1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
10 * New modules (see the manual for details)
12 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', multithreading support
13 ** The `(ice-9 i18n)' module provides internationalization support
15 * Changes to the distribution
17 ** Guile now uses Gnulib as a portability aid
19 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
20 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
22 ** A new 'memoize-symbol evaluator trap has been added. This trap can
23 be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code coverage.
25 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
26 This slightly improves program startup times.
28 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
29 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
31 * Changes to the C interface
33 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
35 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
37 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
40 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
41 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
43 ** Primitive procedures (aka. "subrs") are now stored in double cells
44 This removes the subr table and simplifies the code.
46 ** Primitive procedures with more than 3 arguments (aka. "gsubrs") are
47 no longer implemented using the "compiled closure" mechanism. This
48 simplifies code and reduces both the storage and run-time overhead.
51 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
55 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
56 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
57 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
58 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
60 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
62 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
63 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
64 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
67 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
70 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
72 * New features (see the manual for details)
74 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
76 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
78 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
79 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
80 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
82 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
84 * Changes to the distribution
86 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
88 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
89 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
91 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
93 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
94 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
99 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
100 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
101 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
102 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
103 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
104 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
105 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
106 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
107 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
108 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
109 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
110 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
111 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
112 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
114 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
115 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
116 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
117 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
118 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
121 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
123 * Infrastructure changes
125 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
127 The new repository can be accessed using
128 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
129 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
131 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
133 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
135 * New modules (see the manual for details)
139 * New features (see the manual for details)
141 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
142 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
143 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
145 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
146 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
147 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
148 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
150 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
152 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
153 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
154 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
158 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
159 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
161 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
162 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
164 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
165 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
167 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
168 lead to a stack overflow.
170 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
171 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
172 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
173 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
174 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
175 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
176 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
177 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
178 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
179 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
180 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
181 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
182 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
183 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
184 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
185 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
187 * Changes to the distribution
191 We've started collecting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and will
192 distribute these (with answers!) in future Guile releases.
195 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
199 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
200 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
201 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
202 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
203 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
204 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
205 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
206 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
207 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
208 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
209 system and library calls.
210 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
211 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
212 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
213 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
214 uniform vectors on AIX.
215 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
216 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
217 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
218 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
219 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
221 * New modules (see the manual for details)
225 * Documentation fixes and improvements
227 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
229 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
230 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
232 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
234 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
236 * Changes to the distribution
238 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
240 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
241 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
242 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
244 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
246 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
249 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
251 * New modules (see the manual for details)
258 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
259 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
260 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
261 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
262 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
263 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
264 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
266 * Implementation improvements
268 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
269 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
272 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
274 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
276 ** set-program-arguments
279 * Incompatible changes
281 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
283 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
284 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
285 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
286 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
291 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
292 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
293 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
294 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
295 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
296 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
298 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
299 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
300 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
301 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
302 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
303 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
304 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
305 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
306 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
307 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
308 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
309 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
310 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
311 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
312 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
313 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
316 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
318 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
320 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
322 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
323 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
324 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
325 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
326 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
327 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
335 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
337 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
339 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
341 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
343 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
345 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
347 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
348 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
349 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
351 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
353 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
355 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
356 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
358 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
360 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
361 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
363 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
365 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
367 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
369 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
371 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
373 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
375 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
377 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
379 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
381 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
382 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
383 file was on a different device.
386 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
388 * Changes to the distribution
390 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
392 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
394 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
396 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
398 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
400 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
403 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
405 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
406 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
407 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
408 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
409 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
410 items like the versioned share directory name
411 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
413 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
414 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
415 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
416 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
417 with each micro release during a stable series.
419 ** Thread implementation has changed.
421 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
422 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
423 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
424 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
425 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
428 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
429 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
430 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
431 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
434 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
435 in which case "null" threads are used.
437 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
438 "Blocking", and others.
440 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
442 This is a milder form of deprecation.
444 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
445 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
446 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
447 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
448 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
450 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
451 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
453 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
455 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
456 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
458 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
461 This SRFI is always available.
463 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
465 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
466 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
467 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
468 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
471 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
473 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
474 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
475 parameters without currying.
477 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
479 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
480 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
482 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
483 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
486 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
487 with a renaming import, for example.
489 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
491 The official version is good enough now.
493 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
495 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
496 provided. Use 'make html'.
498 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
500 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
501 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
502 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
503 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
505 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
507 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
510 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
512 ** New command line option `-L'.
514 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
516 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
518 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
519 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
521 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
523 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
524 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
526 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
528 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
529 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
532 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
535 (define-module (demo)
539 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
542 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
544 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
546 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
547 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
548 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
550 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
552 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
553 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
555 ** New function hashx-remove!
557 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
559 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
560 barriers and dynamic states.
562 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
563 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
564 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
567 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
568 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
569 Barriers" in the manual.
571 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
572 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
574 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
576 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
577 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
578 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
581 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
583 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
584 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
586 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
587 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
588 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
590 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
591 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
593 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
594 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
595 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
597 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
598 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
599 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
602 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
603 substrings and read-only strings.
605 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
606 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
609 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
611 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
620 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
621 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
622 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
624 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
625 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
626 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
629 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
630 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
633 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
635 See the manual for details.
637 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
639 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
642 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
644 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
645 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
646 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
647 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
649 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
650 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
651 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
654 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
656 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
657 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
668 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
672 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
677 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
681 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
685 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
688 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
689 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
690 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
691 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
693 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
694 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
697 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
700 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
704 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
706 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
707 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
708 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
711 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
714 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
716 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
719 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
720 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
728 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
729 has been detected is to
731 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
732 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
733 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
736 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
739 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
741 to your .guile init file.
743 ** New define-module option: :replace
745 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
748 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
749 for the core binding `format'.
751 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
753 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
754 a prefix to all imported bindings.
757 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
759 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
762 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
764 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
765 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
766 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
768 ** New function: effective-version
770 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
771 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
772 to the distribution" above.
774 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
776 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
777 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
779 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
781 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
782 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
784 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
786 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
787 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
790 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
792 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
794 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
796 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
797 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
798 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
801 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
802 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
803 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
806 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
807 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
809 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
810 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
811 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
814 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
816 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
817 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
820 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
821 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
823 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
824 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
825 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
826 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
827 level for the current thread.
829 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
831 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
833 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
834 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
837 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
839 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
841 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
844 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
846 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
849 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
850 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
851 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
853 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
854 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
855 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
856 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
867 ERROR: Numerical overflow
869 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
872 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
874 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
875 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
876 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
887 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
889 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
890 them is also done exactly, of course:
895 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
898 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
899 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
901 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
903 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
904 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
905 equal to a floating point number. For example:
907 (inexact->exact 1.234)
908 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
910 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
912 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
915 ** New function 'rationalize'.
917 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
918 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
920 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
923 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
924 result when both its arguments are exact.
926 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
928 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
929 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
930 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
932 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
934 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
935 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
936 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
938 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
941 ** pretty-print has more options.
943 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
944 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
945 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
947 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
949 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
950 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
951 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
953 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
955 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
956 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
958 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
960 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
961 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
964 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
966 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
967 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
968 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
969 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
970 without the soft port blocking.
972 ** Deprecated: undefine
974 There is no replacement for undefine.
976 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
977 have been discouraged.
979 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
980 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
981 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
984 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
986 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
988 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
989 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
990 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
991 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
994 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
995 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
996 be removed in the next major Guile release.
998 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
1000 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
1001 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
1002 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
1003 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
1004 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
1005 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
1007 * Changes to the C interface
1009 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
1010 take a 'delete' function argument.
1012 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
1013 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
1015 This is an incompatible change.
1017 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
1019 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
1020 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
1021 --disable-deprecated.
1023 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
1025 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
1026 Scheme values has been added.
1028 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
1029 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
1032 - int scm_is_* (...)
1034 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
1035 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
1037 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
1039 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
1040 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
1043 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
1045 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
1046 scm_from_int for ints.
1048 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
1049 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
1050 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
1052 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
1054 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
1055 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
1056 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
1059 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
1061 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
1063 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
1065 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
1066 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
1067 following alternatives.
1069 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
1070 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
1071 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
1072 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
1074 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
1075 do the validating for you.
1077 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
1078 have been discouraged.
1080 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
1081 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
1084 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
1086 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
1087 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
1090 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
1092 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
1095 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
1098 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
1100 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
1101 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
1103 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
1104 scm_truncate_number should have.
1106 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
1107 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
1109 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
1112 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
1113 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
1114 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
1116 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
1117 easier to use from C.
1119 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
1120 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
1122 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
1123 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
1124 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
1127 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
1128 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
1129 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
1130 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
1133 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
1134 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
1135 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
1136 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
1137 and is thus quite efficient.
1139 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
1141 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
1142 about the character encoding.
1144 Replace according to the following table:
1146 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
1147 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1148 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1149 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1150 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1151 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1152 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1153 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1154 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1156 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1157 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1159 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1161 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1162 now also available to C code.
1164 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1166 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1167 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1168 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1170 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1173 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1175 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1176 unceremoniously removed.
1178 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1179 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1180 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1182 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1183 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1184 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1185 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1186 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1187 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1190 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1192 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1193 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1194 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1195 manual for more details.
1197 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1198 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1200 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1201 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1202 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1204 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1206 Migrate according to the following table:
1208 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1209 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1210 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1211 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1212 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1213 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1214 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1216 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1217 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1218 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1219 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1220 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1221 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1222 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1224 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1226 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1227 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1229 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1230 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1231 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1232 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1234 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1236 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1237 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1238 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1240 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1241 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1243 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1244 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1245 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1246 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1248 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1250 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1251 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1252 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1253 prevent a potential memory leak:
1260 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1262 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1263 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1265 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1266 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1273 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1274 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1278 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1280 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1282 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1283 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1284 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1286 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1287 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1289 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1291 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1293 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1294 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1295 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1297 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1298 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1300 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1301 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1302 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1303 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1306 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1308 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1309 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1310 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1312 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1314 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1315 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1317 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1319 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1320 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1322 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1324 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1325 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1326 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1328 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1330 You should not have used them.
1332 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1334 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1335 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1337 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1339 This macro is not intended for public use.
1341 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1343 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1345 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1347 Use scm_is_real instead.
1349 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1351 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1353 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1355 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1356 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1358 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1359 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1361 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1362 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1364 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1366 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1369 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1371 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1372 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1373 to the distribution" above.
1375 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1377 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1378 arguments are now passed directly:
1380 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1382 This is an incompatible change.
1384 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1386 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1387 function in the init section.
1389 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1391 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1393 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1394 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1395 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1396 stays roughly constant.
1398 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1399 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1400 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1401 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1402 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1405 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1406 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1407 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1408 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1410 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1411 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1412 objects for every type.
1415 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1417 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1419 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1421 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1422 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1423 initializes a new cell (see below).
1425 ** New functions for memory management
1427 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1428 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1429 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1430 cause aborts in long running programs.
1432 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1433 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1435 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1436 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1437 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1438 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1439 details and for upgrading instructions.
1441 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1442 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1443 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1445 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1447 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1448 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1449 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1450 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1451 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1453 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1454 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1455 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1457 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1458 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1460 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1462 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1463 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1464 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1465 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1466 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1468 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1470 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1473 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1475 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1477 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1479 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1480 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1482 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1484 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1485 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1487 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1488 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1490 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1492 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1494 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1495 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1496 blocking it is not well defined.
1498 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1500 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1501 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1502 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1503 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1504 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1505 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1506 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1507 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1508 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1509 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1510 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1511 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1512 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1513 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1514 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1515 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1516 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1517 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1518 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1519 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1520 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1521 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1522 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1523 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1524 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1525 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1526 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1527 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1528 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1529 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1530 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1532 * Changes to bundled modules
1536 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1537 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1538 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1539 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1540 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1543 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1545 * Changes to the distribution
1547 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1549 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1551 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1552 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1553 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1554 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1555 indicate major changes in Guile.
1557 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1558 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1559 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1560 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1562 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1563 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1564 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1565 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1566 micro version number.
1568 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1570 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1572 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1573 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1575 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1577 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1578 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1579 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1581 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1583 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1584 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1585 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1588 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1590 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1593 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1595 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1596 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1598 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1600 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1601 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1604 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1606 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1609 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1612 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1614 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1616 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1617 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1618 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1620 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1622 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1624 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1627 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1629 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1631 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1633 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1634 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1635 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1637 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1639 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1641 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1642 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1651 See README there for more info.
1653 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1654 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1657 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1659 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1661 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1663 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1664 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1665 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1667 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1669 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1670 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1671 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1673 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1674 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1676 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1679 (oop goops describe)
1681 (oop goops active-slot)
1682 (oop goops composite-slot)
1684 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1685 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1686 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1688 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1690 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1691 in the default environment:
1693 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1694 %read-line write-line
1696 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1697 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1699 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1701 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1704 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1705 can be used for similar functionality.
1707 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1709 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1710 it defines two procedures:
1712 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1714 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1715 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1716 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1719 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1721 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1722 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1723 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1724 write large strings.
1726 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1728 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1729 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1731 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1733 for complete documentation.
1735 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1737 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1738 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1739 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1740 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1742 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1743 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1747 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1748 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1749 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1752 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1755 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1756 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1758 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1759 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1762 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1765 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1767 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1769 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1771 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1773 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1774 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1775 Scheme programs easier.
1777 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1778 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1779 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1780 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1781 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1784 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1785 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1787 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1790 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1792 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1793 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1794 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1797 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1799 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1801 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1802 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1803 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1804 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1805 was also ASCII, for example.
1807 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1809 tag - no replacement.
1810 fseek - replaced by seek.
1811 list* - replaced by cons*.
1813 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1817 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1818 (define m (make-safe-module))
1819 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1820 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1821 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1823 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1825 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1826 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1827 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1829 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1831 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1832 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1833 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1834 from the issues related to the module system.
1836 *** New function: load-extension
1838 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1840 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1842 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1843 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1844 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1846 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1848 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1849 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1850 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1851 support dynamic linking).
1853 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1855 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1856 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1857 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1858 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1861 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1862 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1863 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1864 library and initialize it explicitly.
1866 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1867 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1869 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1871 (define-module (foo bar))
1873 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1875 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1877 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1878 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1880 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1881 (null-environment 5)
1882 (interaction-environment)
1888 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1890 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1891 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1892 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1893 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1895 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1896 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1897 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1898 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1899 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1900 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1901 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1902 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1903 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1904 one eval to the next.
1906 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1907 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1908 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1909 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1910 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1912 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1913 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1914 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1915 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1916 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1917 used in a lexical environment.
1919 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1920 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1921 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1922 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1923 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1924 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1926 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1928 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1929 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1930 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1931 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1932 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1934 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1935 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1936 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1938 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1939 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1941 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1942 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1943 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1945 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1946 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1948 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1949 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1950 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1951 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1954 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1955 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1956 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1957 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1959 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1960 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1961 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1963 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1964 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1965 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1966 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1967 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1969 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1971 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1972 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1973 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1975 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1976 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1977 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1979 See manual for more info.
1981 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1983 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1984 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1985 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1987 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1989 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1990 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1991 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1993 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1994 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1995 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1996 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1998 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
2000 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
2001 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
2003 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
2004 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
2005 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
2006 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
2007 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
2010 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
2011 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
2012 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
2013 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
2014 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
2015 successful and #f if it wasn't.
2017 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
2018 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
2019 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
2020 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
2021 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
2023 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
2024 objects are usually permanent.
2026 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
2027 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
2029 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
2031 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
2032 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
2035 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
2039 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
2044 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
2046 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
2047 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
2048 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
2049 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
2051 ** New function `make-object-property'
2053 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
2054 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
2058 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
2059 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
2063 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
2064 source properties eventually.
2066 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
2068 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
2069 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
2070 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
2072 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
2073 will be removed in the next release.
2075 ** New define-module option: pure
2077 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
2082 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
2085 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
2087 Export names NAME1 ...
2089 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
2090 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
2094 (define-module (foo)
2096 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
2099 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
2104 ** New function: object->string OBJ
2106 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
2108 ** New function: port? X
2110 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
2111 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
2113 ** New function: file-port?
2115 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
2117 ** New function: port-for-each proc
2119 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
2120 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
2121 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
2122 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
2123 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
2125 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
2127 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
2128 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
2129 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
2130 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
2131 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
2134 ** New function: close-fdes fd
2136 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
2137 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
2138 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
2139 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
2142 ** New function: crypt password salt
2144 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
2147 ** New function: chroot path
2149 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2151 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2153 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2156 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2158 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2160 ** New function: getpass prompt
2162 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2165 ** New function: flock file operation
2167 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2169 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2171 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2174 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2176 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2177 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2178 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2179 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2180 of the temporary file.
2182 ** New function: open-input-string string
2184 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2185 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2186 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2188 ** New function: open-output-string
2190 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2191 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2193 ** New function: get-output-string
2195 Return the contents of an output string port.
2197 ** New function: identity
2199 Return the argument.
2201 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2202 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2204 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2206 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2207 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2208 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2211 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2212 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2214 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2216 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2217 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2218 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2221 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2222 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2223 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2227 Use `identity' instead.
2233 ** Deprecated: return-it
2237 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2239 Use `string-length' instead.
2241 ** Deprecated: flags
2243 Use `logior' instead.
2245 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2247 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2248 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2249 port-for-each is more flexible.
2251 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2252 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2253 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2255 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2257 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2259 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2261 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2263 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2265 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2266 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2268 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2269 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2271 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2272 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2274 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2276 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2277 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2279 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2280 Use module system operations for all variables.
2282 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2284 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2287 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2289 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2290 The following bugs have been fixed:
2292 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2293 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2296 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2297 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2298 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2300 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2301 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2303 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2304 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2307 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2308 The expansion used to be like so:
2310 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2312 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2314 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2316 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2317 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2319 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2321 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2322 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2323 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2327 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2328 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2330 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2335 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2336 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2338 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2339 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2340 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2342 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2345 * Changes to the C interface
2347 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2349 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2350 with "_t". What a concept.
2352 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2354 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2356 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2360 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2361 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2363 *** C Functions removed
2365 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2366 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2367 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2368 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2369 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2370 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2371 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2373 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2375 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2377 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2379 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2381 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2382 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2384 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2386 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2389 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2391 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2393 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2395 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2396 Evaluation" in the manual.
2398 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2400 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2401 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2403 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2405 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2406 Constructors" in the manual.
2408 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2410 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2411 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2413 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2415 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2417 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2418 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2419 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2421 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2423 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2425 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2426 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2427 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2430 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2432 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2434 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2435 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2437 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2439 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2440 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2441 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2442 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2444 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2445 scm_primitive_property_ref
2446 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2447 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2449 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2450 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2452 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2454 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2455 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2456 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2457 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2459 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2461 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2462 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2463 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2464 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2465 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2466 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2467 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2469 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2470 scm_remember_upto_here
2472 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2474 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2476 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2477 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2479 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2481 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2483 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2485 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2487 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2489 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2490 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2491 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2492 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2493 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2494 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2496 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2498 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2500 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2501 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2502 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2504 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2506 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2507 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2508 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2510 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2512 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2513 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2516 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2519 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2520 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2523 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2525 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2527 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2529 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2531 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2533 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2535 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2536 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2537 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2538 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2539 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2540 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2541 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2542 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2543 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2544 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2545 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2546 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2547 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2548 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2549 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2551 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2552 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2553 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2554 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2555 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2556 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2557 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2558 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2559 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2560 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2561 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2562 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2563 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2564 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2565 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2566 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2567 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2568 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2569 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2570 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2571 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2572 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2573 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2574 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2575 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2576 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2577 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2578 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2579 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2581 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2583 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2585 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2586 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2588 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2590 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2592 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2594 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2596 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2598 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2600 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2602 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2604 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2607 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2608 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2610 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2612 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2614 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2616 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2618 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2620 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2622 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2624 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2627 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2629 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2631 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2633 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2634 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2636 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2637 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2639 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2641 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2642 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2643 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2645 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2647 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2649 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2650 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2652 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2653 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2654 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2655 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2657 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2658 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2659 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2661 Use the new ones from above instead.
2663 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2665 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2666 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2667 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2669 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2670 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2672 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2673 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2676 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2677 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2679 Use the new functions instead.
2681 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2684 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2686 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2688 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2691 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2693 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2696 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2698 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2701 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2702 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2703 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2705 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2707 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2708 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2710 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2711 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2712 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2713 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2716 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2718 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2719 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2720 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2721 inexact for an exact.
2723 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2724 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2725 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2728 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2729 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2730 accept an inexact argument.
2732 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2733 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2735 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2738 ** New number validation macros:
2739 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2743 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2745 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2746 scm_unprotect_object.
2748 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2750 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2752 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2755 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2757 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2761 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2763 * Changes to the distribution
2765 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2767 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2768 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2769 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2770 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2771 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2772 obtain these programs.
2773 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2774 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2776 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2777 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2778 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2779 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2780 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2782 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2783 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2784 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2785 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2789 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2792 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2793 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2794 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2795 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2797 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2799 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2801 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2802 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2804 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2805 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2807 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2808 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2810 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2811 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2812 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2813 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2815 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2817 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2821 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2822 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2824 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2826 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2827 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2829 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2830 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2831 number of objects of that kind.
2833 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2835 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2836 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2837 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2838 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2839 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2841 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2843 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2845 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2847 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2850 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2852 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2854 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2856 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2858 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2860 ** New command line option --debug
2862 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2864 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2866 ** New help facility
2868 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2869 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2870 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2871 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2872 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2873 (help) gives this text
2875 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2876 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2878 Examples: (help help)
2880 (help "output-string")
2882 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2884 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2886 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2887 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2890 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2891 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2892 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2895 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2896 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2897 use absolute filenames when possible.
2899 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2900 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2901 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2904 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2906 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2907 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2908 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2909 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2911 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2913 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2915 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2916 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2917 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2919 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2920 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2921 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2923 (read-enable 'positions)
2924 (debug-enable 'debug)
2926 ** Backtraces in scripts
2928 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2932 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2934 at the top of the script.
2936 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2937 The second enables backtraces.)
2939 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2941 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2942 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2943 substantially faster than before.
2945 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2946 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2948 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2949 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2951 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2953 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2954 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2955 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2957 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2958 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2959 when this hook is run in the future.
2961 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2962 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2964 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2966 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2967 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2970 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2971 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2972 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2974 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2975 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2977 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2978 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2980 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2981 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2982 in order not to need further allocation.)
2984 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2987 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2988 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2989 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2990 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2992 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2994 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2997 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2999 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
3002 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
3003 GC in percent of total heap size
3006 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
3007 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
3009 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
3011 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
3012 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
3014 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
3016 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
3017 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
3019 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
3021 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
3022 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
3026 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
3027 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
3029 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
3031 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3033 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
3035 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
3037 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
3039 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
3040 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
3042 (simple-format port message . args)
3043 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
3044 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
3045 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
3046 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
3047 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
3048 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
3049 Does not add a trailing newline."
3051 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
3053 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
3054 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
3056 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
3057 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
3059 ** Deprecated: list*
3061 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
3063 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
3065 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
3066 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
3068 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
3069 is returned as result.
3071 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
3073 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
3075 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
3077 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
3078 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
3081 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
3083 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
3085 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
3086 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
3088 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3090 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
3092 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
3094 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3096 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
3098 Thanks to Greg Badros!
3100 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3102 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3103 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
3104 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
3106 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
3109 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
3111 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
3112 the readability of argument checking.
3114 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
3116 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
3118 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
3120 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
3121 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
3122 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
3123 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
3124 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
3125 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
3126 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
3128 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
3130 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
3132 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
3133 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
3135 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
3137 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
3138 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
3141 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
3143 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
3144 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
3145 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
3147 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3148 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3149 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3151 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3152 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3153 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3154 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3155 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3156 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3157 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3159 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3160 scm_end_input (object);
3161 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3162 ptob->flush (object);
3164 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3165 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3168 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3170 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3172 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3173 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3174 removed in a future version.
3176 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3178 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3179 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3180 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3181 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3183 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3184 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3186 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3189 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3191 in your configure.in.
3193 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3198 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3204 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3206 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3210 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3211 (define make-message string-append)
3213 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3215 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3219 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3224 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3228 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3230 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3231 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3233 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3235 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3236 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3237 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3238 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3239 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3240 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3242 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3243 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3244 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3246 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3247 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3248 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3251 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3252 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3253 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3254 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3255 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3257 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3258 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3259 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3260 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3261 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3262 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3263 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3265 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3267 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3268 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3269 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3271 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3272 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3273 KEY in the calling thread.
3275 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3276 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3277 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3278 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3279 associated with the key.
3281 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3283 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3284 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3286 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3288 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3289 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3290 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3292 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3294 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3295 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3297 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3299 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3301 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3302 returned is undefined.
3304 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3305 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3306 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3308 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3309 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3310 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3312 ** New C level GC hooks
3314 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3316 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3319 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3320 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3321 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3323 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3324 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3325 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3327 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3328 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3331 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3333 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3334 allocation parameters
3336 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3337 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3338 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3342 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3343 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3344 scm_default_max_segment_size
3346 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3348 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3349 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3351 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3353 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3354 object and count on the object being protected until
3355 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3357 The functions also have better time complexity.
3359 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3360 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3361 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3362 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3363 are no longer needed.
3365 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3367 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3368 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3369 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3370 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3372 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3374 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3376 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3378 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3379 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3380 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3381 until this issue has been settled.
3383 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3385 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3387 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3390 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3392 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3394 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3395 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3396 descriptors were checked.
3398 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3399 atomically written to a pipe.
3401 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3402 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3403 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3404 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3405 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3406 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3407 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3410 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3411 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3412 is changed without calling tzset.
3414 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3416 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3417 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3418 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3420 (define write-network-long
3421 (lambda (value port)
3422 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3423 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3424 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3426 (define read-network-long
3428 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3429 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3430 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3432 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3433 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3435 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3436 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3437 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3438 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3440 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3441 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3442 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3443 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3447 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3449 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3453 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3454 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3455 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3461 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3462 for a description of available commands.
3464 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3465 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3466 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3468 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3470 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3471 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3473 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3475 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3477 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3478 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3479 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3480 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3481 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3482 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3485 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3487 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3488 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3489 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3490 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3492 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3493 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3495 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3497 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3499 ** Readline support has changed again.
3501 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3502 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3503 to activate readline is now
3505 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3508 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3510 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3511 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3512 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3515 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3516 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3517 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3520 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3521 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3522 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3523 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3524 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3525 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3527 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3528 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3530 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3532 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3533 object it receives is the same string passed to
3534 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3535 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3536 string, not the suffix.
3538 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3539 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3540 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3542 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3544 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3545 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3546 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3547 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3550 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3552 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3554 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3555 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3556 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3557 appear from left to right.
3559 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3562 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3564 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3565 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3567 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3571 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3573 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3575 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3577 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3578 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3579 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3581 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3583 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3585 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3587 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3590 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3592 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3593 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3594 mentioning it here anyway.
3596 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3598 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3599 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3600 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3601 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3604 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3606 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3608 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3610 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3611 otherwise return #f.
3613 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3615 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3616 returned by `opendir'.
3618 ** New function: using-readline?
3620 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3622 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3624 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3625 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3627 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3629 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3631 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3632 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3633 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3635 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3637 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3638 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3640 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3642 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3643 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3644 documentation slots are not yet used.
3646 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3648 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3649 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3650 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3655 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3656 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3657 (string-append x y))
3659 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3660 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3662 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3663 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3664 be made in a clean way.]
3666 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3668 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3670 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3672 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3673 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3675 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3677 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3679 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3681 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3683 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3684 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3685 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3686 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3689 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3691 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3693 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3695 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3697 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3698 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3700 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3702 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3704 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3706 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3708 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3709 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3710 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3711 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3712 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3713 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3715 This should not make any difference for most users.
3717 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3719 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3720 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3722 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3724 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3725 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3726 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3727 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3728 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3730 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3732 It is now replaced by:
3734 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3736 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3737 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3739 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3741 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3742 This might change when we get the new module system.
3744 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3748 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3750 * Changes to mailing lists
3752 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3754 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3757 * Changes to the distribution
3759 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3761 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3762 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3763 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3764 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3765 you explicitly specify it.
3767 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3768 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3769 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3770 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3771 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3774 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3775 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3776 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3777 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3779 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3780 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3781 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3784 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3786 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3789 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3791 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3793 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3794 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3795 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3796 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3798 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3799 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3802 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3804 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3805 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3806 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3807 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3808 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3809 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3810 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3811 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3823 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3824 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3825 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3826 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3827 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3832 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3833 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3841 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3846 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3847 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3850 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3851 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3852 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3853 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3855 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3857 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3859 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3860 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3862 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3864 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3866 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3867 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3869 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3872 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3874 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3876 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3878 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3880 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3882 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3884 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3885 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3886 when the hook was created.
3888 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3889 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3890 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3891 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3892 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3893 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3894 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3895 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3896 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3898 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3899 the dlopen family of functions.
3901 ** New function `provided?'
3903 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3904 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3905 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3906 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3908 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3910 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3911 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3912 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3913 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3916 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3917 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3918 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3919 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3921 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3922 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3923 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3926 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3927 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3928 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3929 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3930 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3931 but with the flag set.
3933 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3935 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3936 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3938 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3939 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3940 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3941 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3942 available Scheme format implementations.
3944 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3945 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3946 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3947 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3948 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3949 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3950 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3951 output is to the current error port if available by the
3952 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3955 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3956 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3957 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3958 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3959 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3960 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3961 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3962 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3964 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3965 be executed at a time.
3968 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3970 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3971 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3972 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3974 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3975 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3976 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3977 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3978 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3979 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3980 general form of a directive is:
3982 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3984 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3986 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3988 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3989 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3990 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3993 Any (print as `display' does).
3997 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
4001 S-expression (print as `write' does).
4005 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
4011 print number sign always.
4014 print comma separated.
4016 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
4022 print number sign always.
4025 print comma separated.
4027 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
4033 print number sign always.
4036 print comma separated.
4038 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
4044 print number sign always.
4047 print comma separated.
4049 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
4054 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
4058 print a number as a Roman numeral.
4061 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
4064 print a number as an ordinal English number.
4067 print a number as a cardinal English number.
4072 prints `y' and `ies'.
4075 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4078 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4083 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
4087 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
4090 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
4091 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
4093 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4096 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
4097 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
4099 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4102 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
4104 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
4106 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4109 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
4111 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
4113 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4116 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
4119 The sign appears before the padding.
4127 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
4129 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
4134 print N page separators.
4144 newline is ignored, white space left.
4147 newline is left, white space ignored.
4152 relative tabulation.
4158 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4160 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4163 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4165 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4168 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4171 converts by `string-upcase'.
4174 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4176 jumps N arguments forward.
4179 jumps 1 argument backward.
4182 jumps N arguments backward.
4185 jumps to the 0th argument.
4188 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4190 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4191 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4193 take argument from N.
4196 true test conditional.
4199 if-else-then conditional.
4205 default clause follows.
4208 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4210 at most N iterations.
4213 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4216 args from the rest of arguments.
4219 args from the rest args (lists).
4230 aborts if N <= M <= K
4232 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4235 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4238 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4244 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4246 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4248 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4249 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4250 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4251 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4252 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4253 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4257 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4261 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4267 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4270 Print a `#\space' character
4272 print N `#\space' characters.
4275 Print a `#\tab' character
4277 print N `#\tab' characters.
4280 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4281 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4282 must be a positive decimal number.
4285 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4286 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4287 be processed by `read'.
4290 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4291 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4292 be processed by `read'.
4295 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4298 prints format version.
4301 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4302 and format it accordingly.
4304 *** Configuration Variables
4306 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4307 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4308 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4309 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4312 format:symbol-case-conv
4313 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4314 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4315 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4316 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4317 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4319 format:iobj-case-conv
4320 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4321 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4324 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4327 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4333 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4334 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4335 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4336 `format' padding style.
4339 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4340 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4341 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4342 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4346 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4347 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4348 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4351 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4352 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4353 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4354 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4355 parameters or modifiers)).
4358 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4360 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4362 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4363 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4365 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4366 string-downcase! functions.
4368 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4369 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4371 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4374 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4377 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4378 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4380 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4382 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4383 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4385 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4386 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4387 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4388 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4389 would if STRING were input.
4391 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4393 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4394 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4395 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4396 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4399 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4401 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4402 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4405 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4407 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4408 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4410 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4411 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4413 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4414 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4415 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4416 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4418 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4419 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4421 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4422 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4423 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4425 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4426 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4428 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4429 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4430 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4431 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4432 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4434 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4435 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4436 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4437 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4438 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4439 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4441 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4442 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4443 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4446 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4447 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4448 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4449 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4450 the following grammar:
4451 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4452 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4453 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4454 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4455 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4456 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4457 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4458 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4459 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4460 last option in its combination)
4462 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4463 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4464 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4465 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4467 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4468 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4469 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4471 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4472 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4473 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4475 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4476 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4477 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4478 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4479 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4480 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4481 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4482 ordinary argument strings.
4484 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4485 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4486 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4487 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4489 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4490 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4492 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4493 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4494 - a required option is omitted
4495 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4496 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4497 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4498 - an option predicate fails
4503 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4506 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4507 (verbose (required? #f)
4510 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4511 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4512 (predicate ,string?))))
4514 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4515 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4517 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4518 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4519 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4520 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4523 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4525 It will be removed in a few releases.
4527 ** New syntax: lambda*
4528 ** New syntax: define*
4529 ** New syntax: define*-public
4530 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4531 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4532 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4534 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4535 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4536 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4537 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4538 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4540 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4541 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4542 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4544 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4546 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4547 and examples for `lambda*':
4550 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4552 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4553 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4554 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4555 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4556 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4557 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4558 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4559 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4561 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4563 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4564 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4565 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4566 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4568 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4569 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4570 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4571 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4572 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4573 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4574 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4575 and until the procedure is called.
4577 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4579 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4580 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4581 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4582 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4583 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4584 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4585 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4586 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4587 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4588 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4590 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4591 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4592 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4593 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4596 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4598 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4599 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4600 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4601 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4603 ** New syntax: and-let*
4604 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4606 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4607 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4608 (<variable> <expression>)
4611 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4612 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4613 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4616 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4617 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4618 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4619 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4620 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4621 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4622 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4624 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4625 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4626 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4627 shadow earlier bindings.
4629 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4631 ** New sorting functions
4633 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4634 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4635 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4636 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4638 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4639 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4642 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4643 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4644 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4646 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4647 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4648 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4649 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4651 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4652 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4653 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4654 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4655 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4658 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4659 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4660 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4661 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4662 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4663 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4665 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4666 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4667 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4669 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4670 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4671 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4674 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4675 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4676 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4678 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4679 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4681 ** New built-in random number support
4683 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4684 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4685 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4686 returned have a uniform distribution.
4688 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4689 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4690 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4691 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4692 effect of the `random' operation.
4694 *** New variable: *random-state*
4695 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4696 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4697 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4698 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4699 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4702 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4703 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4704 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4705 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4706 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4708 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4709 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4710 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4711 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4712 initialized using SEED.
4714 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4715 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4716 range between 0 and 1.
4718 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4719 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4720 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4721 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4722 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4723 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4724 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4726 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4727 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4728 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4729 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4730 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4731 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4733 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4734 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4735 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4736 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4738 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4739 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4740 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4741 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4743 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4744 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4745 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4747 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4749 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4752 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4753 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4756 ** New function: make-guardian
4757 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4758 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4759 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4760 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4761 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4763 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4764 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4765 one object if at all.
4767 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4768 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4769 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4771 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4772 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4773 read again in last-in first-out order.
4775 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4776 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4778 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4780 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4781 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4782 file position is used.
4784 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4785 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4786 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4788 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4789 redefined using seek.
4791 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4792 size is not supplied.
4794 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4795 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4797 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4798 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4800 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4802 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4803 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4804 and returns the contents as a single string.
4806 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4807 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4808 lists in serial order.
4810 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4811 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4812 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4814 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4815 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4816 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4817 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4819 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4820 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4821 and #f if an error occured.
4823 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4825 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4826 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4827 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4828 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4830 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4832 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4835 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4837 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4840 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4844 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4845 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4847 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4848 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4852 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4854 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4856 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4857 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4859 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4861 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4862 might change when we get the new module system.
4864 ** The smob interface
4866 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4867 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4869 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4871 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4875 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4876 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4877 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4878 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4879 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4880 will be freed by the default free function.
4882 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4883 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4884 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4885 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4887 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4888 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4889 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4890 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4892 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4894 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4895 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4899 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4900 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4901 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4903 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4904 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4905 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4906 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4908 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4909 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4910 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4912 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4913 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4914 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4915 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4917 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4918 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4919 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4921 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4925 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4927 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4928 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4929 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4931 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4932 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4933 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4935 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4936 a string port's buffer.
4938 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4939 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4940 function pointers which together define the current random number
4941 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4942 number library functions.
4944 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4947 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4948 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4951 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4952 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4954 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4955 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4957 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4958 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4961 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4962 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4963 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4964 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4966 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4967 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4968 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4969 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4970 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4971 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4972 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4974 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4975 by libguile and the application.
4977 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4978 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4979 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4980 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4982 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4983 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4985 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4986 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4987 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4989 ** Random number library functions
4990 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4991 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4992 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4994 The default random state is stored in:
4996 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4997 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4998 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
5003 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
5005 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
5006 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
5007 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
5008 isn't a random state.
5010 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
5011 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
5013 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
5014 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
5015 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
5016 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
5018 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5019 Return 32 random bits.
5021 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5022 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
5024 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5025 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
5027 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5028 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
5030 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
5031 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
5033 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
5034 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
5035 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
5039 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
5041 * Changes to the distribution
5043 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
5044 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
5045 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
5048 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
5049 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
5050 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
5052 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
5053 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
5054 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
5055 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
5058 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
5059 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
5060 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
5062 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5064 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
5066 *** Function: batch-mode?
5068 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
5071 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
5073 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
5074 case has not been implemented.
5076 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
5077 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
5078 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
5081 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
5082 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
5084 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
5086 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5088 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
5090 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
5091 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
5094 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
5095 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
5096 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
5097 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
5100 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
5102 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
5103 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
5104 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
5105 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
5106 find those libraries.
5108 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
5109 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
5112 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
5114 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
5115 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
5116 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
5117 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
5119 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
5120 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
5121 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
5125 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
5127 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
5128 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
5129 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
5132 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
5133 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
5134 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
5135 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
5137 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
5138 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
5141 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
5142 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
5143 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
5144 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
5145 compiler where to find the libraries.
5147 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5148 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5149 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5151 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5152 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5153 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5154 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5155 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5159 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5161 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5162 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5163 internationalization support.
5165 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5166 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5167 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5168 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5169 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5171 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5172 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5173 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5174 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5175 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5177 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5178 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5179 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5180 any GNU mirror site.
5182 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5184 ** New function: add-history STRING
5185 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5186 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5187 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5189 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5191 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5192 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5193 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5196 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5197 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5198 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5200 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5202 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5205 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5206 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5209 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5210 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5211 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5212 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5213 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5214 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5216 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5217 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5218 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5219 of the form mentioned above.
5221 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5222 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5223 returned in the special `rest' list.
5225 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5226 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5228 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5230 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5232 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5234 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5235 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5236 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5237 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5238 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5239 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5240 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5241 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5244 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5246 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5248 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5249 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5252 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5253 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5254 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5258 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5259 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5260 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5261 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5262 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5263 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5264 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5265 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5268 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5270 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5271 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5272 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5274 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5276 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5277 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5279 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5280 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5281 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5283 Why do we have this function?
5284 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5285 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5286 primitive, and display it differently, and
5287 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5288 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5291 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5292 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5295 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5296 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5297 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5298 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5300 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5301 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5304 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5305 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5307 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5309 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5310 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5311 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5312 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5313 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5314 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5315 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5318 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5320 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5321 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5323 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5324 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5325 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5326 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5327 properly continue the print chain.
5329 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5330 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5331 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5332 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5333 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5334 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5335 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5336 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5338 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5339 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5340 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5341 safest to not check for these pairs.
5343 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5344 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5345 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5346 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5348 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5350 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5351 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5353 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5355 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5357 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5358 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5359 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5361 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5362 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5363 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5365 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5366 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5367 the following functions and macros:
5369 Function: make-fluid
5371 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5372 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5373 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5374 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5375 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5377 Function: fluid? OBJ
5379 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5381 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5382 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5384 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5385 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5387 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5389 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5390 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5391 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5392 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5393 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5394 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5395 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5397 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5399 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5400 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5401 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5402 should evaluate to a fluid.
5404 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5406 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5407 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5408 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5409 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5410 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5412 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5415 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5417 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5419 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5421 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5424 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5425 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5426 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5427 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5428 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5431 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5432 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5433 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5435 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5436 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5437 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5439 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5440 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5441 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5442 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5444 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5445 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5446 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5447 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5449 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5450 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5451 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5452 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5454 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5455 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5456 their revealed counts set to zero.
5458 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5459 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5461 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5462 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5464 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5465 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5467 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5468 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5469 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5471 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5472 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5473 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5475 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5476 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5477 default environment inherited by child processes.
5479 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5480 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5481 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5483 The return value is unspecified.
5485 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5486 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5487 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5488 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5489 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5491 The return value is unspecified.
5493 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5494 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5502 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5503 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5506 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5509 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5510 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5511 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5513 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5514 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5515 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5516 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5519 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5520 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5522 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5523 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5524 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5525 the `environ' procedure.
5527 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5528 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5531 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5532 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5534 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5535 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5536 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5537 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5539 *** procedure: times
5540 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5541 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5542 return a selected component:
5545 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5549 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5552 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5556 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5557 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5561 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5562 terminated child processes.
5564 ** Removed: list-length
5565 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5566 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5568 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5570 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5572 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5574 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5575 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5576 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5577 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5579 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5580 extra complexity it introduces.
5582 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5583 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5585 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5586 variable to any non-empty value.
5588 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5589 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5591 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5593 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5594 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5596 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5598 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5599 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5601 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5603 ** vector handling routines
5605 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5606 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5607 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5608 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5609 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5611 ** pair and list routines
5613 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5616 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5618 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5621 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5623 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5625 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5626 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5627 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5628 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5629 site-specific initialization code.
5631 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5632 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5633 initialization processes.
5635 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5636 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5637 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5638 initialized properly.
5640 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5641 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5642 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5644 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5645 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5646 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5647 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5648 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5650 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5652 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5653 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5654 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5655 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5656 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5658 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5659 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5660 which look like this:
5663 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5665 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5666 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5669 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5670 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5673 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5675 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5676 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5677 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5679 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5680 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5681 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5682 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5683 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5685 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5686 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5688 int (*free) (SCM port);
5689 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5690 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5691 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5695 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5696 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5697 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5699 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5702 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5703 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5704 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5706 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5707 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5708 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5711 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5715 struct timeval *timeout);
5717 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5718 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5719 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5720 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5721 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5722 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5724 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5725 scm_catch_body_t body,
5727 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5730 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5731 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5732 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5733 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5734 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5735 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5737 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5739 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5742 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5743 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5744 spawning threads from application C code.
5746 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5747 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5748 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5749 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5750 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5751 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5753 ** Removed functions:
5755 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5756 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5758 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5760 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5761 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5763 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5765 ** mbstrings are now removed
5767 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5768 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5770 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5772 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5773 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5774 their new names and arguments:
5776 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5777 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5778 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5779 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5782 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5784 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5786 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5789 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5791 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5792 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5793 pass a #f arg to catch.
5795 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5797 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5798 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5801 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5802 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5803 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5804 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5805 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5806 reclaim its storage.
5808 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5809 worrying that some other function you call will call
5810 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5811 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5812 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5813 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5816 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5818 * Changes to the distribution
5820 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5821 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5824 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5825 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5827 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5828 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5830 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5832 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5833 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5834 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5836 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5838 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5839 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5840 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5841 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5842 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5843 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5845 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5846 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5847 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5850 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5851 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5852 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5853 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5855 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5856 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5857 libraries to your link command:
5859 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5860 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5861 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5862 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5864 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5865 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5866 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5868 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5870 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5871 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5874 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5876 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5877 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5878 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5879 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5880 searched is system dependent.
5882 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5884 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5886 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5888 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5889 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5891 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5893 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5894 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5895 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5896 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5897 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5900 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5902 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5903 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5904 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5905 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5906 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5908 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5910 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5911 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5913 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5915 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5916 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5917 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5920 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5922 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5923 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5924 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5925 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5927 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5928 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5930 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5932 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5933 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5935 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5937 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5938 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5946 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5948 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5949 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5950 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5951 a more informative way.
5953 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5954 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5955 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5956 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5957 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5958 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5960 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5961 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5964 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5965 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5966 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5969 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5970 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5971 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5972 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5973 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5974 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5976 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5977 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5978 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5979 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5982 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5983 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5984 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5985 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5986 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5987 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5989 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5990 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5991 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5992 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5993 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5995 *** regexp functions
5997 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5998 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5999 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
6001 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
6002 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
6003 with SCSH regular expressions.
6005 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
6006 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
6007 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
6008 position of STR at which to begin matching.
6010 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
6011 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
6012 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
6013 `string-match' returns `#f'.
6015 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
6016 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
6017 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
6018 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
6019 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
6020 match strings against the compiled regexp.
6022 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
6023 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
6024 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
6025 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
6026 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
6028 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6030 **** Constant: regexp/extended
6031 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
6032 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
6033 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
6035 **** Constant: regexp/icase
6036 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
6037 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
6039 **** Constant: regexp/newline
6040 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
6042 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
6045 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
6046 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6047 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
6049 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
6050 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6051 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
6053 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
6054 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
6055 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
6056 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
6057 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
6060 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6062 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
6063 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
6064 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
6065 used when different portions of a string are passed to
6066 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
6067 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
6069 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
6070 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
6071 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
6073 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
6074 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
6077 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
6078 and replace them with the contents of another string.
6080 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
6081 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
6082 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
6083 may be one of the following arguments:
6085 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
6087 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
6089 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
6090 the regexp match is written.
6092 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
6093 following the regexp match is written.
6095 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
6096 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
6099 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
6100 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
6101 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
6102 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
6103 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
6104 which should be matched against this regular expression.
6106 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
6109 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
6110 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
6111 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
6112 written out to PORT.
6114 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
6115 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
6116 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
6117 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
6118 will return after processing a single match.
6120 *** Match Structures
6122 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
6123 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
6124 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
6125 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
6126 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
6127 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
6130 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
6131 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
6132 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
6133 information about the original target string that was matched against a
6134 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
6136 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
6137 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
6138 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
6140 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
6141 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
6142 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
6143 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
6144 number N did not match, return `#f'.
6146 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
6147 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6149 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6150 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6152 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6153 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6155 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6156 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6158 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6159 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6160 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6161 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6163 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6164 Return the original TARGET string.
6166 *** Backslash Escapes
6168 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6169 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6170 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6171 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6172 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6173 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6175 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6176 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6177 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6178 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6179 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6180 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6181 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6182 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6184 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6185 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6186 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6187 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6188 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6189 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6190 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6192 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6193 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6194 return the resulting string.
6196 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6197 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6198 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6199 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6200 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6201 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6202 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6203 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6204 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6205 translated to the single character `*'.
6207 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6208 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6209 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6210 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6211 consecutive backslashes:
6213 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6215 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6216 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6217 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6219 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6220 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6221 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6222 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6223 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6224 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6226 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6228 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6229 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6230 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6231 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6232 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6233 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6234 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6235 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6236 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6237 cumbersome escape syntax.
6239 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6241 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6243 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6245 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6248 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6250 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6252 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6255 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6256 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6257 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6258 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6259 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6261 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6262 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6263 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6264 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6265 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6266 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6267 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6270 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6271 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6272 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6275 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6276 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6278 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6279 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6280 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6281 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6282 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6283 installed, you can say:
6285 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6288 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6290 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6291 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6292 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6293 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6294 new dynamic roots and threads.
6297 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6299 * Changes to the distribution.
6301 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6303 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6304 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6305 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6306 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6307 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6308 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6309 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6310 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6312 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6315 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6316 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6321 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6323 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6324 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6326 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6327 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6328 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6329 the (command-line) function.
6330 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6331 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6332 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6334 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6335 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6336 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6337 command line arguments
6338 -ds do -s script at this point
6339 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6340 -h, --help display this help and exit
6341 -v, --version display version information and exit
6342 \ read arguments from following script lines
6344 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6345 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6347 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6350 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6354 (main (command-line))
6356 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6358 ekko a speckled gecko
6360 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6361 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6362 following list of command-line arguments:
6364 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6366 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6367 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6368 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6369 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6370 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6372 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6374 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6376 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6377 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6380 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6381 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6382 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6383 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6385 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6386 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6387 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6388 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6390 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6394 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6398 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6400 ekko a speckled gecko
6402 Unix expands this into
6404 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6406 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6407 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6409 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6411 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6412 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6414 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6415 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6416 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6417 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6418 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6419 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6420 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6421 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6422 it only terminates the argument list.)
6423 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6424 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6425 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6426 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6427 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6428 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6429 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6430 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6432 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6434 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6435 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6436 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6437 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6438 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6440 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6441 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6442 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6444 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6446 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6447 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6448 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6449 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6452 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6453 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6454 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6456 * Changes to Scheme functions
6458 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6459 and disabled by default.
6461 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6462 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6463 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6464 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6466 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6468 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6470 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6471 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6473 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6474 (read-set! keywords #f)
6476 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6477 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6478 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6481 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6482 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6483 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6486 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6487 support for Scheme functions.
6489 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6490 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6491 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6492 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6495 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6496 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6497 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6500 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6501 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6502 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6505 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6506 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6507 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6508 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6509 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6510 display the result as a prompt.
6511 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6513 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6514 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6515 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6518 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6519 procedure of zero arguments.
6521 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6522 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6523 argument is bound in the current module.
6525 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6526 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6527 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6528 public bindings into the current module.
6530 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6531 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6533 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6534 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6536 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6537 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6539 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6540 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6542 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6543 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6545 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6546 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6547 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6548 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6549 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6551 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6552 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6553 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6554 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6556 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6559 ** Changes to I/O functions
6561 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6562 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6563 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6565 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6566 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6567 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6569 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6570 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6572 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6573 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6574 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6575 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6577 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6579 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6580 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6582 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6583 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6584 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6585 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6586 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6589 'trim omit delimiter from result
6590 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6591 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6592 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6594 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6596 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6597 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6599 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6600 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6601 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6602 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6603 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6605 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6606 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6607 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6609 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6610 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6611 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6612 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6614 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6615 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6617 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6618 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6620 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6622 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6623 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6624 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6625 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6626 a delimiting character.
6627 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6629 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6630 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6631 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6632 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6633 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6634 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6636 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6637 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6639 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6640 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6641 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6643 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6644 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6645 the array to read and write.
6647 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6648 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6651 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6653 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6656 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6657 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6658 Values for COMMAND are:
6660 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6661 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6662 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6663 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6664 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6665 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6666 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6667 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6669 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6671 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6672 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6673 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6674 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6675 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6676 corresponding return set will be the same.
6678 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6681 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6682 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6683 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6684 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6685 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6686 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6687 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6688 special file being created.
6690 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6691 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6693 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6694 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6695 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6696 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6697 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6698 and originating address.
6700 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6701 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6702 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6704 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6707 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6708 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6711 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6712 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6713 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6714 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6715 this function returns #f.
6717 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6718 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6719 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6722 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6723 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6724 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6727 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6728 a valid STATUS value.
6730 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6732 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6733 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6735 Component Accessor Setter
6736 ========================= ============ ============
6737 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6738 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6739 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6740 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6741 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6742 year tm:year set-tm:year
6743 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6744 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6745 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6746 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6747 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6749 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6750 describing the host system:
6753 ============================================== ================
6754 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6755 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6756 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6757 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6758 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6760 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6761 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6762 system's user database:
6765 ====================== =================
6766 user name passwd:name
6767 user password passwd:passwd
6770 real name passwd:gecos
6771 home directory passwd:dir
6772 shell program passwd:shell
6774 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6775 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6776 system's group database:
6779 ======================= ============
6780 group name group:name
6781 group password group:passwd
6783 group members group:mem
6785 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6786 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6790 ========================= ===============
6791 official name of host hostent:name
6792 alias list hostent:aliases
6793 host address type hostent:addrtype
6794 length of address hostent:length
6795 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6797 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6798 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6802 ========================= ===============
6803 official name of net netent:name
6804 alias list netent:aliases
6805 net number type netent:addrtype
6806 net number netent:net
6808 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6809 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6813 ========================= ===============
6814 official protocol name protoent:name
6815 alias list protoent:aliases
6816 protocol number protoent:proto
6818 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6819 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6823 ========================= ===============
6824 official service name servent:name
6825 alias list servent:aliases
6826 port number servent:port
6827 protocol to use servent:proto
6829 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6830 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6833 ======================================== ===============
6834 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6835 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6836 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6837 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6839 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6840 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6841 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6843 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6844 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6846 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6847 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6849 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6850 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6852 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6854 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6856 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6857 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6858 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6860 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6861 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6862 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6863 return the remaining characters as a string.
6865 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6866 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6867 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6869 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6871 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6873 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6876 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6879 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6880 and returns the array
6882 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6883 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6884 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6886 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6888 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6889 symbol's value from C code:
6891 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6892 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6893 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6894 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6896 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6897 without assigning them a value.
6899 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6900 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6901 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6903 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6904 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6905 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6907 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6908 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6910 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6911 doesn't actually care about that.
6913 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6914 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6915 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6917 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6918 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6919 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6920 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6921 which we have just created and initialized.
6923 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6924 should one occur. We call it like this:
6925 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6927 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6928 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6929 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6930 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6931 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6932 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6935 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6936 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6937 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6938 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6939 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6940 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6941 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6944 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6945 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6946 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6947 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6948 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6951 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6952 scm_internal_catch, except:
6954 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6955 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6956 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6957 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6960 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6961 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6962 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6964 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6965 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6966 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6967 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6970 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6971 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6972 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6974 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6975 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6976 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6977 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6978 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6980 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6981 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6982 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6984 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6985 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6986 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6988 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6989 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6991 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6992 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6993 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6996 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6997 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6998 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6999 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
7000 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
7001 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
7002 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
7005 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
7006 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
7008 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
7009 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
7010 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
7011 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
7012 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
7015 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
7016 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
7018 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
7019 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
7022 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
7023 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
7025 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7028 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
7029 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
7030 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
7031 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
7032 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
7033 given the following arguments:
7035 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
7037 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
7039 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
7041 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7044 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
7045 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
7046 command-line arguments.
7048 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
7049 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
7050 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
7051 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
7052 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
7053 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
7056 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7059 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
7060 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
7062 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
7063 rearranged slightly. They are now:
7065 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7066 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7067 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
7068 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
7070 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7071 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7073 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7074 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
7075 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7076 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
7078 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7079 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7081 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
7082 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
7084 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
7086 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
7087 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
7088 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
7091 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
7092 returns a port instead of an FD object.
7094 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
7095 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
7100 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
7103 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
7105 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
7106 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
7107 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
7108 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
7110 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
7112 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
7114 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
7115 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
7116 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
7117 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
7118 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
7119 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
7120 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
7121 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
7122 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
7123 for more information.
7125 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
7126 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
7128 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
7129 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
7130 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
7131 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
7132 following two lines at the top of the file:
7134 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7137 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
7138 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
7139 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
7141 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
7143 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7145 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7148 (display (car args))
7149 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7151 (loop (cdr args)))))
7154 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7155 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7156 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7157 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7158 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7159 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7163 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7166 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7169 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7171 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7172 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7173 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7174 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7175 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7178 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7179 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7180 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7181 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7182 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7185 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7188 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7189 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7190 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7193 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7194 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7195 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7197 to see a backtrace, and
7198 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7199 to see them by default.
7203 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7205 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7207 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7208 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7211 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7212 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7213 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7214 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7217 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7218 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7219 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7220 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7221 functions which inspired them.
7223 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7224 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7228 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7230 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7232 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7233 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7236 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7237 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7238 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7240 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7241 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7242 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7243 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7244 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7246 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7248 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7249 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7250 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7253 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7256 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7258 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7259 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7260 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7261 above should serve their purposes.
7263 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7264 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7265 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7266 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7268 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7271 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7272 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7273 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7274 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7276 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7277 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7278 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7279 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7281 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7282 for the `read' function.
7285 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7286 to that of `integer?'.
7288 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7289 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7291 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7292 it simply returns the object's property list.
7294 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7295 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7296 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7297 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7299 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7301 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7304 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7306 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7307 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7309 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7311 void (*main_func) (),
7314 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7315 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7316 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7317 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7318 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7320 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7321 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7322 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7323 know which arguments have been processed.
7325 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7326 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7327 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7328 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7329 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7331 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7332 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7333 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7334 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7335 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7336 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7337 people from making that mistake.
7339 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7340 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7342 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7344 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7348 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7351 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7352 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7353 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7354 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7357 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7358 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7359 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7360 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7363 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7364 have been added to the Guile library.
7366 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7367 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7368 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7371 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7372 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7373 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7375 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7376 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7377 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7378 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7379 argument from the list.
7382 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7385 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7386 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7388 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7389 to a Scheme port object.
7391 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7392 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7397 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7399 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7400 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7401 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7402 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7403 code as a special datatype.
7405 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7406 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7407 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7408 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7409 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7412 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7413 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7414 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7415 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7416 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7418 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7421 Copyright information:
7423 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7425 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7426 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7427 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7428 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7430 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7431 of this document, or of portions of it,
7432 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7433 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7438 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"