1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes. -*- text -*-
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Changes since the stable branch:
9 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
11 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
12 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
13 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
15 * Changes to the C interface
17 ** New function: scm_str2string
19 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
22 Changes since Guile 1.4:
24 * Changes to the distribution
26 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
28 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
30 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
31 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
32 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
33 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
34 indicate major changes in Guile.
36 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
37 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
38 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
39 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
41 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
42 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
43 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
44 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
47 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
49 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
51 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
52 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
53 See INSTALL and README for more information.
55 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
57 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
58 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
59 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
62 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
64 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
67 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
69 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
70 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
72 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
74 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
75 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
78 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
80 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
83 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
86 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
88 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
90 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
91 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
92 open-output-string, get-output-string.
94 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
96 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
98 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
101 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
103 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
105 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
107 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
108 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
109 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
111 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
113 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
115 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
116 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
125 See README there for more info.
127 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
128 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
131 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
133 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
135 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
137 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
138 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
139 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
141 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
143 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
144 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
145 to be named `and-let*', of course.
147 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
148 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
150 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
155 (oop goops active-slot)
156 (oop goops composite-slot)
158 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
159 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
160 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
162 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
164 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
165 in the default environment:
167 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
168 %read-line write-line
170 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
171 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
173 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
175 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
178 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
179 can be used for similar functionality.
181 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
183 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
184 it defines two procedures:
186 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
188 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
189 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
190 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
193 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
195 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
196 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
197 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
200 ** New module (ice-9 match)
202 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
203 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
205 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
207 for complete documentation.
209 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
211 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
212 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
213 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
214 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
216 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
217 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
221 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
222 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
223 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
226 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
229 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
230 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
232 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
233 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
236 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
239 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
241 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
243 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
245 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
247 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
248 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
249 Scheme programs easier.
251 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
252 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
253 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
254 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
255 `cond-expand' when using this option.
258 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
259 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
261 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
264 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
266 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
267 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
268 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
271 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
273 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
275 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
276 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
277 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
278 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
279 was also ASCII, for example.
281 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
283 tag - no replacement.
284 fseek - replaced by seek.
285 list* - replaced by cons*.
287 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
291 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
292 (define m (make-safe-module))
293 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
294 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
295 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
297 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
299 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
300 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
301 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
303 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
305 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
306 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
307 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
308 from the issues related to the module system.
310 *** New function: load-extension
312 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
314 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
316 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
317 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
318 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
320 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
322 This function registers a initialization function for use by
323 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
324 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
325 support dynamic linking).
327 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
329 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
330 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
331 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
332 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
335 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
336 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
337 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
338 library and initialize it explicitely.
340 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
341 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
343 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
345 (define-module (foo bar))
347 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
349 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
351 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
352 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
354 (scheme-report-environment 5)
356 (interaction-environment)
362 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
364 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
365 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
366 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
367 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
369 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
370 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
371 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
372 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
373 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
374 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
375 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
376 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
377 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
378 one eval to the next.
380 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
381 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
382 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
383 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
384 subforms are at the top-level as well.
386 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
387 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
388 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
389 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
390 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
391 used in a lexical environment.
393 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
394 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
395 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
396 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
397 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
398 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
400 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
402 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
403 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
404 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
405 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
406 new facilities: selection and renaming.
408 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
409 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
410 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
412 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
413 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
415 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
416 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
417 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
420 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
422 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
423 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
424 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
425 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
428 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
429 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
430 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
431 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
434 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
435 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
437 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
438 ;; and all four by upcasing.
439 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
440 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
441 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
443 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
446 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
447 :renamer upcase-symbol))
449 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
450 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
451 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
453 See manual for more info.
455 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
457 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
458 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
459 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
461 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
463 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
464 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
465 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
467 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
468 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
469 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
470 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
472 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
474 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
475 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
477 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
478 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
479 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
480 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
481 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
484 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
485 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
486 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
487 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
488 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
489 successful and #f if it wasn't.
491 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
492 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
493 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
494 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
495 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
497 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
498 objects are usually permanent.
500 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
501 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
503 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
505 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
506 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
509 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
513 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
518 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
520 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
521 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
522 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
523 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
525 ** New function `make-object-property'
527 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
528 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
532 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
533 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
537 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
538 source properties eventually.
540 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
542 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
543 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
544 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
546 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
547 will be removed in the next release.
549 ** New define-module option: pure
551 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
556 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
559 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
561 Export names NAME1 ...
563 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
564 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
570 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
573 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
578 ** New function: object->string OBJ
580 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
582 ** New function: port? X
584 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
585 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
587 ** New function: file-port?
589 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
591 ** New function: port-for-each proc
593 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
594 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
595 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
596 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
597 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
599 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
601 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
602 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
603 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
604 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
605 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
608 ** New function: close-fdes fd
610 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
611 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
612 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
613 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
616 ** New function: crypt password salt
618 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
621 ** New function: chroot path
623 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
625 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
627 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
630 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
632 Get or set the priority of the running process.
634 ** New function: getpass prompt
636 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
639 ** New function: flock file operation
641 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
643 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
645 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
648 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
650 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
651 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
652 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
653 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
654 of the temporary file.
656 ** New function: open-input-string string
658 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
659 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
660 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
662 ** New function: open-output-string
664 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
665 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
667 ** New function: get-output-string
669 Return the contents of an output string port.
671 ** New function: identity
675 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
676 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
678 ** New function: inet-pton family address
680 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
681 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
682 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
685 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
686 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
688 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
690 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
691 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
692 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
695 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
696 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
697 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
701 Use `identity' instead.
707 ** Deprecated: return-it
711 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
713 Use `string-length' instead.
717 Use `logior' instead.
719 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
721 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
722 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
723 port-for-each is more flexible.
725 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
726 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
727 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
729 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
731 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
733 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
735 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
737 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
739 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
740 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
742 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
743 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
745 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
746 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
748 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
750 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
751 Removed function: builtin-bindings
753 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
754 Use module system operations for all variables.
756 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
758 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
761 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
763 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
764 The following bugs have been fixed:
766 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
767 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
770 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
771 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
772 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
774 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
775 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
777 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
778 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
781 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
782 The expansion used to be like so:
784 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
786 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
788 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
790 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
791 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
793 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
795 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
796 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
797 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
801 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
802 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
804 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
809 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
810 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
812 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
813 and `d', other keywords allowed.
814 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
816 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
819 * Changes to the C interface
821 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
823 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
824 with "_t". What a concept.
826 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
828 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
830 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
834 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
835 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
837 *** C Functions removed
839 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
840 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
841 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
842 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
843 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
844 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
845 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
847 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
849 Use scm_mem2string instead.
851 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
853 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
855 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
856 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
858 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
860 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
863 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
865 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
867 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
869 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments.
873 scm_call_1 (proc, arg1);
875 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
877 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list
882 scm_apply_1 (proc, arg1, args);
884 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
886 Create a list of the given number of elements.
888 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
890 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
891 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
893 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
895 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
897 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
898 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
899 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
901 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
903 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
905 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
906 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
907 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
910 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
912 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
914 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
915 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
917 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
919 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
920 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
921 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
922 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
924 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
925 scm_primitive_property_ref
926 scm_primitive_property_set_x
927 scm_primitive_property_del_x
929 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
930 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
932 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
934 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
935 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
936 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
937 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
939 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
941 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
942 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
943 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
944 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
945 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
946 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
947 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
949 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
950 scm_remember_upto_here
952 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
954 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
956 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
957 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
959 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
961 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
963 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
965 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
967 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
969 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
970 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
971 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
972 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
973 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
974 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
976 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
978 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
980 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
981 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
982 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
984 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
986 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
987 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
988 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
990 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
992 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
993 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
996 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
999 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
1000 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1003 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1005 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
1007 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
1009 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1011 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
1013 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
1015 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
1016 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
1017 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
1018 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1019 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
1020 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
1021 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
1022 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1023 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
1024 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
1025 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
1026 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
1027 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
1028 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
1029 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
1031 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
1032 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
1033 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
1034 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
1035 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
1036 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
1037 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
1038 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
1039 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1040 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
1041 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
1042 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
1043 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
1044 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
1045 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
1046 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1047 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1048 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
1049 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
1050 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
1051 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
1052 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
1053 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
1054 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
1055 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
1056 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
1057 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
1058 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
1059 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
1061 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
1063 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
1065 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
1066 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
1068 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
1070 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
1072 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
1074 Use scm_string_hash instead.
1076 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
1078 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
1080 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
1082 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
1084 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
1087 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
1088 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
1090 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
1092 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
1094 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
1096 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
1098 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
1100 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
1102 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
1104 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
1107 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
1109 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
1111 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
1113 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
1114 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
1116 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
1117 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
1119 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
1121 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
1122 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
1123 scm_module_define, scm_define.
1125 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
1127 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
1129 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
1130 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
1132 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
1133 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
1134 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
1135 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
1137 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
1138 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
1139 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
1141 Use the new ones from above instead.
1143 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
1145 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
1146 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
1147 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
1149 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
1150 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
1152 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
1153 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
1156 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
1157 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
1159 Use the new functions instead.
1161 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
1164 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
1166 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
1168 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
1171 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
1173 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
1176 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
1178 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
1181 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
1182 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
1183 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
1185 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
1187 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
1188 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
1190 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
1191 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
1192 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
1193 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
1196 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
1198 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
1199 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
1200 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
1201 inexact for an exact.
1203 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
1204 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
1205 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
1208 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
1209 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
1210 accept an inexact argument.
1212 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
1213 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
1215 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
1218 ** New number validation macros:
1219 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
1223 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
1225 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
1226 scm_unprotect_object.
1228 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
1230 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
1232 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
1235 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
1237 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
1241 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
1243 * Changes to the distribution
1245 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
1247 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
1248 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
1249 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
1250 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
1251 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
1252 obtain these programs.
1253 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
1254 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
1256 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
1257 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
1258 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
1259 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
1260 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
1262 However, this approach means that minor differences between
1263 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
1264 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
1265 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
1269 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
1272 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
1273 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
1274 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
1275 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
1277 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
1279 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
1281 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
1282 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
1284 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
1285 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
1287 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
1288 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
1290 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
1291 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
1292 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
1293 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
1295 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
1297 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
1301 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
1302 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
1304 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
1306 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
1307 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
1309 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
1310 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
1311 number of objects of that kind.
1313 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
1315 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
1316 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
1317 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
1318 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
1319 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
1321 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
1323 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
1325 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
1327 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
1330 ** New module (ice-9 time)
1332 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
1334 ** New module (ice-9 history)
1336 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
1338 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1340 ** New command line option --debug
1342 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
1344 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
1346 ** New help facility
1348 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
1349 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
1350 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
1351 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
1352 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
1353 (help) gives this text
1355 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
1356 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
1358 Examples: (help help)
1360 (help "output-string")
1362 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
1364 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
1366 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
1367 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
1370 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
1371 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
1372 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
1375 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
1376 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
1377 use absolute filenames when possible.
1379 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
1380 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
1381 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
1384 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
1386 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
1387 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
1388 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
1389 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
1391 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
1393 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
1395 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
1396 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
1397 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
1399 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
1400 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
1401 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
1403 (read-enable 'positions)
1404 (debug-enable 'debug)
1406 ** Backtraces in scripts
1408 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
1412 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
1414 at the top of the script.
1416 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
1417 The second enables backtraces.)
1419 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
1421 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
1422 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
1423 substantially faster than before.
1425 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
1426 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
1428 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
1429 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
1431 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
1433 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
1434 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
1435 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
1437 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
1438 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
1439 when this hook is run in the future.
1441 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
1442 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
1444 ** Improvements to garbage collector
1446 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
1447 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
1450 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
1451 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
1452 more and more memory for certain programs.)
1454 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
1455 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
1457 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
1458 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
1460 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
1461 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
1462 in order not to need further allocation.)
1464 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
1467 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
1468 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
1469 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
1470 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
1472 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
1474 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
1477 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
1479 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
1482 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
1483 GC in percent of total heap size
1486 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
1487 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
1489 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
1491 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
1492 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
1494 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
1496 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
1497 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
1499 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
1501 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
1502 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
1506 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
1507 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
1509 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
1511 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1513 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
1515 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
1517 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
1519 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
1520 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
1522 (simple-format port message . args)
1523 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
1524 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
1525 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
1526 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
1527 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
1528 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
1529 Does not add a trailing newline."
1531 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
1533 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
1534 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
1536 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
1537 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
1539 ** Deprecated: list*
1541 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
1543 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
1545 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
1546 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
1548 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
1549 is returned as result.
1551 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
1553 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
1555 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
1557 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
1558 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
1561 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
1563 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
1565 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
1566 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
1568 * Changes to the gh_ interface
1570 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
1572 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
1574 * Changes to the scm_ interface
1576 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
1578 Thanks to Greg Badros!
1580 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
1582 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
1583 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
1584 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
1586 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
1589 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
1591 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
1592 the readability of argument checking.
1594 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
1596 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
1598 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
1600 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
1601 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
1602 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
1603 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
1604 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
1605 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
1606 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
1608 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
1610 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
1612 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
1613 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
1615 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
1617 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
1618 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
1621 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
1623 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
1624 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
1625 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
1627 Further, it is recommended not to rely on implementation details for guile's
1628 current implementation of bignums. It is planned to replace this
1629 implementation with gmp in the future.
1631 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
1632 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
1633 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
1635 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
1636 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
1637 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
1638 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
1639 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
1640 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
1641 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
1643 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
1644 scm_end_input (object);
1645 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
1646 ptob->flush (object);
1648 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
1649 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
1652 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
1654 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
1656 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
1657 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
1658 removed in a future version.
1660 ** The format of error message strings has changed
1662 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
1663 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
1664 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
1665 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
1667 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
1668 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
1670 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
1673 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
1675 in your configure.in.
1677 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
1682 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
1688 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
1690 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
1694 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
1695 (define make-message string-append)
1697 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
1699 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
1703 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
1708 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
1712 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
1714 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
1715 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
1717 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
1719 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
1720 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
1721 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
1722 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
1723 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
1724 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
1726 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
1727 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
1728 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
1730 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
1731 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
1732 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
1735 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
1736 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
1737 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
1738 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
1739 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
1741 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
1742 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
1743 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
1744 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
1745 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
1746 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
1747 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
1749 Destructors are not yet implemented.
1751 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
1752 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
1753 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
1755 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
1756 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
1757 KEY in the calling thread.
1759 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
1760 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
1761 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
1762 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
1763 associated with the key.
1765 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
1767 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
1768 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
1770 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
1772 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
1773 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
1774 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
1776 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
1778 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
1779 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
1781 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
1783 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
1785 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
1786 returned is undefined.
1788 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
1789 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
1790 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
1792 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
1793 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
1794 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
1796 ** New C level GC hooks
1798 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
1800 scm_before_gc_c_hook
1803 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
1804 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
1805 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
1807 scm_before_mark_c_hook
1808 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
1809 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
1811 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
1812 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
1815 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
1817 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
1818 allocation parameters
1820 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
1821 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
1822 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
1826 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
1827 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
1828 scm_default_max_segment_size
1830 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
1832 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
1833 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
1835 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
1837 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
1838 object and count on the object being protected until
1839 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
1841 The functions also have better time complexity.
1843 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
1844 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
1845 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
1846 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
1847 are no longer needed.
1849 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
1851 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
1852 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
1853 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
1854 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
1856 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
1858 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
1860 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
1862 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
1863 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
1864 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
1865 until this issue has been settled.
1867 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
1869 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
1871 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
1874 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
1876 * Changes to system call interfaces:
1878 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
1879 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
1880 descriptors were checked.
1882 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
1883 atomically written to a pipe.
1885 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
1886 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
1887 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
1888 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
1889 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
1890 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
1891 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
1894 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
1895 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
1896 is changed without calling tzset.
1898 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
1900 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
1901 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
1902 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
1904 (define write-network-long
1905 (lambda (value port)
1906 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
1907 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
1908 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
1910 (define read-network-long
1912 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
1913 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
1914 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
1916 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
1917 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
1919 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
1920 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
1921 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
1922 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
1924 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
1925 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
1926 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
1927 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
1931 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
1933 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1937 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
1938 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
1939 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
1945 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
1946 for a description of available commands.
1948 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
1949 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
1950 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
1952 (debug-enable 'backwards)
1954 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
1955 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
1957 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
1959 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
1961 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
1962 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
1963 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
1964 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
1965 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
1966 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
1969 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
1971 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
1972 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
1973 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
1974 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
1976 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
1977 the file and should not be affected by this change.
1979 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
1981 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1983 ** Readline support has changed again.
1985 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
1986 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
1987 to activate readline is now
1989 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
1992 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
1994 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
1995 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
1996 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
1999 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
2000 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
2001 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
2004 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
2005 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
2006 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
2007 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
2008 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
2009 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
2011 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
2012 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
2014 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
2016 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
2017 object it receives is the same string passed to
2018 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
2019 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
2020 string, not the suffix.
2022 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
2023 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
2024 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
2026 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
2028 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
2029 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
2030 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
2031 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
2034 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2036 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
2038 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
2039 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
2040 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
2041 appear from left to right.
2043 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
2046 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
2048 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
2049 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
2051 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2055 *** New function: hook? OBJ
2057 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
2059 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
2061 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
2062 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
2063 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
2065 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
2067 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
2069 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
2071 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
2074 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
2076 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
2077 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
2078 mentioning it here anyway.
2080 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
2082 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
2083 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
2084 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
2085 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
2088 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
2090 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
2092 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
2094 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
2095 otherwise return #f.
2097 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
2099 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
2100 returned by `opendir'.
2102 ** New function: using-readline?
2104 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
2106 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
2108 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
2109 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
2111 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2113 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
2115 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
2116 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
2117 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
2119 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
2121 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
2122 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
2124 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
2126 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
2127 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
2128 documentation slots are not yet used.
2130 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
2132 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
2133 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
2134 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
2139 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
2140 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
2141 (string-append x y))
2143 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
2144 can also be used for concatenating strings.
2146 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
2147 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
2148 be made in a clean way.]
2150 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
2152 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
2154 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
2156 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
2157 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
2159 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2161 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
2163 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
2165 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
2167 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
2168 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
2169 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
2170 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
2173 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2175 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
2177 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
2179 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
2181 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
2182 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
2184 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2186 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
2188 Evaluates the body of a special form.
2190 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
2192 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
2193 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
2194 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
2195 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
2196 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
2197 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
2199 This should not make any difference for most users.
2201 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
2203 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
2204 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
2206 *** New functions for applying generic functions
2208 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
2209 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
2210 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
2211 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
2212 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
2214 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
2216 It is now replaced by:
2218 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
2220 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
2221 binds a variable named NAME to it.
2223 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
2225 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
2226 This might change when we get the new module system.
2228 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
2232 Changes since Guile 1.3:
2234 * Changes to mailing lists
2236 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
2238 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
2241 * Changes to the distribution
2243 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
2245 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
2246 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
2247 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
2248 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
2249 you explicitly specify it.
2251 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
2252 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
2253 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
2254 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
2255 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
2258 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
2259 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
2260 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
2261 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
2263 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
2264 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
2265 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
2268 You can activate the readline support by issuing
2270 (use-modules (readline-activator))
2273 from your ".guile" file, for example.
2275 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2277 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
2278 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
2279 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
2280 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
2282 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
2283 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
2286 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2288 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
2289 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
2290 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
2291 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
2292 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
2293 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
2294 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
2295 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
2307 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
2308 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
2309 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
2310 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
2311 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
2316 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
2317 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
2325 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
2330 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
2331 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
2334 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
2335 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
2336 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
2337 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
2339 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
2341 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
2343 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
2344 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
2346 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
2348 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
2350 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
2351 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
2353 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
2356 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
2358 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
2360 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
2362 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
2364 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
2366 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
2368 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
2369 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
2370 when the hook was created.
2372 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
2373 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
2374 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
2375 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
2376 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
2377 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
2378 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
2379 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
2380 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
2382 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
2383 the dlopen family of functions.
2385 ** New function `provided?'
2387 - Function: provided? FEATURE
2388 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
2389 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
2390 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
2392 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
2394 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
2395 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
2396 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
2397 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
2400 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
2401 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
2402 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
2403 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
2405 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
2406 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
2407 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
2410 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
2411 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
2412 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
2413 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
2414 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
2415 but with the flag set.
2417 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
2419 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
2420 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
2422 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
2423 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
2424 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
2425 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
2426 available Scheme format implementations.
2428 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
2429 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
2430 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
2431 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
2432 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
2433 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
2434 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
2435 output is to the current error port if available by the
2436 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
2439 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
2440 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
2441 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
2442 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
2443 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
2444 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
2445 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
2446 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
2448 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
2449 be executed at a time.
2452 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
2454 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
2455 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
2456 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
2458 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
2459 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
2460 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
2461 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
2462 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
2463 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
2464 general form of a directive is:
2466 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
2468 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
2470 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
2472 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
2473 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
2474 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
2477 Any (print as `display' does).
2481 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
2485 S-expression (print as `write' does).
2489 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
2495 print number sign always.
2498 print comma separated.
2500 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
2506 print number sign always.
2509 print comma separated.
2511 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
2517 print number sign always.
2520 print comma separated.
2522 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
2528 print number sign always.
2531 print comma separated.
2533 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
2538 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
2542 print a number as a Roman numeral.
2545 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
2548 print a number as an ordinal English number.
2551 print a number as a cardinal English number.
2556 prints `y' and `ies'.
2559 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
2562 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
2567 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
2571 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
2574 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
2575 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
2577 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2580 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
2581 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
2583 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2586 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
2588 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
2590 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2593 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
2595 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
2597 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2600 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
2603 The sign appears before the padding.
2611 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
2613 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
2618 print N page separators.
2628 newline is ignored, white space left.
2631 newline is left, white space ignored.
2636 relative tabulation.
2642 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
2644 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
2647 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
2649 converts by `string-capitalize'.
2652 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
2655 converts by `string-upcase'.
2658 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
2660 jumps N arguments forward.
2663 jumps 1 argument backward.
2666 jumps N arguments backward.
2669 jumps to the 0th argument.
2672 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
2674 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
2675 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
2677 take argument from N.
2680 true test conditional.
2683 if-else-then conditional.
2689 default clause follows.
2692 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
2694 at most N iterations.
2697 args from next arg (a list of lists).
2700 args from the rest of arguments.
2703 args from the rest args (lists).
2714 aborts if N <= M <= K
2716 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
2719 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
2722 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
2728 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
2730 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
2732 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
2733 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
2734 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
2735 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
2736 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
2737 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
2741 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
2745 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
2751 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
2754 Print a `#\space' character
2756 print N `#\space' characters.
2759 Print a `#\tab' character
2761 print N `#\tab' characters.
2764 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
2765 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
2766 must be a positive decimal number.
2769 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
2770 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
2771 be processed by `read'.
2774 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
2775 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
2776 be processed by `read'.
2779 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
2782 prints format version.
2785 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
2786 and format it accordingly.
2788 *** Configuration Variables
2790 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
2791 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
2792 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
2793 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
2796 format:symbol-case-conv
2797 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
2798 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
2799 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
2800 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
2801 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
2803 format:iobj-case-conv
2804 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
2805 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
2808 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
2811 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
2817 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
2818 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
2819 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
2820 `format' padding style.
2823 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
2824 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
2825 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
2826 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
2830 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
2831 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
2832 directive parameters or modifiers)).
2835 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
2836 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
2837 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
2838 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
2839 parameters or modifiers)).
2842 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
2844 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
2846 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
2847 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
2849 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
2850 string-downcase! functions.
2852 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
2853 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
2855 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
2858 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
2861 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
2862 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
2864 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
2866 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
2867 the symbol had be read by `read'.
2869 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
2870 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
2871 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
2872 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
2873 would if STRING were input.
2875 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
2877 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
2878 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
2879 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
2880 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
2883 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
2885 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
2886 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
2889 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
2891 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
2892 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
2894 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
2895 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
2897 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
2898 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
2899 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
2900 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
2902 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
2903 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
2905 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
2906 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
2907 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
2909 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
2910 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
2912 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
2913 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
2914 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
2915 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
2916 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
2918 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
2919 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
2920 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
2921 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
2922 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
2923 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
2925 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
2926 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
2927 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
2930 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
2931 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
2932 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
2933 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
2934 the following grammar:
2935 ((apples (single-char #\a))
2936 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
2937 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
2938 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
2939 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
2940 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
2941 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
2942 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
2943 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
2944 last option in its combination)
2946 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
2947 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
2948 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
2949 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
2951 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
2952 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
2953 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
2955 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
2956 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
2957 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
2959 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
2960 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
2961 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
2962 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
2963 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
2964 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
2965 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
2966 ordinary argument strings.
2968 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
2969 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
2970 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
2971 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
2973 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
2974 as a list, associated with the empty list.
2976 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
2977 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
2978 - a required option is omitted
2979 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
2980 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
2981 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
2982 - an option predicate fails
2987 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
2990 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
2991 (verbose (required? #f)
2994 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
2995 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
2996 (predicate ,string?))))
2998 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
2999 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3001 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3002 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
3003 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
3004 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
3007 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
3009 It will be removed in a few releases.
3011 ** New syntax: lambda*
3012 ** New syntax: define*
3013 ** New syntax: define*-public
3014 ** New syntax: defmacro*
3015 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
3016 Guile now supports optional arguments.
3018 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
3019 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
3020 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
3021 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
3022 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
3024 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
3025 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
3026 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
3028 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
3030 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
3031 and examples for `lambda*':
3034 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
3036 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
3037 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
3038 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
3039 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
3040 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
3041 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
3042 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
3043 can be checked with the bound? macro.
3045 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
3047 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
3048 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
3049 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
3050 are given as keywords are bound to values.
3052 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
3053 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
3054 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
3055 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
3056 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
3057 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
3058 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
3059 and until the procedure is called.
3061 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
3063 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
3064 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
3065 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
3066 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
3067 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
3068 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
3069 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
3070 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
3071 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
3072 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
3074 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
3075 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
3076 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
3077 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
3080 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
3082 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
3083 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
3084 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
3085 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
3087 ** New syntax: and-let*
3088 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
3090 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
3091 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
3092 (<variable> <expression>)
3095 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
3096 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
3097 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
3100 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
3101 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
3102 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
3103 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
3104 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
3105 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
3106 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
3108 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
3109 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
3110 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
3111 shadow earlier bindings.
3113 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
3115 ** New sorting functions
3117 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
3118 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
3119 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
3120 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
3122 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
3123 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
3126 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
3127 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
3128 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
3130 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
3131 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
3132 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
3133 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
3135 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
3136 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
3137 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
3138 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
3139 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
3142 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
3143 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
3144 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
3145 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
3146 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
3147 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
3149 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
3150 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
3151 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
3153 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
3154 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
3155 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
3158 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
3159 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
3160 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
3162 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
3163 Added for compatibility with scsh.
3165 ** New built-in random number support
3167 *** New function: random N [STATE]
3168 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
3169 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
3170 returned have a uniform distribution.
3172 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
3173 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
3174 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
3175 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
3176 effect of the `random' operation.
3178 *** New variable: *random-state*
3179 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
3180 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
3181 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
3182 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
3183 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
3186 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
3187 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
3188 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
3189 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
3190 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
3192 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
3193 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
3194 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
3195 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
3196 initialized using SEED.
3198 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
3199 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
3200 range between 0 and 1.
3202 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
3203 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
3204 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
3205 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
3206 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
3207 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
3208 or a uniform vector of doubles.
3210 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
3211 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
3212 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
3213 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
3214 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
3215 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
3217 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
3218 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
3219 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
3220 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
3222 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
3223 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
3224 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
3225 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
3227 *** New function: random:exp STATE
3228 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
3229 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
3231 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
3233 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
3236 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
3237 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
3240 ** New function: make-guardian
3241 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
3242 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
3243 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
3244 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
3245 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
3247 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
3248 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
3249 one object if at all.
3251 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
3252 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
3253 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
3255 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
3256 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
3257 read again in last-in first-out order.
3259 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
3260 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
3262 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
3264 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
3265 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
3266 file position is used.
3268 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
3269 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
3270 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
3272 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
3273 redefined using seek.
3275 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
3276 size is not supplied.
3278 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
3279 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
3281 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
3282 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
3284 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
3286 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
3287 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
3288 and returns the contents as a single string.
3290 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
3291 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
3292 lists in serial order.
3294 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
3295 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
3296 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
3298 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
3299 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
3300 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
3301 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
3303 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
3304 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
3305 and #f if an error occured.
3307 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
3309 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
3310 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
3311 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
3312 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
3314 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
3316 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
3319 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
3321 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
3324 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3328 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
3329 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
3331 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
3332 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
3336 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3338 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
3340 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3341 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3343 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3345 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
3346 might change when we get the new module system.
3348 ** The smob interface
3350 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
3351 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
3353 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
3355 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
3359 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
3360 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
3361 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
3362 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
3363 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
3364 will be freed by the default free function.
3366 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
3367 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
3368 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3369 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3371 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
3372 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
3373 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3374 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3376 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
3378 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
3379 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
3383 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
3384 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3385 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3387 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
3388 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
3389 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3390 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3392 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
3393 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
3394 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
3396 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
3397 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
3398 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
3399 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
3401 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
3402 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
3403 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
3405 *** scm_newptob has been removed
3409 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
3411 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
3412 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
3413 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
3415 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
3416 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
3417 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
3419 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
3420 a string port's buffer.
3422 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
3423 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
3424 function pointers which together define the current random number
3425 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
3426 number library functions.
3428 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
3431 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
3432 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
3435 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
3436 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
3438 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
3439 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
3441 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
3442 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
3445 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
3446 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
3447 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
3448 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
3450 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
3451 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
3452 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
3453 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
3454 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
3455 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
3456 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
3458 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
3459 by libguile and the application.
3461 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
3462 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
3463 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
3464 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
3466 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
3467 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
3469 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
3470 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
3471 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
3473 ** Random number library functions
3474 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
3475 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
3476 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
3478 The default random state is stored in:
3480 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
3481 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
3482 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
3487 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
3489 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
3490 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
3491 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
3492 isn't a random state.
3494 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
3495 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
3497 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
3498 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
3499 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
3500 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
3502 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3503 Return 32 random bits.
3505 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3506 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
3508 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3509 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
3511 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3512 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
3514 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
3515 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
3517 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
3518 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
3519 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
3523 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
3525 * Changes to the distribution
3527 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
3528 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
3529 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
3532 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
3533 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
3534 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
3536 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
3537 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
3538 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
3539 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
3542 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
3543 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
3544 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
3546 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3548 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
3550 *** Function: batch-mode?
3552 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
3555 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
3557 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
3558 case has not been implemented.
3560 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
3561 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
3562 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
3565 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
3566 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
3568 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
3570 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
3572 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
3574 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
3575 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
3578 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
3579 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
3580 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
3581 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
3584 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
3586 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
3587 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
3588 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
3589 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
3590 find those libraries.
3592 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
3593 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
3596 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
3598 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
3599 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
3600 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
3601 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
3603 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
3604 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
3605 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
3609 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
3611 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
3612 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
3613 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
3616 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
3617 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
3618 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
3619 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
3621 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
3622 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
3625 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
3626 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
3627 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
3628 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
3629 compiler where to find the libraries.
3631 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
3632 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
3633 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
3635 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
3636 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
3637 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
3638 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
3639 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
3643 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3645 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
3646 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
3647 internationalization support.
3649 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
3650 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
3651 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
3652 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
3653 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
3655 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
3656 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
3657 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
3658 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
3659 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
3661 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
3662 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
3663 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
3664 any GNU mirror site.
3666 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
3668 ** New function: add-history STRING
3669 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
3670 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
3671 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
3673 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
3675 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
3676 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
3677 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
3680 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
3681 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
3682 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
3684 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
3686 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
3689 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
3690 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
3693 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
3694 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
3695 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
3696 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
3697 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
3698 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
3700 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
3701 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
3702 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
3703 of the form mentioned above.
3705 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
3706 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
3707 returned in the special `rest' list.
3709 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
3710 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
3712 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
3714 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
3716 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
3718 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
3719 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
3720 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
3721 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
3722 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
3723 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
3724 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
3725 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
3728 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
3730 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
3732 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
3733 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
3736 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
3737 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
3738 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
3742 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
3743 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
3744 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
3745 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
3746 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
3747 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
3748 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
3749 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
3752 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
3754 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
3755 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
3756 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
3758 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
3760 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
3761 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
3763 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
3764 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
3765 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
3767 Why do we have this function?
3768 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
3769 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
3770 primitive, and display it differently, and
3771 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
3772 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
3775 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
3776 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
3779 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
3780 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
3781 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
3782 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
3784 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
3785 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
3788 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
3789 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
3791 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
3793 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
3794 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
3795 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
3796 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
3797 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
3798 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
3799 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
3802 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
3804 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
3805 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
3807 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
3808 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
3809 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
3810 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
3811 properly continue the print chain.
3813 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
3814 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
3815 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
3816 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
3817 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
3818 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
3819 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
3820 print-state, it is simply ignored.
3822 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
3823 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
3824 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
3825 safest to not check for these pairs.
3827 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
3828 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
3829 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
3830 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
3832 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
3834 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
3835 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
3837 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
3839 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
3841 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
3842 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
3843 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
3845 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
3846 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
3847 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
3849 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
3850 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
3851 the following functions and macros:
3853 Function: make-fluid
3855 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
3856 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
3857 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
3858 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
3859 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
3861 Function: fluid? OBJ
3863 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
3865 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
3866 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
3868 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
3869 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
3871 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
3873 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
3874 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
3875 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
3876 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
3877 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
3878 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
3879 modified by `with-fluids*'.
3881 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
3883 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
3884 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
3885 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
3886 should evaluate to a fluid.
3888 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
3890 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
3891 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
3892 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
3893 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
3894 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
3896 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
3899 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
3901 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
3903 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
3905 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
3908 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
3909 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
3910 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
3911 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
3912 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
3915 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
3916 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
3917 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
3919 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
3920 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
3921 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
3923 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
3924 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
3925 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
3926 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
3928 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
3929 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
3930 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
3931 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
3933 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
3934 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
3935 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
3936 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
3938 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
3939 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
3940 their revealed counts set to zero.
3942 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3943 Returns an integer file descriptor.
3945 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3946 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
3948 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3949 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
3951 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3952 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
3953 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
3955 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
3956 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
3957 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
3959 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
3960 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
3961 default environment inherited by child processes.
3963 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
3964 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
3965 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
3967 The return value is unspecified.
3969 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
3970 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
3971 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
3972 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
3973 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
3975 The return value is unspecified.
3977 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
3978 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
3986 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
3987 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
3990 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
3993 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
3994 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
3995 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
3997 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
3998 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
3999 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
4000 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
4003 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
4004 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
4006 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
4007 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
4008 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
4009 the `environ' procedure.
4011 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
4012 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
4015 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
4016 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
4018 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
4019 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
4020 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
4021 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
4023 *** procedure: times
4024 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
4025 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
4026 return a selected component:
4029 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
4033 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
4036 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
4040 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
4041 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
4045 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
4046 terminated child processes.
4048 ** Removed: list-length
4049 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
4050 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
4052 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
4054 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
4056 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
4058 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
4059 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
4060 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
4061 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
4063 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
4064 extra complexity it introduces.
4066 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
4067 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
4069 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
4070 variable to any non-empty value.
4072 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
4073 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
4075 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4077 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
4078 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
4080 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
4082 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
4083 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
4085 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
4087 ** vector handling routines
4089 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
4090 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
4091 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
4092 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
4093 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
4095 ** pair and list routines
4097 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
4100 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
4102 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
4105 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4107 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
4109 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
4110 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
4111 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
4112 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
4113 site-specific initialization code.
4115 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
4116 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
4117 initialization processes.
4119 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
4120 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
4121 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
4122 initialized properly.
4124 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
4125 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
4126 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
4128 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
4129 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
4130 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
4131 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
4132 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
4134 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
4136 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
4137 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
4138 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
4139 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
4140 objects the smob refers to get marked.
4142 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
4143 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
4144 which look like this:
4147 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
4149 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
4150 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
4153 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
4154 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
4157 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
4159 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
4160 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
4161 you will need to change your functions slightly.
4163 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
4164 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
4165 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
4166 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
4167 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
4169 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
4170 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
4172 int (*free) (SCM port);
4173 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
4174 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
4175 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
4179 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
4180 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
4181 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
4183 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
4186 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
4187 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
4188 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
4190 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
4191 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
4192 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
4195 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
4199 struct timeval *timeout);
4201 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
4202 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
4203 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
4204 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
4205 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
4206 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
4208 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
4209 scm_catch_body_t body,
4211 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
4214 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
4215 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
4216 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
4217 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
4218 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
4219 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
4221 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
4223 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
4226 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
4227 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
4228 spawning threads from application C code.
4230 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
4231 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
4232 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
4233 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
4234 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
4235 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
4237 ** Removed functions:
4239 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
4240 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
4242 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
4244 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
4245 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
4247 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
4249 ** mbstrings are now removed
4251 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
4252 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
4254 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
4256 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
4257 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
4258 their new names and arguments:
4260 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
4261 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
4262 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
4263 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
4266 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
4268 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
4270 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
4273 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
4275 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
4276 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
4277 pass a #f arg to catch.
4279 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
4281 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
4282 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
4285 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
4286 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
4287 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
4288 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
4289 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
4290 reclaim its storage.
4292 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
4293 worrying that some other function you call will call
4294 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
4295 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
4296 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
4297 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
4300 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
4302 * Changes to the distribution
4304 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
4305 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
4308 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
4309 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
4311 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
4312 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
4314 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
4316 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
4317 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
4318 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
4320 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4322 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
4323 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
4324 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
4325 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
4326 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
4327 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
4329 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
4330 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
4331 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
4334 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
4335 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
4336 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
4337 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
4339 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
4340 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
4341 libraries to your link command:
4343 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
4344 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
4345 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
4346 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
4348 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
4349 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
4350 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
4352 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4354 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
4355 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
4358 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
4360 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
4361 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
4362 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
4363 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
4364 searched is system dependent.
4366 (dynamic-object? VAL)
4368 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
4370 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
4372 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
4373 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
4375 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
4377 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
4378 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
4379 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
4380 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
4381 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
4384 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
4386 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
4387 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
4388 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
4389 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
4390 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
4392 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
4394 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
4395 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
4397 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
4399 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
4400 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
4401 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
4404 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
4406 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
4407 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
4408 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
4409 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
4411 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
4412 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
4414 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
4416 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
4417 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
4419 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
4421 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
4422 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
4430 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
4432 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
4433 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
4434 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
4435 a more informative way.
4437 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
4438 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
4439 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
4440 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
4441 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
4442 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
4444 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
4445 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
4448 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
4449 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
4450 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
4453 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
4454 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
4455 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
4456 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
4457 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
4458 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
4460 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
4461 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
4462 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
4463 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
4466 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
4467 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
4468 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
4469 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
4470 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
4471 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
4473 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
4474 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
4475 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
4476 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
4477 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
4479 *** regexp functions
4481 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
4482 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
4483 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
4485 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
4486 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
4487 with SCSH regular expressions.
4489 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
4490 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
4491 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
4492 position of STR at which to begin matching.
4494 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
4495 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
4496 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
4497 `string-match' returns `#f'.
4499 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
4500 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
4501 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
4502 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
4503 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
4504 match strings against the compiled regexp.
4506 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
4507 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
4508 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
4509 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
4510 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
4512 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
4514 **** Constant: regexp/extended
4515 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
4516 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
4517 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
4519 **** Constant: regexp/icase
4520 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
4521 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
4523 **** Constant: regexp/newline
4524 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
4526 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
4529 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
4530 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
4531 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
4533 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
4534 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
4535 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
4537 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
4538 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
4539 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
4540 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
4541 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
4544 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
4546 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
4547 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
4548 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
4549 used when different portions of a string are passed to
4550 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
4551 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
4553 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
4554 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
4555 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
4557 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
4558 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
4561 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
4562 and replace them with the contents of another string.
4564 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
4565 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
4566 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
4567 may be one of the following arguments:
4569 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
4571 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
4573 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
4574 the regexp match is written.
4576 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
4577 following the regexp match is written.
4579 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
4580 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
4583 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
4584 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
4585 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
4586 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
4587 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
4588 which should be matched against this regular expression.
4590 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
4593 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
4594 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
4595 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
4596 written out to PORT.
4598 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
4599 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
4600 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
4601 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
4602 will return after processing a single match.
4604 *** Match Structures
4606 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
4607 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
4608 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
4609 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
4610 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
4611 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
4614 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
4615 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
4616 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
4617 information about the original target string that was matched against a
4618 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
4620 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
4621 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
4622 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
4624 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
4625 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
4626 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
4627 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
4628 number N did not match, return `#f'.
4630 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
4631 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
4633 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
4634 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
4636 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
4637 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
4639 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
4640 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
4642 **** Function: match:count MATCH
4643 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
4644 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
4645 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
4647 **** Function: match:string MATCH
4648 Return the original TARGET string.
4650 *** Backslash Escapes
4652 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
4653 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
4654 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
4655 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
4656 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
4657 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
4659 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
4660 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
4661 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
4662 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
4663 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
4664 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
4665 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
4666 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
4668 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
4669 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
4670 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
4671 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
4672 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
4673 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
4674 each match a single backslash in the target string.
4676 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
4677 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
4678 return the resulting string.
4680 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
4681 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
4682 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
4683 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
4684 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
4685 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
4686 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
4687 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
4688 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
4689 translated to the single character `*'.
4691 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
4692 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
4693 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
4694 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
4695 consecutive backslashes:
4697 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
4699 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
4700 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
4701 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
4703 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
4704 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
4705 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
4706 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
4707 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
4708 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
4710 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
4712 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
4713 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
4714 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
4715 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
4716 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
4717 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
4718 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
4719 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
4720 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
4721 cumbersome escape syntax.
4723 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4725 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4727 * Changes to system call interfaces:
4729 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
4732 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
4734 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
4736 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
4739 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
4740 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
4741 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
4742 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
4743 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
4745 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
4746 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
4747 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
4748 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
4749 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
4750 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
4751 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
4754 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
4755 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
4756 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
4759 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
4760 `force-output' on every port open for output.
4762 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
4763 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
4764 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
4765 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
4766 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
4767 installed, you can say:
4769 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
4772 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4774 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
4775 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
4776 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
4777 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
4778 new dynamic roots and threads.
4781 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
4783 * Changes to the distribution.
4785 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
4787 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
4788 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
4789 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
4790 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
4791 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
4792 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
4793 programming language. These are packaged together because the
4794 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
4796 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
4799 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
4800 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
4805 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4807 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
4808 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
4810 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
4811 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
4812 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
4813 the (command-line) function.
4814 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
4815 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
4816 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
4818 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
4819 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
4820 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
4821 command line arguments
4822 -ds do -s script at this point
4823 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
4824 -h, --help display this help and exit
4825 -v, --version display version information and exit
4826 \ read arguments from following script lines
4828 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
4829 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
4831 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
4834 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
4838 (main (command-line))
4840 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
4842 ekko a speckled gecko
4844 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
4845 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
4846 following list of command-line arguments:
4848 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
4850 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
4851 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
4852 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
4853 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
4854 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
4856 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
4858 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
4860 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
4861 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
4864 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
4865 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
4866 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
4867 SCSH) for circumventing them.
4869 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
4870 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
4871 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
4872 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
4874 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
4878 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
4882 If the user invokes this script as follows:
4884 ekko a speckled gecko
4886 Unix expands this into
4888 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
4890 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
4891 read from the second line of the script, producing:
4893 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
4895 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
4896 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
4898 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
4899 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
4900 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
4901 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
4902 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
4903 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
4904 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
4905 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
4906 it only terminates the argument list.)
4907 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
4908 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
4909 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
4910 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
4911 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
4912 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
4913 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
4914 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
4916 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4918 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
4919 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
4920 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
4921 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
4922 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
4924 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
4925 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
4926 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
4928 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
4930 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
4931 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
4932 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
4933 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
4936 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
4937 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
4938 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
4940 * Changes to Scheme functions
4942 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
4943 and disabled by default.
4945 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
4946 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
4947 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
4948 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
4950 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
4952 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
4954 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
4955 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
4957 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
4958 (read-set! keywords #f)
4960 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
4961 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
4962 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
4965 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
4966 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
4967 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
4970 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
4971 support for Scheme functions.
4973 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
4974 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
4975 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
4976 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
4979 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
4980 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
4981 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
4984 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
4985 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
4986 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
4989 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
4990 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
4991 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
4992 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
4993 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
4994 display the result as a prompt.
4995 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
4997 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
4998 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
4999 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
5002 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
5003 procedure of zero arguments.
5005 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
5006 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
5007 argument is bound in the current module.
5009 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
5010 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
5011 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
5012 public bindings into the current module.
5014 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
5015 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
5017 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
5018 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
5020 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
5021 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
5023 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
5024 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
5026 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
5027 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
5029 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
5030 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
5031 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
5032 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
5033 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
5035 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
5036 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
5037 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
5038 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
5040 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
5043 ** Changes to I/O functions
5045 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
5046 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
5047 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
5049 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
5050 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
5051 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
5053 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
5054 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
5056 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
5057 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
5058 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
5059 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
5061 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
5063 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
5064 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
5066 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
5067 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
5068 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
5069 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
5070 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
5073 'trim omit delimiter from result
5074 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
5075 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
5076 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
5078 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
5080 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
5081 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
5083 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
5084 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
5085 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
5086 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
5087 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
5089 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
5090 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
5091 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
5093 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
5094 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
5095 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
5096 above, and defaults to 'peek.
5098 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
5099 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
5101 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
5102 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
5104 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
5106 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
5107 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
5108 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
5109 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
5110 a delimiting character.
5111 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
5113 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
5114 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
5115 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
5116 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
5117 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
5118 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
5120 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
5121 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
5123 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
5124 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
5125 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
5127 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
5128 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
5129 the array to read and write.
5131 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
5132 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
5135 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
5137 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
5140 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
5141 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
5142 Values for COMMAND are:
5144 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
5145 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
5146 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
5147 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
5148 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
5149 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
5150 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
5151 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
5153 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
5155 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
5156 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
5157 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
5158 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
5159 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
5160 corresponding return set will be the same.
5162 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
5165 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
5166 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
5167 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
5168 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
5169 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
5170 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
5171 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
5172 special file being created.
5174 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
5175 clashing with various SCSH forks.
5177 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
5178 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
5179 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
5180 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
5181 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
5182 and originating address.
5184 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
5185 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
5186 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
5188 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
5191 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
5192 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
5195 (status:exit-val STATUS)
5196 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
5197 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
5198 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
5199 this function returns #f.
5201 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
5202 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
5203 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
5206 (status:term-sig STATUS)
5207 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
5208 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
5211 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
5212 a valid STATUS value.
5214 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
5216 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
5217 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
5219 Component Accessor Setter
5220 ========================= ============ ============
5221 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
5222 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
5223 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
5224 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
5225 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
5226 year tm:year set-tm:year
5227 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
5228 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
5229 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
5230 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
5231 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
5233 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
5234 describing the host system:
5237 ============================================== ================
5238 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
5239 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
5240 release level of the operating system utsname:release
5241 version level of the operating system utsname:version
5242 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
5244 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
5245 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
5246 system's user database:
5249 ====================== =================
5250 user name passwd:name
5251 user password passwd:passwd
5254 real name passwd:gecos
5255 home directory passwd:dir
5256 shell program passwd:shell
5258 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
5259 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
5260 system's group database:
5263 ======================= ============
5264 group name group:name
5265 group password group:passwd
5267 group members group:mem
5269 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
5270 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
5274 ========================= ===============
5275 official name of host hostent:name
5276 alias list hostent:aliases
5277 host address type hostent:addrtype
5278 length of address hostent:length
5279 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
5281 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
5282 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
5286 ========================= ===============
5287 official name of net netent:name
5288 alias list netent:aliases
5289 net number type netent:addrtype
5290 net number netent:net
5292 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
5293 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
5297 ========================= ===============
5298 official protocol name protoent:name
5299 alias list protoent:aliases
5300 protocol number protoent:proto
5302 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
5303 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
5307 ========================= ===============
5308 official service name servent:name
5309 alias list servent:aliases
5310 port number servent:port
5311 protocol to use servent:proto
5313 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
5314 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
5317 ======================================== ===============
5318 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
5319 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
5320 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
5321 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
5323 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
5324 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
5325 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
5327 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
5328 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
5330 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
5331 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
5333 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
5334 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
5336 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
5338 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
5340 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
5341 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
5342 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
5344 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
5345 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
5346 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
5347 return the remaining characters as a string.
5349 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
5350 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
5351 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
5353 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
5355 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5357 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
5360 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
5363 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
5364 and returns the array
5366 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
5367 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
5368 the user to interpret the data both ways.
5370 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5372 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
5373 symbol's value from C code:
5375 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
5376 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
5377 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
5378 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
5380 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
5381 without assigning them a value.
5383 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
5384 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
5385 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
5387 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
5388 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
5389 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
5391 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
5392 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
5394 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
5395 doesn't actually care about that.
5397 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
5398 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
5399 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
5401 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
5402 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
5403 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
5404 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
5405 which we have just created and initialized.
5407 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
5408 should one occur. We call it like this:
5409 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
5411 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
5412 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
5413 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
5414 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
5415 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
5416 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
5419 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
5420 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
5421 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
5422 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
5423 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
5424 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
5425 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
5428 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
5429 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
5430 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
5431 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
5432 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
5435 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
5436 scm_internal_catch, except:
5438 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
5439 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
5440 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
5441 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
5444 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
5445 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
5446 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
5448 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
5449 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
5450 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
5451 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
5454 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
5455 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
5456 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
5458 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
5459 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
5460 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
5461 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
5462 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
5464 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
5465 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
5466 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
5468 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
5469 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
5470 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
5472 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
5473 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
5475 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
5476 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
5477 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
5480 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
5481 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
5482 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
5483 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
5484 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
5485 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
5486 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
5489 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
5490 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
5492 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
5493 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
5494 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
5495 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
5496 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
5499 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
5500 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
5502 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
5503 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
5506 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
5507 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
5509 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5512 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
5513 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
5514 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
5515 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
5516 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
5517 given the following arguments:
5519 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5521 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
5523 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
5525 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5528 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
5529 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
5530 command-line arguments.
5532 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
5533 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
5534 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
5535 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
5536 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
5537 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
5540 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5543 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
5544 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
5546 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
5547 rearranged slightly. They are now:
5549 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5550 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
5551 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
5552 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
5554 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5555 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
5557 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5558 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
5559 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
5560 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
5562 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5563 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
5565 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
5566 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
5568 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
5570 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
5571 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
5572 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
5575 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
5576 returns a port instead of an FD object.
5578 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
5579 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
5584 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
5587 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
5589 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
5590 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
5591 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
5592 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
5594 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
5596 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
5598 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
5599 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
5600 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
5601 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
5602 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
5603 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
5604 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
5605 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
5606 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
5607 for more information.
5609 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
5610 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
5612 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
5613 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
5614 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
5615 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
5616 following two lines at the top of the file:
5618 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5621 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
5622 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
5623 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
5625 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
5627 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5629 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
5632 (display (car args))
5633 (if (pair? (cdr args))
5635 (loop (cdr args)))))
5638 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
5639 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
5640 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
5641 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
5642 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
5643 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
5647 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
5650 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
5653 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
5655 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
5656 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
5657 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
5658 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
5659 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
5662 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
5663 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
5664 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
5665 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
5666 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
5669 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
5672 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
5673 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
5674 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
5677 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
5678 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
5679 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
5681 to see a backtrace, and
5682 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
5683 to see them by default.
5687 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
5689 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
5691 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
5692 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
5695 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
5696 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
5697 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
5698 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
5701 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
5702 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
5703 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
5704 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
5705 functions which inspired them.
5707 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
5708 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
5712 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
5714 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
5716 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
5717 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
5720 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
5721 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
5722 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
5724 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
5725 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
5726 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
5727 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
5728 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
5730 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
5732 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
5733 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
5734 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
5737 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
5740 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
5742 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
5743 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
5744 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
5745 above should serve their purposes.
5747 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
5748 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
5749 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
5750 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
5752 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
5755 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
5756 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
5757 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
5758 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
5760 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
5761 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
5762 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
5763 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
5765 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
5766 for the `read' function.
5769 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
5770 to that of `integer?'.
5772 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
5773 use the R4RS names for these functions.
5775 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
5776 it simply returns the object's property list.
5778 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
5779 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
5780 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
5781 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
5783 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
5785 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
5788 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
5790 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
5791 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
5793 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
5795 void (*main_func) (),
5798 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
5799 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
5800 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
5801 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
5802 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
5804 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
5805 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
5806 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
5807 know which arguments have been processed.
5809 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
5810 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
5811 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
5812 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
5813 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
5815 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
5816 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
5817 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
5818 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
5819 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
5820 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
5821 people from making that mistake.
5823 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
5824 convenient ways to override these when desired.
5826 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
5828 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
5832 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
5835 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
5836 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
5837 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
5838 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
5841 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
5842 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
5843 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
5844 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
5847 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
5848 have been added to the Guile library.
5850 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
5851 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
5852 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
5855 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
5856 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
5857 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
5859 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
5860 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
5861 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
5862 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
5863 argument from the list.
5866 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
5869 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
5870 null-terminated string, and returns it.
5872 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
5873 to a Scheme port object.
5875 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
5876 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
5881 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
5883 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
5884 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
5885 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
5886 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
5887 code as a special datatype.
5889 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
5890 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
5891 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
5892 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
5893 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
5896 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
5897 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
5898 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
5899 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
5900 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
5902 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
5905 Copyright information:
5907 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5909 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
5910 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
5911 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
5912 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
5914 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
5915 of this document, or of portions of it,
5916 under the above conditions, provided also that they
5917 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
5922 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"