1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes. -*- text -*-
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Changes since the stable branch:
9 * Changes to the distribution
11 ** Guile now includes its own version of libltdl.
13 We now use a modified version of libltdl that allows us to make
14 improvements to it without having to rely on libtool releases.
16 * Changes to the standalone interpreter
18 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
20 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
21 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
23 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
25 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
26 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
28 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
30 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
32 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
34 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
35 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
36 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
39 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
40 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
41 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
44 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
45 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
47 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
49 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
50 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
53 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
54 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
56 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
57 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
58 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
59 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
60 level for the current thread.
62 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
64 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
66 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
67 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
70 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
72 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
74 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
77 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
79 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
82 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
83 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
84 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
86 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
87 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
88 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
89 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
100 ERROR: Numerical overflow
102 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
105 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
107 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
108 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
109 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
120 ** We now have uninterned symbols.
122 The new function 'make-symbol' will return a uninterned symbol. This
123 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
124 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
126 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
129 ** pretty-print has more options.
131 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
132 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
133 maximum output width. See its online documentation.
135 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
137 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
138 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
139 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
141 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
143 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
144 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
146 ** Removed: substring-move-left!, substring-move-right!
148 Use `substring-move!' instead.
150 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
152 Change your code to use either procedure->memoizing-macro or, probably better,
153 to use r5rs macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done
154 during evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
156 * Changes to the C interface
158 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
160 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
161 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
162 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
164 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
165 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
167 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
169 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
171 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
172 function in the init section.
174 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
176 ** New macros SCM_VECTOR_REF and SCM_VECTOR_SET.
178 Use these in preference to SCM_VELTS.
180 ** The SCM_VELTS macros now returns a read-only vector. For writing,
181 use the new macros SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS or SCM_VECTOR_SET. The use of
182 SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS is discouraged, though.
184 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
186 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
187 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
188 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
189 stays roughly constant.
191 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
192 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
193 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
194 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
195 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
198 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
199 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
200 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
201 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
203 ** The struct scm_cell has been renamed to scm_t_cell
205 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
206 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
207 initializes a new cell (see below).
209 ** New functions for memory management
211 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
212 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
213 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
214 cause aborts in long running programs.
216 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
217 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
219 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
220 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
221 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
222 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
223 details and for upgrading instructions.
225 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
226 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
227 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
229 ** New function: scm_str2string
231 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
234 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
236 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
237 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
238 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
239 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
240 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
242 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
243 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
244 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
246 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, QT_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
247 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
249 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
251 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old macros
252 had problems because with them allocation and initialization was separated and
253 the GC could sometimes observe half initialized cells. Only careful coding by
254 the user of SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
256 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
258 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
261 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
263 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
265 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
267 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or, probably better, to use r5rs
268 macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done during
269 evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
271 ** Removed from scm_root_state: def_inp, def_outp, def_errp, together
272 with corresponding macros scm_def_inp, scm_def_outp and scm_def_errp.
273 These were undocumented and unused copies of the standard ports at the
274 time that Guile was initialised. Normally the current ports should be
275 used instead, obtained from scm_current_input_port () etc. If an
276 application needs to retain earlier ports, it should save them in a
277 gc-protected location.
279 ** Removed compile time option MEMOIZE_LOCALS
281 Now, caching of local variable positions during memoization is mandatory.
282 However, the option to disable the caching has most probably not been used
285 ** Removed compile time option SCM_RECKLESS
287 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
288 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
290 ** Removed compile time option SCM_CAUTIOUS
292 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
293 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
295 ** Removed definitions: scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify,
296 s_t_ify, scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
297 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, scm_tc16_allocated,
298 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY, SCM_IM_0_COND,
299 SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED, scm_debug_newcell,
300 scm_debug_newcell2, scm_substring_move_left_x, scm_substring_move_right_x,
301 long_long, ulong_long, scm_sizet, SCM_WNA, SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC,
302 SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL,
303 SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL,
304 SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, moddata, registered_mods,
305 scm_register_module_xxx, scm_registered_modules,
306 scm_clear_registered_modules, scm_wta, *top-level-lookup-closure*,
307 scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
308 scm_eval2, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR, SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR,
309 SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_GC8MARKP, SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK,
310 SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, scm_remember, scm_protect_object,
311 scm_unprotect_object, root_module_lookup_closure, scm_sym_app,
312 scm_sym_modules, module_prefix, make_modules_in_var,
313 beautify_user_module_x_var, try_module_autoload_var, scm_module_full_name,
314 scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module, scm_ensure_user_module,
315 scm_load_scheme_module, scm_port, scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_port_rw_active,
316 scm_close_all_ports_except, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_i_rstate,
317 SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_STRING_UCHARS, SCM_STRING_CHARS,
318 scm_read_only_string_p, scm_makstr, scm_makfromstr,
319 scm_make_shared_substring, scm_tc7_substring, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP,
320 SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP, scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
321 sym_huh, scm_variable_set_name_hint, scm_builtin_variable, SCM_VARVCELL,
322 SCM_UDVARIABLEP, SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_internal_with_fluids,
323 scm_make_gsubr, scm_make_gsubr_with_generic, scm_create_hook, list*,
324 SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4, SCM_LIST5,
325 SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9, scm_listify, scm_sloppy_memq,
326 scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member, scm_end_of_file_key,
327 scm_read_and_eval_x, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
328 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
329 scm_subr_entry, SCM_SUBR_DOC, scm_make_subr_opt, scm_make_subr,
330 scm_make_subr_with_generic, setjmp_type, setjmp_type,
331 scm_call_catching_errors, scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe,
332 scm_strprint_obj, scm_read_0str, scm_eval_0str, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
333 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
334 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
335 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, scm_strhash,
336 scm_sym2vcell, scm_sym2ovcell_soft, scm_sym2ovcell,
337 scm_intern_obarray_soft, scm_intern_obarray, scm_intern, scm_intern0,
338 scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0, scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup,
339 scm_symbol_value0, scm_string_to_obarray_symbol, scm_intern_symbol,
340 scm_unintern_symbol, scm_symbol_binding, scm_symbol_interned_p,
341 scm_symbol_bound_p, scm_symbol_set_x, scm_gentemp,
342 scm_init_symbols_deprecated, s_vector_set_length_x, scm_vector_set_length_x,
343 scm_contregs, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_OPDIRP,
344 scm_fport, scm_option, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL,
345 SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT, scm_srcprops, scm_srcprops_chunk,
346 scm_info_frame, scm_stack, scm_array, scm_array_dim, SCM_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS,
347 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA,
348 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY,
349 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
350 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
351 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int,
352 scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int,
353 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell,
354 SCM_ECONSP, SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
355 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable
357 Changes since Guile 1.4:
359 * Changes to the distribution
361 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
363 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
365 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
366 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
367 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
368 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
369 indicate major changes in Guile.
371 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
372 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
373 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
374 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
376 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
377 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
378 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
379 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
380 micro version number.
382 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
384 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
386 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
387 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
389 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
391 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
392 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
393 See INSTALL and README for more information.
395 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
397 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
398 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
399 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
402 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
404 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
407 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
409 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
410 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
412 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
414 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
415 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
418 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
420 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
423 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
426 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
428 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
430 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
431 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
432 open-output-string, get-output-string.
434 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
436 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
438 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
441 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
443 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
445 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
447 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
448 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
449 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
451 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
453 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
455 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
456 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
465 See README there for more info.
467 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
468 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
471 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
473 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
475 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
477 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
478 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
479 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
481 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
483 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
484 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
485 to be named `and-let*', of course.
487 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
488 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
490 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
495 (oop goops active-slot)
496 (oop goops composite-slot)
498 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
499 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
500 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
502 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
504 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
505 in the default environment:
507 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
508 %read-line write-line
510 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
511 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
513 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
515 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
518 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
519 can be used for similar functionality.
521 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
523 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
524 it defines two procedures:
526 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
528 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
529 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
530 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
533 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
535 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
536 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
537 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
540 ** New module (ice-9 match)
542 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
543 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
545 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
547 for complete documentation.
549 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
551 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
552 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
553 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
554 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
556 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
557 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
561 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
562 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
563 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
566 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
569 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
570 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
572 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
573 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
576 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
579 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
581 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
583 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
585 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
587 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
588 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
589 Scheme programs easier.
591 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
592 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
593 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
594 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
595 `cond-expand' when using this option.
598 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
599 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
601 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
604 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
606 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
607 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
608 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
611 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
613 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
615 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
616 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
617 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
618 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
619 was also ASCII, for example.
621 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
623 tag - no replacement.
624 fseek - replaced by seek.
625 list* - replaced by cons*.
627 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
631 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
632 (define m (make-safe-module))
633 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
634 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
635 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
637 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
639 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
640 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
641 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
643 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
645 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
646 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
647 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
648 from the issues related to the module system.
650 *** New function: load-extension
652 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
654 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
656 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
657 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
658 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
660 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
662 This function registers a initialization function for use by
663 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
664 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
665 support dynamic linking).
667 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
669 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
670 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
671 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
672 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
675 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
676 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
677 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
678 library and initialize it explicitely.
680 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
681 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
683 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
685 (define-module (foo bar))
687 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
689 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
691 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
692 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
694 (scheme-report-environment 5)
696 (interaction-environment)
702 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
704 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
705 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
706 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
707 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
709 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
710 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
711 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
712 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
713 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
714 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
715 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
716 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
717 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
718 one eval to the next.
720 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
721 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
722 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
723 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
724 subforms are at the top-level as well.
726 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
727 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
728 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
729 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
730 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
731 used in a lexical environment.
733 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
734 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
735 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
736 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
737 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
738 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
740 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
742 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
743 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
744 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
745 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
746 new facilities: selection and renaming.
748 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
749 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
750 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
752 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
753 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
755 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
756 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
757 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
760 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
762 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
763 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
764 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
765 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
768 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
769 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
770 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
771 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
774 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
775 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
777 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
778 ;; and all four by upcasing.
779 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
780 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
781 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
783 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
786 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
787 :renamer upcase-symbol))
789 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
790 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
791 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
793 See manual for more info.
795 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
797 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
798 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
799 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
801 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
803 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
804 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
805 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
807 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
808 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
809 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
810 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
812 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
814 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
815 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
817 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
818 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
819 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
820 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
821 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
824 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
825 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
826 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
827 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
828 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
829 successful and #f if it wasn't.
831 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
832 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
833 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
834 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
835 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
837 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
838 objects are usually permanent.
840 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
841 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
843 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
845 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
846 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
849 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
853 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
858 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
860 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
861 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
862 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
863 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
865 ** New function `make-object-property'
867 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
868 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
872 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
873 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
877 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
878 source properties eventually.
880 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
882 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
883 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
884 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
886 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
887 will be removed in the next release.
889 ** New define-module option: pure
891 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
896 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
899 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
901 Export names NAME1 ...
903 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
904 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
910 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
913 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
918 ** New function: object->string OBJ
920 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
922 ** New function: port? X
924 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
925 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
927 ** New function: file-port?
929 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
931 ** New function: port-for-each proc
933 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
934 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
935 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
936 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
937 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
939 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
941 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
942 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
943 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
944 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
945 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
948 ** New function: close-fdes fd
950 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
951 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
952 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
953 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
956 ** New function: crypt password salt
958 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
961 ** New function: chroot path
963 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
965 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
967 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
970 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
972 Get or set the priority of the running process.
974 ** New function: getpass prompt
976 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
979 ** New function: flock file operation
981 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
983 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
985 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
988 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
990 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
991 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
992 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
993 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
994 of the temporary file.
996 ** New function: open-input-string string
998 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
999 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1000 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1002 ** New function: open-output-string
1004 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1005 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1007 ** New function: get-output-string
1009 Return the contents of an output string port.
1011 ** New function: identity
1013 Return the argument.
1015 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1016 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1018 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1020 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1021 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1022 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1025 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1026 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1028 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1030 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1031 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1032 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1035 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1036 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1037 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1041 Use `identity' instead.
1047 ** Deprecated: return-it
1051 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1053 Use `string-length' instead.
1055 ** Deprecated: flags
1057 Use `logior' instead.
1059 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1061 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1062 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
1063 port-for-each is more flexible.
1065 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
1066 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
1067 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
1069 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
1071 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
1073 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
1075 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
1077 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
1079 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
1080 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
1082 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
1083 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
1085 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
1086 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
1088 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
1090 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
1091 Removed function: builtin-bindings
1093 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
1094 Use module system operations for all variables.
1096 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
1098 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
1101 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
1103 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
1104 The following bugs have been fixed:
1106 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
1107 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
1110 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
1111 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
1112 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
1114 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
1115 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
1117 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
1118 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
1121 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
1122 The expansion used to be like so:
1124 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
1126 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
1128 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
1130 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
1131 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
1133 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
1135 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
1136 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
1137 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
1141 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
1142 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
1144 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
1149 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
1150 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
1152 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
1153 and `d', other keywords allowed.
1154 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
1156 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
1159 * Changes to the C interface
1161 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
1163 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
1164 with "_t". What a concept.
1166 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
1168 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
1170 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
1174 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
1175 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
1177 *** C Functions removed
1179 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
1180 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
1181 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
1182 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
1183 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
1184 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
1185 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
1187 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
1189 Use scm_mem2string instead.
1191 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
1193 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
1195 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
1196 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
1198 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
1200 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
1203 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
1205 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
1207 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
1209 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments.
1213 scm_call_1 (proc, arg1);
1215 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
1217 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list
1222 scm_apply_1 (proc, arg1, args);
1224 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
1226 Create a list of the given number of elements.
1228 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
1230 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
1231 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
1233 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
1235 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
1237 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
1238 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
1239 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
1241 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1243 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
1245 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
1246 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
1247 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
1250 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1252 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
1254 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
1255 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
1257 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
1259 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
1260 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
1261 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
1262 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
1264 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
1265 scm_primitive_property_ref
1266 scm_primitive_property_set_x
1267 scm_primitive_property_del_x
1269 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
1270 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
1272 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
1274 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
1275 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
1276 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
1277 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
1279 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
1281 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
1282 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
1283 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
1284 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
1285 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
1286 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
1287 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
1289 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
1290 scm_remember_upto_here
1292 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
1294 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
1296 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
1297 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
1299 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
1301 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
1303 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
1305 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
1307 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
1309 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
1310 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
1311 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
1312 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
1313 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
1314 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
1316 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
1318 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1320 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
1321 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1322 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
1324 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
1326 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
1327 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1328 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
1330 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
1332 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
1333 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
1336 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
1339 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
1340 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1343 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1345 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
1347 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
1349 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1351 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
1353 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
1355 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
1356 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
1357 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
1358 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1359 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
1360 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
1361 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
1362 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1363 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
1364 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
1365 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
1366 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
1367 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
1368 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
1369 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
1371 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
1372 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
1373 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
1374 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
1375 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
1376 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
1377 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
1378 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
1379 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1380 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
1381 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
1382 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
1383 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
1384 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
1385 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
1386 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1387 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1388 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
1389 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
1390 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
1391 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
1392 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
1393 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
1394 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
1395 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
1396 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
1397 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
1398 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
1399 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
1401 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
1403 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
1405 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
1406 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
1408 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
1410 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
1412 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
1414 Use scm_string_hash instead.
1416 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
1418 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
1420 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
1422 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
1424 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
1427 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
1428 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
1430 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
1432 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
1434 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
1436 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
1438 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
1440 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
1442 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
1444 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
1447 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
1449 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
1451 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
1453 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
1454 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
1456 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
1457 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
1459 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
1461 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
1462 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
1463 scm_module_define, scm_define.
1465 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
1467 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
1469 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
1470 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
1472 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
1473 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
1474 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
1475 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
1477 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
1478 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
1479 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
1481 Use the new ones from above instead.
1483 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
1485 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
1486 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
1487 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
1489 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
1490 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
1492 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
1493 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
1496 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
1497 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
1499 Use the new functions instead.
1501 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
1504 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
1506 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
1508 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
1511 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
1513 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
1516 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
1518 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
1521 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
1522 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
1523 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
1525 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
1527 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
1528 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
1530 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
1531 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
1532 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
1533 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
1536 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
1538 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
1539 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
1540 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
1541 inexact for an exact.
1543 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
1544 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
1545 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
1548 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
1549 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
1550 accept an inexact argument.
1552 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
1553 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
1555 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
1558 ** New number validation macros:
1559 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
1563 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
1565 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
1566 scm_unprotect_object.
1568 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
1570 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
1572 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
1575 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
1577 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
1581 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
1583 * Changes to the distribution
1585 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
1587 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
1588 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
1589 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
1590 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
1591 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
1592 obtain these programs.
1593 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
1594 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
1596 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
1597 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
1598 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
1599 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
1600 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
1602 However, this approach means that minor differences between
1603 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
1604 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
1605 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
1609 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
1612 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
1613 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
1614 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
1615 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
1617 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
1619 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
1621 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
1622 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
1624 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
1625 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
1627 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
1628 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
1630 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
1631 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
1632 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
1633 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
1635 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
1637 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
1641 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
1642 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
1644 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
1646 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
1647 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
1649 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
1650 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
1651 number of objects of that kind.
1653 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
1655 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
1656 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
1657 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
1658 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
1659 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
1661 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
1663 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
1665 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
1667 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
1670 ** New module (ice-9 time)
1672 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
1674 ** New module (ice-9 history)
1676 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
1678 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1680 ** New command line option --debug
1682 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
1684 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
1686 ** New help facility
1688 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
1689 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
1690 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
1691 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
1692 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
1693 (help) gives this text
1695 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
1696 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
1698 Examples: (help help)
1700 (help "output-string")
1702 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
1704 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
1706 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
1707 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
1710 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
1711 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
1712 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
1715 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
1716 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
1717 use absolute filenames when possible.
1719 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
1720 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
1721 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
1724 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
1726 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
1727 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
1728 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
1729 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
1731 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
1733 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
1735 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
1736 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
1737 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
1739 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
1740 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
1741 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
1743 (read-enable 'positions)
1744 (debug-enable 'debug)
1746 ** Backtraces in scripts
1748 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
1752 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
1754 at the top of the script.
1756 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
1757 The second enables backtraces.)
1759 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
1761 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
1762 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
1763 substantially faster than before.
1765 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
1766 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
1768 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
1769 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
1771 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
1773 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
1774 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
1775 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
1777 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
1778 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
1779 when this hook is run in the future.
1781 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
1782 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
1784 ** Improvements to garbage collector
1786 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
1787 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
1790 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
1791 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
1792 more and more memory for certain programs.)
1794 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
1795 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
1797 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
1798 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
1800 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
1801 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
1802 in order not to need further allocation.)
1804 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
1807 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
1808 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
1809 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
1810 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
1812 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
1814 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
1817 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
1819 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
1822 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
1823 GC in percent of total heap size
1826 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
1827 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
1829 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
1831 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
1832 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
1834 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
1836 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
1837 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
1839 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
1841 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
1842 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
1846 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
1847 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
1849 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
1851 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1853 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
1855 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
1857 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
1859 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
1860 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
1862 (simple-format port message . args)
1863 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
1864 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
1865 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
1866 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
1867 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
1868 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
1869 Does not add a trailing newline."
1871 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
1873 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
1874 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
1876 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
1877 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
1879 ** Deprecated: list*
1881 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
1883 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
1885 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
1886 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
1888 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
1889 is returned as result.
1891 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
1893 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
1895 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
1897 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
1898 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
1901 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
1903 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
1905 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
1906 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
1908 * Changes to the gh_ interface
1910 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
1912 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
1914 * Changes to the scm_ interface
1916 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
1918 Thanks to Greg Badros!
1920 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
1922 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
1923 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
1924 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
1926 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
1929 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
1931 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
1932 the readability of argument checking.
1934 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
1936 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
1938 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
1940 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
1941 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
1942 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
1943 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
1944 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
1945 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
1946 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
1948 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
1950 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
1952 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
1953 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
1955 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
1957 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
1958 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
1961 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
1963 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
1964 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
1965 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
1967 Further, it is recommended not to rely on implementation details for guile's
1968 current implementation of bignums. It is planned to replace this
1969 implementation with gmp in the future.
1971 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
1972 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
1973 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
1975 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
1976 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
1977 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
1978 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
1979 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
1980 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
1981 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
1983 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
1984 scm_end_input (object);
1985 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
1986 ptob->flush (object);
1988 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
1989 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
1992 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
1994 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
1996 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
1997 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
1998 removed in a future version.
2000 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2002 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2003 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2004 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2005 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2007 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2008 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2010 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2013 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2015 in your configure.in.
2017 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2022 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2028 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2030 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2034 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2035 (define make-message string-append)
2037 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2039 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2043 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2048 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2052 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2054 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2055 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2057 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2059 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2060 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2061 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2062 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2063 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2064 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2066 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2067 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2068 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2070 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2071 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2072 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
2075 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
2076 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
2077 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
2078 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
2079 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
2081 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
2082 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
2083 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
2084 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
2085 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
2086 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
2087 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
2089 Destructors are not yet implemented.
2091 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
2092 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
2093 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
2095 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
2096 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
2097 KEY in the calling thread.
2099 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
2100 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
2101 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
2102 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
2103 associated with the key.
2105 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
2107 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
2108 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
2110 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
2112 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
2113 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
2114 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
2116 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
2118 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
2119 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
2121 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
2123 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
2125 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
2126 returned is undefined.
2128 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
2129 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
2130 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
2132 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
2133 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
2134 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
2136 ** New C level GC hooks
2138 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
2140 scm_before_gc_c_hook
2143 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
2144 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
2145 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
2147 scm_before_mark_c_hook
2148 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
2149 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
2151 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
2152 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
2155 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
2157 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
2158 allocation parameters
2160 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
2161 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
2162 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
2166 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
2167 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
2168 scm_default_max_segment_size
2170 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
2172 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
2173 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
2175 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
2177 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
2178 object and count on the object being protected until
2179 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
2181 The functions also have better time complexity.
2183 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
2184 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
2185 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
2186 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
2187 are no longer needed.
2189 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
2191 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
2192 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
2193 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
2194 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
2196 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
2198 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
2200 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
2202 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
2203 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
2204 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
2205 until this issue has been settled.
2207 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
2209 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
2211 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
2214 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
2216 * Changes to system call interfaces:
2218 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
2219 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
2220 descriptors were checked.
2222 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
2223 atomically written to a pipe.
2225 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
2226 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
2227 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
2228 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
2229 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
2230 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
2231 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
2234 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
2235 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
2236 is changed without calling tzset.
2238 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
2240 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
2241 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
2242 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
2244 (define write-network-long
2245 (lambda (value port)
2246 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2247 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
2248 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
2250 (define read-network-long
2252 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2253 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
2254 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
2256 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
2257 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
2259 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
2260 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
2261 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
2262 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
2264 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
2265 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
2266 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
2267 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
2271 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
2273 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2277 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
2278 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
2279 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
2285 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
2286 for a description of available commands.
2288 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
2289 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
2290 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
2292 (debug-enable 'backwards)
2294 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
2295 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
2297 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
2299 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
2301 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
2302 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
2303 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
2304 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
2305 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
2306 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
2309 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
2311 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
2312 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
2313 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
2314 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
2316 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
2317 the file and should not be affected by this change.
2319 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
2321 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2323 ** Readline support has changed again.
2325 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
2326 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
2327 to activate readline is now
2329 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
2332 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
2334 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
2335 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
2336 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
2339 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
2340 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
2341 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
2344 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
2345 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
2346 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
2347 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
2348 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
2349 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
2351 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
2352 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
2354 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
2356 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
2357 object it receives is the same string passed to
2358 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
2359 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
2360 string, not the suffix.
2362 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
2363 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
2364 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
2366 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
2368 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
2369 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
2370 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
2371 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
2374 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2376 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
2378 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
2379 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
2380 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
2381 appear from left to right.
2383 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
2386 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
2388 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
2389 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
2391 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2395 *** New function: hook? OBJ
2397 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
2399 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
2401 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
2402 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
2403 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
2405 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
2407 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
2409 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
2411 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
2414 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
2416 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
2417 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
2418 mentioning it here anyway.
2420 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
2422 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
2423 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
2424 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
2425 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
2428 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
2430 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
2432 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
2434 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
2435 otherwise return #f.
2437 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
2439 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
2440 returned by `opendir'.
2442 ** New function: using-readline?
2444 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
2446 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
2448 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
2449 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
2451 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2453 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
2455 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
2456 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
2457 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
2459 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
2461 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
2462 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
2464 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
2466 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
2467 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
2468 documentation slots are not yet used.
2470 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
2472 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
2473 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
2474 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
2479 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
2480 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
2481 (string-append x y))
2483 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
2484 can also be used for concatenating strings.
2486 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
2487 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
2488 be made in a clean way.]
2490 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
2492 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
2494 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
2496 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
2497 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
2499 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2501 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
2503 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
2505 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
2507 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
2508 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
2509 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
2510 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
2513 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2515 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
2517 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
2519 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
2521 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
2522 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
2524 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2526 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
2528 Evaluates the body of a special form.
2530 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
2532 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
2533 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
2534 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
2535 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
2536 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
2537 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
2539 This should not make any difference for most users.
2541 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
2543 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
2544 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
2546 *** New functions for applying generic functions
2548 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
2549 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
2550 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
2551 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
2552 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
2554 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
2556 It is now replaced by:
2558 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
2560 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
2561 binds a variable named NAME to it.
2563 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
2565 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
2566 This might change when we get the new module system.
2568 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
2572 Changes since Guile 1.3:
2574 * Changes to mailing lists
2576 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
2578 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
2581 * Changes to the distribution
2583 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
2585 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
2586 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
2587 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
2588 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
2589 you explicitly specify it.
2591 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
2592 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
2593 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
2594 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
2595 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
2598 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
2599 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
2600 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
2601 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
2603 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
2604 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
2605 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
2608 You can activate the readline support by issuing
2610 (use-modules (readline-activator))
2613 from your ".guile" file, for example.
2615 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2617 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
2618 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
2619 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
2620 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
2622 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
2623 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
2626 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2628 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
2629 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
2630 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
2631 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
2632 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
2633 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
2634 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
2635 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
2647 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
2648 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
2649 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
2650 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
2651 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
2656 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
2657 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
2665 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
2670 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
2671 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
2674 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
2675 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
2676 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
2677 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
2679 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
2681 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
2683 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
2684 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
2686 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
2688 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
2690 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
2691 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
2693 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
2696 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
2698 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
2700 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
2702 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
2704 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
2706 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
2708 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
2709 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
2710 when the hook was created.
2712 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
2713 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
2714 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
2715 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
2716 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
2717 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
2718 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
2719 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
2720 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
2722 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
2723 the dlopen family of functions.
2725 ** New function `provided?'
2727 - Function: provided? FEATURE
2728 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
2729 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
2730 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
2732 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
2734 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
2735 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
2736 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
2737 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
2740 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
2741 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
2742 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
2743 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
2745 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
2746 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
2747 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
2750 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
2751 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
2752 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
2753 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
2754 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
2755 but with the flag set.
2757 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
2759 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
2760 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
2762 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
2763 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
2764 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
2765 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
2766 available Scheme format implementations.
2768 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
2769 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
2770 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
2771 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
2772 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
2773 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
2774 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
2775 output is to the current error port if available by the
2776 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
2779 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
2780 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
2781 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
2782 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
2783 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
2784 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
2785 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
2786 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
2788 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
2789 be executed at a time.
2792 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
2794 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
2795 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
2796 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
2798 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
2799 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
2800 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
2801 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
2802 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
2803 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
2804 general form of a directive is:
2806 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
2808 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
2810 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
2812 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
2813 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
2814 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
2817 Any (print as `display' does).
2821 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
2825 S-expression (print as `write' does).
2829 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
2835 print number sign always.
2838 print comma separated.
2840 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
2846 print number sign always.
2849 print comma separated.
2851 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
2857 print number sign always.
2860 print comma separated.
2862 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
2868 print number sign always.
2871 print comma separated.
2873 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
2878 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
2882 print a number as a Roman numeral.
2885 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
2888 print a number as an ordinal English number.
2891 print a number as a cardinal English number.
2896 prints `y' and `ies'.
2899 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
2902 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
2907 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
2911 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
2914 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
2915 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
2917 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2920 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
2921 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
2923 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2926 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
2928 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
2930 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2933 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
2935 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
2937 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2940 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
2943 The sign appears before the padding.
2951 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
2953 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
2958 print N page separators.
2968 newline is ignored, white space left.
2971 newline is left, white space ignored.
2976 relative tabulation.
2982 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
2984 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
2987 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
2989 converts by `string-capitalize'.
2992 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
2995 converts by `string-upcase'.
2998 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3000 jumps N arguments forward.
3003 jumps 1 argument backward.
3006 jumps N arguments backward.
3009 jumps to the 0th argument.
3012 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3014 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3015 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3017 take argument from N.
3020 true test conditional.
3023 if-else-then conditional.
3029 default clause follows.
3032 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3034 at most N iterations.
3037 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3040 args from the rest of arguments.
3043 args from the rest args (lists).
3054 aborts if N <= M <= K
3056 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3059 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3062 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3068 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3070 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3072 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
3073 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
3074 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
3075 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
3076 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
3077 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
3081 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
3085 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
3091 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
3094 Print a `#\space' character
3096 print N `#\space' characters.
3099 Print a `#\tab' character
3101 print N `#\tab' characters.
3104 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
3105 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
3106 must be a positive decimal number.
3109 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3110 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3111 be processed by `read'.
3114 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3115 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3116 be processed by `read'.
3119 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
3122 prints format version.
3125 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
3126 and format it accordingly.
3128 *** Configuration Variables
3130 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
3131 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
3132 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
3133 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
3136 format:symbol-case-conv
3137 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
3138 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
3139 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
3140 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
3141 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
3143 format:iobj-case-conv
3144 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
3145 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
3148 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
3151 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
3157 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
3158 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
3159 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
3160 `format' padding style.
3163 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
3164 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
3165 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
3166 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
3170 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
3171 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
3172 directive parameters or modifiers)).
3175 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
3176 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
3177 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
3178 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
3179 parameters or modifiers)).
3182 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
3184 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
3186 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
3187 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
3189 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
3190 string-downcase! functions.
3192 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
3193 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
3195 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
3198 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
3201 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
3202 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
3204 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
3206 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
3207 the symbol had be read by `read'.
3209 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
3210 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
3211 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
3212 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
3213 would if STRING were input.
3215 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
3217 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
3218 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
3219 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
3220 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
3223 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
3225 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
3226 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
3229 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
3231 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
3232 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
3234 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
3235 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
3237 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
3238 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
3239 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
3240 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
3242 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
3243 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
3245 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
3246 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
3247 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
3249 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
3250 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
3252 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
3253 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
3254 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
3255 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
3256 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
3258 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
3259 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
3260 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
3261 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
3262 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
3263 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
3265 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
3266 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
3267 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
3270 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
3271 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
3272 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
3273 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
3274 the following grammar:
3275 ((apples (single-char #\a))
3276 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
3277 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
3278 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
3279 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
3280 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
3281 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
3282 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
3283 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
3284 last option in its combination)
3286 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
3287 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
3288 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
3289 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
3291 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
3292 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
3293 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
3295 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
3296 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
3297 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
3299 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
3300 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
3301 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
3302 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
3303 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
3304 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
3305 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
3306 ordinary argument strings.
3308 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
3309 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
3310 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
3311 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
3313 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
3314 as a list, associated with the empty list.
3316 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
3317 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
3318 - a required option is omitted
3319 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
3320 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
3321 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
3322 - an option predicate fails
3327 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
3330 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
3331 (verbose (required? #f)
3334 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
3335 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
3336 (predicate ,string?))))
3338 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
3339 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3341 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3342 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
3343 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
3344 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
3347 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
3349 It will be removed in a few releases.
3351 ** New syntax: lambda*
3352 ** New syntax: define*
3353 ** New syntax: define*-public
3354 ** New syntax: defmacro*
3355 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
3356 Guile now supports optional arguments.
3358 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
3359 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
3360 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
3361 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
3362 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
3364 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
3365 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
3366 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
3368 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
3370 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
3371 and examples for `lambda*':
3374 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
3376 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
3377 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
3378 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
3379 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
3380 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
3381 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
3382 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
3383 can be checked with the bound? macro.
3385 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
3387 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
3388 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
3389 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
3390 are given as keywords are bound to values.
3392 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
3393 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
3394 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
3395 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
3396 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
3397 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
3398 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
3399 and until the procedure is called.
3401 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
3403 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
3404 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
3405 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
3406 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
3407 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
3408 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
3409 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
3410 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
3411 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
3412 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
3414 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
3415 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
3416 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
3417 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
3420 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
3422 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
3423 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
3424 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
3425 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
3427 ** New syntax: and-let*
3428 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
3430 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
3431 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
3432 (<variable> <expression>)
3435 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
3436 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
3437 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
3440 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
3441 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
3442 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
3443 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
3444 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
3445 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
3446 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
3448 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
3449 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
3450 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
3451 shadow earlier bindings.
3453 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
3455 ** New sorting functions
3457 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
3458 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
3459 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
3460 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
3462 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
3463 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
3466 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
3467 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
3468 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
3470 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
3471 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
3472 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
3473 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
3475 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
3476 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
3477 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
3478 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
3479 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
3482 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
3483 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
3484 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
3485 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
3486 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
3487 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
3489 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
3490 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
3491 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
3493 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
3494 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
3495 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
3498 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
3499 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
3500 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
3502 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
3503 Added for compatibility with scsh.
3505 ** New built-in random number support
3507 *** New function: random N [STATE]
3508 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
3509 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
3510 returned have a uniform distribution.
3512 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
3513 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
3514 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
3515 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
3516 effect of the `random' operation.
3518 *** New variable: *random-state*
3519 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
3520 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
3521 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
3522 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
3523 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
3526 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
3527 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
3528 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
3529 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
3530 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
3532 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
3533 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
3534 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
3535 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
3536 initialized using SEED.
3538 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
3539 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
3540 range between 0 and 1.
3542 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
3543 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
3544 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
3545 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
3546 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
3547 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
3548 or a uniform vector of doubles.
3550 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
3551 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
3552 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
3553 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
3554 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
3555 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
3557 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
3558 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
3559 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
3560 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
3562 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
3563 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
3564 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
3565 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
3567 *** New function: random:exp STATE
3568 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
3569 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
3571 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
3573 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
3576 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
3577 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
3580 ** New function: make-guardian
3581 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
3582 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
3583 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
3584 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
3585 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
3587 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
3588 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
3589 one object if at all.
3591 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
3592 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
3593 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
3595 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
3596 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
3597 read again in last-in first-out order.
3599 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
3600 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
3602 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
3604 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
3605 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
3606 file position is used.
3608 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
3609 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
3610 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
3612 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
3613 redefined using seek.
3615 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
3616 size is not supplied.
3618 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
3619 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
3621 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
3622 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
3624 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
3626 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
3627 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
3628 and returns the contents as a single string.
3630 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
3631 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
3632 lists in serial order.
3634 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
3635 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
3636 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
3638 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
3639 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
3640 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
3641 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
3643 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
3644 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
3645 and #f if an error occured.
3647 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
3649 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
3650 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
3651 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
3652 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
3654 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
3656 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
3659 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
3661 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
3664 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3668 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
3669 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
3671 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
3672 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
3676 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3678 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
3680 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3681 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3683 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3685 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
3686 might change when we get the new module system.
3688 ** The smob interface
3690 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
3691 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
3693 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
3695 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
3699 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
3700 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
3701 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
3702 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
3703 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
3704 will be freed by the default free function.
3706 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
3707 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
3708 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3709 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3711 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
3712 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
3713 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3714 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3716 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
3718 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
3719 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
3723 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
3724 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3725 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3727 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
3728 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
3729 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3730 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3732 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
3733 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
3734 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
3736 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
3737 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
3738 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
3739 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
3741 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
3742 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
3743 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
3745 *** scm_newptob has been removed
3749 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
3751 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
3752 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
3753 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
3755 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
3756 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
3757 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
3759 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
3760 a string port's buffer.
3762 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
3763 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
3764 function pointers which together define the current random number
3765 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
3766 number library functions.
3768 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
3771 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
3772 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
3775 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
3776 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
3778 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
3779 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
3781 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
3782 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
3785 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
3786 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
3787 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
3788 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
3790 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
3791 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
3792 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
3793 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
3794 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
3795 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
3796 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
3798 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
3799 by libguile and the application.
3801 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
3802 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
3803 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
3804 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
3806 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
3807 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
3809 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
3810 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
3811 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
3813 ** Random number library functions
3814 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
3815 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
3816 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
3818 The default random state is stored in:
3820 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
3821 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
3822 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
3827 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
3829 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
3830 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
3831 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
3832 isn't a random state.
3834 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
3835 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
3837 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
3838 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
3839 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
3840 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
3842 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3843 Return 32 random bits.
3845 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3846 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
3848 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3849 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
3851 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3852 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
3854 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
3855 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
3857 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
3858 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
3859 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
3863 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
3865 * Changes to the distribution
3867 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
3868 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
3869 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
3872 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
3873 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
3874 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
3876 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
3877 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
3878 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
3879 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
3882 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
3883 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
3884 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
3886 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3888 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
3890 *** Function: batch-mode?
3892 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
3895 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
3897 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
3898 case has not been implemented.
3900 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
3901 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
3902 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
3905 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
3906 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
3908 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
3910 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
3912 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
3914 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
3915 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
3918 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
3919 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
3920 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
3921 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
3924 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
3926 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
3927 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
3928 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
3929 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
3930 find those libraries.
3932 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
3933 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
3936 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
3938 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
3939 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
3940 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
3941 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
3943 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
3944 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
3945 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
3949 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
3951 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
3952 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
3953 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
3956 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
3957 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
3958 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
3959 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
3961 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
3962 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
3965 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
3966 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
3967 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
3968 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
3969 compiler where to find the libraries.
3971 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
3972 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
3973 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
3975 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
3976 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
3977 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
3978 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
3979 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
3983 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3985 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
3986 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
3987 internationalization support.
3989 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
3990 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
3991 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
3992 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
3993 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
3995 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
3996 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
3997 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
3998 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
3999 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4001 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4002 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4003 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4004 any GNU mirror site.
4006 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4008 ** New function: add-history STRING
4009 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4010 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4011 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4013 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4015 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4016 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4017 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4020 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4021 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4022 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4024 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4026 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4029 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4030 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4033 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4034 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4035 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4036 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4037 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4038 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4040 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4041 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4042 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4043 of the form mentioned above.
4045 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4046 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4047 returned in the special `rest' list.
4049 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4050 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4052 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4054 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4056 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4058 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4059 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4060 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4061 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4062 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4063 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4064 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4065 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4068 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4070 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4072 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
4073 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
4076 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
4077 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
4078 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
4082 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
4083 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
4084 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
4085 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
4086 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
4087 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
4088 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
4089 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
4092 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
4094 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
4095 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
4096 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
4098 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
4100 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
4101 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
4103 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
4104 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
4105 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
4107 Why do we have this function?
4108 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
4109 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
4110 primitive, and display it differently, and
4111 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
4112 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
4115 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
4116 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
4119 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
4120 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
4121 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
4122 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
4124 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
4125 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
4128 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
4129 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
4131 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
4133 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
4134 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
4135 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
4136 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
4137 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
4138 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
4139 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
4142 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
4144 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
4145 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
4147 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
4148 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
4149 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
4150 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
4151 properly continue the print chain.
4153 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
4154 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
4155 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
4156 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
4157 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
4158 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
4159 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
4160 print-state, it is simply ignored.
4162 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
4163 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
4164 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
4165 safest to not check for these pairs.
4167 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
4168 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
4169 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
4170 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
4172 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
4174 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
4175 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
4177 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
4179 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
4181 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
4182 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
4183 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
4185 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
4186 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
4187 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
4189 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
4190 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
4191 the following functions and macros:
4193 Function: make-fluid
4195 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
4196 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
4197 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
4198 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
4199 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
4201 Function: fluid? OBJ
4203 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
4205 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
4206 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
4208 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
4209 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
4211 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
4213 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
4214 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
4215 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
4216 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
4217 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
4218 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
4219 modified by `with-fluids*'.
4221 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
4223 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
4224 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
4225 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
4226 should evaluate to a fluid.
4228 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
4230 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
4231 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
4232 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
4233 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
4234 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
4236 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
4239 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
4241 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
4243 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
4245 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
4248 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
4249 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
4250 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
4251 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
4252 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
4255 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
4256 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
4257 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
4259 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
4260 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
4261 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
4263 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
4264 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
4265 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4266 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
4268 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
4269 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
4270 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4271 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
4273 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
4274 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
4275 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
4276 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
4278 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
4279 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
4280 their revealed counts set to zero.
4282 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4283 Returns an integer file descriptor.
4285 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4286 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
4288 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4289 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
4291 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4292 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
4293 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
4295 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
4296 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
4297 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
4299 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
4300 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
4301 default environment inherited by child processes.
4303 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
4304 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
4305 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
4307 The return value is unspecified.
4309 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
4310 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
4311 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
4312 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
4313 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
4315 The return value is unspecified.
4317 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
4318 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
4326 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
4327 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
4330 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
4333 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
4334 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
4335 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
4337 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
4338 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
4339 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
4340 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
4343 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
4344 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
4346 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
4347 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
4348 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
4349 the `environ' procedure.
4351 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
4352 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
4355 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
4356 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
4358 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
4359 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
4360 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
4361 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
4363 *** procedure: times
4364 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
4365 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
4366 return a selected component:
4369 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
4373 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
4376 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
4380 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
4381 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
4385 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
4386 terminated child processes.
4388 ** Removed: list-length
4389 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
4390 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
4392 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
4394 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
4396 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
4398 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
4399 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
4400 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
4401 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
4403 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
4404 extra complexity it introduces.
4406 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
4407 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
4409 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
4410 variable to any non-empty value.
4412 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
4413 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
4415 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4417 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
4418 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
4420 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
4422 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
4423 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
4425 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
4427 ** vector handling routines
4429 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
4430 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
4431 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
4432 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
4433 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
4435 ** pair and list routines
4437 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
4440 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
4442 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
4445 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4447 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
4449 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
4450 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
4451 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
4452 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
4453 site-specific initialization code.
4455 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
4456 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
4457 initialization processes.
4459 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
4460 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
4461 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
4462 initialized properly.
4464 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
4465 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
4466 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
4468 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
4469 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
4470 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
4471 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
4472 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
4474 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
4476 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
4477 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
4478 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
4479 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
4480 objects the smob refers to get marked.
4482 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
4483 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
4484 which look like this:
4487 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
4489 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
4490 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
4493 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
4494 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
4497 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
4499 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
4500 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
4501 you will need to change your functions slightly.
4503 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
4504 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
4505 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
4506 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
4507 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
4509 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
4510 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
4512 int (*free) (SCM port);
4513 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
4514 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
4515 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
4519 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
4520 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
4521 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
4523 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
4526 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
4527 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
4528 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
4530 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
4531 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
4532 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
4535 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
4539 struct timeval *timeout);
4541 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
4542 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
4543 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
4544 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
4545 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
4546 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
4548 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
4549 scm_catch_body_t body,
4551 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
4554 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
4555 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
4556 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
4557 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
4558 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
4559 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
4561 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
4563 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
4566 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
4567 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
4568 spawning threads from application C code.
4570 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
4571 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
4572 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
4573 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
4574 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
4575 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
4577 ** Removed functions:
4579 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
4580 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
4582 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
4584 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
4585 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
4587 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
4589 ** mbstrings are now removed
4591 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
4592 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
4594 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
4596 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
4597 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
4598 their new names and arguments:
4600 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
4601 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
4602 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
4603 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
4606 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
4608 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
4610 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
4613 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
4615 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
4616 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
4617 pass a #f arg to catch.
4619 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
4621 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
4622 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
4625 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
4626 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
4627 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
4628 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
4629 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
4630 reclaim its storage.
4632 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
4633 worrying that some other function you call will call
4634 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
4635 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
4636 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
4637 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
4640 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
4642 * Changes to the distribution
4644 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
4645 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
4648 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
4649 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
4651 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
4652 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
4654 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
4656 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
4657 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
4658 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
4660 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4662 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
4663 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
4664 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
4665 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
4666 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
4667 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
4669 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
4670 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
4671 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
4674 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
4675 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
4676 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
4677 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
4679 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
4680 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
4681 libraries to your link command:
4683 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
4684 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
4685 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
4686 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
4688 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
4689 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
4690 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
4692 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4694 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
4695 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
4698 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
4700 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
4701 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
4702 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
4703 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
4704 searched is system dependent.
4706 (dynamic-object? VAL)
4708 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
4710 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
4712 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
4713 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
4715 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
4717 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
4718 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
4719 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
4720 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
4721 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
4724 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
4726 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
4727 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
4728 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
4729 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
4730 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
4732 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
4734 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
4735 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
4737 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
4739 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
4740 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
4741 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
4744 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
4746 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
4747 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
4748 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
4749 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
4751 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
4752 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
4754 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
4756 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
4757 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
4759 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
4761 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
4762 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
4770 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
4772 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
4773 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
4774 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
4775 a more informative way.
4777 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
4778 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
4779 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
4780 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
4781 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
4782 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
4784 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
4785 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
4788 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
4789 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
4790 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
4793 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
4794 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
4795 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
4796 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
4797 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
4798 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
4800 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
4801 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
4802 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
4803 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
4806 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
4807 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
4808 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
4809 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
4810 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
4811 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
4813 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
4814 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
4815 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
4816 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
4817 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
4819 *** regexp functions
4821 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
4822 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
4823 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
4825 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
4826 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
4827 with SCSH regular expressions.
4829 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
4830 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
4831 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
4832 position of STR at which to begin matching.
4834 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
4835 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
4836 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
4837 `string-match' returns `#f'.
4839 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
4840 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
4841 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
4842 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
4843 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
4844 match strings against the compiled regexp.
4846 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
4847 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
4848 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
4849 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
4850 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
4852 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
4854 **** Constant: regexp/extended
4855 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
4856 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
4857 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
4859 **** Constant: regexp/icase
4860 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
4861 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
4863 **** Constant: regexp/newline
4864 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
4866 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
4869 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
4870 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
4871 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
4873 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
4874 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
4875 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
4877 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
4878 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
4879 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
4880 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
4881 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
4884 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
4886 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
4887 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
4888 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
4889 used when different portions of a string are passed to
4890 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
4891 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
4893 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
4894 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
4895 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
4897 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
4898 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
4901 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
4902 and replace them with the contents of another string.
4904 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
4905 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
4906 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
4907 may be one of the following arguments:
4909 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
4911 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
4913 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
4914 the regexp match is written.
4916 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
4917 following the regexp match is written.
4919 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
4920 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
4923 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
4924 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
4925 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
4926 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
4927 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
4928 which should be matched against this regular expression.
4930 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
4933 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
4934 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
4935 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
4936 written out to PORT.
4938 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
4939 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
4940 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
4941 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
4942 will return after processing a single match.
4944 *** Match Structures
4946 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
4947 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
4948 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
4949 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
4950 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
4951 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
4954 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
4955 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
4956 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
4957 information about the original target string that was matched against a
4958 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
4960 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
4961 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
4962 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
4964 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
4965 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
4966 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
4967 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
4968 number N did not match, return `#f'.
4970 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
4971 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
4973 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
4974 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
4976 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
4977 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
4979 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
4980 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
4982 **** Function: match:count MATCH
4983 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
4984 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
4985 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
4987 **** Function: match:string MATCH
4988 Return the original TARGET string.
4990 *** Backslash Escapes
4992 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
4993 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
4994 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
4995 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
4996 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
4997 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
4999 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5000 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5001 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5002 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5003 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5004 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5005 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5006 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5008 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5009 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5010 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5011 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5012 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5013 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5014 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5016 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5017 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5018 return the resulting string.
5020 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5021 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5022 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5023 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5024 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5025 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5026 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5027 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5028 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5029 translated to the single character `*'.
5031 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5032 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5033 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5034 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5035 consecutive backslashes:
5037 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5039 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5040 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5041 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5043 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5044 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5045 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5046 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5047 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5048 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5050 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5052 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5053 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5054 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5055 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5056 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5057 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5058 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5059 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5060 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5061 cumbersome escape syntax.
5063 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5065 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5067 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5069 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5072 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
5074 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
5076 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
5079 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
5080 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
5081 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
5082 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
5083 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
5085 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
5086 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
5087 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
5088 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
5089 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
5090 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
5091 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
5094 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
5095 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
5096 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
5099 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
5100 `force-output' on every port open for output.
5102 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
5103 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
5104 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
5105 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
5106 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
5107 installed, you can say:
5109 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
5112 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5114 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
5115 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
5116 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
5117 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
5118 new dynamic roots and threads.
5121 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
5123 * Changes to the distribution.
5125 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
5127 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
5128 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
5129 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
5130 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
5131 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
5132 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
5133 programming language. These are packaged together because the
5134 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
5136 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
5139 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
5140 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
5145 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5147 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
5148 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
5150 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
5151 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
5152 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
5153 the (command-line) function.
5154 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
5155 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
5156 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
5158 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
5159 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
5160 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
5161 command line arguments
5162 -ds do -s script at this point
5163 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
5164 -h, --help display this help and exit
5165 -v, --version display version information and exit
5166 \ read arguments from following script lines
5168 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
5169 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
5171 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5174 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5178 (main (command-line))
5180 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
5182 ekko a speckled gecko
5184 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
5185 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
5186 following list of command-line arguments:
5188 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
5190 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
5191 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
5192 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
5193 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
5194 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5196 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
5198 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
5200 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
5201 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
5204 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
5205 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
5206 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
5207 SCSH) for circumventing them.
5209 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
5210 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
5211 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
5212 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
5214 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
5218 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5222 If the user invokes this script as follows:
5224 ekko a speckled gecko
5226 Unix expands this into
5228 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
5230 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
5231 read from the second line of the script, producing:
5233 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5235 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
5236 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5238 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
5239 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
5240 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
5241 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
5242 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
5243 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
5244 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
5245 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
5246 it only terminates the argument list.)
5247 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
5248 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
5249 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
5250 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
5251 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
5252 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
5253 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
5254 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
5256 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5258 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
5259 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
5260 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
5261 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
5262 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
5264 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
5265 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
5266 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
5268 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
5270 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
5271 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
5272 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
5273 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
5276 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
5277 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5278 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5280 * Changes to Scheme functions
5282 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
5283 and disabled by default.
5285 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
5286 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
5287 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
5288 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
5290 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
5292 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
5294 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
5295 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
5297 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
5298 (read-set! keywords #f)
5300 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
5301 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
5302 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
5305 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
5306 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
5307 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
5310 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
5311 support for Scheme functions.
5313 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
5314 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
5315 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
5316 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
5319 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
5320 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
5321 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
5324 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
5325 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
5326 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
5329 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
5330 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
5331 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
5332 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
5333 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
5334 display the result as a prompt.
5335 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
5337 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
5338 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
5339 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
5342 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
5343 procedure of zero arguments.
5345 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
5346 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
5347 argument is bound in the current module.
5349 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
5350 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
5351 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
5352 public bindings into the current module.
5354 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
5355 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
5357 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
5358 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
5360 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
5361 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
5363 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
5364 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
5366 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
5367 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
5369 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
5370 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
5371 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
5372 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
5373 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
5375 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
5376 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
5377 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
5378 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
5380 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
5383 ** Changes to I/O functions
5385 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
5386 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
5387 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
5389 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
5390 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
5391 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
5393 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
5394 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
5396 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
5397 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
5398 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
5399 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
5401 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
5403 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
5404 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
5406 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
5407 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
5408 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
5409 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
5410 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
5413 'trim omit delimiter from result
5414 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
5415 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
5416 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
5418 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
5420 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
5421 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
5423 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
5424 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
5425 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
5426 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
5427 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
5429 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
5430 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
5431 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
5433 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
5434 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
5435 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
5436 above, and defaults to 'peek.
5438 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
5439 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
5441 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
5442 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
5444 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
5446 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
5447 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
5448 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
5449 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
5450 a delimiting character.
5451 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
5453 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
5454 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
5455 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
5456 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
5457 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
5458 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
5460 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
5461 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
5463 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
5464 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
5465 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
5467 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
5468 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
5469 the array to read and write.
5471 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
5472 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
5475 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
5477 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
5480 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
5481 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
5482 Values for COMMAND are:
5484 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
5485 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
5486 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
5487 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
5488 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
5489 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
5490 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
5491 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
5493 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
5495 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
5496 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
5497 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
5498 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
5499 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
5500 corresponding return set will be the same.
5502 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
5505 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
5506 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
5507 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
5508 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
5509 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
5510 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
5511 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
5512 special file being created.
5514 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
5515 clashing with various SCSH forks.
5517 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
5518 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
5519 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
5520 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
5521 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
5522 and originating address.
5524 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
5525 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
5526 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
5528 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
5531 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
5532 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
5535 (status:exit-val STATUS)
5536 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
5537 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
5538 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
5539 this function returns #f.
5541 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
5542 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
5543 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
5546 (status:term-sig STATUS)
5547 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
5548 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
5551 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
5552 a valid STATUS value.
5554 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
5556 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
5557 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
5559 Component Accessor Setter
5560 ========================= ============ ============
5561 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
5562 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
5563 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
5564 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
5565 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
5566 year tm:year set-tm:year
5567 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
5568 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
5569 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
5570 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
5571 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
5573 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
5574 describing the host system:
5577 ============================================== ================
5578 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
5579 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
5580 release level of the operating system utsname:release
5581 version level of the operating system utsname:version
5582 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
5584 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
5585 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
5586 system's user database:
5589 ====================== =================
5590 user name passwd:name
5591 user password passwd:passwd
5594 real name passwd:gecos
5595 home directory passwd:dir
5596 shell program passwd:shell
5598 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
5599 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
5600 system's group database:
5603 ======================= ============
5604 group name group:name
5605 group password group:passwd
5607 group members group:mem
5609 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
5610 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
5614 ========================= ===============
5615 official name of host hostent:name
5616 alias list hostent:aliases
5617 host address type hostent:addrtype
5618 length of address hostent:length
5619 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
5621 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
5622 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
5626 ========================= ===============
5627 official name of net netent:name
5628 alias list netent:aliases
5629 net number type netent:addrtype
5630 net number netent:net
5632 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
5633 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
5637 ========================= ===============
5638 official protocol name protoent:name
5639 alias list protoent:aliases
5640 protocol number protoent:proto
5642 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
5643 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
5647 ========================= ===============
5648 official service name servent:name
5649 alias list servent:aliases
5650 port number servent:port
5651 protocol to use servent:proto
5653 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
5654 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
5657 ======================================== ===============
5658 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
5659 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
5660 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
5661 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
5663 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
5664 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
5665 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
5667 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
5668 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
5670 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
5671 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
5673 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
5674 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
5676 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
5678 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
5680 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
5681 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
5682 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
5684 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
5685 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
5686 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
5687 return the remaining characters as a string.
5689 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
5690 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
5691 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
5693 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
5695 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5697 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
5700 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
5703 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
5704 and returns the array
5706 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
5707 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
5708 the user to interpret the data both ways.
5710 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5712 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
5713 symbol's value from C code:
5715 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
5716 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
5717 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
5718 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
5720 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
5721 without assigning them a value.
5723 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
5724 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
5725 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
5727 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
5728 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
5729 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
5731 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
5732 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
5734 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
5735 doesn't actually care about that.
5737 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
5738 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
5739 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
5741 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
5742 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
5743 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
5744 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
5745 which we have just created and initialized.
5747 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
5748 should one occur. We call it like this:
5749 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
5751 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
5752 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
5753 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
5754 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
5755 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
5756 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
5759 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
5760 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
5761 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
5762 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
5763 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
5764 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
5765 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
5768 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
5769 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
5770 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
5771 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
5772 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
5775 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
5776 scm_internal_catch, except:
5778 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
5779 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
5780 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
5781 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
5784 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
5785 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
5786 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
5788 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
5789 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
5790 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
5791 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
5794 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
5795 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
5796 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
5798 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
5799 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
5800 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
5801 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
5802 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
5804 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
5805 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
5806 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
5808 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
5809 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
5810 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
5812 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
5813 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
5815 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
5816 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
5817 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
5820 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
5821 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
5822 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
5823 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
5824 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
5825 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
5826 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
5829 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
5830 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
5832 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
5833 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
5834 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
5835 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
5836 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
5839 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
5840 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
5842 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
5843 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
5846 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
5847 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
5849 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5852 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
5853 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
5854 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
5855 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
5856 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
5857 given the following arguments:
5859 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5861 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
5863 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
5865 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5868 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
5869 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
5870 command-line arguments.
5872 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
5873 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
5874 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
5875 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
5876 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
5877 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
5880 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5883 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
5884 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
5886 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
5887 rearranged slightly. They are now:
5889 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5890 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
5891 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
5892 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
5894 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5895 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
5897 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5898 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
5899 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
5900 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
5902 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5903 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
5905 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
5906 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
5908 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
5910 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
5911 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
5912 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
5915 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
5916 returns a port instead of an FD object.
5918 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
5919 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
5924 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
5927 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
5929 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
5930 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
5931 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
5932 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
5934 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
5936 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
5938 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
5939 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
5940 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
5941 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
5942 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
5943 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
5944 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
5945 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
5946 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
5947 for more information.
5949 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
5950 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
5952 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
5953 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
5954 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
5955 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
5956 following two lines at the top of the file:
5958 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5961 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
5962 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
5963 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
5965 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
5967 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5969 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
5972 (display (car args))
5973 (if (pair? (cdr args))
5975 (loop (cdr args)))))
5978 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
5979 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
5980 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
5981 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
5982 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
5983 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
5987 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
5990 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
5993 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
5995 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
5996 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
5997 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
5998 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
5999 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6002 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6003 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6004 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6005 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6006 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6009 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6012 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6013 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6014 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6017 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6018 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6019 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6021 to see a backtrace, and
6022 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6023 to see them by default.
6027 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6029 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6031 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6032 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6035 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6036 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6037 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6038 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6041 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6042 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6043 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6044 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6045 functions which inspired them.
6047 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6048 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6052 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6054 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6056 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6057 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6060 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6061 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6062 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6064 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6065 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6066 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6067 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6068 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6070 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6072 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
6073 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
6074 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
6077 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
6080 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
6082 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
6083 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
6084 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
6085 above should serve their purposes.
6087 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
6088 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
6089 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
6090 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
6092 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
6095 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
6096 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
6097 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
6098 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
6100 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
6101 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
6102 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
6103 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
6105 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
6106 for the `read' function.
6109 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
6110 to that of `integer?'.
6112 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
6113 use the R4RS names for these functions.
6115 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
6116 it simply returns the object's property list.
6118 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
6119 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
6120 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
6121 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
6123 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
6125 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
6128 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
6130 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
6131 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
6133 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
6135 void (*main_func) (),
6138 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
6139 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
6140 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
6141 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
6142 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
6144 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
6145 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
6146 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
6147 know which arguments have been processed.
6149 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
6150 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
6151 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
6152 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
6153 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
6155 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
6156 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
6157 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
6158 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
6159 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
6160 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
6161 people from making that mistake.
6163 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
6164 convenient ways to override these when desired.
6166 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
6168 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
6172 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
6175 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
6176 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
6177 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
6178 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
6181 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
6182 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
6183 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
6184 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
6187 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
6188 have been added to the Guile library.
6190 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
6191 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
6192 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
6195 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
6196 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
6197 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
6199 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
6200 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
6201 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
6202 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
6203 argument from the list.
6206 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
6209 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
6210 null-terminated string, and returns it.
6212 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
6213 to a Scheme port object.
6215 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
6216 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
6221 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
6223 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
6224 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
6225 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
6226 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
6227 code as a special datatype.
6229 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
6230 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
6231 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
6232 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
6233 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
6236 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
6237 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
6238 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
6239 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
6240 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
6242 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
6245 Copyright information:
6247 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
6249 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
6250 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
6251 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
6252 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
6254 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
6255 of this document, or of portions of it,
6256 under the above conditions, provided also that they
6257 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
6262 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"