1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
9 Changes in 2.1.1 (changes since the 2.0.x series):
15 The biggest change in Guile 2.2 is a complete rewrite of its virtual
16 machine and compiler internals. The result is faster startup time,
17 better memory usage, and faster execution of user code. See the
18 "Performance improvements" section below for more details.
20 ** Better thread-safety
22 This new release series takes the ABI-break opportunity to fix some
23 interfaces that were difficult to use correctly from multiple threads.
24 Notably, weak hash tables are now transparently thread-safe. Ports are
25 also thread-safe; see "New interfaces" below for details on the changes
28 ** Off-main-thread finalization
30 Following Guile 2.0.6's change to invoke finalizers via asyncs, Guile
31 2.2 takes the additional step of invoking finalizers from a dedicated
32 finalizer thread, if threads are enabled. This avoids concurrency
33 issues between finalizers and application code, and also speeds up
36 ** Better locale support in Guile scripts
38 When Guile is invoked directly, either from the command line or via a
39 hash-bang line (e.g. "#!/usr/bin/guile"), it now installs the current
40 locale via a call to `(setlocale LC_ALL "")'. For users with a unicode
41 locale, this makes all ports unicode-capable by default, without the
42 need to call `setlocale' in your program. This behavior may be
43 controlled via the GUILE_INSTALL_LOCALE environment variable; see the
46 ** Complete Emacs-compatible Elisp implementation
48 Thanks to the work of BT Templeton, Guile's Elisp implementation is now
49 fully Emacs-compatible, implementing all of Elisp's features and quirks
50 in the same way as the editor we know and love.
52 ** Dynamically expandable stacks
54 Instead of allocating fixed stack sizes for running Scheme code, Guile
55 now starts off each thread with only one page of stack, and expands and
56 shrinks it dynamically as needed. Guile will throw an exception for
57 stack overflows if growing the stack fails. It is also possible to
58 impose a stack limit during the extent of a function call. See "Stack
59 Overflow" in the manual, for more.
61 This change allows users to write programs that use the stack as a data
62 structure for pending computations, as it was meant to be, without
63 reifying that data out to the heap. Where you would previously make a
64 loop that collect its results in reverse order only to re-reverse them
65 at the end, now you can just recurse without worrying about stack
68 * Performance improvements
70 ** Faster programs via new virtual machine
72 Guile's new virtual machine compiles programs to instructions for a new
73 virtual machine. The new virtual machine's instructions can address
74 their source and destination operands by "name" (slot). This makes
75 access to named temporary values much faster, and removes a lot of
76 value-shuffling that the old virtual machine had to do. The end result
77 is that loop-heavy code can be two or three times as fast with Guile 2.2
78 as in 2.0. Your mileage may vary, of course; see "A Virtual Machine for
79 Guile" in the manual for the nitties and the gritties.
81 ** Better startup time, memory usage with ELF object file format
83 Guile now uses the standard ELF format for its compiled code. (Guile
84 has its own loader and linker, so this does not imply a dependency on
85 any particular platform's ELF toolchain.) The benefit is that Guile is
86 now able to statically allocate more data in the object files. ELF also
87 enables more sharing of data between processes, and decreases startup
88 time (about 40% faster than the already fast startup of the Guile 2.0
89 series). Guile also uses DWARF for some of its debugging information.
90 Much of the debugging information can be stripped from the object files
91 as well. See "Object File Format" in the manual, for full details.
93 ** Better optimizations via compiler rewrite
95 Guile's compiler now uses a Continuation-Passing Style (CPS)
96 intermediate language, allowing it to reason easily about temporary
97 values and control flow. Examples of optimizations that this permits
98 are optimal contification, dead code elimination, parallel moves with at
99 most one temporary, and allocation of stack slots using precise liveness
100 information. For more, see "Continuation-Passing Style" in the manual.
102 ** Faster interpreter
104 Combined with a number of optimizations to the interpreter itself,
105 simply compiling `eval.scm' with the new compiler yields an interpreter
106 that is consistently two or three times faster than the one in Guile
109 ** Allocation-free dynamic stack
111 Guile now implements the dynamic stack with an actual stack instead of a
112 list of heap objects, avoiding most allocation. This speeds up prompts,
113 the `scm_dynwind_*' family of functions, fluids, and `dynamic-wind'.
115 ** Optimized UTF-8 and Latin-1 ports, symbols, and strings
117 Guile 2.2 is faster at reading and writing UTF-8 and Latin-1 strings
118 from ports, and at converting symbols and strings to and from these
121 ** Optimized hash functions
123 Guile 2.2 now uses Bob Jenkins' `hashword2' (from his `lookup3.c') for
124 its string hash, and Thomas Wang's integer hash function for `hashq' and
125 `hashv'. These functions produce much better hash values across all
126 available fixnum bits.
130 ** New `cond-expand' feature: `guile-2.2'
132 Use this feature if you need to check for Guile 2.2 from Scheme code.
134 ** New predicate: `nil?'
136 See "Nil" in the manual.
138 ** New compiler modules
140 Since the compiler was rewritten, there are new modules for the back-end
141 of the compiler and the low-level loader and introspection interfaces.
142 See the "Guile Implementation" chapter in the manual for all details.
144 ** New functions: `scm_to_intptr_t', `scm_from_intptr_t'
145 ** New functions: `scm_to_uintptr_t', `scm_from_uintptr_t'
147 See "Integers" in the manual, for more.
149 ** New thread-safe port API
151 For details on `scm_c_make_port', `scm_c_make_port_with_encoding',
152 `scm_c_lock_port', `scm_c_try_lock_port', `scm_c_unlock_port',
153 `scm_c_port_type_ref', `scm_c_port_type_add_x', `SCM_PORT_DESCRIPTOR',
154 and `scm_dynwind_lock_port', see XXX.
156 There is now a routine to atomically adjust port "revealed counts". See
157 XXX for more on `scm_adjust_port_revealed_x' and
158 `adjust-port-revealed!',
160 All other port API now takes the lock on the port if needed. There are
161 some C interfaces if you know that you don't need to take a lock; see
162 XXX for details on `scm_get_byte_or_eof_unlocked',
163 `scm_peek_byte_or_eof_unlocked' `scm_c_read_unlocked',
164 `scm_getc_unlocked' `scm_unget_byte_unlocked', `scm_ungetc_unlocked',
165 `scm_ungets_unlocked', `scm_fill_input_unlocked' `scm_putc_unlocked',
166 `scm_puts_unlocked', and `scm_lfwrite_unlocked'.
168 ** New inline functions: `scm_new_smob', `scm_new_double_smob'
170 These can replace many uses of SCM_NEWSMOB, SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB2, and the
171 like. See XXX in the manual, for more.
173 ** New low-level type accessors
175 For more on `SCM_HAS_TYP7', `SCM_HAS_TYP7S', `SCM_HAS_TYP16', see XXX.
177 `SCM_HEAP_OBJECT_P' is now an alias for the inscrutable `SCM_NIMP'.
179 `SCM_UNPACK_POINTER' and `SCM_PACK_POINTER' are better-named versions of
180 the old `SCM2PTR' and `PTR2SCM'. Also, `SCM_UNPACK_POINTER' yields a
183 ** `scm_c_weak_vector_ref', `scm_c_weak_vector_set_x'
185 Weak vectors can now be accessed from C using these accessors.
187 ** <standard-vtable>, standard-vtable-fields
189 See "Structures" in the manual for more on these
191 ** Convenience utilities for ports and strings.
193 See XXX for more on `scm_from_port_string', `scm_from_port_stringn',
194 `scm_to_port_string', and `scm_to_port_stringn'.
196 ** New expressive PEG parser
198 See "PEG Parsing" in the manual for more. Thanks to Michael Lucy for
199 originally writing these, and to Noah Lavine for integration work.
201 * Incompatible changes
203 ** ASCII is not ISO-8859-1
205 In Guile 2.0, if a user set "ASCII" or "ANSI_X3.4-1968" as the encoding
206 of a port, Guile would treat it as ISO-8859-1. While these encodings
207 are the same for codepoints 0 to 127, ASCII does not extend past that
208 range, whereas ISO-8859-1 goes up to 255. Guile 2.2 no longer treats
209 ASCII as ISO-8859-1. This is likely to be a problem only if the user's
210 locale is set to ASCII, and the user or a program writes non-ASCII
211 codepoints to a port.
213 ** String ports default to UTF-8
215 Guile 2.0 would use the `%default-port-encoding' when creating string
216 ports. This resulted in ports that could only accept a subset of valid
217 characters, which was surprising to users. Now string ports default to
218 the UTF-8 encoding. Sneaky users can still play encoding conversion
219 games with string ports by explicitly setting the encoding of a port
220 after it is open. See "Ports" in the manual for more.
222 ** `scm_from_stringn' and `scm_to_stringn' encoding arguments are never NULL
224 These functions now require a valid `encoding' argument, and will abort
227 ** All r6rs ports are both textual and binary
229 Because R6RS ports are a thin layer on top of Guile's ports, and Guile's
230 ports are both textual and binary, Guile's R6RS ports are also both
231 textual and binary, and thus both kinds have port transcoders. This is
232 an incompatibility with respect to R6RS.
234 ** Vtable hierarchy changes
236 In an attempt to make Guile's structure and record types integrate
237 better with GOOPS by unifying the vtable hierarchy, `make-vtable-vtable'
238 is now deprecated. Instead, users should just use `make-vtable' with
239 appropriate arguments. See "Structures" in the manual for all of the
240 details. As such, `record-type-vtable' and `%condition-type-vtable' now
241 have a parent vtable and are no longer roots of the vtable hierarchy.
243 ** Syntax parameters are a distinct type
245 Guile 2.0's transitional implementation of `syntax-parameterize' was
246 based on the `fluid-let-syntax' interface inherited from the psyntax
247 expander. This interface allowed any binding to be dynamically rebound
248 -- even bindings like `lambda'. This is no longer the case in Guile
249 2.2. Syntax parameters must be defined via `define-syntax-parameter',
250 and only such bindings may be parameterized. See "Syntax Parameters" in
253 ** Defined identifiers scoped in the current module
255 Sometimes Guile's expander would attach incorrect module scoping
256 information for top-level bindings made by an expansion. For example,
257 given the following R6RS library:
262 (define-syntax-rule (defconst name val)
265 (define-syntax-rule (name) t))))
267 Attempting to use it would produce an error:
272 =| Unbound variable: t
274 It wasn't clear that we could fix this in Guile 2.0 without breaking
275 someone's delicate macros, so the fix is only coming out now.
277 ** Pseudo-hygienically rename macro-introduced bindings
279 Bindings introduced by macros, like `t' in the `defconst' example above,
280 are now given pseudo-fresh names. This allows
285 to introduce different bindings for `t'. These pseudo-fresh names are
286 made in such a way that if the macro is expanded again, for example as
287 part of a simple recompilation, the introduced identifiers get the same
288 pseudo-fresh names. See "Hygiene and the Top-Level" in the manual, for
291 ** Fix literal matching for module-bound literals
293 `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros can take a set of "literals":
294 bound or unbound keywords that the syntax matcher treats specially.
295 Before, literals were always matched symbolically (by name). Now they
296 are matched by binding. This allows literals to be reliably bound to
297 values, renamed by imports or exports, et cetera. See "Syntax-rules
298 Macros" in the manual for more on literals.
300 ** `dynamic-wind' doesn't check that guards are thunks
302 Checking that the dynamic-wind out-guard procedure was actually a thunk
303 before doing the wind was slow, unreliable, and not strictly needed.
305 ** All deprecated code removed
307 All code deprecated in Guile 2.0 has been removed. See older NEWS, and
308 check that your programs can compile without linker warnings and run
309 without runtime warnings. See "Deprecation" in the manual.
311 ** Remove miscellaneous unused interfaces
313 We have removed accidentally public, undocumented interfaces that we
314 think are not used, and not useful. This includes `scm_markstream',
315 `SCM_FLUSH_REGISTER_WINDOWS', `SCM_THREAD_SWITCHING_CODE', `SCM_FENCE',
316 `scm_call_generic_0', `scm_call_generic_1', `scm_call_generic_2'
317 `scm_call_generic_3', `scm_apply_generic', and `scm_program_source'.
318 `scm_async_click' was renamed to `scm_async_tick', and `SCM_ASYNC_TICK'
319 was made private (use `SCM_TICK' instead).
321 ** Many internal compiler / VM changes
323 As the compiler and virtual machine were re-written, there are many
324 changes in the back-end of Guile to interfaces that were introduced in
325 Guile 2.0. These changes are only only of interest if you wrote a
326 language on Guile 2.0 or a tool using Guile 2.0 internals. If this is
327 the case, drop by the IRC channel to discuss the changes.
329 ** Defining a SMOB or port type no longer mucks exports of `(oop goops)'
331 It used to be that defining a SMOB or port type added an export to
332 GOOPS, for the wrapper class of the smob type. This violated
333 modularity, though, so we have removed this behavior.
335 ** Bytecode replaces objcode as a target language
337 One way in which people may have used details of Guile's runtime in
338 Guile 2.0 is in compiling code to thunks for later invocation. Instead
339 of compiling to objcode and then calling `make-program', now the way to
340 do it is to compile to `bytecode' and then call `load-thunk-from-memory'
341 from `(system vm loader)'.
343 ** Remove weak pairs.
345 Weak pairs were not safe to access with `car' and `cdr', and so were
348 ** Remove weak alist vectors.
350 Use weak hash tables instead.
354 ** SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_0, SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1, SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2, SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_N
355 ** SCM_GASSERT0, SCM_GASSERT1, SCM_GASSERT2, SCM_GASSERTn
356 ** SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1_SUBR
358 These macros were used in dispatching primitive generics. They can be
359 replaced by using C functions (the same name but in lower case), if
360 needed, but this is a hairy part of Guile that perhaps you shouldn't be
363 * Changes to the distribution
367 The "effective version" of Guile is now 2.2, which allows parallel
368 installation with other effective versions (for example, the older Guile
369 2.0). See "Parallel Installations" in the manual for full details.
370 Notably, the `pkg-config' file is now `guile-2.2'.
372 ** Bump required libgc version to 7.2, released March 2012.
374 ** The readline extension is now installed in the extensionsdir
376 The shared library that implements Guile's readline extension is no
377 longer installed to the libdir. This change should be transparent to
378 users, but packagers may be interested.
382 Changes in 2.0.11 (since 2.0.10):
384 This release fixes an embarrassing regression introduced in the C
385 interface to SRFI-4 vectors. See
386 <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2014-03/msg00047.html>
390 Changes in 2.0.10 (since 2.0.9):
394 ** New GDB extension to support Guile
396 Guile now comes with an extension for GDB 7.8 or later (unreleased at
397 the time of writing) that simplifies debugging of C code that uses
398 Guile. See "GDB Support" in the manual.
400 ** Improved integration between R6RS and native Guile exceptions
402 R6RS exception handlers, established using 'with-exception-handler' or
403 'guard', are now able to catch native Guile exceptions, which are
404 automatically converted into appropriate R6RS condition objects.
406 ** Support for HTTP proxies
408 Guile's built-in web client now honors the 'http_proxy' environment
409 variable, as well as the new 'current-http-proxy' parameter. See
410 "Web Client" in the manual for details.
412 ** Lexical syntax improvements
414 *** Support |...| symbol notation.
416 Guile's core reader and printer now support the R7RS |...| notation
417 for writing symbols with arbitrary characters, as a more portable and
418 attractive alternative to Guile's native #{...}# notation. To enable
419 this notation by default, put one or both of the following in your
422 (read-enable 'r7rs-symbols)
423 (print-enable 'r7rs-symbols)
425 *** Support '#true' and '#false' notation for booleans.
427 The booleans '#t' and '#f' may now be written as '#true' and '#false'
428 for improved readability, per R7RS.
430 *** Recognize '#\escape' character name.
432 The escape character '#\esc' may now be written as '#\escape', per R7RS.
434 *** Accept "\|" in string literals.
436 The pipe character may now be preceded by a backslash, per R7RS.
438 ** Custom binary input ports now support 'setvbuf'.
440 Until now, ports returned by 'make-custom-binary-input-port' were always
441 full-buffered. Now, their buffering mode can be changed using 'setvbuf'.
443 ** SRFI-4 predicates and length accessors no longer accept arrays.
445 Given that the SRFI-4 accessors don't work for arrays, the fact that the
446 predicates and length accessors returned true for arrays was a bug.
448 ** GUILE_PROGS now supports specifying a minimum required version.
450 The 'GUILE_PROGS' autoconf macro in guile.m4 now allows an optional
451 argument to specify a minimum required Guile version. By default, it
452 requires Guile >= 2.0. A micro version can also be specified, e.g.:
453 GUILE_PROGS([2.0.10])
455 ** Error reporting improvements
457 *** Improved run-time error reporting in (ice-9 match).
459 If no pattern matches in a 'match' form, the datum that failed to match
460 is printed along with the location of the failed 'match' invocation.
462 *** Print the faulty object upon invalid-keyword errors.
463 *** Improved error reporting of procedures defined by define-inlinable.
464 *** Improved error reporting for misplaced ellipses in macro definitions.
465 *** Improved error checking in 'define-public' and 'module-add!'.
466 *** Improved error when 'include' form with relative path is not in a file.
468 ** Speed improvements
470 *** 'scm_c_read' on ISO-8859-1 (e.g. binary) unbuffered ports is faster.
471 *** New inline asm for VM fixnum multiply, for faster overflow checking.
472 *** New inline asm for VM fixnum operations on ARM and 32-bit x86.
473 *** 'positive?' and 'negative?' are now compiled to VM primitives.
474 *** Numerical comparisons with more than 2 arguments are compiled to VM code.
475 *** Several R6RS bitwise operators have been optimized.
479 *** Web: 'content-disposition' headers are now supported.
480 *** Web: 'uri-encode' hexadecimal percent-encoding is now uppercase.
481 *** Size argument to 'make-doubly-weak-hash-table' is now optional.
482 *** Timeout for 'unlock-mutex' and SRFI-18 'mutex-unlock!' may now be #f.
486 Guile's copy of Gnulib was updated to v0.1-92-g546ff82. The following
487 modules were imported from Gnulib: copysign, fsync, isfinite, link,
488 lstat, mkdir, mkstemp, readlink, rename, rmdir, and unistd.
492 ** Cooperative REPL servers
494 This new facility supports REPLs that run at specified times within an
495 existing thread, for example in programs utilizing an event loop or in
496 single-threaded programs. This allows for safe access and mutation of
497 a program's data structures from the REPL without concern for thread
498 synchronization. See "Cooperative REPL Servers" in the manual for
501 ** SRFI-43 (Vector Library)
503 Guile now includes SRFI-43, a comprehensive library of vector operations
504 analogous to the SRFI-1 list library. See "SRFI-43" in the manual for
507 ** SRFI-64 (A Scheme API for test suites)
509 Guile now includes SRFI-64, a flexible framework for creating test
510 suites. The reference implementation of SRFI-64 has also been updated
511 to fully support earlier versions of Guile.
515 See "SRFI-111" in the manual.
519 See "Binding multiple return values" in the manual.
521 ** Custom ellipsis identifiers using 'with-ellipsis' or SRFI-46.
523 Guile now allows macro definitions to use identifiers other than '...'
524 as the ellipsis. This is convenient when writing macros that generate
525 macro definitions. The desired ellipsis identifier can be given as the
526 first operand to 'syntax-rules', as specified in SRFI-46 and R7RS, or by
527 using the new 'with-ellipsis' special form in procedural macros. With
528 this addition, Guile now fully supports SRFI-46.
530 See "Specifying a Custom Ellipsis Identifier" and "Custom Ellipsis
531 Identifiers for syntax-case Macros" in the manual for details.
533 ** R7RS 'syntax-error'
535 Guile now supports 'syntax-error', as specified by R7RS, allowing for
536 improved compile-time error reporting from 'syntax-rules' macros. See
537 "Reporting Syntax Errors in Macros" in the manual for details.
539 ** New procedures to convert association lists into hash tables
541 Guile now includes the convenience procedures 'alist->hash-table',
542 'alist->hashq-table', 'alist->hashv-table', and 'alist->hashx-table'.
543 See "Hash Table Reference" in the manual.
545 ** New predicates: 'exact-integer?' and 'scm_is_exact_integer'
547 See "Integers" in the manual.
549 ** 'weak-vector-length', 'weak-vector-ref', and 'weak-vector-set!'
551 These should now be used to access weak vectors, instead of
552 'vector-length', 'vector-ref', and 'vector-set!'.
556 ** Improve docs for 'eval-when'.
558 Each 'eval-when' condition is now explained in detail, including
559 'expand' which was previously undocumented. (expand load eval) is now
560 the recommended set of conditions, instead of (compile load eval).
561 See "Eval When" in the manual, for details.
563 ** Update the section on SMOBs and memory management.
565 See "Defining New Types (Smobs)" in the manual.
569 *** GOOPS: #:dsupers is the init keyword for the dsupers slot.
570 *** 'unfold-right' takes a tail, not a tail generator.
571 *** Clarify that 'append!' and 'reverse!' might not mutate.
572 *** Fix doc that incorrectly claimed (integer? +inf.0) => #t.
573 (http://bugs.gnu.org/16356)
574 *** Document that we support SRFI-62 (S-expression comments).
575 *** Document that we support SRFI-87 (=> in case clauses).
576 *** Document 'equal?' in the list of R6RS incompatibilities.
577 *** Remove outdated documentation of LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH.
578 *** Fix 'weak-vector?' doc: Weak hash tables are not weak vectors.
579 *** Fix 'my-or' examples to use let-bound variable.
580 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14203)
584 ** General 'uniform-vector' interface
586 This interface lacked both generality and specificity. The general
587 replacements are 'array-length', 'array-ref', and friends on the scheme
588 side, and the array handle interface on the C side. On the specific
589 side of things, there are the specific bytevector, SRFI-4, and bitvector
592 ** Use of the vector interface on arrays
593 ** 'vector-length', 'vector-ref', and 'vector-set!' on weak vectors
594 ** 'vector-length', 'vector-ref', and 'vector-set!' as primitive-generics
596 Making the vector interface operate only on a single representation will
597 allow future versions of Guile to compile loops involving vectors to
598 more efficient native code.
600 ** 'htons', 'htonl', 'ntohs', 'ntohl'
602 These procedures, like their C counterpart, were used to convert numbers
603 to/from network byte order, typically in conjunction with the
604 now-deprecated uniform vector API.
606 This functionality is now covered by the bytevector and binary I/O APIs.
607 See "Interpreting Bytevector Contents as Integers" in the manual.
609 ** 'gc-live-object-stats'
611 It hasn't worked in the whole 2.0 series. There is no replacement,
614 ** 'scm_c_program_source'
616 This internal VM function was not meant to be public. Use
617 'scm_procedure_source' instead.
621 ** Fix build with Clang 3.4.
624 *** Do not add $(EXEEXT) to guild or guile-tools.
625 *** tests: Use double quotes around shell arguments, for Windows.
626 *** tests: Don't rely on $TMPDIR and /tmp on Windows.
627 *** tests: Skip FFI tests that use `qsort' when it's not accessible.
628 *** tests: Remove symlink only when it exists.
629 *** tests: Don't rely on `scm_call_2' being visible.
631 ** Fix computation of LIBLOBJS so dependencies work properly.
632 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14193)
636 ** Web: Fix web client with methods other than GET.
637 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15908)
638 ** Web: Add Content-Length header for empty bodies.
639 ** Web: Accept "UTC" as the zone offset in date headers.
640 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14128)
641 ** Web: Don't throw if a response is longer than its Content-Length says.
642 ** Web: Write out HTTP Basic auth headers correctly.
643 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14370)
644 ** Web: Always print a path component in 'write-request-line'.
645 ** Fix 'define-public' from (ice-9 curried-definitions).
646 ** psyntax: toplevel variable definitions discard previous syntactic binding.
647 (http://bugs.gnu.org/11988)
648 ** Fix thread-unsafe lazy initializations.
649 ** Make (ice-9 popen) thread-safe.
650 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15683)
651 ** Make guardians thread-safe.
652 ** Make regexp_exec thread-safe.
653 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14404)
654 ** vm: Gracefully handle stack overflows.
655 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15065)
656 ** Fix 'rationalize'.
657 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14905)
658 ** Fix inline asm for VM fixnum operations on x32.
659 ** Fix 'SCM_SYSCALL' to really swallow EINTR.
660 ** Hide EINTR returns from 'accept'.
661 ** SRFI-19: Update the table of leap seconds.
662 ** Add missing files to the test-suite Makefile.
663 ** Make sure 'ftw' allows directory traversal when running as root.
664 ** Fix 'hash-for-each' for weak hash tables.
665 ** SRFI-18: Export 'current-thread'.
666 (http://bugs.gnu.org/16890)
667 ** Fix inlining of tail list to apply.
668 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15533)
669 ** Fix bug in remqueue in threads.c when removing last element.
670 ** Fix build when '>>' on negative integers is not arithmetic.
671 ** Fix 'bitwise-bit-count' for negative arguments.
672 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14864)
673 ** Fix VM 'ash' for right shifts by large amounts.
674 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14864)
675 ** Fix rounding in scm_i_divide2double for negative arguments.
676 ** Avoid lossy conversion from inum to double in numerical comparisons.
677 ** Fix numerical comparison of fractions to infinities.
678 ** Allow fl+ and fl* to accept zero arguments.
679 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14869)
680 ** flonum? returns false for complex number objects.
681 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14866)
682 ** flfinite? applied to a NaN returns false.
683 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14868)
684 ** Flonum operations always return flonums.
685 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14871)
686 ** min and max: NaNs beat infinities, per R6RS errata.
687 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14865)
688 ** Fix 'fxbit-count' for negative arguments.
689 ** 'gcd' and 'lcm' support inexact integer arguments.
690 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14870)
691 ** Fix R6RS 'fixnum-width'.
692 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14879)
693 ** tests: Use shell constructs that /bin/sh on Solaris 10 can understand.
694 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14042)
695 ** Fix display of symbols containing backslashes.
696 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15033)
697 ** Fix truncated-print for uniform vectors.
698 ** Define `AF_UNIX' only when Unix-domain sockets are supported.
699 ** Decompiler: fix handling of empty 'case-lambda' expressions.
700 ** Fix handling of signed zeroes and infinities in 'numerator' and 'denominator'.
701 ** dereference-pointer: check for null pointer.
702 ** Optimizer: Numerical comparisons are not negatable, for correct NaN handling.
703 ** Compiler: Evaluate '-' and '/' in left-to-right order.
704 (for more robust floating-point arithmetic)
705 ** snarf.h: Declare static const function name vars as SCM_UNUSED.
706 ** chars.c: Remove duplicate 'const' specifiers.
707 ** Modify SCM_UNPACK type check to avoid warnings in clang.
708 ** Arrange so that 'file-encoding' does not truncate the encoding name.
709 (http://bugs.gnu.org/16463)
710 ** Improve error checking in bytevector->uint-list and bytevector->sint-list.
711 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15100)
712 ** Fix (ash -1 SCM_I_FIXNUM_BIT-1) to return a fixnum instead of a bignum.
713 ** i18n: Fix null pointer dereference when locale info is missing.
714 ** Fix 'string-copy!' to work properly with overlapping src/dest.
715 ** Fix hashing of vectors to run in bounded time.
716 ** 'port-position' works on CBIPs that do not support 'set-port-position!'.
717 ** Custom binary input ports sanity-check the return value of 'read!'.
718 ** bdw-gc.h: Check SCM_USE_PTHREAD_THREADS using #if not #ifdef.
719 ** REPL Server: Don't establish a SIGINT handler.
720 ** REPL Server: Redirect warnings to client socket.
721 ** REPL Server: Improve robustness of 'stop-server-and-clients!'.
722 ** Add srfi-16, srfi-30, srfi-46, srfi-62, srfi-87 to %cond-expand-features.
723 ** Fix trap handlers to handle applicable structs.
724 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15691)
725 ** Fix optional end argument in `uniform-vector-read!'.
726 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15370)
727 ** Fix brainfuck->scheme compiler.
728 ** texinfo: Fix newline preservation in @example with lines beginning with @
730 ** C standards conformance improvements
732 Improvements and bug fixes were made to the C part of Guile's run-time
735 *** Don't use the identifier 'noreturn'.
736 (http://bugs.gnu.org/15798)
737 *** Rewrite SCM_I_INUM to avoid unspecified behavior when not using GNU C.
738 *** Improve fallback implemention of SCM_SRS to avoid unspecified behavior.
739 *** SRFI-60: Reimplement 'rotate-bit-field' on inums to be more portable.
740 *** Improve compliance with C standards regarding signed integer shifts.
741 *** Avoid signed overflow in random.c.
742 *** VM: Avoid signed overflows in 'add1' and 'sub1'.
743 *** VM: Avoid overflow in ASM_ADD when the result is most-positive-fixnum.
744 *** read: Avoid signed integer overflow in 'read_decimal_integer'.
748 Changes in 2.0.9 (since 2.0.7):
750 Note: 2.0.8 was a brown paper bag release that was never announced, but
751 some mirrors may have picked it up. Please do not use it.
755 ** New keyword arguments for procedures that open files
757 The following procedures that open files now support keyword arguments
758 to request binary I/O or to specify the character encoding for text
759 files: `open-file', `open-input-file', `open-output-file',
760 `call-with-input-file', `call-with-output-file', `with-input-from-file',
761 `with-output-to-file', and `with-error-to-file'.
763 It is also now possible to specify whether Guile should scan files for
764 Emacs-style coding declarations. This scan was done by default in
765 versions 2.0.0 through 2.0.7, but now must be explicitly requested.
767 See "File Ports" in the manual for details.
769 ** Rewritten guile.m4
771 The `guile.m4' autoconf macros have been rewritten to use `guild' and
772 `pkg-config' instead of the deprecated `guile-config' (which itself
775 There is also a new macro, `GUILE_PKG', which allows packages to select
776 the version of Guile that they want to compile against. See "Autoconf
777 Macros" in the manual, for more information.
779 ** Better Windows support
781 Guile now correctly identifies absolute paths on Windows (MinGW), and
782 creates files on that platform according to its path conventions. See
783 "File System" in the manual, for all details.
785 In addition, the new Gnulib imports provide `select' and `poll' on
788 As an incompatible change, systems that are missing <sys/select.h> were
789 previously provided a public `scm_std_select' C function that defined a
790 version of `select', but unhappily it also provided its own incompatible
791 definitions for FD_SET, FD_ZERO, and other system interfaces. Guile
792 should not be setting these macros in public API, so this interface was
793 removed on those plaforms (basically only MinGW).
795 ** Numerics improvements
797 `number->string' now reliably outputs enough digits to produce the same
798 number when read back in. Previously, it mishandled subnormal numbers
799 (printing them as "#.#"), and failed to distinguish between some
800 distinct inexact numbers, e.g. 1.0 and (+ 1.0 (expt 2.0 -52)). These
801 problems had far-reaching implications, since the compiler uses
802 `number->string' to serialize numeric constants into .go files.
804 `sqrt' now produces exact rational results when possible, and handles
805 very large or very small numbers more robustly.
807 A number (ahem) of operations involving exact rationals have been
808 optimized, most notably `integer-expt' and `expt'.
810 `exact->inexact' now performs correct IEEE rounding.
814 There were a number of improvements to the partial evaluator, allowing
815 complete reduction of forms such as:
817 ((let ((_ 10)) (lambda () _)))
821 (apply (lambda _ _) 1 2 3 '(4))
823 (call-with-values (lambda () (values 1 2)) (lambda _ _))
825 `string-join' now handles huge lists efficiently.
827 `get-bytevector-some' now uses buffered input, which is much faster.
829 Finally, `array-ref', `array-set!' on arrays of rank 1 or 2 is now
830 faster, because it avoids building a rest list. Similarly, the
831 one-argument case of `array-for-each' and `array-map!' has been
832 optimized, and `array-copy!' and `array-fill!' are faster.
834 ** `peek-char' no longer consumes EOF
836 As required by the R5RS, if `peek-char' returns EOF, then the next read
837 will also return EOF. Previously `peek-char' would consume the EOF.
838 This makes a difference for terminal devices where it is possible to
843 Guile's copy of Gnulib was updated to v0.0-7865-ga828bb2. The following
844 modules were imported from Gnulib: select, times, pipe-posix, fstat,
845 getlogin, poll, and c-strcase.
847 ** `include' resolves relative file names relative to including file
849 Given a relative file name, `include' will look for it relative to the
850 directory of the including file. This harmonizes the behavior of
851 `include' with that of `load'.
853 ** SLIB compatibility restored
855 Guile 2.0.8 is now compatible with SLIB. You will have to use a
856 development version of SLIB, however, until a new version of SLIB is
859 ** Better ,trace REPL command
861 Sometimes the ,trace output for nested function calls could overflow the
862 terminal width, which wasn't useful. Now there is a limit to the amount
863 of space the prefix will take. See the documentation for ",trace" for
866 ** Better docstring syntax supported for `case-lambda'
868 Docstrings can now be placed immediately after the `case-lambda' or
869 `case-lambda*' keyword. See "Case-lambda" in the manual.
871 ** Improved handling of Unicode byte order marks
873 See "BOM Handling" in the manual for details.
875 ** Update predefined character sets to Unicode 6.2
877 ** GMP 4.2 or later required
879 Guile used to require GMP at least version 4.1 (released in May 2002),
880 and now requires at least version 4.2 (released in March 2006).
884 ** Better SXML documentation
886 The documentation for SXML modules was much improved, though there is
887 still far to go. See "SXML" in manual.
891 Use of "iff" was replaced with standard English. Keyword arguments are
892 now documented consistently, along with their default values.
894 ** An end to the generated-documentation experiment
896 When Guile 2.0 imported some modules from Guile-Lib, they came with a
897 system that generated documentation from docstrings and module
898 commentaries. This produced terrible documentation. We finally bit the
899 bullet and incorporated these modules into the main text, and will be
900 improving them manually over time, as is the case with SXML. Help is
905 There is now documentation for `scm_array_type', and `scm_array_ref', as
906 well as for the new `array-length' / 'scm_c_array_length' /
907 `scm_array_length' functions. `array-in-bounds?' has better
908 documentation as well. The `program-arguments-alist' and
909 `program-lambda-list' functions are now documented, as well as `and=>',
910 `exit', and `quit'. The (system repl server) module is now documented
911 (see REPL Servers). Finally, the GOOPS class hierarchy diagram has been
912 regenerated for the web and print output formats.
916 ** Deprecate generalized vector interface
918 The generalized vector interface, introduced in 1.8.0, is simply a
919 redundant, verbose interface to arrays of rank 1. `array-ref' and
920 similar functions are entirely sufficient. Thus,
921 `scm_generalized_vector_p', `scm_generalized_vector_length',
922 `scm_generalized_vector_ref', `scm_generalized_vector_set_x', and
923 `scm_generalized_vector_to_list' are now deprecated.
925 ** Deprecate SCM_CHAR_CODE_LIMIT and char-code-limit
927 These constants were defined to 256, which is not the highest codepoint
928 supported by Guile. Given that they were useless and incorrect, they
929 have been deprecated.
931 ** Deprecate `http-get*'
933 The new `#:streaming?' argument to `http-get' subsumes the functionality
934 of `http-get*' (introduced in 2.0.7). Also, the `#:extra-headers'
935 argument is deprecated in favor of `#:headers'.
937 ** Deprecate (ice-9 mapping)
939 This module, present in Guile since 1996 but never used or documented,
940 has never worked in Guile 2.0. It has now been deprecated and will be
941 removed in Guile 2.2.
943 ** Deprecate undocumented array-related C functions
945 These are `scm_array_fill_int', `scm_ra_eqp', `scm_ra_lessp',
946 `scm_ra_leqp', `scm_ra_grp', `scm_ra_greqp', `scm_ra_sum',
947 `scm_ra_product', `scm_ra_difference', `scm_ra_divide', and
948 `scm_array_identity'.
954 See "SRFI-41" in the manual.
956 ** SRFI-45 exports `promise?'
958 SRFI-45 now exports a `promise?' procedure that works with its promises.
959 Also, its promises now print more nicely.
961 ** New HTTP client procedures
963 See "Web Client" for documentation on the new `http-head', `http-post',
964 `http-put', `http-delete', `http-trace', and `http-options' procedures,
965 and also for more options to `http-get'.
967 ** Much more capable `xml->sxml'
969 See "Reading and Writing XML" for information on how the `xml->sxml'
970 parser deals with namespaces, processed entities, doctypes, and literal
971 strings. Incidentally, `current-ssax-error-port' is now a parameter
974 ** New procedures for converting strings to and from bytevectors
976 See "Representing Strings as Bytes" for documention on the new `(ice-9
977 iconv)' module and its `bytevector->string' and `string->bytevector'
980 ** Escape continuations with `call/ec' and `let/ec'
982 See "Prompt Primitives".
984 ** New procedures to read all characters from a port
986 See "Line/Delimited" in the manual for documentation on `read-string'
989 ** New procedure `sendfile'
993 ** New procedure `unget-bytevector'
995 See "R6RS Binary Input".
997 ** New C helper: `scm_c_bind_keyword_arguments'
999 See "Keyword Procedures".
1001 ** New command-line arguments: `--language' and `-C'
1003 See "Command-line Options" in the manual.
1005 ** New environment variables: `GUILE_STACK_SIZE', `GUILE_INSTALL_LOCALE'
1007 See "Environment Variables".
1009 ** New procedures for dealing with file names
1011 See "File System" for documentation on `system-file-name-convention',
1012 `file-name-separator?', `absolute-file-name?', and
1013 `file-name-separator-string'.
1015 ** `array-length', an array's first dimension
1017 See "Array Procedures".
1019 ** `hash-count', for hash tables
1023 ** `round-ash', a bit-shifting operator that rounds on right-shift
1025 See "Bitwise Operations".
1027 ** New foreign types: `ssize_t', `ptrdiff_t'
1029 See "Foreign Types".
1031 ** New C helpers: `scm_from_ptrdiff_t', `scm_to_ptrdiff_t'
1035 ** Socket option `SO_REUSEPORT' now available from Scheme
1037 If supported on the platform, `SO_REUSEPORT' is now available from
1038 Scheme as well. See "Network Sockets and Communication".
1040 ** `current-language' in default environment
1042 Previously defined only in `(system base language)', `current-language'
1043 is now defined in the default environment, and is used to determine the
1044 language for the REPL, and for `compile-and-load'.
1046 ** New procedure: `fluid->parameter'
1048 See "Parameters", for information on how to convert a fluid to a
1051 ** New `print' REPL option
1053 See "REPL Commands" in the manual for information on the new
1054 user-customizable REPL printer.
1056 ** New variable: %site-ccache-dir
1058 The "Installing Site Packages" and "Build Config" manual sections now
1059 refer to this variable to describe where users should install their
1064 ** Fix compilation against libgc 7.3.
1065 ** Fix cross-compilation of `c-tokenize.o'.
1066 ** Fix warning when compiling against glibc 2.17.
1067 ** Fix documentation build against Texinfo 5.0.
1068 ** Fix building Guile from a directory with non-ASCII characters.
1069 ** Fix native MinGW build.
1070 ** Fix --disable-posix build.
1071 ** Fix MinGW builds with networking, POSIX, and thread support.
1075 ** Fix inexact number printer.
1076 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13757)
1077 ** Fix infinite loop when parsing optional-argument short options (SRFI-37).
1078 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13176)
1079 ** web: Support non-GMT date headers in the HTTP client.
1080 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13544)
1081 ** web: support IP-literal (IPv6 address) in Host header.
1082 ** Avoid stack overflows with `par-map' and nested futures in general.
1083 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13188)
1084 ** Peek-char no longer consumes EOF.
1085 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12216)
1086 ** Avoid swallowing multiple EOFs in R6RS binary-input procedures.
1087 ** A fork when multiple threads are running will now print a warning.
1088 ** Allow for spurious wakeups from pthread_cond_wait.
1089 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10641)
1090 ** Warn and ignore module autoload failures.
1091 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12202)
1092 ** Use chmod portably in (system base compile).
1093 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10474)
1094 ** Fix response-body-port for HTTP responses without content-length.
1095 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13857)
1096 ** Allow case-lambda expressions with no clauses.
1097 (http://bugs.gnu.org/9776)
1098 ** Improve standards conformance of string->number.
1099 (http://bugs.gnu.org/11887)
1100 ** Support calls and tail-calls with more than 255 formals.
1101 ** ,option evaluates its right-hand-side.
1102 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13076)
1103 ** Structs with tail arrays are not simple.
1104 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12808)
1105 ** Make `SCM_LONG_BIT' usable in preprocessor conditionals.
1106 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13848)
1107 ** Fix thread-unsafe lazy initializations.
1108 ** Allow SMOB mark procedures to be called from parallel markers.
1109 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13611)
1110 ** Fix later-bindings-win logic in with-fluids.
1111 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13843)
1112 ** Fix duplicate removal of with-fluids.
1113 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13838)
1114 ** Support calling foreign functions of 10 arguments or more.
1115 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13809)
1116 ** Let reverse! accept arbitrary types as second argument.
1117 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13835)
1118 ** Recognize the `x86_64.*-gnux32' triplet.
1119 ** Check whether a triplet's OS part specifies an ABI.
1120 ** Recognize mips64* as having 32-bit pointers by default.
1121 ** Use portable sed constructs.
1122 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14042)
1123 ** Remove language/glil/decompile-assembly.scm.
1124 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10622)
1125 ** Use O_BINARY in `copy-file', `load-objcode', `mkstemp'.
1126 ** Use byte-oriented functions in `get-bytevector*'.
1127 ** Fix abort when iconv swallows BOM from UTF-16 or UTF-32 stream.
1128 ** Fix compilation of functions with more than 255 local variables.
1129 ** Fix `getgroups' for when zero supplementary group IDs exist.
1130 ** Allow (define-macro name (lambda ...)).
1131 ** Various fixes to the (texinfo) modules.
1132 ** guild: Gracefully handle failures to install the locale.
1133 ** Fix format string warnings for ~!, ~|, ~/, ~q, ~Q, and ~^.
1134 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13485)
1135 ** Fix source annotation bug in psyntax 'expand-body'.
1136 ** Ecmascript: Fix conversion to boolean for non-numbers.
1137 ** Use case-insensitive comparisons for encoding names.
1138 ** Add missing cond-expand feature identifiers.
1139 ** A failure to find a module's file does not prevent future loading.
1140 ** Many (oop goops save) fixes.
1141 ** `http-get': don't shutdown write end of socket.
1142 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13095)
1143 ** Avoid signed integer overflow in scm_product.
1144 ** http: read-response-body always returns bytevector or #f, never EOF.
1145 ** web: Correctly detect "No route to host" conditions.
1146 ** `system*': failure to execvp no longer leaks dangling processes.
1147 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13166)
1148 ** More sensible case-lambda* dispatch.
1149 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12929)
1150 ** Do not defer expansion of internal define-syntax forms.
1151 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13509)
1155 Changes in 2.0.7 (since 2.0.6):
1159 ** SRFI-105 curly infix expressions are supported
1161 Curly infix expressions as described at
1162 http://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-105/srfi-105.html are now supported by
1163 Guile's reader. This allows users to write things like {a * {b + c}}
1164 instead of (* a (+ b c)). SRFI-105 support is enabled by using the
1165 `#!curly-infix' directive in source code, or the `curly-infix' reader
1166 option. See the manual for details.
1168 ** Reader options may now be per-port
1170 Historically, `read-options' and related procedures would manipulate
1171 global options, affecting the `read' procedure for all threads, and all
1172 current uses of `read'.
1174 Guile can now associate `read' options with specific ports, allowing
1175 different ports to use different options. For instance, the
1176 `#!fold-case' and `#!no-fold-case' reader directives have been
1177 implemented, and their effect is to modify the current read options of
1178 the current port only; similarly for `#!curly-infix'. Thus, it is
1179 possible, for instance, to have one port reading case-sensitive code,
1180 while another port reads case-insensitive code.
1182 ** Futures may now be nested
1184 Futures may now be nested: a future can itself spawn and then `touch'
1185 other futures. In addition, any thread that touches a future that has
1186 not completed now processes other futures while waiting for the touched
1187 future to completed. This allows all threads to be kept busy, and was
1188 made possible by the use of delimited continuations (see the manual for
1191 Consequently, `par-map' and `par-for-each' have been rewritten and can
1194 ** `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' et al can now add directories to the end of the path
1196 `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' and `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' can now be used to add
1197 directories to both ends of the load path. If the special path
1198 component `...' (ellipsis) is present in these environment variables,
1199 then the default path is put in place of the ellipsis, otherwise the
1200 default path is placed at the end. See "Environment Variables" in the
1203 ** `load-in-vicinity' search for `.go' files in `%load-compiled-path'
1205 Previously, `load-in-vicinity' would look for compiled files in the
1206 auto-compilation cache, but not in `%load-compiled-path'. This is now
1207 fixed. This affects `load', and the `-l' command-line flag. See
1208 <http://bugs.gnu.org/12519> for details.
1210 ** Extension search order fixed, and LD_LIBRARY_PATH preserved
1212 Up to 2.0.6, Guile would modify the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment
1213 variable (or whichever is relevant for the host OS) to insert its own
1214 default extension directories in the search path (using GNU libltdl
1215 facilities was not possible here.) This approach was problematic in two
1218 First, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification would be visible to
1219 sub-processes, and would also affect future calls to `dlopen', which
1220 could lead to subtle bugs in the application or sub-processes. Second,
1221 when the installation prefix is /usr, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification
1222 would typically end up inserting /usr/lib before /usr/local/lib in the
1223 search path, which is often the opposite of system-wide settings such as
1226 Both issues have now been fixed.
1228 ** `make-vtable-vtable' is now deprecated
1230 Programs should instead use `make-vtable' and `<standard-vtable>'.
1232 ** The `-Wduplicate-case-datum' and `-Wbad-case-datum' are enabled
1234 These recently introduced warnings have been documented and are now
1235 enabled by default when auto-compiling.
1237 ** Optimize calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant argument
1239 The compiler simplifies calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant
1240 argument to use `eq?' instead, when applicable.
1244 ** SRFI-9 records now documented under "Compound Data Types"
1246 The documentation of SRFI-9 record types has been moved in the "Compound
1247 Data Types", next to Guile's other record APIs. A new section
1248 introduces the various record APIs, and describes the trade-offs they
1249 make. These changes were made in an attempt to better guide users
1250 through the maze of records API, and to recommend SRFI-9 as the main
1253 The documentation of Guile's raw `struct' API has also been improved.
1255 ** (ice-9 and-let-star) and (ice-9 curried-definitions) now documented
1257 These modules were missing from the manual.
1261 ** New "functional record setters" as a GNU extension of SRFI-9
1263 The (srfi srfi-9 gnu) module now provides three new macros to deal with
1264 "updates" of immutable records: `define-immutable-record-type',
1265 `set-field', and `set-fields'.
1267 The first one allows record type "functional setters" to be defined;
1268 such setters keep the record unchanged, and instead return a new record
1269 with only one different field. The remaining macros provide the same
1270 functionality, and also optimize updates of multiple or nested fields.
1271 See the manual for details.
1273 ** web: New `http-get*', `response-body-port', and `text-content-type?'
1276 These procedures return a port from which to read the response's body.
1277 Unlike `http-get' and `read-response-body', they allow the body to be
1278 processed incrementally instead of being stored entirely in memory.
1280 The `text-content-type?' predicate allows users to determine whether the
1281 content type of a response is textual.
1283 See the manual for details.
1285 ** `string-split' accepts character sets and predicates
1287 The `string-split' procedure can now be given a SRFI-14 character set or
1288 a predicate, instead of just a character.
1290 ** R6RS SRFI support
1292 Previously, in R6RS modules, Guile incorrectly ignored components of
1293 SRFI module names after the SRFI number, making it impossible to specify
1294 sub-libraries. This release corrects this, bringing us into accordance
1297 ** `define-public' is no a longer curried definition by default
1299 The (ice-9 curried-definitions) should be used for such uses. See the
1304 ** Remove reference to `scm_init_popen' when `fork' is unavailable
1306 This fixes a MinGW build issue (http://bugs.gnu.org/12477).
1308 ** Fix race between installing `guild' and the `guile-tools' symlink
1312 ** Procedures returned by `eval' now have docstrings
1313 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12173)
1314 ** web client: correctly handle uri-query, etc. in relative URI headers
1315 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12827)
1316 ** Fix docs for R6RS `hashtable-copy'
1317 ** R6RS `string-for-each' now accepts multiple string arguments
1318 ** Fix out-of-range error in the compiler's CSE pass
1319 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12883)
1320 ** Add missing R6RS `open-file-input/output-port' procedure
1321 ** Futures: Avoid creating the worker pool more than once
1322 ** Fix invalid assertion about mutex ownership in threads.c
1323 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12719)
1324 ** Have `SCM_NUM2FLOAT' and `SCM_NUM2DOUBLE' use `scm_to_double'
1325 ** The `scandir' procedure now uses `lstat' instead of `stat'
1326 ** Fix `generalized-vector->list' indexing bug with shared arrays
1327 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12465)
1328 ** web: Change `http-get' to try all the addresses for the given URI
1329 ** Implement `hash' for structs
1330 (http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2012-10/msg00031.html)
1331 ** `read' now adds source properties for data types beyond pairs
1332 ** Improve error reporting in `append!'
1333 ** In fold-matches, set regexp/notbol unless matching string start
1334 ** Don't stat(2) and access(2) the .go location before using it
1335 ** SRFI-19: use zero padding for hours in ISO 8601 format, not blanks
1336 ** web: Fix uri-encoding for strings with no unreserved chars, and octets 0-15
1337 ** More robust texinfo alias handling
1338 ** Optimize `format' and `simple-format'
1339 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12033)
1340 ** Angle of -0.0 is pi, not zero
1343 Changes in 2.0.6 (since 2.0.5):
1347 ** New optimization pass: common subexpression elimination (CSE)
1349 Guile's optimizer will now run a CSE pass after partial evaluation.
1350 This pass propagates static information about branches taken, bound
1351 lexicals, and effects from an expression's dominators. It can replace
1352 common subexpressions with their boolean values (potentially enabling
1353 dead code elimination), equivalent bound lexicals, or it can elide them
1354 entirely, depending on the context in which they are executed. This
1355 pass is especially useful in removing duplicate type checks, such as
1356 those produced by SRFI-9 record accessors.
1358 ** Improvements to the partial evaluator
1360 Peval can now hoist tests that are common to both branches of a
1361 conditional into the test. This can help with long chains of
1362 conditionals, such as those generated by the `match' macro. Peval can
1363 now do simple beta-reductions of procedures with rest arguments. It
1364 also avoids residualizing degenerate lexical aliases, even when full
1365 inlining is not possible. Finally, peval now uses the effects analysis
1366 introduced for the CSE pass. More precise effects analysis allows peval
1369 ** Run finalizers asynchronously in asyncs
1371 Finalizers are now run asynchronously, via an async. See Asyncs in the
1372 manual. This allows Guile and user code to safely allocate memory while
1375 ** Update SRFI-14 character sets to Unicode 6.1
1377 Note that this update causes the Latin-1 characters `§' and `¶' to be
1378 reclassified as punctuation. They were previously considered to be part
1379 of `char-set:symbol'.
1381 ** Better source information for datums
1383 When the `positions' reader option is on, as it is by default, Guile's
1384 reader will record source information for more kinds of datums.
1386 ** Improved error and warning messages
1388 `syntax-violation' errors now prefer `subform' for source info, with
1389 `form' as fallback. Syntactic errors in `cond' and `case' now produce
1390 better errors. `case' can now warn on duplicate datums, or datums that
1391 cannot be usefully compared with `eqv?'. `-Warity-mismatch' now handles
1392 applicable structs. `-Wformat' is more robust in the presence of
1393 `gettext'. Finally, various exceptions thrown by the Web modules now
1394 define appropriate exception printers.
1396 ** A few important bug fixes in the HTTP modules.
1398 Guile's web server framework now checks if an application returns a body
1399 where it is not permitted, for example in response to a HEAD request,
1400 and warn or truncate the response as appropriate. Bad requests now
1401 cause a 400 Bad Request response to be printed before closing the port.
1402 Finally, some date-printing and URL-parsing bugs were fixed.
1404 ** Pretty-print improvements
1406 When Guile needs to pretty-print Tree-IL, it will try to reconstruct
1407 `cond', `or`, and other derived syntax forms from the primitive tree-IL
1408 forms. It also uses the original names instead of the fresh unique
1409 names, when it is unambiguous to do so. This can be seen in the output
1410 of REPL commands like `,optimize'.
1412 Also, the `pretty-print' procedure has a new keyword argument,
1415 ** Fix memory leak involving applicable SMOBs
1417 At some point in the 1.9.x series, Guile began leaking any applicable
1418 SMOB that was actually applied. (There was a weak-key map from SMOB to
1419 trampoline functions, where the value had a strong reference on the
1420 key.) This has been fixed. There was much rejoicing!
1422 ** Support for HTTP/1.1 chunked transfer coding
1424 See "Transfer Codings" in the manual, for more.
1426 ** Micro-optimizations
1428 A pile of micro-optimizations: the `string-trim' function when called
1429 with `char-set:whitespace'; the `(web http)' parsers; SMOB application;
1430 conversion of raw UTF-8 and UTF-32 data to and from SCM strings; vlists
1431 and vhashes; `read' when processing string literals.
1433 ** Incompatible change to `scandir'
1435 As was the original intention, `scandir' now runs the `select?'
1436 procedure on all items, including subdirectories and the `.' and `..'
1437 entries. It receives the basename of the file in question instead of
1438 the full name. We apologize for this incompatible change to this
1439 function introduced in the 2.0.4 release.
1443 The manual has been made much more consistent in its naming conventions
1444 with regards to formal parameters of functions. Thanks to Bake Timmons.
1448 ** New C function: `scm_to_pointer'
1449 ** New C inline functions: `scm_new_smob', `scm_new_double_smob'
1450 ** (ice-9 format): Add ~h specifier for localized number output.
1451 ** (web response): New procedure: `response-must-not-include-body?'
1452 ** New predicate: 'supports-source-properties?'
1453 ** New C helpers: `scm_c_values', `scm_c_nvalues'
1454 ** Newly public inline C function: `scm_unget_byte'
1455 ** (language tree-il): New functions: `tree-il=?', `tree-il-hash'
1456 ** New fluid: `%default-port-conversion-strategy'
1457 ** New syntax: `=>' within `case'
1458 ** (web http): `make-chunked-input-port', `make-chunked-output-port'
1459 ** (web http): `declare-opaque-header!'
1461 Search the manual for these identifiers, for more information.
1465 ** `close-io-port' deprecated
1469 ** `scm_sym2var' deprecated
1471 In most cases, replace with `scm_lookup' or `scm_module_variable'. Use
1472 `scm_define' or `scm_module_ensure_local_variable' if the second
1473 argument is nonzero. See "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual, for
1476 ** Lookup closures deprecated
1478 These were never documented. See "Module System Reflection" in the
1479 manual for replacements.
1483 ** Fix compilation against uninstalled Guile on non-GNU platforms.
1484 ** Fix `SCM_I_ERROR' definition for MinGW without networking.
1485 ** Fix compilation with the Sun C compiler.
1486 ** Fix check for `clock_gettime' on OpenBSD and some other systems.
1487 ** Fix build with --enable-debug-malloc.
1488 ** Honor $(program_transform_name) for the `guile-tools' symlink.
1489 ** Fix cross-compilation of GOOPS-using code.
1493 ** Fix use of unitialized stat buffer in search-path of absolute paths.
1494 ** Avoid calling `freelocale' with a NULL argument.
1495 ** Work around erroneous tr_TR locale in Darwin 8 in tests.
1496 ** Fix `getaddrinfo' test for Darwin 8.
1497 ** Use Gnulib's `regex' module for better regex portability.
1498 ** `source-properties' and friends work on any object
1499 ** Rewrite open-process in C, for robustness related to threads and fork
1500 ** Fix <TAG>vector-length when applied to other uniform vector types
1501 ** Fix escape-only prompt optimization (was disabled previously)
1502 ** Fix a segfault when /dev/urandom is not accessible
1503 ** Fix flush on soft ports, so that it actually runs.
1504 ** Better compatibility of SRFI-9 records with core records
1505 ** Fix and clarify documentation of `sorted?'.
1506 ** Fix IEEE-754 endianness conversion in bytevectors.
1507 ** Correct thunk check in the `wind' instruction.
1508 ** Add @acronym support to texinfo modules
1509 ** Fix docbook->texi for <ulink> without URL
1510 ** Fix `setvbuf' to leave the line/column number unchanged.
1511 ** Add missing public declaration for `scm_take_from_input_buffers'.
1512 ** Fix relative file name canonicalization with empty %LOAD-PATH entries.
1513 ** Import newer (ice-9 match) from Chibi-Scheme.
1514 ** Fix unbound variables and unbound values in ECMAScript runtime.
1515 ** Make SRFI-6 string ports Unicode-capable.
1518 Changes in 2.0.5 (since 2.0.4):
1520 This release fixes the binary interface information (SONAME) of
1521 libguile, which was incorrect in 2.0.4. It does not contain other
1525 Changes in 2.0.4 (since 2.0.3):
1529 ** Better debuggability for interpreted procedures.
1531 Guile 2.0 came with a great debugging experience for compiled
1532 procedures, but the story for interpreted procedures was terrible. Now,
1533 at least, interpreted procedures have names, and the `arity' procedure
1534 property is always correct (or, as correct as it can be, in the presence
1537 ** Support for cross-compilation.
1539 One can now use a native Guile to cross-compile `.go' files for a
1540 different architecture. See the documentation for `--target' in the
1541 "Compilation" section of the manual, for information on how to use the
1542 cross-compiler. See the "Cross building Guile" section of the README,
1543 for more on how to cross-compile Guile itself.
1545 ** The return of `local-eval'.
1547 Back by popular demand, `the-environment' and `local-eval' allow the
1548 user to capture a lexical environment, and then evaluate arbitrary
1549 expressions in that context. There is also a new `local-compile'
1550 command. See "Local Evaluation" in the manual, for more. Special
1551 thanks to Mark Weaver for an initial implementation of this feature.
1553 ** Fluids can now have default values.
1555 Fluids are used for dynamic and thread-local binding. They have always
1556 inherited their values from the context or thread that created them.
1557 However, there was a case in which a new thread would enter Guile, and
1558 the default values of all the fluids would be `#f' for that thread.
1560 This has now been fixed so that `make-fluid' has an optional default
1561 value for fluids in unrelated dynamic roots, which defaults to `#f'.
1563 ** Garbage collector tuning.
1565 The garbage collector has now been tuned to run more often under some
1568 *** Unmanaged allocation
1570 The new `scm_gc_register_allocation' function will notify the collector
1571 of unmanaged allocation. This will cause the collector to run sooner.
1572 Guile's `scm_malloc', `scm_calloc', and `scm_realloc' unmanaged
1573 allocators eventually call this function. This leads to better
1574 performance under steady-state unmanaged allocation.
1576 *** Transient allocation
1578 When the collector runs, it will try to record the total memory
1579 footprint of a process, if the platform supports this information. If
1580 the memory footprint is growing, the collector will run more frequently.
1581 This reduces the increase of the resident size of a process in response
1582 to a transient increase in allocation.
1584 *** Management of threads, bignums
1586 Creating a thread will allocate a fair amount of memory. Guile now does
1587 some GC work (using `GC_collect_a_little') when allocating a thread.
1588 This leads to a better memory footprint when creating many short-lived
1591 Similarly, bignums can occupy a lot of memory. Guile now offers hooks
1592 to enable custom GMP allocators that end up calling
1593 `scm_gc_register_allocation'. These allocators are enabled by default
1594 when running Guile from the command-line. To enable them in libraries,
1595 set the `scm_install_gmp_memory_functions' variable to a nonzero value
1596 before loading Guile.
1598 ** SRFI-39 parameters are available by default.
1600 Guile now includes support for parameters, as defined by SRFI-39, in the
1601 default environment. See "Parameters" in the manual, for more
1602 information. `current-input-port', `current-output-port', and
1603 `current-error-port' are now parameters.
1605 ** Add `current-warning-port'.
1607 Guile now outputs warnings on a separate port, `current-warning-port',
1608 initialized to the value that `current-error-port' has on startup.
1610 ** Syntax parameters.
1612 Following Racket's lead, Guile now supports syntax parameters. See
1613 "Syntax parameters" in the manual, for more.
1615 Also see Barzilay, Culpepper, and Flatt's 2011 SFP workshop paper,
1616 "Keeping it Clean with syntax-parameterize".
1618 ** Parse command-line arguments from the locale encoding.
1620 Guile now attempts to parse command-line arguments using the user's
1621 locale. However for backwards compatibility with other 2.0.x releases,
1622 it does so without actually calling `setlocale'. Please report any bugs
1623 in this facility to bug-guile@gnu.org.
1625 ** One-armed conditionals: `when' and `unless'
1627 Guile finally has `when' and `unless' in the default environment. Use
1628 them whenever you would use an `if' with only one branch. See
1629 "Conditionals" in the manual, for more.
1631 ** `current-filename', `add-to-load-path'
1633 There is a new form, `(current-filename)', which expands out to the
1634 source file in which it occurs. Combined with the new
1635 `add-to-load-path', this allows simple scripts to easily add nearby
1636 directories to the load path. See "Load Paths" in the manual, for more.
1638 ** `random-state-from-platform'
1640 This procedure initializes a random seed using good random sources
1641 available on your platform, such as /dev/urandom. See "Random Number
1642 Generation" in the manual, for more.
1644 ** Warn about unsupported `simple-format' options.
1646 The `-Wformat' compilation option now reports unsupported format options
1647 passed to `simple-format'.
1651 Besides the sections already mentioned, the following manual sections
1652 are new in this release: "Modules and the File System", "Module System
1653 Reflection", "Syntax Transformer Helpers", and "Local Inclusion".
1657 ** (ice-9 session): `apropos-hook'
1658 ** New print option: `escape-newlines', defaults to #t.
1659 ** (ice-9 ftw): `file-system-fold', `file-system-tree', `scandir'
1660 ** `scm_c_value_ref': access to multiple returned values from C
1661 ** scm_call (a varargs version), scm_call_7, scm_call_8, scm_call_9
1662 ** Some new syntax helpers in (system syntax)
1664 Search the manual for these identifiers and modules, for more.
1668 ** FreeBSD build fixes.
1669 ** OpenBSD compilation fixes.
1670 ** Solaris 2.10 test suite fixes.
1671 ** IA64 compilation fix.
1672 ** MinGW build fixes.
1673 ** Work around instruction reordering on SPARC and HPPA in the VM.
1674 ** Gnulib updates: added `dirfd', `setenv' modules.
1678 ** Add a deprecated alias for $expt.
1679 ** Add an exception printer for `getaddrinfo-error'.
1680 ** Add deprecated shim for `scm_display_error' with stack as first argument.
1681 ** Add warnings for unsupported `simple-format' options.
1682 ** Allow overlapping regions to be passed to `bytevector-copy!'.
1683 ** Better function prologue disassembly
1684 ** Compiler: fix miscompilation of (values foo ...) in some contexts.
1685 ** Compiler: fix serialization of #nil-terminated lists.
1686 ** Compiler: allow values bound in non-tail let expressions to be collected.
1687 ** Deprecate SCM_ASRTGO.
1688 ** Document invalidity of (begin) as expression; add back-compat shim.
1689 ** Don't leak file descriptors when mmaping objcode.
1690 ** Empty substrings no longer reference the original stringbuf.
1691 ** FFI: Fix `set-pointer-finalizer!' to leave the type cell unchanged.
1692 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the CIF made by `procedure->pointer'.
1693 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the procedure passed to `procedure->pointer'.
1694 ** FFI: Properly unpack small integer return values in closure call.
1695 ** Fix R6RS `fold-left' so the accumulator is the first argument.
1696 ** Fix bit-set*! bug from 2005.
1697 ** Fix bug in `make-repl' when `lang' is actually a <language>.
1698 ** Fix bugs related to mutation, the null string, and shared substrings.
1699 ** Fix <dynwind> serialization.
1700 ** Fix erroneous check in `set-procedure-properties!'.
1701 ** Fix generalized-vector-{ref,set!} for slices.
1702 ** Fix error messages involving definition forms.
1703 ** Fix primitive-eval to return #<unspecified> for definitions.
1704 ** HTTP: Extend handling of "Cache-Control" header.
1705 ** HTTP: Fix qstring writing of cache-extension values
1706 ** HTTP: Fix validators for various list-style headers.
1707 ** HTTP: Permit non-date values for Expires header.
1708 ** HTTP: `write-request-line' writes absolute paths, not absolute URIs.
1709 ** Hack the port-column of current-output-port after printing a prompt.
1710 ** Make sure `regexp-quote' tests use Unicode-capable string ports.
1711 ** Peval: Fix bugs in the new optimizer.
1712 ** Statistically unique marks and labels, for robust hygiene across sessions.
1713 ** Web: Allow URIs with empty authorities, like "file:///etc/hosts".
1714 ** `,language' at REPL sets the current-language fluid.
1715 ** `primitive-load' returns the value(s) of the last expression.
1716 ** `scm_from_stringn' always returns unique strings.
1717 ** `scm_i_substring_copy' tries to narrow the substring.
1718 ** i18n: Fix gc_malloc/free mismatch on non-GNU systems.
1721 Changes in 2.0.3 (since 2.0.2):
1723 * Speed improvements
1725 ** Guile has a new optimizer, `peval'.
1727 `Peval' is a partial evaluator that performs constant folding, dead code
1728 elimination, copy propagation, and inlining. By default it runs on
1729 every piece of code that Guile compiles, to fold computations that can
1730 happen at compile-time, so they don't have to happen at runtime.
1732 If we did our job right, the only impact you would see would be your
1733 programs getting faster. But if you notice slowdowns or bloated code,
1734 please send a mail to bug-guile@gnu.org with details.
1736 Thanks to William R. Cook, Oscar Waddell, and Kent Dybvig for inspiring
1737 peval and its implementation.
1739 You can see what peval does on a given piece of code by running the new
1740 `,optimize' REPL meta-command, and comparing it to the output of
1741 `,expand'. See "Compile Commands" in the manual, for more.
1743 ** Fewer calls to `stat'.
1745 Guile now stats only the .go file and the .scm file when loading a fresh
1750 ** New module: `(web client)', a simple synchronous web client.
1752 See "Web Client" in the manual, for more.
1754 ** Users can now install compiled `.go' files.
1756 See "Installing Site Packages" in the manual.
1758 ** Remove Front-Cover and Back-Cover text from the manual.
1760 The manual is still under the GNU Free Documentation License, but no
1761 longer has any invariant sections.
1763 ** More helpful `guild help'.
1765 `guild' is Guile's multi-tool, for use in shell scripting. Now it has a
1766 nicer interface for querying the set of existing commands, and getting
1767 help on those commands. Try it out and see!
1769 ** New macro: `define-syntax-rule'
1771 `define-syntax-rule' is a shorthand to make a `syntax-rules' macro with
1772 one clause. See "Syntax Rules" in the manual, for more.
1774 ** The `,time' REPL meta-command now has more precision.
1776 The output of this command now has microsecond precision, instead of
1777 10-millisecond precision.
1779 ** `(ice-9 match)' can now match records.
1781 See "Pattern Matching" in the manual, for more on matching records.
1783 ** New module: `(language tree-il debug)'.
1785 This module provides a tree-il verifier. This is useful for people that
1786 generate tree-il, usually as part of a language compiler.
1788 ** New functions: `scm_is_exact', `scm_is_inexact'.
1790 These provide a nice C interface for Scheme's `exact?' and `inexact?',
1795 See the git log (or the ChangeLog) for more details on these bugs.
1797 ** Fix order of importing modules and resolving duplicates handlers.
1798 ** Fix a number of bugs involving extended (merged) generics.
1799 ** Fix invocation of merge-generics duplicate handler.
1800 ** Fix write beyond array end in arrays.c.
1801 ** Fix read beyond end of hashtable size array in hashtab.c.
1802 ** (web http): Locale-independent parsing and serialization of dates.
1803 ** Ensure presence of Host header in HTTP/1.1 requests.
1804 ** Fix take-right and drop-right for improper lists.
1805 ** Fix leak in get_current_locale().
1806 ** Fix recursive define-inlinable expansions.
1807 ** Check that srfi-1 procedure arguments are procedures.
1808 ** Fix r6rs `map' for multiple returns.
1809 ** Fix scm_tmpfile leak on POSIX platforms.
1810 ** Fix a couple of leaks (objcode->bytecode, make-boot-program).
1811 ** Fix guile-lib back-compatibility for module-stexi-documentation.
1812 ** Fix --listen option to allow other ports.
1813 ** Fix scm_to_latin1_stringn for substrings.
1814 ** Fix compilation of untyped arrays of rank not 1.
1815 ** Fix unparse-tree-il of <dynset>.
1816 ** Fix reading of #||||#.
1817 ** Fix segfault in GOOPS when class fields are redefined.
1818 ** Prefer poll(2) over select(2) to allow file descriptors above FD_SETSIZE.
1821 Changes in 2.0.2 (since 2.0.1):
1825 ** `guile-tools' renamed to `guild'
1827 The new name is shorter. Its intended future use is for a CPAN-like
1828 system for Guile wizards and journeyfolk to band together to share code;
1829 hence the name. `guile-tools' is provided as a backward-compatible
1830 symbolic link. See "Using Guile Tools" in the manual, for more.
1832 ** New control operators: `shift' and `reset'
1834 See "Shift and Reset" in the manual, for more information.
1836 ** `while' as an expression
1838 Previously the return value of `while' was unspecified. Now its
1839 values are specified both in the case of normal termination, and via
1840 termination by invoking `break', possibly with arguments. See "while
1841 do" in the manual for more.
1843 ** Disallow access to handles of weak hash tables
1845 `hash-get-handle' and `hash-create-handle!' are no longer permitted to
1846 be called on weak hash tables, because the fields in a weak handle could
1847 be nulled out by the garbage collector at any time, but yet they are
1848 otherwise indistinguishable from pairs. Use `hash-ref' and `hash-set!'
1851 ** More precision for `get-internal-run-time', `get-internal-real-time'
1853 On 64-bit systems which support POSIX clocks, Guile's internal timing
1854 procedures offer nanosecond resolution instead of the 10-millisecond
1855 resolution previously available. 32-bit systems now use 1-millisecond
1858 ** Guile now measures time spent in GC
1860 `gc-stats' now returns a meaningful value for `gc-time-taken'.
1864 The statprof profiler now exports a `gcprof' procedure, driven by the
1865 `after-gc-hook', to see which parts of your program are causing GC. Let
1866 us know if you find it useful.
1868 ** `map', `for-each' and some others now implemented in Scheme
1870 We would not mention this in NEWS, as it is not a user-visible change,
1871 if it were not for one thing: `map' and `for-each' are no longer
1872 primitive generics. Instead they are normal bindings, which can be
1873 wrapped by normal generics. This fixes some modularity issues between
1874 core `map', SRFI-1 `map', and GOOPS.
1876 Also it's pretty cool that we can do this without a performance impact.
1878 ** Add `scm_peek_byte_or_eof'.
1880 This helper is like `scm_peek_char_or_eof', but for bytes instead of
1883 ** Implement #:stop-at-first-non-option option for getopt-long
1885 See "getopt-long Reference" in the manual, for more information.
1887 ** Improve R6RS conformance for conditions in the I/O libraries
1889 The `(rnrs io simple)' module now raises the correct R6RS conditions in
1890 error cases. `(rnrs io ports)' is also more correct now, though it is
1891 still a work in progress.
1893 ** All deprecated routines emit warnings
1895 A few deprecated routines were lacking deprecation warnings. This has
1898 * Speed improvements
1900 ** Constants in compiled code now share state better
1902 Constants with shared state, like `("foo")' and `"foo"', now share state
1903 as much as possible, in the entire compilation unit. This cuts compiled
1904 `.go' file sizes in half, generally, and speeds startup.
1906 ** VLists: optimize `vlist-fold-right', and add `vhash-fold-right'
1908 These procedures are now twice as fast as they were.
1910 ** UTF-8 ports to bypass `iconv' entirely
1912 This reduces memory usage in a very common case.
1914 ** Compiler speedups
1916 The compiler is now about 40% faster. (Note that this is only the case
1917 once the compiler is itself compiled, so the build still takes as long
1922 Some assertions that were mostly useful for sanity-checks on the
1923 bytecode compiler are now off for both "regular" and "debug" engines.
1924 This together with a fix to cache a TLS access and some other tweaks
1925 improve the VM's performance by about 20%.
1927 ** SRFI-1 list-set optimizations
1929 lset-adjoin and lset-union now have fast paths for eq? sets.
1931 ** `memq', `memv' optimizations
1933 These procedures are now at least twice as fast than in 2.0.1.
1937 ** Deprecate scm_whash API
1939 `scm_whash_get_handle', `SCM_WHASHFOUNDP', `SCM_WHASHREF',
1940 `SCM_WHASHSET', `scm_whash_create_handle', `scm_whash_lookup', and
1941 `scm_whash_insert' are now deprecated. Use the normal hash table API
1944 ** Deprecate scm_struct_table
1946 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME',
1947 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS',
1948 `scm_struct_table', and `scm_struct_create_handle' are now deprecated.
1949 These routines formed part of the internals of the map between structs
1952 ** Deprecate scm_internal_dynamic_wind
1954 The `scm_t_inner' type and `scm_internal_dynamic_wind' are deprecated,
1955 as the `scm_dynwind' API is better, and this API encourages users to
1956 stuff SCM values into pointers.
1958 ** Deprecate scm_immutable_cell, scm_immutable_double_cell
1960 These routines are deprecated, as the GC_STUBBORN API doesn't do
1965 Andreas Rottman kindly transcribed the missing parts of the `(rnrs io
1966 ports)' documentation from the R6RS documentation. Thanks Andreas!
1970 ** Fix double-loading of script in -ds case
1971 ** -x error message fix
1972 ** iconveh-related cross-compilation fixes
1973 ** Fix small integer return value packing on big endian machines.
1974 ** Fix hash-set! in weak-value table from non-immediate to immediate
1975 ** Fix call-with-input-file & relatives for multiple values
1976 ** Fix `hash' for inf and nan
1977 ** Fix libguile internal type errors caught by typing-strictness==2
1978 ** Fix compile error in MinGW fstat socket detection
1979 ** Fix generation of auto-compiled file names on MinGW
1980 ** Fix multithreaded access to internal hash tables
1981 ** Emit a 1-based line number in error messages
1982 ** Fix define-module ordering
1983 ** Fix several POSIX functions to use the locale encoding
1984 ** Add type and range checks to the complex generalized vector accessors
1985 ** Fix unaligned accesses for bytevectors of complex numbers
1987 ** Fix erroneous VM stack overflow for canceled threads
1990 Changes in 2.0.1 (since 2.0.0):
1994 ** guile.m4 supports linking with rpath
1996 The GUILE_FLAGS macro now sets GUILE_LIBS and GUILE_LTLIBS, which
1997 include appropriate directives to the linker to include libguile-2.0.so
1998 in the runtime library lookup path.
2000 ** `begin' expands macros in its body before other expressions
2002 This enables support for programs like the following:
2007 (or (= x 0) (odd? (- x 1)))))
2010 ((odd? x) (not (even? x)))))
2013 ** REPL reader usability enhancements
2015 The REPL now flushes input after a read error, which should prevent one
2016 error from causing other errors. The REPL also now interprets comments
2019 ** REPL output has configurable width
2021 The REPL now defaults to output with the current terminal's width, in
2022 columns. See "Debug Commands" in the manual for more information on
2025 ** Better C access to the module system
2027 Guile now has convenient C accessors to look up variables or values in
2028 modules and their public interfaces. See `scm_c_public_ref' and friends
2029 in "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual.
2031 ** Added `scm_call_5', `scm_call_6'
2033 See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2035 ** Added `scm_from_latin1_keyword', `scm_from_utf8_keyword'
2037 See "Keyword Procedures" in the manual, for more. Note that
2038 `scm_from_locale_keyword' should not be used when the name is a C string
2041 ** R6RS unicode and string I/O work
2043 Added efficient implementations of `get-string-n' and `get-string-n!'
2044 for binary ports. Exported `current-input-port', `current-output-port'
2045 and `current-error-port' from `(rnrs io ports)', and enhanced support
2048 ** Added `pointer->scm', `scm->pointer' to `(system foreign)'
2050 These procedure are useful if one needs to pass and receive SCM values
2051 to and from foreign functions. See "Foreign Variables" in the manual,
2054 ** Added `heap-allocated-since-gc' to `(gc-stats)'
2056 Also fixed the long-standing bug in the REPL `,stat' command.
2058 ** Add `on-error' REPL option
2060 This option controls what happens when an error occurs at the REPL, and
2061 defaults to `debug', indicating that Guile should enter the debugger.
2062 Other values include `report', which will simply print a backtrace
2063 without entering the debugger. See "System Commands" in the manual.
2065 ** Enforce immutability of string literals
2067 Attempting to mutate a string literal now causes a runtime error.
2069 ** Fix pthread redirection
2071 Guile 2.0.0 shipped with headers that, if configured with pthread
2072 support, would re-define `pthread_create', `pthread_join', and other API
2073 to redirect to the BDW-GC wrappers, `GC_pthread_create', etc. This was
2074 unintended, and not necessary: because threads must enter Guile with
2075 `scm_with_guile', Guile can handle thread registration itself, without
2076 needing to make the GC aware of all threads. This oversight has been
2079 ** `with-continuation-barrier' now unwinds on `quit'
2081 A throw to `quit' in a continuation barrier will cause Guile to exit.
2082 Before, it would do so before unwinding to the barrier, which would
2083 prevent cleanup handlers from running. This has been fixed so that it
2084 exits only after unwinding.
2086 ** `string->pointer' and `pointer->string' have optional encoding arg
2088 This allows users of the FFI to more easily deal in strings with
2089 particular (non-locale) encodings, like "utf-8". See "Void Pointers and
2090 Byte Access" in the manual, for more.
2092 ** R6RS fixnum arithmetic optimizations
2094 R6RS fixnum operations are are still slower than generic arithmetic,
2097 ** New procedure: `define-inlinable'
2099 See "Inlinable Procedures" in the manual, for more.
2101 ** New procedure: `exact-integer-sqrt'
2103 See "Integer Operations" in the manual, for more.
2105 ** "Extended read syntax" for symbols parses better
2107 In #{foo}# symbols, backslashes are now treated as escapes, as the
2108 symbol-printing code intended. Additionally, "\x" within #{foo}# is now
2109 interpreted as starting an R6RS hex escape. This is backward compatible
2110 because the symbol printer would never produce a "\x" before. The
2111 printer also works better too.
2113 ** Added `--fresh-auto-compile' option
2115 This allows a user to invalidate the auto-compilation cache. It's
2116 usually not needed. See "Compilation" in the manual, for a discussion.
2120 ** GOOPS documentation updates
2124 Thanks to Mark Harig for improvements to guile.1.
2126 ** SRFI-23 documented
2128 The humble `error' SRFI now has an entry in the manual.
2132 ** `(ice-9 binary-ports)': "R6RS I/O Ports", in the manual
2133 ** `(ice-9 eval-string)': "Fly Evaluation", in the manual
2134 ** `(ice-9 command-line)', not documented yet
2138 ** Fixed `iconv_t' memory leak on close-port
2139 ** Fixed some leaks with weak hash tables
2140 ** Export `vhash-delq' and `vhash-delv' from `(ice-9 vlist)'
2141 ** `after-gc-hook' works again
2142 ** `define-record-type' now allowed in nested contexts
2143 ** `exact-integer-sqrt' now handles large integers correctly
2144 ** Fixed C extension examples in manual
2145 ** `vhash-delete' honors HASH argument
2146 ** Make `locale-digit-grouping' more robust
2147 ** Default exception printer robustness fixes
2148 ** Fix presence of non-I CPPFLAGS in `guile-2.0.pc'
2149 ** `read' updates line/column numbers when reading SCSH block comments
2150 ** Fix imports of multiple custom interfaces of same module
2151 ** Fix encoding scanning for non-seekable ports
2152 ** Fix `setter' when called with a non-setter generic
2153 ** Fix f32 and f64 bytevectors to not accept rationals
2154 ** Fix description of the R6RS `finite?' in manual
2155 ** Quotient, remainder and modulo accept inexact integers again
2156 ** Fix `continue' within `while' to take zero arguments
2157 ** Fix alignment for structures in FFI
2158 ** Fix port-filename of stdin, stdout, stderr to match the docs
2159 ** Fix weak hash table-related bug in `define-wrapped-pointer-type'
2160 ** Fix partial continuation application with pending procedure calls
2161 ** scm_{to,from}_locale_string use current locale, not current ports
2162 ** Fix thread cleanup, by using a pthread_key destructor
2163 ** Fix `quit' at the REPL
2164 ** Fix a failure to sync regs in vm bytevector ops
2165 ** Fix (texinfo reflection) to handle nested structures like syntax patterns
2166 ** Fix stexi->html double translation
2167 ** Fix tree-il->scheme fix for <prompt>
2168 ** Fix compilation of <prompt> in <fix> in single-value context
2169 ** Fix race condition in ensure-writable-dir
2170 ** Fix error message on ,disassemble "non-procedure"
2171 ** Fix prompt and abort with the boot evaluator
2172 ** Fix `procedure->pointer' for functions returning `void'
2173 ** Fix error reporting in dynamic-pointer
2174 ** Fix problems detecting coding: in block comments
2175 ** Fix duplicate load-path and load-compiled-path in compilation environment
2176 ** Add fallback read(2) suppport for .go files if mmap(2) unavailable
2177 ** Fix c32vector-set!, c64vector-set!
2178 ** Fix mistakenly deprecated read syntax for uniform complex vectors
2179 ** Fix parsing of exact numbers with negative exponents
2180 ** Ignore SIGPIPE in (system repl server)
2181 ** Fix optional second arg to R6RS log function
2182 ** Fix R6RS `assert' to return true value.
2183 ** Fix fencepost error when seeking in bytevector input ports
2184 ** Gracefully handle `setlocale' errors when starting the REPL
2185 ** Improve support of the `--disable-posix' configure option
2186 ** Make sure R6RS binary ports pass `binary-port?' regardless of the locale
2187 ** Gracefully handle unterminated UTF-8 sequences instead of hitting an `assert'
2191 Changes in 2.0.0 (changes since the 1.8.x series):
2193 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2195 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
2196 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
2197 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
2198 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
2199 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
2200 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
2201 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
2202 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
2203 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
2204 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
2205 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
2206 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
2207 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
2208 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
2209 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
2210 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
2211 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
2212 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
2213 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
2214 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
2215 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
2216 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
2217 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
2219 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
2221 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
2222 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
2223 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
2225 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
2226 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
2227 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
2229 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
2231 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
2232 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
2233 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
2235 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
2237 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
2238 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
2241 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2243 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
2245 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
2246 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
2248 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
2250 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
2251 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
2252 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
2254 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
2255 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
2257 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
2258 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
2259 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
2262 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
2264 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
2265 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
2267 ** Remove old Emacs interface
2269 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
2270 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
2271 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
2274 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
2276 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
2277 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
2278 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
2281 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
2283 ** Command line additions
2285 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
2286 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
2289 ** New reader options: `square-brackets', `r6rs-hex-escapes',
2290 `hungry-eol-escapes'
2292 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
2293 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
2294 parentheses. This option is on by default.
2296 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
2297 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
2298 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
2299 so this option is off by default.
2301 Additionally, Guile follows the R6RS newline escaping rules when the
2302 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled.
2304 See "String Syntax" in the manual, for more information.
2306 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
2308 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
2309 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
2310 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
2312 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
2313 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
2315 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
2317 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
2318 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
2319 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
2321 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
2322 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
2323 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
2324 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
2326 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
2327 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
2330 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
2332 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
2335 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
2337 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
2338 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
2339 include `/path/to/lib'.
2341 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
2343 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
2346 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
2348 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
2349 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
2350 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
2351 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
2354 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
2356 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
2357 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
2358 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
2360 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
2362 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
2363 just for the operator position.
2365 ** Expression-oriented readline history
2367 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
2368 input lines. Let us know what you think!
2370 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
2372 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
2373 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
2375 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2377 ** Support for R6RS libraries
2379 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
2380 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
2381 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
2382 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
2383 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
2385 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
2387 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
2388 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
2389 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
2391 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
2393 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
2396 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
2397 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
2398 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
2401 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
2402 mentioned in that compatibility list.
2404 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
2406 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
2407 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
2408 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
2409 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
2411 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
2412 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
2413 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
2414 code, and simplifying debugging.
2416 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
2417 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
2419 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
2420 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
2421 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
2422 both of these situations.
2424 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
2425 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
2426 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
2427 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
2429 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
2431 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
2432 not apply to the compiler.
2434 ** No more `local-eval'
2436 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
2437 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
2438 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
2439 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
2442 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
2443 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
2446 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
2448 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
2449 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
2450 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
2452 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
2453 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
2454 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
2457 Auto-compiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
2458 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
2459 will be created if needed.
2461 To inhibit automatic compilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
2462 variable to 0, or pass --no-auto-compile on the Guile command line.
2464 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
2466 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
2467 in the next prerelease.
2469 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
2471 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
2473 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
2475 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
2477 ** Multicast socket options
2479 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
2480 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
2483 ** `recv!', `recvfrom!', `send', `sendto' now deal in bytevectors
2485 These socket procedures now take bytevectors as arguments, instead of
2486 strings. There is some deprecated string support, however.
2488 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
2490 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
2492 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
2494 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
2496 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
2498 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
2499 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
2500 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
2502 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
2503 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
2504 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
2505 procedures' docstrings for more information.
2507 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
2508 combining arity and formals. For example:
2510 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
2511 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
2513 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
2516 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
2518 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
2519 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
2520 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
2521 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
2523 ** New language: ECMAScript
2525 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
2526 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
2527 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
2528 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
2530 ** New language: Brainfuck
2532 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
2533 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
2534 languages. See the manual for details, or
2535 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
2536 Brainfuck language itself.
2538 ** New language: Elisp
2540 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
2541 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
2542 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
2544 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
2546 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
2547 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
2548 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
2549 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
2552 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
2554 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
2555 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
2556 properties. For example:
2562 (procedure-properties foo)
2563 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
2565 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
2568 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
2570 (procedure-properties bar)
2571 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
2573 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
2576 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
2579 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
2581 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
2582 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
2583 like this works now:
2585 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
2586 (define (helper x) ...)
2588 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
2590 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
2593 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
2594 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
2596 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
2598 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
2599 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
2600 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
2602 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
2604 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
2605 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
2606 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
2607 for more information.
2609 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
2611 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
2612 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
2614 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
2616 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
2619 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
2621 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
2622 in the manual, for more information.
2624 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
2627 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
2628 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
2630 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
2632 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
2634 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
2636 It is possible to circumvent this restriction with e.g.
2637 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. Contact the list if you
2640 ** Support for `letrec*'
2642 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
2643 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
2644 manual, for more details.
2646 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
2648 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
2649 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
2654 (define baz (+ bar 20))
2657 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
2658 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
2659 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
2662 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
2663 in earlier Guile dialects.
2665 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
2667 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
2668 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
2669 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
2670 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
2672 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
2673 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
2674 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
2675 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
2678 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
2680 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
2681 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
2684 (define (helper x) ...)
2685 (define-macro (foo bar)
2688 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
2691 (define (helper x) ...)
2692 (define-macro (foo bar)
2693 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
2695 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
2699 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
2701 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
2703 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
2710 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
2711 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
2714 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
2716 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
2717 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
2720 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
2722 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
2723 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
2724 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
2726 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
2728 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
2732 (define-macro (ref x) x)
2735 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
2736 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
2737 macros before code that uses them.
2739 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
2742 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
2744 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
2745 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
2746 (double-literal 2) => 4
2748 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
2749 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
2750 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
2752 (eval-when (load compile eval)
2753 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
2754 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
2755 (double-literal 2) => 4
2757 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
2759 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
2761 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
2762 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
2763 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
2764 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
2767 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
2769 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
2770 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
2772 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
2774 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
2775 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
2776 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
2778 ** Incompatible change to #'
2780 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
2781 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
2782 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
2783 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
2785 ** `unquote' and `unquote-splicing' accept multiple expressions
2787 As per the R6RS, these syntax operators can now accept any number of
2788 expressions to unquote.
2790 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
2792 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
2795 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
2797 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
2798 in the manual, for more information.
2800 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
2801 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
2803 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
2804 works (with compiled procedures)
2806 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
2807 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
2808 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
2809 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
2811 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
2812 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
2813 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
2814 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
2815 number of stack frames.
2817 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
2818 active in the current continuation
2820 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
2821 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
2822 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
2823 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
2825 ** `positions' reader option enabled by default
2827 This change allows primitive-load without --auto-compile to also
2828 propagate source information through the expander, for better errors and
2829 to let macros know their source locations. The compiler was already
2830 turning it on anyway.
2832 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
2834 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
2836 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
2837 through to the expanded code
2839 This should result in better backtraces.
2841 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
2843 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
2845 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
2847 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
2848 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
2851 ** New procedure, `define!'
2853 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
2854 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
2855 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
2856 less verbose than `module-define!'.
2858 ** All modules have names now
2860 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
2861 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
2862 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
2863 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
2865 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
2867 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
2868 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
2869 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
2870 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
2872 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
2873 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
2874 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
2875 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
2876 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
2877 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
2879 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
2880 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
2881 days of Guile's modules.
2883 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
2884 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
2885 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
2886 record accessors appropriately.
2888 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
2889 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
2890 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
2892 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
2893 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
2894 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
2896 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
2897 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
2900 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
2901 namespaces instead of values.
2903 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
2905 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
2906 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
2907 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
2908 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
2910 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
2912 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
2914 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
2916 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
2917 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
2919 ** Modules load within a known environment
2921 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
2922 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
2923 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
2926 ** `load' is a macro (!) that resolves paths relative to source file dir
2928 The familiar Schem `load' procedure is now a macro that captures the
2929 name of the source file being expanded, and dispatches to the new
2930 `load-in-vicinity'. Referencing `load' by bare name returns a closure
2931 that embeds the current source file name.
2933 This fix allows `load' of relative paths to be resolved with respect to
2934 the location of the file that calls `load'.
2936 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
2938 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
2939 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
2940 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
2942 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
2943 values to the expected number
2945 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
2946 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
2947 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
2949 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
2950 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
2951 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
2952 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
2954 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
2955 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
2956 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
2958 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
2961 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
2963 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
2965 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
2966 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
2967 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
2968 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
2969 the interpreter would proceed.
2971 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
2972 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
2973 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
2974 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
2976 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
2978 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
2979 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
2980 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
2981 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
2982 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
2983 you to contact the Guile developers.
2985 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
2987 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
2988 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
2989 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
2991 ** psyntax is now the default expander
2993 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
2994 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
2997 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
2998 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
2999 code in question was memoized.
3001 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
3002 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
3003 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
3004 `x432' instead of `x'.
3006 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
3007 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
3008 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
3009 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
3011 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
3013 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
3014 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
3015 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
3018 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
3019 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
3020 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
3021 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
3023 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
3025 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
3026 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
3027 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
3028 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
3031 (syntax-rules (else)
3032 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
3035 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
3036 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
3037 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
3039 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
3040 by nonhygienic macros.
3042 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
3043 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
3046 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
3047 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
3048 (define-macro (ref x)
3050 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
3055 (define-syntax bind-x
3057 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
3058 (define-macro (ref x)
3060 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
3062 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
3063 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
3064 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
3065 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
3066 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
3067 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
3069 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
3071 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
3072 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
3074 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
3075 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
3078 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
3080 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
3081 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
3082 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
3083 transformer procedures.
3085 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
3087 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
3088 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
3089 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
3091 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
3093 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
3094 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
3095 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
3096 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
3098 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
3100 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
3101 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
3102 arity that the function has, in the same format as the old arity
3105 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
3107 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
3108 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
3109 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
3110 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
3112 ** New syntax: define-once
3114 `define-once' is like Lisp's `defvar': it creates a toplevel binding,
3115 but only if one does not exist already.
3117 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
3119 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
3120 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
3121 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
3124 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
3125 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
3126 documentation for more details.
3128 ** Better pretty-printing
3130 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
3131 macros like `quote' are printed better.
3133 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
3135 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
3136 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
3138 Also, it used to be that you could omit passing a port to `format', in
3139 some cases. This still works, but has been formally deprecated.
3141 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
3143 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
3144 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
3145 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
3146 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
3147 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
3148 addressed by element and not by byte.
3150 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
3151 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
3152 endianness, as one would expect.
3154 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
3155 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
3156 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
3157 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
3160 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
3161 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
3163 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
3164 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
3166 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
3168 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
3170 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
3171 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
3172 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
3174 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
3175 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
3177 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
3179 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
3181 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
3182 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
3184 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
3186 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
3187 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
3190 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
3192 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
3193 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
3195 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
3197 *** Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operators
3199 Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operator pairs with
3200 different semantics than the R5RS operators. They support not only
3201 integers, but all reals, including exact rationals and inexact
3202 floating point numbers.
3204 These procedures accept two real numbers N and D, where the divisor D
3205 must be non-zero. Each set of operators computes an integer quotient
3206 Q and a real remainder R such that N = Q*D + R and |R| < |D|. They
3207 differ only in how N/D is rounded to produce Q.
3209 `euclidean-quotient' returns the integer Q and `euclidean-remainder'
3210 returns the real R such that N = Q*D + R and 0 <= R < |D|. `euclidean/'
3211 returns both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each
3212 separately. Note that when D > 0, `euclidean-quotient' returns
3213 floor(N/D), and when D < 0 it returns ceiling(N/D).
3215 `centered-quotient', `centered-remainder', and `centered/' are similar
3216 except that the range of remainders is -abs(D/2) <= R < abs(D/2), and
3217 `centered-quotient' rounds N/D to the nearest integer. Note that these
3218 operators are equivalent to the R6RS integer division operators `div',
3219 `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', and `div0-and-mod0'.
3221 `floor-quotient' and `floor-remainder' compute Q and R, respectively,
3222 where Q has been rounded toward negative infinity. `floor/' returns
3223 both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each separately.
3224 Note that when applied to integers, `floor-remainder' is equivalent to
3225 the R5RS integer-only `modulo' operator. `ceiling-quotient',
3226 `ceiling-remainder', and `ceiling/' are similar except that Q is
3227 rounded toward positive infinity.
3229 For `truncate-quotient', `truncate-remainder', and `truncate/', Q is
3230 rounded toward zero. Note that when applied to integers,
3231 `truncate-quotient' and `truncate-remainder' are equivalent to the
3232 R5RS integer-only operators `quotient' and `remainder'.
3234 For `round-quotient', `round-remainder', and `round/', Q is rounded to
3235 the nearest integer, with ties going to the nearest even integer.
3237 *** Complex number changes
3239 Guile is now able to represent non-real complex numbers whose
3240 imaginary part is an _inexact_ zero (0.0 or -0.0), per R6RS.
3241 Previously, such numbers were immediately changed into inexact reals.
3243 (real? 0.0+0.0i) now returns #f, per R6RS, although (zero? 0.0+0.0i)
3244 still returns #t, per R6RS. (= 0 0.0+0.0i) and (= 0.0 0.0+0.0i) are
3245 #t, but the same comparisons using `eqv?' or `equal?' are #f.
3247 Like other non-real numbers, these complex numbers with inexact zero
3248 imaginary part will raise exceptions is passed to procedures requiring
3249 reals, such as `<', `>', `<=', `>=', `min', `max', `positive?',
3250 `negative?', `inf?', `nan?', `finite?', etc.
3252 **** `make-rectangular' changes
3254 scm_make_rectangular `make-rectangular' now returns a real number only
3255 if the imaginary part is an _exact_ 0. Previously, it would return a
3256 real number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
3258 scm_c_make_rectangular now always returns a non-real complex number,
3259 even if the imaginary part is zero. Previously, it would return a
3260 real number if the imaginary part was zero.
3262 **** `make-polar' changes
3264 scm_make_polar `make-polar' now returns a real number only if the
3265 angle or magnitude is an _exact_ 0. If the magnitude is an exact 0,
3266 it now returns an exact 0. Previously, it would return a real
3267 number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
3269 scm_c_make_polar now always returns a non-real complex number, even if
3270 the imaginary part is 0.0. Previously, it would return a real number
3271 if the imaginary part was 0.0.
3273 **** `imag-part' changes
3275 scm_imag_part `imag-part' now returns an exact 0 if applied to an
3276 inexact real number. Previously it returned an inexact zero in this
3279 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
3281 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
3282 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
3283 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
3284 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
3287 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
3289 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
3290 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
3291 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
3292 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
3294 *** Change in handling products `*' involving exact 0
3296 scm_product `*' now handles exact 0 differently. A product containing
3297 an exact 0 now returns an exact 0 if and only if the other arguments
3298 are all exact. An inexact zero is returned if and only if the other
3299 arguments are all finite but not all exact. If an infinite or NaN
3300 value is present, a NaN value is returned. Previously, any product
3301 containing an exact 0 yielded an exact 0, regardless of the other
3304 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
3306 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
3307 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
3308 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
3309 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
3312 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' are more generic, less strict
3314 When raising to an exact non-negative integer exponent, `expt' and
3315 `integer-expt' are now able to exponentiate any object that can be
3316 multiplied using `*'. They can also raise an object to an exact
3317 negative integer power if its reciprocal can be taken using `/'.
3318 In order to allow this, the type of the first argument is no longer
3319 checked when raising to an exact integer power. If the exponent is 0
3320 or 1, the first parameter is not manipulated at all, and need not
3321 even support multiplication.
3323 *** Infinities are no longer integers, nor rationals
3325 scm_integer_p `integer?' and scm_rational_p `rational?' now return #f
3326 for infinities, per R6RS. Previously they returned #t for real
3327 infinities. The real infinities and NaNs are still considered real by
3328 scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
3330 *** NaNs are no longer rationals
3332 scm_rational_p `rational?' now returns #f for NaN values, per R6RS.
3333 Previously it returned #t for real NaN values. They are still
3334 considered real by scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
3336 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
3338 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
3339 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
3340 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
3343 *** `rationalize' bugfixes and changes
3345 Fixed bugs in scm_rationalize `rationalize'. Previously, it returned
3346 exact integers unmodified, although that was incorrect if the epsilon
3347 was at least 1 or inexact, e.g. (rationalize 4 1) should return 3 per
3348 R5RS and R6RS, but previously it returned 4. It also now handles
3349 cases involving infinities and NaNs properly, per R6RS.
3351 *** Trigonometric functions now return exact numbers in some cases
3353 scm_sin `sin', scm_cos `cos', scm_tan `tan', scm_asin `asin', scm_acos
3354 `acos', scm_atan `atan', scm_sinh `sinh', scm_cosh `cosh', scm_tanh
3355 `tanh', scm_sys_asinh `asinh', scm_sys_acosh `acosh', and
3356 scm_sys_atanh `atanh' now return exact results in some cases.
3358 *** New procedure: `finite?'
3360 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
3361 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
3362 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
3363 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
3365 *** Improved exactness handling for complex number parsing
3367 When parsing non-real complex numbers, exactness specifiers are now
3368 applied to each component, as is done in PLT Scheme. For complex
3369 numbers written in rectangular form, exactness specifiers are applied
3370 to the real and imaginary parts before calling scm_make_rectangular.
3371 For complex numbers written in polar form, exactness specifiers are
3372 applied to the magnitude and angle before calling scm_make_polar.
3374 Previously, exactness specifiers were applied to the number as a whole
3375 _after_ calling scm_make_rectangular or scm_make_polar.
3377 For example, (string->number "#i5.0+0i") now does the equivalent of:
3379 (make-rectangular (exact->inexact 5.0) (exact->inexact 0))
3381 which yields 5.0+0.0i. Previously it did the equivalent of:
3383 (exact->inexact (make-rectangular 5.0 0))
3387 ** Unicode characters
3389 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
3390 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
3391 probably be introduced at some point.
3395 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
3396 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
3397 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
3399 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
3400 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
3401 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
3402 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
3406 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
3408 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
3410 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
3411 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
3412 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
3413 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
3414 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
3417 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
3418 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
3419 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
3421 ** Source files default to UTF-8.
3423 If source files do not specify their encoding via a `coding:' block,
3424 the default encoding is UTF-8, instead of being taken from the current
3427 ** Interactive Guile installs the current locale.
3429 Instead of leaving the user in the "C" locale, running the Guile REPL
3430 installs the current locale. [FIXME xref?]
3432 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
3434 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
3435 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
3436 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
3439 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
3440 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
3441 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
3443 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
3445 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
3447 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
3448 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
3449 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
3450 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
3452 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
3454 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
3455 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
3456 Unicode code points.
3458 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
3460 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
3461 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
3462 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
3465 ** EBCDIC support is removed
3467 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
3468 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
3469 and was unmaintained.
3471 ** Compile-time warnings
3473 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
3474 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
3475 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
3476 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
3479 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
3480 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
3481 `#:warnings' as above.
3483 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
3484 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
3485 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
3487 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
3489 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
3492 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
3494 This slightly improves program startup times.
3496 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
3498 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
3500 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
3502 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
3503 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
3504 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
3505 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
3507 ** New helpers: `print-exception', `set-exception-printer!'
3509 These functions implement an extensible exception printer. Guile
3510 registers printers for all of the exceptions it throws. Users may add
3511 their own printers. There is also `scm_print_exception', for use by C
3512 programs. Pleasantly, this allows SRFI-35 and R6RS exceptions to be
3513 printed appropriately.
3515 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
3517 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
3518 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
3519 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
3520 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
3522 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
3523 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
3524 implement method combinations.
3526 ** Applicable struct support
3528 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
3529 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
3530 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
3531 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
3532 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
3533 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
3534 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
3535 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
3539 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
3540 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
3541 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
3542 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
3543 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
3545 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
3547 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
3548 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
3549 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
3550 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
3552 ** eqv? not a generic
3554 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
3555 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
3556 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
3557 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
3559 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
3561 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
3562 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
3563 functions are deprecated.
3565 ** `getopt-long' parsing errors throw to `quit', not `misc-error'
3567 This change should inhibit backtraces on argument parsing errors.
3568 `getopt-long' has been modified to print out the error that it throws
3571 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
3573 See "File System" in the manual.
3575 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
3577 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
3578 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
3579 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
3581 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
3583 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
3584 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
3585 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
3587 ** Fast bit operations.
3589 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
3590 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
3591 it's for number crunching too.
3593 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
3595 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
3596 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
3597 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
3598 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
3600 ** R6RS block comment support
3602 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
3603 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
3605 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
3607 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
3608 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
3610 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
3611 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
3612 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
3614 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
3615 ;; separate compilation phase.
3616 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
3618 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
3620 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
3622 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
3624 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
3625 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
3626 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
3627 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
3628 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
3631 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
3632 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
3633 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
3634 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
3635 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
3637 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
3639 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
3641 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
3643 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
3645 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
3647 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
3649 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
3650 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
3651 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
3653 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
3655 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
3656 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
3658 ** New readline history functions
3660 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
3661 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
3662 History library functions.
3664 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
3665 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
3667 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
3670 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
3672 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
3673 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
3674 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
3675 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
3676 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
3677 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
3678 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
3680 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
3681 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
3683 The following bindings have been totally removed:
3684 `before-signal-stack'.
3686 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
3687 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
3688 a deprecation warning.
3690 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
3692 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
3693 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
3694 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
3695 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
3698 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
3700 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
3701 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
3702 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
3703 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
3705 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
3706 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
3708 ** `top-repl' has its own module
3710 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
3711 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
3712 left in the default environment.
3714 ** `display-error' takes a frame
3716 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
3717 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
3718 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
3719 information for the error.
3721 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
3723 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
3724 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
3725 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
3727 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
3729 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
3730 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
3732 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
3734 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
3737 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
3739 ** Remove obsolete print-options
3741 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
3744 ** Remove obsolete read-options
3746 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
3747 obsolete, so they have been removed.
3749 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
3751 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
3754 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
3756 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
3757 on their replacements.
3759 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
3761 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
3762 should use Guile with Emacs.
3764 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
3766 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
3767 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
3768 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
3769 `with-throw-handler'.
3771 ** Deprecated: primitive properties
3773 The `primitive-make-property', `primitive-property-set!',
3774 `primitive-property-ref', and `primitive-property-del!' procedures were
3775 crufty and only used to implement object properties, which has a new,
3776 threadsafe implementation. Use object properties or weak hash tables
3779 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
3781 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
3782 and is no longer used.
3784 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
3786 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
3787 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
3789 Additionally, the procedures `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
3790 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
3791 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', and `set-batch-mode?!' have all
3794 ** Add support for unbound fluids
3796 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
3799 ** Add `variable-unset!'
3801 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
3803 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
3805 * Changes to the C interface
3807 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
3809 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
3810 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
3811 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
3813 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
3814 code easier and less error-prone.
3816 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
3817 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,latin1}_symbol{n,}
3818 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,utf32,latin1}_string{n,}
3820 These new procedures convert to and from string representations in
3821 particular encodings.
3823 Users should continue to use locale encoding for user input, user
3824 output, or interacting with the C library.
3826 Use the Latin-1 functions for ASCII, and for literals in source code.
3828 Use UTF-8 functions for interaction with modern libraries which deal in
3829 UTF-8, and UTF-32 for interaction with utf32-using libraries.
3831 Otherwise, use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn with a specific
3834 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
3836 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
3837 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
3838 available to C. Have fun!
3840 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
3842 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
3844 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
3847 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
3848 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
3850 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
3852 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
3853 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
3854 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
3857 ** Remove old evaluator closures
3859 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
3860 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
3861 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
3862 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
3865 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
3867 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
3868 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
3869 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
3870 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
3871 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
3872 both with the old 1.8 and with the current 1.9 branch.
3874 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
3875 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
3876 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
3877 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
3878 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
3879 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
3881 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
3882 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
3883 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
3884 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
3885 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
3887 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
3888 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
3889 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
3890 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
3891 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
3892 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
3894 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
3895 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
3896 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
3897 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
3900 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
3901 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
3904 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
3906 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
3907 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
3908 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
3909 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
3910 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
3912 ** Remove unused snarf macros
3914 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
3915 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
3917 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
3919 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
3920 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
3922 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
3924 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
3925 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
3927 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
3929 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
3930 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
3931 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
3932 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
3933 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
3936 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
3938 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
3939 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
3940 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
3941 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
3944 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
3945 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
3946 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
3947 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
3949 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
3951 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
3952 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
3953 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
3956 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
3957 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
3958 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
3959 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
3961 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
3963 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
3965 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
3967 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
3970 ** Inline vector allocation
3972 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
3973 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
3974 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
3975 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
3978 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
3980 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
3981 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
3985 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
3986 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
3987 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
3988 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
3989 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
3991 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
3993 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
3994 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
3995 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
3996 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
3997 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
3998 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
4002 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
4003 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
4004 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
4005 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
4007 ** Deprecate trampolines
4009 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
4010 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
4011 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
4012 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
4013 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
4015 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
4017 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
4019 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
4021 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
4022 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
4023 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
4024 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
4026 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
4028 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
4029 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
4030 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
4031 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
4032 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
4033 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
4034 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
4036 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
4038 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
4039 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
4042 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
4043 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
4045 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
4047 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
4048 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
4050 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
4052 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
4053 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
4054 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
4055 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
4057 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
4059 * Changes to the distribution
4061 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
4063 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
4064 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
4069 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
4070 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
4072 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
4074 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
4075 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
4077 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
4079 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
4080 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
4081 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
4084 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
4086 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
4087 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
4089 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
4091 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
4092 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
4094 ** Parallel installability fixes
4096 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
4097 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
4098 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
4100 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
4101 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
4102 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
4105 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
4107 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
4108 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
4109 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
4110 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
4111 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
4113 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
4115 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
4116 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
4117 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
4118 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
4119 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
4120 searched before the global site directory.
4122 ** New dependency: libgc
4124 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
4126 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
4128 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
4129 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
4131 ** New dependency: libffi
4133 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
4137 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
4141 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
4142 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
4143 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
4146 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
4148 * New modules (see the manual for details)
4150 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
4154 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
4155 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
4156 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
4157 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
4158 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
4159 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
4160 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
4161 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
4162 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
4163 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
4164 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
4166 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
4168 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
4169 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
4170 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
4173 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
4176 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
4178 * New features (see the manual for details)
4180 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
4182 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
4184 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
4185 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
4186 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
4188 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
4190 * Changes to the distribution
4192 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
4194 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
4195 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
4197 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
4199 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
4200 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
4205 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
4206 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
4207 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
4208 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
4209 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
4210 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
4211 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
4212 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
4213 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
4214 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
4215 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
4216 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
4217 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
4218 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
4220 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
4221 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
4222 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
4223 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
4224 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
4227 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
4229 * Infrastructure changes
4231 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
4233 The new repository can be accessed using
4234 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
4235 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
4237 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
4239 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
4241 * New modules (see the manual for details)
4245 * New features (see the manual for details)
4247 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
4248 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
4249 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
4251 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
4252 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
4253 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
4254 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
4256 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
4258 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
4259 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
4260 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
4264 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
4265 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
4267 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
4268 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
4270 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
4271 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
4273 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
4274 lead to a stack overflow.
4276 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
4277 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
4278 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
4279 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
4280 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
4281 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
4282 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
4283 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
4284 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
4285 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
4286 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
4287 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
4288 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
4289 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
4290 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
4291 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
4294 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
4298 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
4299 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
4300 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
4301 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
4302 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
4303 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
4304 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
4305 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
4306 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
4307 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
4308 system and library calls.
4309 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
4310 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
4311 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
4312 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
4313 uniform vectors on AIX.
4314 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
4315 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
4316 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
4317 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
4318 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
4320 * New modules (see the manual for details)
4324 * Documentation fixes and improvements
4326 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
4328 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
4329 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
4331 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
4333 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
4335 * Changes to the distribution
4337 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
4339 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
4340 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
4341 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
4343 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
4345 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
4348 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
4350 * New modules (see the manual for details)
4357 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
4358 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
4359 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
4360 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
4361 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
4362 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
4363 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
4365 * Implementation improvements
4367 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
4368 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
4371 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
4373 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
4375 ** set-program-arguments
4378 * Incompatible changes
4380 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
4382 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
4383 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
4384 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
4385 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
4390 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
4391 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
4392 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
4393 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
4394 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
4395 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
4397 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
4398 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
4399 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
4400 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
4401 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
4402 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
4403 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
4404 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
4405 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
4406 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
4407 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
4408 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
4409 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
4410 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
4411 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
4412 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
4415 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
4417 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
4419 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
4421 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
4422 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
4423 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
4424 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
4425 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
4426 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
4434 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
4436 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
4438 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
4440 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
4442 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
4444 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
4446 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
4447 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
4448 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
4450 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
4452 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
4454 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
4455 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
4457 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
4459 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
4460 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
4462 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
4464 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
4466 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
4468 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
4470 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
4472 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
4474 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
4476 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
4478 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
4480 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
4481 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
4482 file was on a different device.
4485 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
4487 * Changes to the distribution
4489 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
4491 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
4493 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
4495 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
4497 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
4499 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
4502 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
4504 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
4505 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
4506 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
4507 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
4508 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
4509 items like the versioned share directory name
4510 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
4512 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
4513 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
4514 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
4515 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
4516 with each micro release during a stable series.
4518 ** Thread implementation has changed.
4520 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
4521 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
4522 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
4523 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
4524 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
4527 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
4528 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
4529 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
4530 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
4533 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
4534 in which case "null" threads are used.
4536 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
4537 "Blocking", and others.
4539 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
4541 This is a milder form of deprecation.
4543 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
4544 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
4545 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
4546 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
4547 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
4549 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
4550 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
4552 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
4554 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
4555 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
4557 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
4560 This SRFI is always available.
4562 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
4564 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
4565 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
4566 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
4567 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
4570 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
4572 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
4573 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
4574 parameters without currying.
4576 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
4578 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
4579 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
4581 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
4582 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
4585 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
4586 with a renaming import, for example.
4588 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
4590 The official version is good enough now.
4592 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
4594 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
4595 provided. Use 'make html'.
4597 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
4599 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
4600 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
4601 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
4602 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
4604 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
4606 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
4609 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4611 ** New command line option `-L'.
4613 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
4615 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
4617 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
4618 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
4620 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
4622 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
4623 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
4625 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
4627 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
4628 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
4631 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
4634 (define-module (demo)
4638 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
4641 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4643 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
4645 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
4646 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
4647 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
4649 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
4651 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
4652 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
4654 ** New function hashx-remove!
4656 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
4658 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
4659 barriers and dynamic states.
4661 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
4662 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
4663 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
4666 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
4667 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
4668 Barriers" in the manual.
4670 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
4671 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
4673 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
4675 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
4676 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
4677 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
4678 variable %load-path.
4680 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
4682 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
4683 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
4685 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
4686 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
4687 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
4689 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
4690 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
4692 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
4693 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
4694 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
4696 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
4697 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
4698 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
4701 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
4702 substrings and read-only strings.
4704 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
4705 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
4708 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
4710 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
4719 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
4720 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
4721 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
4723 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
4724 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
4725 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
4726 on an ANSI terminal:
4728 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
4729 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
4732 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
4734 See the manual for details.
4736 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
4738 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
4741 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
4743 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
4744 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
4745 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
4746 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
4748 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
4749 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
4750 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
4753 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
4755 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
4756 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
4767 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
4771 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
4776 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
4780 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
4784 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
4787 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
4788 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
4789 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
4790 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
4792 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
4793 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
4796 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
4799 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
4803 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
4805 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
4806 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
4807 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
4810 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
4813 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
4815 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
4818 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
4819 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
4822 (define-module (foo)
4827 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
4828 has been detected is to
4830 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
4831 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
4832 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
4835 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
4838 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
4840 to your .guile init file.
4842 ** New define-module option: :replace
4844 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
4847 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
4848 for the core binding `format'.
4850 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
4852 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
4853 a prefix to all imported bindings.
4855 (define-module (foo)
4856 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
4858 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
4861 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
4863 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
4864 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
4865 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
4867 ** New function: effective-version
4869 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
4870 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
4871 to the distribution" above.
4873 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
4875 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
4876 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
4878 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
4880 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
4881 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
4883 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
4885 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
4886 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
4889 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
4891 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
4893 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
4895 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
4896 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
4897 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
4900 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
4901 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
4902 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
4903 'system-async-mark'.
4905 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
4906 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
4908 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
4909 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
4910 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
4913 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
4915 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
4916 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
4919 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
4920 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4922 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
4923 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
4924 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
4925 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
4926 level for the current thread.
4928 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
4930 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
4932 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4933 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
4936 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
4938 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
4940 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
4943 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
4945 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
4948 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
4949 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
4950 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
4952 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
4953 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
4954 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
4955 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
4966 ERROR: Numerical overflow
4968 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
4971 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
4973 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
4974 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
4975 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
4986 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
4988 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
4989 them is also done exactly, of course:
4994 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
4995 for exact arguments.
4997 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
4998 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
5000 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
5002 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
5003 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
5004 equal to a floating point number. For example:
5006 (inexact->exact 1.234)
5007 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
5009 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
5011 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
5014 ** New function 'rationalize'.
5016 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
5017 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
5019 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
5022 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
5023 result when both its arguments are exact.
5025 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
5027 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
5028 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
5029 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
5031 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
5033 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
5034 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
5035 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
5037 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
5040 ** pretty-print has more options.
5042 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
5043 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
5044 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
5046 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
5048 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
5049 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
5050 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
5052 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
5054 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
5055 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
5057 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
5059 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
5060 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
5063 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
5065 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
5066 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
5067 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
5068 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
5069 without the soft port blocking.
5071 ** Deprecated: undefine
5073 There is no replacement for undefine.
5075 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
5076 have been discouraged.
5078 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
5079 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
5080 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
5083 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
5085 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
5087 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
5088 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
5089 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
5090 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
5093 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
5094 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
5095 be removed in the next major Guile release.
5097 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
5099 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
5100 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
5101 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
5102 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
5103 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
5104 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
5106 * Changes to the C interface
5108 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
5109 take a 'delete' function argument.
5111 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
5112 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
5114 This is an incompatible change.
5116 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
5118 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
5119 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
5120 --disable-deprecated.
5122 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
5124 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
5125 Scheme values has been added.
5127 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
5128 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
5131 - int scm_is_* (...)
5133 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
5134 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
5136 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
5138 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
5139 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
5142 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
5144 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
5145 scm_from_int for ints.
5147 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
5148 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
5149 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
5151 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
5153 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
5154 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
5155 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
5158 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
5160 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
5162 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
5164 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
5165 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
5166 following alternatives.
5168 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
5169 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
5170 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
5171 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
5173 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
5174 do the validating for you.
5176 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
5177 have been discouraged.
5179 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
5180 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
5183 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
5185 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
5186 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
5189 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
5191 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
5194 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
5197 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
5199 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
5200 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
5202 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
5203 scm_truncate_number should have.
5205 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
5206 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
5208 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
5211 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
5212 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
5213 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
5215 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
5216 easier to use from C.
5218 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
5219 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
5221 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
5222 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
5223 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
5226 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
5227 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
5228 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
5229 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
5232 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
5233 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
5234 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
5235 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
5236 and is thus quite efficient.
5238 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
5240 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
5241 about the character encoding.
5243 Replace according to the following table:
5245 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
5246 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
5247 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
5248 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
5249 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
5250 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
5251 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
5252 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
5253 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
5255 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
5256 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
5258 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
5260 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
5261 now also available to C code.
5263 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
5265 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
5266 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
5267 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
5269 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
5272 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
5274 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
5275 unceremoniously removed.
5277 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
5278 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
5279 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
5281 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
5282 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
5283 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
5284 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
5285 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
5286 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
5289 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
5291 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
5292 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
5293 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
5294 manual for more details.
5296 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
5297 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
5299 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
5300 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
5301 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
5303 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
5305 Migrate according to the following table:
5307 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
5308 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
5309 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
5310 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
5311 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
5312 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
5313 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
5315 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
5316 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
5317 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
5318 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
5319 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
5320 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
5321 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
5323 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
5325 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
5326 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
5328 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
5329 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
5330 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
5331 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
5333 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
5335 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
5336 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
5337 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
5339 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
5340 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
5342 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
5343 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
5344 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
5345 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
5347 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
5349 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
5350 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
5351 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
5352 prevent a potential memory leak:
5359 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
5361 mem = scm_malloc (100);
5362 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
5364 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
5365 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
5372 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
5373 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
5377 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
5379 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
5381 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
5382 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
5383 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
5385 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
5386 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
5388 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
5390 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
5392 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
5393 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
5394 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
5396 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
5397 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
5399 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
5400 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
5401 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
5402 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
5405 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
5407 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
5408 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
5409 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
5411 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
5413 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
5414 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
5416 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
5418 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
5419 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
5421 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
5423 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
5424 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
5425 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
5427 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
5429 You should not have used them.
5431 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
5433 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
5434 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
5436 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
5438 This macro is not intended for public use.
5440 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
5442 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
5444 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
5446 Use scm_is_real instead.
5448 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
5450 Use scm_is_complex instead.
5452 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
5454 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
5455 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
5457 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
5458 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
5460 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
5461 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
5463 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
5465 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
5468 ** New function: scm_effective_version
5470 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
5471 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
5472 to the distribution" above.
5474 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
5476 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
5477 arguments are now passed directly:
5479 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
5481 This is an incompatible change.
5483 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
5485 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
5486 function in the init section.
5488 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
5490 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
5492 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
5493 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
5494 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
5495 stays roughly constant.
5497 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
5498 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
5499 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
5500 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
5501 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
5504 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
5505 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
5506 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
5507 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
5509 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
5510 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
5511 objects for every type.
5514 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
5516 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
5518 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
5520 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
5521 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
5522 initializes a new cell (see below).
5524 ** New functions for memory management
5526 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
5527 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
5528 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
5529 cause aborts in long running programs.
5531 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
5532 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
5534 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
5535 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
5536 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
5537 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
5538 details and for upgrading instructions.
5540 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
5541 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
5542 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
5544 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
5546 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
5547 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
5548 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
5549 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
5550 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
5552 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
5553 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
5554 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
5556 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
5557 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
5559 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
5561 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
5562 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
5563 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
5564 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
5565 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
5567 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
5569 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
5572 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
5574 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
5576 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
5578 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
5579 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
5581 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
5583 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
5584 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
5586 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
5587 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
5589 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
5591 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
5593 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
5594 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
5595 blocking it is not well defined.
5597 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
5599 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
5600 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
5601 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
5602 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
5603 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
5604 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
5605 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
5606 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
5607 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
5608 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
5609 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
5610 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
5611 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
5612 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
5613 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
5614 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
5615 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
5616 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
5617 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
5618 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
5619 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
5620 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
5621 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
5622 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
5623 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
5624 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
5625 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
5626 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
5627 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
5628 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
5629 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
5631 * Changes to bundled modules
5635 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
5636 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
5637 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
5638 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
5639 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
5642 Changes since Guile 1.4:
5644 * Changes to the distribution
5646 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
5648 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
5650 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
5651 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
5652 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
5653 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
5654 indicate major changes in Guile.
5656 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
5657 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
5658 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
5659 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
5661 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
5662 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
5663 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
5664 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
5665 micro version number.
5667 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
5669 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
5671 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
5672 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
5674 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
5676 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
5677 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
5678 See INSTALL and README for more information.
5680 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
5682 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
5683 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
5684 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
5687 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
5689 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
5692 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
5694 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
5695 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
5697 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
5699 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
5700 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
5703 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
5705 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
5708 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
5711 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
5713 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
5715 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
5716 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
5717 open-output-string, get-output-string.
5719 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
5721 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
5723 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
5726 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
5728 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
5730 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
5732 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
5733 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
5734 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
5736 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
5738 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
5740 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
5741 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
5750 See README there for more info.
5752 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
5753 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
5756 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
5758 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
5760 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
5762 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
5763 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
5764 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
5766 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
5768 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
5769 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
5770 to be named `and-let*', of course.
5772 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
5773 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
5775 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
5778 (oop goops describe)
5780 (oop goops active-slot)
5781 (oop goops composite-slot)
5783 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
5784 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
5785 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
5787 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
5789 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
5790 in the default environment:
5792 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
5793 %read-line write-line
5795 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
5796 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
5798 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
5800 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
5803 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
5804 can be used for similar functionality.
5806 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
5808 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
5809 it defines two procedures:
5811 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
5813 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
5814 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
5815 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
5818 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
5820 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
5821 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
5822 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
5823 write large strings.
5825 ** New module (ice-9 match)
5827 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
5828 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
5830 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
5832 for complete documentation.
5834 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
5836 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
5837 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
5838 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
5839 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
5841 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
5842 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
5846 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
5847 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
5848 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
5851 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
5854 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
5855 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
5857 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
5858 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
5861 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
5864 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
5866 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
5868 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5870 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
5872 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
5873 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
5874 Scheme programs easier.
5876 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
5877 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
5878 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
5879 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
5880 `cond-expand' when using this option.
5883 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
5884 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
5886 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
5889 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
5891 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
5892 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
5893 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
5896 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5898 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
5900 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
5901 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
5902 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
5903 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
5904 was also ASCII, for example.
5906 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
5908 tag - no replacement.
5909 fseek - replaced by seek.
5910 list* - replaced by cons*.
5912 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
5916 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
5917 (define m (make-safe-module))
5918 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
5919 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
5920 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
5922 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
5924 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
5925 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
5926 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
5928 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
5930 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
5931 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
5932 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
5933 from the issues related to the module system.
5935 *** New function: load-extension
5937 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
5939 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
5941 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
5942 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
5943 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
5945 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
5947 This function registers a initialization function for use by
5948 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
5949 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
5950 support dynamic linking).
5952 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
5954 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
5955 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
5956 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
5957 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
5960 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
5961 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
5962 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
5963 library and initialize it explicitly.
5965 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
5966 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
5968 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
5970 (define-module (foo bar))
5972 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
5974 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
5976 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
5977 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
5979 (scheme-report-environment 5)
5980 (null-environment 5)
5981 (interaction-environment)
5987 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
5989 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
5990 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
5991 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
5992 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
5994 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
5995 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
5996 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
5997 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
5998 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
5999 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
6000 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
6001 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
6002 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
6003 one eval to the next.
6005 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
6006 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
6007 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
6008 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
6009 subforms are at the top-level as well.
6011 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
6012 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
6013 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
6014 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
6015 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
6016 used in a lexical environment.
6018 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
6019 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
6020 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
6021 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
6022 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
6023 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
6025 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
6027 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
6028 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
6029 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
6030 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
6031 new facilities: selection and renaming.
6033 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
6034 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
6035 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
6037 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
6038 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
6040 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
6041 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
6042 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
6044 (remove-if . zonk-y)
6045 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
6047 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
6048 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
6049 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
6050 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
6053 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
6054 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
6055 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
6056 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
6058 (remove-if . zonk-y)
6059 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
6060 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
6062 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
6063 ;; and all four by upcasing.
6064 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
6065 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
6066 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
6068 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
6070 (remove-if . zonk-y)
6071 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
6072 :renamer upcase-symbol))
6074 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
6075 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
6076 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
6078 See manual for more info.
6080 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
6082 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
6083 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
6084 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
6086 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
6088 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
6089 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
6090 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
6092 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
6093 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
6094 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
6095 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
6097 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
6099 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
6100 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
6102 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
6103 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
6104 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
6105 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
6106 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
6109 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
6110 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
6111 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
6112 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
6113 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
6114 successful and #f if it wasn't.
6116 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
6117 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
6118 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
6119 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
6120 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
6122 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
6123 objects are usually permanent.
6125 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
6126 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
6128 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
6130 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
6131 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
6134 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
6138 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
6143 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
6145 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
6146 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
6147 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
6148 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
6150 ** New function `make-object-property'
6152 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
6153 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
6157 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
6158 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
6162 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
6163 source properties eventually.
6165 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
6167 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
6168 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
6169 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
6171 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
6172 will be removed in the next release.
6174 ** New define-module option: pure
6176 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
6181 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
6184 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
6186 Export names NAME1 ...
6188 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
6189 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
6193 (define-module (foo)
6195 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
6198 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
6203 ** New function: object->string OBJ
6205 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
6207 ** New function: port? X
6209 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
6210 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
6212 ** New function: file-port?
6214 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
6216 ** New function: port-for-each proc
6218 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
6219 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
6220 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
6221 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
6222 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
6224 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
6226 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
6227 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
6228 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
6229 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
6230 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
6233 ** New function: close-fdes fd
6235 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
6236 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
6237 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
6238 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
6241 ** New function: crypt password salt
6243 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
6246 ** New function: chroot path
6248 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
6250 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
6252 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
6255 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
6257 Get or set the priority of the running process.
6259 ** New function: getpass prompt
6261 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
6264 ** New function: flock file operation
6266 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
6268 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
6270 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
6273 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
6275 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
6276 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
6277 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
6278 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
6279 of the temporary file.
6281 ** New function: open-input-string string
6283 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
6284 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
6285 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
6287 ** New function: open-output-string
6289 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
6290 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
6292 ** New function: get-output-string
6294 Return the contents of an output string port.
6296 ** New function: identity
6298 Return the argument.
6300 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
6301 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
6303 ** New function: inet-pton family address
6305 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
6306 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
6307 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
6310 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
6311 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
6313 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
6315 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
6316 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
6317 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
6320 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
6321 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
6322 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
6326 Use `identity' instead.
6332 ** Deprecated: return-it
6336 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
6338 Use `string-length' instead.
6340 ** Deprecated: flags
6342 Use `logior' instead.
6344 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
6346 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
6347 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
6348 port-for-each is more flexible.
6350 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
6351 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
6352 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
6354 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
6356 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
6358 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
6360 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
6362 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
6364 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
6365 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
6367 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
6368 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
6370 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
6371 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
6373 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
6375 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
6376 Removed function: builtin-bindings
6378 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
6379 Use module system operations for all variables.
6381 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
6383 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
6386 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
6388 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
6389 The following bugs have been fixed:
6391 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
6392 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
6395 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
6396 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
6397 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
6399 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
6400 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
6402 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
6403 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
6406 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
6407 The expansion used to be like so:
6409 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
6411 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
6413 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
6415 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
6416 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
6418 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
6420 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
6421 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
6422 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
6426 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
6427 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
6429 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
6434 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
6435 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
6437 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
6438 and `d', other keywords allowed.
6439 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
6441 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
6444 * Changes to the C interface
6446 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
6448 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
6449 with "_t". What a concept.
6451 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
6453 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
6455 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
6459 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
6460 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
6462 *** C Functions removed
6464 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
6465 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
6466 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
6467 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
6468 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
6469 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
6470 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
6472 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
6474 Use scm_mem2string instead.
6476 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
6478 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
6480 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
6481 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
6483 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
6485 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
6488 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
6490 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
6492 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
6494 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
6495 Evaluation" in the manual.
6497 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
6499 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
6500 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
6502 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
6504 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
6505 Constructors" in the manual.
6507 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
6509 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
6510 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
6512 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
6514 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
6516 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
6517 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
6518 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
6520 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
6522 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
6524 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
6525 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
6526 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
6529 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
6531 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
6533 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
6534 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
6536 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
6538 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
6539 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
6540 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
6541 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
6543 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
6544 scm_primitive_property_ref
6545 scm_primitive_property_set_x
6546 scm_primitive_property_del_x
6548 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
6549 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
6551 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
6553 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
6554 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
6555 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
6556 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
6558 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
6560 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
6561 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
6562 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
6563 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
6564 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
6565 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
6566 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
6568 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
6569 scm_remember_upto_here
6571 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
6573 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
6575 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
6576 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
6578 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
6580 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
6582 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
6584 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
6586 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
6588 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
6589 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
6590 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
6591 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
6592 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
6593 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
6595 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
6597 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
6599 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
6600 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
6601 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
6603 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
6605 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
6606 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
6607 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
6609 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
6611 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
6612 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
6615 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
6618 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
6619 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
6622 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
6624 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
6626 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
6628 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
6630 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
6632 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
6634 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
6635 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
6636 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
6637 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
6638 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
6639 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
6640 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
6641 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
6642 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
6643 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
6644 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
6645 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
6646 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
6647 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
6648 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
6650 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
6651 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
6652 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
6653 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
6654 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
6655 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
6656 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
6657 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
6658 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
6659 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
6660 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
6661 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
6662 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
6663 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
6664 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
6665 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
6666 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
6667 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
6668 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
6669 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
6670 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
6671 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
6672 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
6673 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
6674 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
6675 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
6676 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
6677 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
6678 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
6680 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
6682 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
6684 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
6685 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
6687 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
6689 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
6691 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
6693 Use scm_string_hash instead.
6695 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
6697 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
6699 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
6701 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
6703 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
6706 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
6707 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
6709 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
6711 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
6713 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
6715 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
6717 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
6719 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
6721 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
6723 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
6726 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
6728 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
6730 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
6732 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
6733 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
6735 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
6736 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
6738 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
6740 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
6741 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
6742 scm_module_define, scm_define.
6744 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
6746 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
6748 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
6749 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
6751 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
6752 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
6753 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
6754 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
6756 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
6757 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
6758 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
6760 Use the new ones from above instead.
6762 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
6764 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
6765 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
6766 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
6768 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
6769 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
6771 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
6772 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
6775 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
6776 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
6778 Use the new functions instead.
6780 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
6783 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
6785 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
6787 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
6790 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
6792 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
6795 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
6797 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
6800 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
6801 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
6802 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
6804 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
6806 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
6807 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
6809 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
6810 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
6811 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
6812 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
6815 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
6817 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
6818 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
6819 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
6820 inexact for an exact.
6822 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
6823 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
6824 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
6827 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
6828 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
6829 accept an inexact argument.
6831 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
6832 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
6834 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
6837 ** New number validation macros:
6838 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
6842 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
6844 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
6845 scm_unprotect_object.
6847 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
6849 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
6851 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
6854 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
6856 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
6860 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
6862 * Changes to the distribution
6864 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
6866 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
6867 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
6868 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
6869 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
6870 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
6871 obtain these programs.
6872 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
6873 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
6875 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
6876 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
6877 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
6878 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
6879 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
6881 However, this approach means that minor differences between
6882 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
6883 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
6884 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
6888 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
6891 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
6892 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
6893 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
6894 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
6896 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
6898 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
6900 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
6901 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
6903 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
6904 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
6906 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
6907 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
6909 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
6910 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
6911 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
6912 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
6914 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
6916 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
6920 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
6921 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
6923 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
6925 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
6926 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
6928 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
6929 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
6930 number of objects of that kind.
6932 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
6934 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
6935 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
6936 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
6937 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
6938 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
6940 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
6942 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
6944 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
6946 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
6949 ** New module (ice-9 time)
6951 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
6953 ** New module (ice-9 history)
6955 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
6957 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6959 ** New command line option --debug
6961 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
6963 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
6965 ** New help facility
6967 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
6968 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
6969 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
6970 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
6971 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
6972 (help) gives this text
6974 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
6975 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
6977 Examples: (help help)
6979 (help "output-string")
6981 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
6983 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
6985 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
6986 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
6989 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
6990 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
6991 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
6994 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
6995 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
6996 use absolute filenames when possible.
6998 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
6999 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
7000 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
7003 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
7005 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
7006 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
7007 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
7008 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
7010 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
7012 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
7014 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
7015 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
7016 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
7018 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
7019 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
7020 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
7022 (read-enable 'positions)
7023 (debug-enable 'debug)
7025 ** Backtraces in scripts
7027 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
7031 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
7033 at the top of the script.
7035 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
7036 The second enables backtraces.)
7038 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
7040 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
7041 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
7042 substantially faster than before.
7044 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
7045 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
7047 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
7048 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
7050 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
7052 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
7053 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
7054 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
7056 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
7057 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
7058 when this hook is run in the future.
7060 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
7061 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
7063 ** Improvements to garbage collector
7065 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
7066 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
7069 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
7070 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
7071 more and more memory for certain programs.)
7073 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
7074 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
7076 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
7077 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
7079 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
7080 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
7081 in order not to need further allocation.)
7083 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
7086 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
7087 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
7088 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
7089 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
7091 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
7093 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
7096 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
7098 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
7101 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
7102 GC in percent of total heap size
7105 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
7106 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
7108 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
7110 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
7111 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
7113 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
7115 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
7116 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
7118 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
7120 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
7121 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
7125 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
7126 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
7128 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
7130 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7132 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
7134 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
7136 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
7138 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
7139 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
7141 (simple-format port message . args)
7142 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
7143 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
7144 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
7145 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
7146 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
7147 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
7148 Does not add a trailing newline."
7150 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
7152 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
7153 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
7155 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
7156 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
7158 ** Deprecated: list*
7160 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
7162 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
7164 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
7165 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
7167 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
7168 is returned as result.
7170 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
7172 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
7174 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
7176 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
7177 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
7180 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
7182 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
7184 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
7185 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
7187 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7189 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
7191 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
7193 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7195 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
7197 Thanks to Greg Badros!
7199 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
7201 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
7202 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
7203 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
7205 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
7208 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
7210 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
7211 the readability of argument checking.
7213 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
7215 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
7217 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
7219 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
7220 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
7221 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
7222 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
7223 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
7224 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
7225 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
7227 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
7229 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
7231 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
7232 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
7234 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
7236 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
7237 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
7240 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
7242 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
7243 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
7244 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
7246 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
7247 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
7248 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
7250 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
7251 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
7252 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
7253 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
7254 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
7255 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
7256 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
7258 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
7259 scm_end_input (object);
7260 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
7261 ptob->flush (object);
7263 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
7264 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
7267 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
7269 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
7271 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
7272 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
7273 removed in a future version.
7275 ** The format of error message strings has changed
7277 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
7278 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
7279 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
7280 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
7282 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
7283 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
7285 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
7288 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
7290 in your configure.in.
7292 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
7297 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
7303 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
7305 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
7309 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
7310 (define make-message string-append)
7312 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
7314 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
7318 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
7323 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
7327 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
7329 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
7330 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
7332 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
7334 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
7335 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
7336 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
7337 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
7338 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
7339 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
7341 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
7342 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
7343 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
7345 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
7346 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
7347 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
7350 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
7351 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
7352 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
7353 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
7354 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
7356 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
7357 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
7358 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
7359 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
7360 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
7361 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
7362 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
7364 Destructors are not yet implemented.
7366 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
7367 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
7368 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
7370 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
7371 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
7372 KEY in the calling thread.
7374 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
7375 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
7376 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
7377 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
7378 associated with the key.
7380 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
7382 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
7383 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
7385 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
7387 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
7388 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
7389 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
7391 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
7393 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
7394 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
7396 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
7398 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
7400 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
7401 returned is undefined.
7403 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
7404 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
7405 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
7407 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
7408 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
7409 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
7411 ** New C level GC hooks
7413 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
7415 scm_before_gc_c_hook
7418 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
7419 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
7420 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
7422 scm_before_mark_c_hook
7423 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
7424 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
7426 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
7427 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
7430 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
7432 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
7433 allocation parameters
7435 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
7436 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
7437 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
7441 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
7442 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
7443 scm_default_max_segment_size
7445 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
7447 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
7448 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
7450 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
7452 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
7453 object and count on the object being protected until
7454 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
7456 The functions also have better time complexity.
7458 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
7459 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
7460 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
7461 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
7462 are no longer needed.
7464 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
7466 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
7467 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
7468 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
7469 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
7471 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
7473 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
7475 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
7477 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
7478 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
7479 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
7480 until this issue has been settled.
7482 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
7484 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
7486 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
7489 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
7491 * Changes to system call interfaces:
7493 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
7494 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
7495 descriptors were checked.
7497 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
7498 atomically written to a pipe.
7500 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
7501 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
7502 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
7503 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
7504 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
7505 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
7506 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
7509 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
7510 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
7511 is changed without calling tzset.
7513 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
7515 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
7516 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
7517 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
7519 (define write-network-long
7520 (lambda (value port)
7521 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
7522 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
7523 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
7525 (define read-network-long
7527 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
7528 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
7529 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
7531 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
7532 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
7534 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
7535 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
7536 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
7537 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
7539 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
7540 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
7541 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
7542 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
7546 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
7548 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7552 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
7553 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
7554 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
7560 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
7561 for a description of available commands.
7563 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
7564 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
7565 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
7567 (debug-enable 'backwards)
7569 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
7570 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
7572 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
7574 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
7576 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
7577 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
7578 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
7579 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
7580 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
7581 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
7584 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
7586 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
7587 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
7588 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
7589 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
7591 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
7592 the file and should not be affected by this change.
7594 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
7596 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7598 ** Readline support has changed again.
7600 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
7601 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
7602 to activate readline is now
7604 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
7607 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
7609 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
7610 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
7611 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
7614 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
7615 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
7616 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
7619 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
7620 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
7621 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
7622 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
7623 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
7624 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
7626 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
7627 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
7629 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
7631 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
7632 object it receives is the same string passed to
7633 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
7634 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
7635 string, not the suffix.
7637 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
7638 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
7639 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
7641 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
7643 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
7644 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
7645 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
7646 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
7649 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
7651 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
7653 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
7654 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
7655 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
7656 appear from left to right.
7658 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
7661 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
7663 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
7664 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
7666 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
7670 *** New function: hook? OBJ
7672 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
7674 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
7676 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
7677 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
7678 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
7680 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
7682 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
7684 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
7686 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
7689 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
7691 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
7692 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
7693 mentioning it here anyway.
7695 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
7697 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
7698 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
7699 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
7700 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
7703 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
7705 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
7707 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
7709 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
7710 otherwise return #f.
7712 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
7714 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
7715 returned by `opendir'.
7717 ** New function: using-readline?
7719 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
7721 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
7723 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
7724 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
7726 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7728 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
7730 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
7731 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
7732 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
7734 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
7736 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
7737 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
7739 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
7741 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
7742 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
7743 documentation slots are not yet used.
7745 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
7747 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
7748 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
7749 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
7754 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
7755 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
7756 (string-append x y))
7758 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
7759 can also be used for concatenating strings.
7761 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
7762 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
7763 be made in a clean way.]
7765 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
7767 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
7769 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
7771 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
7772 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
7774 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7776 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
7778 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
7780 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
7782 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
7783 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
7784 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
7785 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
7788 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7790 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
7792 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
7794 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
7796 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
7797 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
7799 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7801 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
7803 Evaluates the body of a special form.
7805 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
7807 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
7808 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
7809 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
7810 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
7811 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
7812 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
7814 This should not make any difference for most users.
7816 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
7818 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
7819 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
7821 *** New functions for applying generic functions
7823 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
7824 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
7825 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
7826 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
7827 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
7829 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
7831 It is now replaced by:
7833 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
7835 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
7836 binds a variable named NAME to it.
7838 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
7840 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
7841 This might change when we get the new module system.
7843 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
7847 Changes since Guile 1.3:
7849 * Changes to mailing lists
7851 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
7853 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
7856 * Changes to the distribution
7858 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
7860 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
7861 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
7862 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
7863 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
7864 you explicitly specify it.
7866 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
7867 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
7868 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
7869 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
7870 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
7873 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
7874 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
7875 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
7876 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
7878 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
7879 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
7880 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
7883 You can activate the readline support by issuing
7885 (use-modules (readline-activator))
7888 from your ".guile" file, for example.
7890 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7892 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
7893 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
7894 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
7895 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
7897 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
7898 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
7901 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7903 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
7904 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
7905 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
7906 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
7907 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
7908 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
7909 the Guile interpreter or other unwanted results. An example of
7910 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
7922 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
7923 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
7924 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
7925 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
7926 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
7931 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
7932 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
7940 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
7945 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
7946 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
7949 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
7950 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
7951 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
7952 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
7954 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
7956 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
7958 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
7959 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
7961 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
7963 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
7965 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
7966 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
7968 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
7971 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
7973 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
7975 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
7977 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
7979 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
7981 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
7983 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
7984 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
7985 when the hook was created.
7987 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
7988 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
7989 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
7990 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
7991 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
7992 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
7993 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
7994 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
7995 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
7997 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
7998 the dlopen family of functions.
8000 ** New function `provided?'
8002 - Function: provided? FEATURE
8003 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
8004 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
8005 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
8007 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
8009 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
8010 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
8011 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
8012 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
8015 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
8016 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
8017 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
8018 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
8020 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
8021 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
8022 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
8025 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
8026 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
8027 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
8028 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
8029 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
8030 but with the flag set.
8032 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
8034 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
8035 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
8037 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
8038 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
8039 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
8040 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
8041 available Scheme format implementations.
8043 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
8044 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
8045 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
8046 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
8047 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
8048 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
8049 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
8050 output is to the current error port if available by the
8051 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
8054 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
8055 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
8056 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
8057 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
8058 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
8059 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
8060 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
8061 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
8063 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
8064 be executed at a time.
8067 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
8069 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
8070 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
8071 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
8073 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
8074 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
8075 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
8076 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
8077 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
8078 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
8079 general form of a directive is:
8081 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
8083 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
8085 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
8087 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
8088 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
8089 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
8092 Any (print as `display' does).
8096 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
8100 S-expression (print as `write' does).
8104 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
8110 print number sign always.
8113 print comma separated.
8115 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
8121 print number sign always.
8124 print comma separated.
8126 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
8132 print number sign always.
8135 print comma separated.
8137 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
8143 print number sign always.
8146 print comma separated.
8148 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
8153 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
8157 print a number as a Roman numeral.
8160 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
8163 print a number as an ordinal English number.
8166 print a number as a cardinal English number.
8171 prints `y' and `ies'.
8174 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
8177 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
8182 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
8186 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
8189 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
8190 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
8192 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
8195 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
8196 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
8198 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
8201 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
8203 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
8205 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
8208 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
8210 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
8212 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
8215 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
8218 The sign appears before the padding.
8226 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
8228 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
8233 print N page separators.
8243 newline is ignored, white space left.
8246 newline is left, white space ignored.
8251 relative tabulation.
8257 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
8259 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
8262 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
8264 converts by `string-capitalize'.
8267 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
8270 converts by `string-upcase'.
8273 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
8275 jumps N arguments forward.
8278 jumps 1 argument backward.
8281 jumps N arguments backward.
8284 jumps to the 0th argument.
8287 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
8289 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
8290 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
8292 take argument from N.
8295 true test conditional.
8298 if-else-then conditional.
8304 default clause follows.
8307 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
8309 at most N iterations.
8312 args from next arg (a list of lists).
8315 args from the rest of arguments.
8318 args from the rest args (lists).
8329 aborts if N <= M <= K
8331 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
8334 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
8337 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
8343 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
8345 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
8347 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
8348 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
8349 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
8350 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
8351 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
8352 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
8356 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
8360 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
8366 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
8369 Print a `#\space' character
8371 print N `#\space' characters.
8374 Print a `#\tab' character
8376 print N `#\tab' characters.
8379 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
8380 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
8381 must be a positive decimal number.
8384 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
8385 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
8386 be processed by `read'.
8389 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
8390 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
8391 be processed by `read'.
8394 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
8397 prints format version.
8400 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
8401 and format it accordingly.
8403 *** Configuration Variables
8405 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
8406 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
8407 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
8408 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
8411 format:symbol-case-conv
8412 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
8413 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
8414 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
8415 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
8416 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
8418 format:iobj-case-conv
8419 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
8420 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
8423 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
8426 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
8432 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
8433 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
8434 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
8435 `format' padding style.
8438 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
8439 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
8440 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
8441 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
8445 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
8446 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
8447 directive parameters or modifiers)).
8450 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
8451 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
8452 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
8453 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
8454 parameters or modifiers)).
8457 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
8459 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
8461 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
8462 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
8464 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
8465 string-downcase! functions.
8467 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
8468 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
8470 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
8473 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
8476 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
8477 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
8479 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
8481 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
8482 the symbol had be read by `read'.
8484 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
8485 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
8486 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
8487 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
8488 would if STRING were input.
8490 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
8492 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
8493 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
8494 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
8495 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
8498 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
8500 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
8501 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
8504 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
8506 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
8507 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
8509 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
8510 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
8512 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
8513 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
8514 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
8515 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
8517 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
8518 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
8520 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
8521 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
8522 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
8524 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
8525 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
8527 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
8528 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
8529 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
8530 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
8531 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
8533 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
8534 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
8535 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
8536 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
8537 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
8538 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
8540 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
8541 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
8542 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
8545 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
8546 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
8547 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
8548 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
8549 the following grammar:
8550 ((apples (single-char #\a))
8551 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
8552 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
8553 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
8554 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
8555 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
8556 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
8557 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
8558 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
8559 last option in its combination)
8561 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
8562 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
8563 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
8564 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
8566 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
8567 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
8568 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
8570 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
8571 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
8572 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
8574 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
8575 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
8576 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
8577 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
8578 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
8579 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
8580 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
8581 ordinary argument strings.
8583 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
8584 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
8585 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
8586 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
8588 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
8589 as a list, associated with the empty list.
8591 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
8592 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
8593 - a required option is omitted
8594 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
8595 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
8596 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
8597 - an option predicate fails
8602 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
8605 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
8606 (verbose (required? #f)
8609 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
8610 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
8611 (predicate ,string?))))
8613 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
8614 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
8616 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
8617 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
8618 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
8619 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
8622 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
8624 It will be removed in a few releases.
8626 ** New syntax: lambda*
8627 ** New syntax: define*
8628 ** New syntax: define*-public
8629 ** New syntax: defmacro*
8630 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
8631 Guile now supports optional arguments.
8633 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
8634 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
8635 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
8636 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
8637 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
8639 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
8640 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
8641 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
8643 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
8645 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
8646 and examples for `lambda*':
8649 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
8651 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
8652 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
8653 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
8654 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
8655 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
8656 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
8657 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
8658 can be checked with the bound? macro.
8660 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
8662 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
8663 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
8664 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
8665 are given as keywords are bound to values.
8667 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
8668 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
8669 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
8670 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
8671 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
8672 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
8673 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
8674 and until the procedure is called.
8676 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
8678 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
8679 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
8680 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
8681 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
8682 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
8683 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
8684 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
8685 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
8686 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
8687 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
8689 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
8690 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
8691 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
8692 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
8695 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
8697 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
8698 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
8699 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
8700 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
8702 ** New syntax: and-let*
8703 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
8705 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
8706 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
8707 (<variable> <expression>)
8710 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
8711 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
8712 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
8715 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
8716 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
8717 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
8718 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
8719 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
8720 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
8721 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
8723 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
8724 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
8725 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
8726 shadow earlier bindings.
8728 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
8730 ** New sorting functions
8732 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
8733 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
8734 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
8735 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
8737 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
8738 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
8741 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
8742 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
8743 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
8745 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
8746 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
8747 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
8748 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
8750 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
8751 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
8752 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
8753 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
8754 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
8757 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
8758 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
8759 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
8760 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
8761 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
8762 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
8764 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
8765 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
8766 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
8768 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
8769 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
8770 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
8773 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
8774 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
8775 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
8777 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
8778 Added for compatibility with scsh.
8780 ** New built-in random number support
8782 *** New function: random N [STATE]
8783 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
8784 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
8785 returned have a uniform distribution.
8787 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
8788 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
8789 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
8790 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
8791 effect of the `random' operation.
8793 *** New variable: *random-state*
8794 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
8795 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
8796 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
8797 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
8798 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
8801 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
8802 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
8803 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
8804 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
8805 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
8807 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
8808 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
8809 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
8810 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
8811 initialized using SEED.
8813 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
8814 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
8815 range between 0 and 1.
8817 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
8818 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
8819 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
8820 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
8821 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
8822 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
8823 or a uniform vector of doubles.
8825 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
8826 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
8827 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
8828 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
8829 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
8830 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8832 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
8833 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
8834 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
8835 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
8837 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
8838 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
8839 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
8840 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8842 *** New function: random:exp STATE
8843 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
8844 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
8846 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
8848 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
8851 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
8852 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
8855 ** New function: make-guardian
8856 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
8857 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
8858 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
8859 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
8860 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
8862 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
8863 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
8864 one object if at all.
8866 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
8867 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
8868 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
8870 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
8871 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
8872 read again in last-in first-out order.
8874 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
8875 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
8877 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
8879 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
8880 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
8881 file position is used.
8883 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
8884 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
8885 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
8887 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
8888 redefined using seek.
8890 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
8891 size is not supplied.
8893 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
8894 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
8896 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
8897 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
8899 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
8901 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
8902 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
8903 and returns the contents as a single string.
8905 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
8906 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
8907 lists in serial order.
8909 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
8910 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
8911 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
8913 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
8914 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
8915 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
8916 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
8918 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
8919 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
8920 and #f if an error occured.
8922 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
8924 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
8925 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
8926 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
8927 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
8929 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
8931 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
8934 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
8936 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
8939 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8943 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
8944 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
8946 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
8947 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
8951 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8953 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
8955 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
8956 binds a variable named NAME to it.
8958 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
8960 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
8961 might change when we get the new module system.
8963 ** The smob interface
8965 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
8966 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
8968 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
8970 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
8974 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
8975 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
8976 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
8977 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
8978 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
8979 will be freed by the default free function.
8981 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8982 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
8983 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8984 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8986 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8987 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
8988 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8989 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8991 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
8993 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
8994 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
8998 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
8999 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
9000 `scm_make_smob_type'.
9002 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
9003 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
9004 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
9005 `scm_make_smob_type'.
9007 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
9008 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
9009 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
9011 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
9012 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
9013 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
9014 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
9016 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
9017 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
9018 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
9020 *** scm_newptob has been removed
9024 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
9026 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
9027 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
9028 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
9030 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
9031 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
9032 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
9034 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
9035 a string port's buffer.
9037 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
9038 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
9039 function pointers which together define the current random number
9040 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
9041 number library functions.
9043 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
9046 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
9047 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
9050 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
9051 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
9053 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
9054 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
9056 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
9057 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
9060 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
9061 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
9062 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
9063 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
9065 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
9066 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
9067 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
9068 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
9069 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
9070 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
9071 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
9073 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
9074 by libguile and the application.
9076 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
9077 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
9078 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
9079 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
9081 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
9082 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
9084 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
9085 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
9086 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
9088 ** Random number library functions
9089 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
9090 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
9091 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
9093 The default random state is stored in:
9095 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
9096 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
9097 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
9102 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
9104 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
9105 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
9106 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
9107 isn't a random state.
9109 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
9110 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
9112 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
9113 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
9114 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
9115 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
9117 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
9118 Return 32 random bits.
9120 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
9121 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
9123 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
9124 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
9126 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
9127 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
9129 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
9130 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
9132 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
9133 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
9134 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
9138 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
9140 * Changes to the distribution
9142 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
9143 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
9144 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
9147 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
9148 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
9149 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
9151 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
9152 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
9153 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
9154 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
9157 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
9158 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
9159 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
9161 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
9163 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
9165 *** Function: batch-mode?
9167 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
9170 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
9172 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
9173 case has not been implemented.
9175 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
9176 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
9177 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
9180 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
9181 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
9183 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
9185 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
9187 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
9189 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
9190 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
9193 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
9194 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
9195 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
9196 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
9199 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
9201 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
9202 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
9203 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
9204 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
9205 find those libraries.
9207 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
9208 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
9211 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
9213 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
9214 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
9215 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
9216 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
9218 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
9219 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
9220 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
9224 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
9226 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
9227 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
9228 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
9231 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
9232 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
9233 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
9234 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
9236 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
9237 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
9240 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
9241 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
9242 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
9243 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
9244 compiler where to find the libraries.
9246 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
9247 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
9248 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
9250 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
9251 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
9252 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
9253 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
9254 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
9258 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
9260 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
9261 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
9262 internationalization support.
9264 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
9265 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
9266 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
9267 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
9268 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
9270 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
9271 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
9272 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
9273 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
9274 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
9276 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
9277 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
9278 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
9279 any GNU mirror site.
9281 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
9283 ** New function: add-history STRING
9284 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
9285 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
9286 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
9288 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
9290 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
9291 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
9292 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
9295 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
9296 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
9297 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
9299 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
9301 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
9304 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
9305 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
9308 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
9309 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
9310 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
9311 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
9312 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
9313 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
9315 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
9316 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
9317 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
9318 of the form mentioned above.
9320 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
9321 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
9322 returned in the special `rest' list.
9324 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
9325 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
9327 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
9329 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
9331 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
9333 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
9334 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
9335 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
9336 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
9337 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
9338 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
9339 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
9340 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
9343 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
9345 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
9347 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
9348 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
9351 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
9352 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
9353 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
9357 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
9358 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
9359 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
9360 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
9361 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
9362 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
9363 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
9364 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
9367 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
9369 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
9370 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
9371 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
9373 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
9375 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
9376 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
9378 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
9379 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
9380 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
9382 Why do we have this function?
9383 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
9384 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
9385 primitive, and display it differently, and
9386 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
9387 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
9390 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
9391 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
9394 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
9395 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
9396 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
9397 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
9399 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
9400 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
9403 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
9404 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
9406 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
9408 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
9409 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
9410 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
9411 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
9412 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
9413 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
9414 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
9417 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
9419 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
9420 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
9422 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
9423 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
9424 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
9425 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
9426 properly continue the print chain.
9428 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
9429 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
9430 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
9431 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
9432 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
9433 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
9434 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
9435 print-state, it is simply ignored.
9437 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
9438 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
9439 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
9440 safest to not check for these pairs.
9442 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
9443 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
9444 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
9445 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
9447 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
9449 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
9450 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
9452 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
9454 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
9456 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
9457 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
9458 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
9460 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
9461 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
9462 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
9464 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
9465 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
9466 the following functions and macros:
9468 Function: make-fluid
9470 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
9471 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
9472 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
9473 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
9474 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
9476 Function: fluid? OBJ
9478 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
9480 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
9481 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
9483 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
9484 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
9486 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
9488 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
9489 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
9490 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
9491 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
9492 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
9493 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
9494 modified by `with-fluids*'.
9496 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
9498 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
9499 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
9500 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
9501 should evaluate to a fluid.
9503 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
9505 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
9506 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
9507 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
9508 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
9509 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
9511 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
9514 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
9516 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
9518 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
9520 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
9523 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
9524 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
9525 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
9526 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
9527 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
9530 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
9531 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
9532 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
9534 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
9535 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
9536 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
9538 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
9539 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
9540 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
9541 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
9543 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
9544 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
9545 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
9546 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
9548 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
9549 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
9550 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
9551 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
9553 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
9554 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
9555 their revealed counts set to zero.
9557 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9558 Returns an integer file descriptor.
9560 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9561 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
9563 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9564 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
9566 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
9567 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
9568 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
9570 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
9571 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
9572 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
9574 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
9575 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
9576 default environment inherited by child processes.
9578 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
9579 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
9580 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
9582 The return value is unspecified.
9584 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
9585 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
9586 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
9587 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
9588 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
9590 The return value is unspecified.
9592 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
9593 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
9601 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
9602 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
9605 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
9608 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
9609 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
9610 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
9612 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
9613 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
9614 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
9615 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
9618 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
9619 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
9621 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
9622 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
9623 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
9624 the `environ' procedure.
9626 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
9627 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
9630 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
9631 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
9633 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
9634 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
9635 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
9636 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
9638 *** procedure: times
9639 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
9640 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
9641 return a selected component:
9644 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
9648 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
9651 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
9655 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
9656 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
9660 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
9661 terminated child processes.
9663 ** Removed: list-length
9664 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
9665 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
9667 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
9669 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
9671 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
9673 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
9674 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
9675 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
9676 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
9678 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
9679 extra complexity it introduces.
9681 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
9682 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
9684 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
9685 variable to any non-empty value.
9687 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
9688 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
9690 * Changes to the gh_ interface
9692 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
9693 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
9695 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
9697 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
9698 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
9700 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
9702 ** vector handling routines
9704 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
9705 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
9706 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
9707 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
9708 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
9710 ** pair and list routines
9712 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
9715 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
9717 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
9720 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9722 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
9724 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
9725 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
9726 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
9727 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
9728 site-specific initialization code.
9730 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
9731 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
9732 initialization processes.
9734 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
9735 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
9736 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
9737 initialized properly.
9739 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
9740 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
9741 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
9743 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
9744 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
9745 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
9746 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
9747 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
9749 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
9751 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
9752 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
9753 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
9754 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
9755 objects the smob refers to get marked.
9757 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
9758 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
9759 which look like this:
9762 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
9764 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
9765 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
9768 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
9769 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
9772 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
9774 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
9775 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
9776 you will need to change your functions slightly.
9778 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
9779 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
9780 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
9781 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
9782 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
9784 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
9785 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
9787 int (*free) (SCM port);
9788 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
9789 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
9790 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
9794 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
9795 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
9796 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
9798 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
9801 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
9802 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
9803 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
9805 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
9806 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
9807 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
9810 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
9814 struct timeval *timeout);
9816 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
9817 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
9818 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
9819 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
9820 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
9821 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
9823 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
9824 scm_catch_body_t body,
9826 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9829 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
9830 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
9831 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
9832 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
9833 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
9834 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
9836 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
9838 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9841 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
9842 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
9843 spawning threads from application C code.
9845 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
9846 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
9847 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
9848 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
9849 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
9850 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
9852 ** Removed functions:
9854 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
9855 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
9857 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
9859 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
9860 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
9862 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
9864 ** mbstrings are now removed
9866 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
9867 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
9869 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
9871 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
9872 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
9873 their new names and arguments:
9875 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
9876 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
9877 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
9878 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
9881 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
9883 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
9885 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
9888 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
9890 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
9891 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
9892 pass a #f arg to catch.
9894 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
9896 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
9897 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
9900 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
9901 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
9902 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
9903 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
9904 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
9905 reclaim its storage.
9907 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
9908 worrying that some other function you call will call
9909 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
9910 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
9911 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
9912 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
9915 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
9917 * Changes to the distribution
9919 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
9920 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
9923 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
9924 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
9926 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9927 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9929 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
9931 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
9932 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
9933 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
9935 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
9937 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
9938 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
9939 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
9940 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
9941 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
9942 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
9944 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
9945 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
9946 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
9949 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
9950 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
9951 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
9952 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
9954 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
9955 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
9956 libraries to your link command:
9958 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
9959 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
9960 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
9961 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
9963 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
9964 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
9965 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
9967 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
9969 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
9970 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
9973 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
9975 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
9976 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
9977 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
9978 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
9979 searched is system dependent.
9981 (dynamic-object? VAL)
9983 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
9985 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
9987 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
9988 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
9990 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9992 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
9993 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
9994 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
9995 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
9996 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
9999 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
10001 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
10002 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
10003 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
10004 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
10005 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
10007 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
10009 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
10010 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
10012 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
10014 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
10015 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
10016 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
10019 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
10021 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
10022 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
10023 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
10024 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
10026 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
10027 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
10029 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
10031 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
10032 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
10034 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
10036 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
10037 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
10045 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
10047 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
10048 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
10049 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
10050 a more informative way.
10052 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
10053 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
10054 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
10055 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
10056 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
10057 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
10059 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
10060 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
10061 "printing structs".
10063 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
10064 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
10065 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
10068 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
10069 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
10070 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
10071 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
10072 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
10073 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
10075 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
10076 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
10077 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
10078 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
10081 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
10082 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
10083 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
10084 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
10085 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
10086 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
10088 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
10089 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
10090 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
10091 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
10092 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
10094 *** regexp functions
10096 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
10097 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
10098 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
10100 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
10101 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
10102 with SCSH regular expressions.
10104 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
10105 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
10106 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
10107 position of STR at which to begin matching.
10109 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
10110 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
10111 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
10112 `string-match' returns `#f'.
10114 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
10115 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
10116 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
10117 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
10118 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
10119 match strings against the compiled regexp.
10121 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
10122 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
10123 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
10124 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
10125 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
10127 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
10129 **** Constant: regexp/extended
10130 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
10131 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
10132 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
10134 **** Constant: regexp/icase
10135 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
10136 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
10138 **** Constant: regexp/newline
10139 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
10141 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
10144 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
10145 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
10146 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
10148 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
10149 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
10150 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
10152 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
10153 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
10154 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
10155 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
10156 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
10159 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
10161 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
10162 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
10163 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
10164 used when different portions of a string are passed to
10165 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
10166 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
10168 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
10169 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
10170 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
10172 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
10173 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
10176 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
10177 and replace them with the contents of another string.
10179 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
10180 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
10181 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
10182 may be one of the following arguments:
10184 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
10186 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
10188 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
10189 the regexp match is written.
10191 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
10192 following the regexp match is written.
10194 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
10195 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
10198 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
10199 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
10200 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
10201 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
10202 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
10203 which should be matched against this regular expression.
10205 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
10208 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
10209 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
10210 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
10211 written out to PORT.
10213 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
10214 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
10215 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
10216 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
10217 will return after processing a single match.
10219 *** Match Structures
10221 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
10222 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
10223 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
10224 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
10225 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
10226 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
10229 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
10230 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
10231 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
10232 information about the original target string that was matched against a
10233 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
10235 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
10236 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
10237 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
10239 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
10240 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
10241 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
10242 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
10243 number N did not match, return `#f'.
10245 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
10246 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
10248 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
10249 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
10251 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
10252 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
10254 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
10255 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
10257 **** Function: match:count MATCH
10258 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
10259 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
10260 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
10262 **** Function: match:string MATCH
10263 Return the original TARGET string.
10265 *** Backslash Escapes
10267 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
10268 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
10269 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
10270 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
10271 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
10272 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
10274 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
10275 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
10276 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
10277 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
10278 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
10279 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
10280 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
10281 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
10283 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
10284 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
10285 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
10286 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
10287 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
10288 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
10289 each match a single backslash in the target string.
10291 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
10292 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
10293 return the resulting string.
10295 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
10296 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
10297 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
10298 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
10299 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
10300 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
10301 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
10302 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
10303 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
10304 translated to the single character `*'.
10306 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
10307 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
10308 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
10309 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
10310 consecutive backslashes:
10312 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
10314 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
10315 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
10316 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
10318 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
10319 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
10320 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
10321 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
10322 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
10323 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
10325 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
10327 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
10328 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
10329 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
10330 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
10331 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
10332 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
10333 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
10334 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
10335 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
10336 cumbersome escape syntax.
10338 * Changes to the gh_ interface
10340 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10342 * Changes to system call interfaces:
10344 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
10345 if an error occurs.
10347 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
10349 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
10351 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
10354 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
10355 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
10356 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
10357 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
10358 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
10360 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
10361 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
10362 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
10363 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
10364 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
10365 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
10366 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
10369 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
10370 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
10371 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
10374 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
10375 `force-output' on every port open for output.
10377 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
10378 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
10379 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
10380 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
10381 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
10382 installed, you can say:
10384 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
10387 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10389 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
10390 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
10391 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
10392 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
10393 new dynamic roots and threads.
10396 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
10398 * Changes to the distribution.
10400 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
10402 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
10403 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
10404 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
10405 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
10406 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
10407 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
10408 programming language. These are packaged together because the
10409 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
10411 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
10414 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
10415 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
10416 will distribute it.
10420 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
10422 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
10423 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
10425 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
10426 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
10427 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
10428 the (command-line) function.
10429 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
10430 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
10431 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
10433 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
10434 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
10435 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
10436 command line arguments
10437 -ds do -s script at this point
10438 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
10439 -h, --help display this help and exit
10440 -v, --version display version information and exit
10441 \ read arguments from following script lines
10443 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
10444 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
10446 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10448 (define (main args)
10449 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
10453 (main (command-line))
10455 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
10457 ekko a speckled gecko
10459 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
10460 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
10461 following list of command-line arguments:
10463 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
10465 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
10466 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
10467 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
10468 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
10469 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
10471 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
10473 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
10475 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
10476 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
10479 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
10480 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
10481 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
10482 SCSH) for circumventing them.
10484 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
10485 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
10486 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
10487 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
10489 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
10492 (define (main args)
10493 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
10497 If the user invokes this script as follows:
10499 ekko a speckled gecko
10501 Unix expands this into
10503 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
10505 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
10506 read from the second line of the script, producing:
10508 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
10510 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
10511 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
10513 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
10514 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
10515 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
10516 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
10517 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
10518 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
10519 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
10520 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
10521 it only terminates the argument list.)
10522 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
10523 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
10524 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
10525 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
10526 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
10527 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
10528 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
10529 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
10531 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
10533 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
10534 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
10535 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
10536 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
10537 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
10539 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
10540 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
10541 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
10543 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
10545 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
10546 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
10547 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
10548 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
10551 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
10552 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
10553 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
10555 * Changes to Scheme functions
10557 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
10558 and disabled by default.
10560 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
10561 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
10562 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
10563 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
10565 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
10567 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
10569 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
10570 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
10572 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
10573 (read-set! keywords #f)
10575 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
10576 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
10577 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
10580 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
10581 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
10582 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
10583 `array-index-map!'.
10585 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
10586 support for Scheme functions.
10588 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
10589 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
10590 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
10591 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
10594 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
10595 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
10596 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
10599 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
10600 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
10601 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
10604 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
10605 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
10606 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
10607 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
10608 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
10609 display the result as a prompt.
10610 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
10612 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
10613 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
10614 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
10617 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
10618 procedure of zero arguments.
10620 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
10621 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
10622 argument is bound in the current module.
10624 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
10625 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
10626 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
10627 public bindings into the current module.
10629 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
10630 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
10632 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
10633 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
10635 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
10636 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
10638 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
10639 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
10641 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
10642 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
10644 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
10645 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
10646 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
10647 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
10648 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
10650 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
10651 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
10652 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
10653 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
10655 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
10658 ** Changes to I/O functions
10660 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
10661 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
10662 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
10664 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
10665 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
10666 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
10668 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
10669 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
10671 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
10672 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
10673 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
10674 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
10676 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
10678 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
10679 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
10681 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
10682 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
10683 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
10684 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
10685 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
10688 'trim omit delimiter from result
10689 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
10690 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
10691 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
10693 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
10695 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
10696 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
10698 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
10699 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
10700 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
10701 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
10702 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
10704 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
10705 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
10706 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
10708 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
10709 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
10710 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
10711 above, and defaults to 'peek.
10713 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
10714 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
10716 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
10717 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
10719 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
10721 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
10722 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
10723 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
10724 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
10725 a delimiting character.
10726 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
10728 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
10729 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
10730 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
10731 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
10732 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
10733 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
10735 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
10736 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
10738 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
10739 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
10740 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
10742 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
10743 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
10744 the array to read and write.
10746 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
10747 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
10750 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
10752 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
10755 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
10756 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
10757 Values for COMMAND are:
10759 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
10760 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
10761 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
10762 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
10763 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
10764 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
10765 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
10766 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
10768 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
10770 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
10771 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
10772 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
10773 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
10774 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
10775 corresponding return set will be the same.
10777 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
10780 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
10781 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
10782 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
10783 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
10784 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
10785 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
10786 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
10787 special file being created.
10789 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
10790 clashing with various SCSH forks.
10792 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
10793 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
10794 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
10795 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
10796 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
10797 and originating address.
10799 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
10800 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
10801 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
10803 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
10806 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
10807 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
10810 (status:exit-val STATUS)
10811 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
10812 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
10813 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
10814 this function returns #f.
10816 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
10817 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
10818 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
10821 (status:term-sig STATUS)
10822 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
10823 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
10826 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
10827 a valid STATUS value.
10829 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
10831 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
10832 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
10834 Component Accessor Setter
10835 ========================= ============ ============
10836 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
10837 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
10838 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
10839 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
10840 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
10841 year tm:year set-tm:year
10842 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
10843 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
10844 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
10845 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
10846 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
10848 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
10849 describing the host system:
10852 ============================================== ================
10853 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
10854 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
10855 release level of the operating system utsname:release
10856 version level of the operating system utsname:version
10857 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
10859 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
10860 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
10861 system's user database:
10864 ====================== =================
10865 user name passwd:name
10866 user password passwd:passwd
10868 group id passwd:gid
10869 real name passwd:gecos
10870 home directory passwd:dir
10871 shell program passwd:shell
10873 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
10874 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
10875 system's group database:
10878 ======================= ============
10879 group name group:name
10880 group password group:passwd
10882 group members group:mem
10884 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
10885 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
10889 ========================= ===============
10890 official name of host hostent:name
10891 alias list hostent:aliases
10892 host address type hostent:addrtype
10893 length of address hostent:length
10894 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
10896 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
10897 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
10901 ========================= ===============
10902 official name of net netent:name
10903 alias list netent:aliases
10904 net number type netent:addrtype
10905 net number netent:net
10907 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
10908 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
10909 internet protocols:
10912 ========================= ===============
10913 official protocol name protoent:name
10914 alias list protoent:aliases
10915 protocol number protoent:proto
10917 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
10918 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
10919 internet protocols:
10922 ========================= ===============
10923 official service name servent:name
10924 alias list servent:aliases
10925 port number servent:port
10926 protocol to use servent:proto
10928 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
10929 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
10932 ======================================== ===============
10933 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
10934 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
10935 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
10936 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
10938 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
10939 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
10940 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
10942 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
10943 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
10945 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
10946 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
10948 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
10949 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
10951 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
10953 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
10955 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
10956 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
10957 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
10959 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
10960 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
10961 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
10962 return the remaining characters as a string.
10964 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
10965 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
10966 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
10968 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
10970 * Changes to the gh_ interface
10972 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
10975 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
10978 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
10979 and returns the array
10981 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
10982 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
10983 the user to interpret the data both ways.
10985 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10987 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
10988 symbol's value from C code:
10990 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
10991 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
10992 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
10993 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
10995 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
10996 without assigning them a value.
10998 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
10999 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
11000 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
11002 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
11003 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
11004 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
11006 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
11007 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
11009 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
11010 doesn't actually care about that.
11012 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
11013 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
11014 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
11016 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
11017 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
11018 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
11019 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
11020 which we have just created and initialized.
11022 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
11023 should one occur. We call it like this:
11024 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
11026 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
11027 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
11028 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
11029 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
11030 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
11031 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
11034 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
11035 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
11036 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
11037 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
11038 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
11039 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
11040 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
11041 enclosed variables.
11043 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
11044 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
11045 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
11046 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
11047 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
11050 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
11051 scm_internal_catch, except:
11053 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
11054 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
11055 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
11056 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
11059 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
11060 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
11061 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
11063 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
11064 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
11065 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
11066 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
11069 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
11070 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
11071 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
11073 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
11074 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
11075 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
11076 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
11077 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
11079 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
11080 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
11081 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
11083 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
11084 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
11085 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
11087 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
11088 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
11090 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
11091 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
11092 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
11095 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
11096 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
11097 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
11098 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
11099 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
11100 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
11101 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
11102 interpreter" above.
11104 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
11105 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
11107 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
11108 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
11109 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
11110 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
11111 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
11114 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
11115 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
11117 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
11118 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
11121 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
11122 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
11124 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
11127 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
11128 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
11129 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
11130 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
11131 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
11132 given the following arguments:
11134 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
11136 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
11138 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
11140 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
11143 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
11144 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
11145 command-line arguments.
11147 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
11148 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
11149 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
11150 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
11151 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
11152 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
11155 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
11158 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
11159 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
11161 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
11162 rearranged slightly. They are now:
11164 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
11165 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
11166 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
11167 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
11169 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
11170 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
11172 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
11173 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
11174 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
11175 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
11177 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
11178 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
11180 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
11181 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
11183 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
11185 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
11186 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
11187 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
11190 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
11191 returns a port instead of an FD object.
11193 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
11194 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
11199 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
11202 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
11204 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
11205 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
11206 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
11207 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
11209 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
11211 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
11213 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
11214 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
11215 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
11216 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
11217 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
11218 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
11219 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
11220 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
11221 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
11222 for more information.
11224 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
11225 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
11227 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
11228 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
11229 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
11230 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
11231 following two lines at the top of the file:
11233 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
11236 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
11237 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
11238 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
11240 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
11242 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
11244 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
11247 (display (car args))
11248 (if (pair? (cdr args))
11250 (loop (cdr args)))))
11253 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
11254 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
11255 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
11256 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
11257 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
11258 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
11262 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
11265 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
11268 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
11270 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
11271 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
11272 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
11273 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
11274 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
11277 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
11278 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
11279 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
11280 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
11281 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
11284 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
11287 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
11288 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
11289 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
11292 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
11293 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
11294 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
11296 to see a backtrace, and
11297 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
11298 to see them by default.
11302 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
11304 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
11306 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
11307 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
11310 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
11311 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
11312 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
11313 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
11316 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
11317 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
11318 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
11319 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
11320 functions which inspired them.
11322 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
11323 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
11327 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
11329 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
11331 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
11332 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
11335 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
11336 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
11337 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
11339 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
11340 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
11341 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
11342 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
11343 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
11345 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
11347 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
11348 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
11349 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
11352 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
11355 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
11357 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
11358 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
11359 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
11360 above should serve their purposes.
11362 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
11363 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
11364 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
11365 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
11367 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
11370 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
11371 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
11372 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
11373 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
11375 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
11376 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
11377 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
11378 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
11380 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
11381 for the `read' function.
11384 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
11385 to that of `integer?'.
11387 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
11388 use the R4RS names for these functions.
11390 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
11391 it simply returns the object's property list.
11393 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
11394 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
11395 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
11396 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
11398 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
11400 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
11403 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
11405 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
11406 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
11408 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
11410 void (*main_func) (),
11413 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
11414 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
11415 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
11416 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
11417 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
11419 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
11420 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
11421 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
11422 know which arguments have been processed.
11424 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
11425 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
11426 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
11427 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
11428 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
11430 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
11431 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
11432 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
11433 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
11434 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
11435 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
11436 people from making that mistake.
11438 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
11439 convenient ways to override these when desired.
11441 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
11443 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
11447 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
11450 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
11451 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
11452 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
11453 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
11456 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
11457 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
11458 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
11459 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
11462 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
11463 have been added to the Guile library.
11465 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
11466 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
11467 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
11470 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
11471 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
11472 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
11474 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
11475 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
11476 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
11477 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
11478 argument from the list.
11481 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
11484 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
11485 null-terminated string, and returns it.
11487 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
11488 to a Scheme port object.
11490 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
11491 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
11496 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
11498 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
11499 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
11500 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
11501 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
11502 code as a special datatype.
11504 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
11505 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
11506 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
11507 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
11508 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
11511 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
11512 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
11513 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
11514 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
11515 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
11517 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
11520 Copyright information:
11522 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
11524 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
11525 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
11526 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
11527 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
11529 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
11530 of this document, or of portions of it,
11531 under the above conditions, provided also that they
11532 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
11537 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"