440 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5442 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5443 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5444 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5445 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5446 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5449 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5451 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5452 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5453 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5454 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5455 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5457 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5459 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5460 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5462 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5464 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5465 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5466 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5469 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5471 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5472 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5473 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5474 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5476 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5477 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5479 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5481 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5482 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5484 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5486 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5487 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5495 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5497 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5498 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5499 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5500 a more informative way.
5502 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5503 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5504 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5505 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5506 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5507 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5509 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5510 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5513 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5514 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5515 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5518 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5519 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5520 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5521 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5522 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5523 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5525 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5526 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5527 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5528 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5531 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5532 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5533 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5534 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5535 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5536 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5538 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5539 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5540 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5541 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5542 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5544 *** regexp functions
5546 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5547 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5548 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5550 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5551 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5552 with SCSH regular expressions.
5554 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5555 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5556 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5557 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5559 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5560 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5561 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5562 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5564 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5565 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5566 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5567 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5568 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5569 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5571 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5572 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5573 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5574 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5575 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5577 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5579 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5580 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5581 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5582 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5584 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5585 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5586 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5588 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5589 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5591 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5594 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5595 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5596 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5598 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5599 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5600 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5602 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5603 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5604 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5605 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5606 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5609 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5611 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5612 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5613 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5614 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5615 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5616 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5618 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5619 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5620 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5622 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5623 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5626 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5627 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5629 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5630 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5631 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5632 may be one of the following arguments:
5634 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5636 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5638 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5639 the regexp match is written.
5641 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5642 following the regexp match is written.
5644 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5645 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5648 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5649 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5650 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5651 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5652 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5653 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5655 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5658 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5659 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5660 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5661 written out to PORT.
5663 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5664 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5665 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5666 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5667 will return after processing a single match.
5669 *** Match Structures
5671 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5672 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5673 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5674 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5675 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5676 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5679 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5680 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5681 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5682 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5683 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5685 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5686 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5687 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5689 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5690 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5691 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5692 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5693 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5695 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5696 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5698 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5699 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5701 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5702 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5704 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5705 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5707 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5708 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5709 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5710 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5712 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5713 Return the original TARGET string.
5715 *** Backslash Escapes
5717 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5718 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5719 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5720 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5721 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5722 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5724 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5725 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5726 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5727 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5728 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5729 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5730 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5731 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5733 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5734 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5735 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5736 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5737 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5738 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5739 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5741 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5742 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5743 return the resulting string.
5745 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5746 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5747 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5748 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5749 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5750 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5751 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5752 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5753 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5754 translated to the single character `*'.
5756 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5757 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5758 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5759 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5760 consecutive backslashes:
5762 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5764 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5765 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5766 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5768 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5769 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5770 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5771 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5772 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5773 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5775 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5777 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5778 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5779 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5780 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5781 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5782 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5783 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5784 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5785 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5786 cumbersome escape syntax.
5788 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5790 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5792 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5794 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5797 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
5799 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
5801 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
5804 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
5805 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
5806 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
5807 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
5808 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
5810 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
5811 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
5812 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
5813 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
5814 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
5815 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
5816 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
5819 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
5820 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
5821 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
5824 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
5825 `force-output' on every port open for output.
5827 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
5828 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
5829 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
5830 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
5831 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
5832 installed, you can say:
5834 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
5837 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5839 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
5840 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
5841 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
5842 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
5843 new dynamic roots and threads.
5846 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
5848 * Changes to the distribution.
5850 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
5852 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
5853 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
5854 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
5855 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
5856 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
5857 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
5858 programming language. These are packaged together because the
5859 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
5861 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
5864 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
5865 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
5870 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5872 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
5873 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
5875 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
5876 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
5877 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
5878 the (command-line) function.
5879 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
5880 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
5881 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
5883 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
5884 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
5885 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
5886 command line arguments
5887 -ds do -s script at this point
5888 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
5889 -h, --help display this help and exit
5890 -v, --version display version information and exit
5891 \ read arguments from following script lines
5893 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
5894 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
5896 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5899 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5903 (main (command-line))
5905 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
5907 ekko a speckled gecko
5909 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
5910 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
5911 following list of command-line arguments:
5913 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
5915 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
5916 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
5917 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
5918 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
5919 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5921 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
5923 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
5925 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
5926 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
5929 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
5930 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
5931 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
5932 SCSH) for circumventing them.
5934 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
5935 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
5936 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
5937 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
5939 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
5943 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5947 If the user invokes this script as follows:
5949 ekko a speckled gecko
5951 Unix expands this into
5953 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
5955 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
5956 read from the second line of the script, producing:
5958 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5960 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
5961 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5963 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
5964 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
5965 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
5966 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
5967 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
5968 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
5969 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
5970 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
5971 it only terminates the argument list.)
5972 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
5973 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
5974 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
5975 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
5976 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
5977 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
5978 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
5979 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
5981 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5983 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
5984 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
5985 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
5986 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
5987 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
5989 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
5990 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
5991 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
5993 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
5995 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
5996 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
5997 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
5998 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6001 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6002 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6003 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6005 * Changes to Scheme functions
6007 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6008 and disabled by default.
6010 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6011 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6012 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6013 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6015 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6017 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6019 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6020 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6022 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6023 (read-set! keywords #f)
6025 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6026 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6027 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6030 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6031 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6032 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6035 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6036 support for Scheme functions.
6038 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6039 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6040 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6041 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6044 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6045 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6046 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6049 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6050 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6051 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6054 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6055 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6056 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6057 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6058 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6059 display the result as a prompt.
6060 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6062 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6063 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6064 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6067 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6068 procedure of zero arguments.
6070 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6071 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6072 argument is bound in the current module.
6074 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6075 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6076 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6077 public bindings into the current module.
6079 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6080 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6082 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6083 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6085 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6086 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6088 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6089 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6091 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6092 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6094 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6095 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6096 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6097 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6098 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6100 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6101 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6102 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6103 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6105 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6108 ** Changes to I/O functions
6110 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6111 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6112 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6114 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6115 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6116 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6118 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6119 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6121 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6122 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6123 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6124 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6126 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6128 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6129 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6131 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6132 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6133 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6134 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6135 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6138 'trim omit delimiter from result
6139 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6140 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6141 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6143 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6145 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6146 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6148 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6149 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6150 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6151 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6152 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6154 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6155 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6156 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6158 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6159 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6160 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6161 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6163 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6164 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6166 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6167 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6169 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6171 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6172 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6173 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6174 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6175 a delimiting character.
6176 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6178 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6179 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6180 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6181 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6182 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6183 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6185 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6186 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6188 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6189 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6190 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6192 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6193 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6194 the array to read and write.
6196 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6197 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6200 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6202 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6205 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6206 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6207 Values for COMMAND are:
6209 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6210 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6211 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6212 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6213 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6214 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6215 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6216 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6218 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6220 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6221 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6222 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6223 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6224 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6225 corresponding return set will be the same.
6227 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6230 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6231 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6232 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6233 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6234 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6235 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6236 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6237 special file being created.
6239 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6240 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6242 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6243 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6244 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6245 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6246 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6247 and originating address.
6249 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6250 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6251 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6253 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6256 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6257 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6260 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6261 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6262 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6263 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6264 this function returns #f.
6266 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6267 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6268 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6271 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6272 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6273 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6276 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6277 a valid STATUS value.
6279 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6281 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6282 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6284 Component Accessor Setter
6285 ========================= ============ ============
6286 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6287 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6288 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6289 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6290 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6291 year tm:year set-tm:year
6292 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6293 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6294 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6295 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6296 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6298 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6299 describing the host system:
6302 ============================================== ================
6303 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6304 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6305 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6306 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6307 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6309 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6310 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6311 system's user database:
6314 ====================== =================
6315 user name passwd:name
6316 user password passwd:passwd
6319 real name passwd:gecos
6320 home directory passwd:dir
6321 shell program passwd:shell
6323 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6324 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6325 system's group database:
6328 ======================= ============
6329 group name group:name
6330 group password group:passwd
6332 group members group:mem
6334 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6335 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6339 ========================= ===============
6340 official name of host hostent:name
6341 alias list hostent:aliases
6342 host address type hostent:addrtype
6343 length of address hostent:length
6344 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6346 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6347 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6351 ========================= ===============
6352 official name of net netent:name
6353 alias list netent:aliases
6354 net number type netent:addrtype
6355 net number netent:net
6357 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6358 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6362 ========================= ===============
6363 official protocol name protoent:name
6364 alias list protoent:aliases
6365 protocol number protoent:proto
6367 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6368 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6372 ========================= ===============
6373 official service name servent:name
6374 alias list servent:aliases
6375 port number servent:port
6376 protocol to use servent:proto
6378 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6379 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6382 ======================================== ===============
6383 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6384 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6385 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6386 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6388 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6389 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6390 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6392 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6393 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6395 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6396 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6398 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6399 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6401 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6403 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6405 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6406 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6407 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6409 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6410 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6411 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6412 return the remaining characters as a string.
6414 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6415 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6416 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6418 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6420 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6422 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6425 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6428 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6429 and returns the array
6431 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6432 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6433 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6435 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6437 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6438 symbol's value from C code:
6440 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6441 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6442 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6443 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6445 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6446 without assigning them a value.
6448 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6449 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6450 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6452 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6453 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6454 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6456 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6457 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6459 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6460 doesn't actually care about that.
6462 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6463 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6464 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6466 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6467 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6468 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6469 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6470 which we have just created and initialized.
6472 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6473 should one occur. We call it like this:
6474 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6476 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6477 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6478 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6479 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6480 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6481 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6484 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6485 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6486 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6487 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6488 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6489 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6490 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6493 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6494 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6495 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6496 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6497 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6500 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6501 scm_internal_catch, except:
6503 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6504 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6505 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6506 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6509 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6510 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6511 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6513 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6514 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6515 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6516 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6519 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6520 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6521 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6523 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6524 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6525 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6526 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6527 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6529 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6530 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6531 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6533 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6534 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6535 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6537 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6538 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6540 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6541 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6542 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6545 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6546 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6547 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6548 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6549 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6550 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6551 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6554 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6555 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6557 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6558 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6559 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6560 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6561 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6564 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6565 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6567 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6568 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6571 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6572 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6574 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6577 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6578 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6579 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6580 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6581 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6582 given the following arguments:
6584 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6586 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6588 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6590 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6593 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6594 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6595 command-line arguments.
6597 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6598 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6599 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6600 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6601 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6602 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6605 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6608 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6609 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6611 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6612 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6614 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6615 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6616 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6617 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6619 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6620 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6622 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6623 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6624 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6625 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6627 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6628 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6630 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6631 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6633 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6635 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6636 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6637 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6640 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6641 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6643 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6644 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6649 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6652 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6654 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6655 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6656 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6657 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6659 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6661 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6663 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6664 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6665 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6666 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6667 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6668 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6669 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6670 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6671 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6672 for more information.
6674 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6675 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6677 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6678 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6679 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6680 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6681 following two lines at the top of the file:
6683 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6686 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6687 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6688 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6690 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6692 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6694 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6697 (display (car args))
6698 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6700 (loop (cdr args)))))
6703 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6704 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6705 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6706 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6707 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6708 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6712 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6715 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6718 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6720 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6721 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6722 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6723 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6724 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6727 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6728 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6729 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6730 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6731 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6734 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6737 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6738 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6739 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6742 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6743 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6744 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6746 to see a backtrace, and
6747 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6748 to see them by default.
6752 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6754 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6756 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6757 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6760 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6761 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6762 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6763 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6766 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6767 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6768 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6769 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6770 functions which inspired them.
6772 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6773 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6777 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6779 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6781 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6782 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6785 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6786 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6787 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6789 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6790 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6791 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6792 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6793 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6795 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6797 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
6798 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
6799 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
6802 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
6805 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
6807 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
6808 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
6809 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
6810 above should serve their purposes.
6812 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
6813 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
6814 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
6815 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
6817 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
6820 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
6821 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
6822 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
6823 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
6825 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
6826 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
6827 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
6828 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
6830 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
6831 for the `read' function.
6834 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
6835 to that of `integer?'.
6837 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
6838 use the R4RS names for these functions.
6840 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
6841 it simply returns the object's property list.
6843 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
6844 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
6845 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
6846 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
6848 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
6850 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
6853 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
6855 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
6856 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
6858 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
6860 void (*main_func) (),
6863 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
6864 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
6865 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
6866 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
6867 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
6869 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
6870 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
6871 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
6872 know which arguments have been processed.
6874 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
6875 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
6876 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
6877 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
6878 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
6880 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
6881 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
6882 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
6883 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
6884 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
6885 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
6886 people from making that mistake.
6888 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
6889 convenient ways to override these when desired.
6891 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
6893 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
6897 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
6900 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
6901 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
6902 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
6903 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
6906 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
6907 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
6908 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
6909 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
6912 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
6913 have been added to the Guile library.
6915 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
6916 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
6917 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
6920 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
6921 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
6922 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
6924 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
6925 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
6926 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
6927 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
6928 argument from the list.
6931 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
6934 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
6935 null-terminated string, and returns it.
6937 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
6938 to a Scheme port object.
6940 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
6941 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
6946 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
6948 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
6949 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
6950 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
6951 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
6952 code as a special datatype.
6954 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
6955 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
6956 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
6957 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
6958 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
6961 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
6962 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
6963 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
6964 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
6965 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
6967 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
6970 Copyright information:
6972 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
6974 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
6975 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
6976 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
6977 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
6979 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
6980 of this document, or of portions of it,
6981 under the above conditions, provided also that they
6982 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
6987 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"