1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Each release reports the NEWS in the following sections:
9 * Changes to the distribution
10 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
11 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
12 * Changes to the C interface
15 Changes since the stable branch:
17 * Changes to the distribution
19 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
21 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
23 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
24 At the moment it is being used to handle Guile's bignums.
26 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
28 Guile now has config.h and libguile/scmconfig.h. The former is not
29 installed and is private. The latter is installed and used by Guile's
30 public headers. config.h is generated by configure and autoheader,
31 and scmconfig.h is generated by a small C program, gen-scmconfig at
32 build time based in part on the contents of config.h.
34 Seen libguile/__scm.h and gen-scmconfig.c for more information.
36 Note too that nearly all public defines are now set to either 1 or 0
37 rather than being set to 1 or left undefined. See gen-scmconfig.c and
38 the GNU Coding Guidelines for the rationale. However, pre-existing
39 defines that were not renamed were not changed. i.e. GUILE_DEBUG is
40 still either 1 or undefined.
42 ** The INSTALL file is now the generic automake installed one.
44 Guile specific instructions can be found in the README.
46 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
48 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
49 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
50 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
51 so the current effective-version is "1.6". The effective version
52 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
53 items like the versioned share directory name
54 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.6.
56 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
57 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
58 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
59 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
60 with each micro release during a stable series.
62 ** Thread implementation has changed.
64 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
65 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
66 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
67 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
68 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
71 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
72 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
73 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
74 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
75 the GC. See the manual for details. [XXX - write this.]
77 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
78 in which case "null" threads are used.
80 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
82 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when
83 you don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but
84 where you have some section(s) of code which you consider can run
85 in parallel to other sections.
87 They "flag" (with dynamic extent) sections of code to be of
88 "serial" or "parallel" nature and have the single effect of
89 preventing a serial section from being run in parallel with any
90 serial section (including itself).
92 Both serialize and parallelize can be nested. If so, the
93 inner-most construct is in effect.
95 NOTE 1: A serial section can run in parallel with a parallel
98 NOTE 2: If a serial section S is "interrupted" by a parallel
99 section P in the following manner: S = S1 P S2, S2 is not
100 guaranteed to be resumed by the same thread that previously
103 WARNING: Spawning new threads within a serial section have
104 undefined effects. It is OK, though, to spawn threads in unflagged
105 sections of code where neither serialize or parallelize is in
108 A typical usage is when Guile is used as scripting language in some
109 application doing heavy computations. If each thread is
110 encapsulated with a serialize form, you can then put a parallelize
111 form around the code performing the heavy computations (typically a
112 C code primitive), enabling the computations to run in parallel
113 while the scripting code runs single-threadedly.
115 ** Guile now includes its own version of libltdl.
117 We now use a modified version of libltdl that allows us to make
118 improvements to it without having to rely on libtool releases.
120 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
122 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
124 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
125 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
127 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
129 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
130 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
132 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
134 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
135 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
138 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
141 (define-module (demo)
145 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
148 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
150 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
152 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
155 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
157 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
158 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
159 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
162 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
163 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
164 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
167 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
169 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
170 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
171 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
174 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
177 ** Checking for duplicate bindings in module system
179 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
182 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more duplicates
183 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
191 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
192 has been detected is to
194 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
195 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
196 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
199 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
202 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
204 to your .guile init file.
206 The syntax for the :duplicates option is:
208 :duplicates HANDLER-NAME | (HANDLER1-NAME HANDLER2-NAME ...)
210 Specifying multiple handlers is useful since some handlers (such as
211 replace) can defer conflict resolution to others. Each handler is
212 tried until a binding is selected.
214 Currently available duplicates handlers are:
216 check report an error for bindings with a common name
217 warn issue a warning for bindings with a common name
218 replace replace bindings which have an imported replacement
219 warn-override-core issue a warning for imports which override core bindings
220 and accept the override
221 first select the first encountered binding (override)
222 last select the last encountered binding (override)
224 These two are provided by the (oop goops) module:
226 merge-generics merge generic functions with a common name
227 into an <extended-generic>
228 merge-accessors merge accessors with a common name
230 The default duplicates handler is:
232 (replace warn-override-core warn last)
234 A recommended handler (which is likely to correspond to future Guile
235 behavior) can be installed with:
237 (default-duplicate-binding-handler '(replace warn-override-core check))
239 ** New define-module option: :replace
241 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
244 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
245 for the core binding `format'.
247 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
249 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
250 a prefix to all imported bindings.
253 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
255 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
258 ** Merging generic functions
260 It is sometimes tempting to use GOOPS accessors with short names.
261 For example, it is tempting to use the name `x' for the x-coordinate
264 Assume that we work with a graphical package which needs to use two
265 independent vector packages for 2D and 3D vectors respectively. If
266 both packages export `x' we will encounter a name collision.
268 This can now be resolved automagically with the duplicates handler
269 `merge-generics' which gives the module system license to merge all
270 generic functions sharing a common name:
272 (define-module (math 2D-vectors)
273 :use-module (oop goops)
276 (define-module (math 3D-vectors)
277 :use-module (oop goops)
280 (define-module (my-module)
281 :use-module (math 2D-vectors)
282 :use-module (math 3D-vectors)
283 :duplicates merge-generics)
285 x in (my-module) will now share methods with x in both imported
288 There will, in fact, now be three distinct generic functions named
289 `x': x in (2D-vectors), x in (3D-vectors), and x in (my-module). The
290 last function will be an <extended-generic>, extending the previous
293 Let's call the imported generic functions the "ancestor functions". x
294 in (my-module) is, in turn, a "descendant function" of the imported
295 functions, extending its ancestors.
297 For any generic function G, the applicable methods are selected from
298 the union of the methods of the descendant functions, the methods of G
299 itself and the methods of the ancestor functions.
301 This, ancestor functions share methods with their descendants and vice
302 versa. This implies that x in (math 2D-vectors) can will share the
303 methods of x in (my-module) and vice versa, while x in (math 2D-vectors)
304 doesn't share the methods of x in (math 3D-vectors), thus preserving
307 Sharing is dynamic, so that adding new methods to a descendant implies
308 adding it to the ancestor.
310 If duplicates checking is desired in the above example, the following
311 form of the :duplicates option can be used instead:
313 :duplicates (merge-generics check)
315 ** New function: effective-version
317 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
318 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
319 to the distribution" above.
321 ** Futures: future, make-future, future-ref
323 Futures are like promises, but begun immediately in a new thread. See
324 the "Futures" section in the reference manual.
326 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
328 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
329 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
331 ** Fair mutexes and condition variables
333 Fair mutexes and condition variables have been added. The fairness
334 means that scheduling is arranged to give as equal time shares as
335 possible and that threads are awakened in a first-in-first-out
336 manner. This is not guaranteed with standard mutexes and condition
339 In addition, fair mutexes are recursive. Locking a fair mutex that
340 you have already locked will succeed. Every call to lock-mutex must
341 be matched with a call to unlock-mutex. Only the last call to
342 unlock-mutex will actually unlock the mutex.
344 A fair condition variable must be used together with a fair mutex,
345 just as a standard condition variable must be used together with a
348 ** New functions: make-fair-mutex, make-fair-condition-variable'
350 Make a new fair mutex and a new fair condition variable respectively.
352 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
354 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
355 instead if blocking and indicate failure.
357 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
359 The funtion 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
360 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
363 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
365 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
367 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
369 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
370 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
371 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
374 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
375 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
376 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
379 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
380 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
382 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
384 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
385 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
388 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
389 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
391 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
392 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
393 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
394 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
395 level for the current thread.
397 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
399 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
401 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
402 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
405 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
407 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
409 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
412 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
414 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
417 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
418 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
419 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
421 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
422 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
423 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
424 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
435 ERROR: Numerical overflow
437 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
440 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
442 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
443 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
444 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
455 ** We now have uninterned symbols.
457 The new function 'make-symbol' will return a uninterned symbol. This
458 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
459 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
461 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
464 ** pretty-print has more options.
466 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
467 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
468 maximum output width. See its online documentation.
470 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
472 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
473 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
474 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
476 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
478 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
479 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
481 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
483 Change your code to use either procedure->memoizing-macro or, probably better,
484 to use r5rs macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done
485 during evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
487 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
489 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
490 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
491 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
492 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
493 without the soft port blocking.
495 ** New debugging feature: breakpoints.
497 Guile now has breakpoints. For details see the `Debugging Features'
498 chapter in the reference manual.
500 ** Deprecated: undefine
502 There is no replacement for undefine.
504 ** call-with-output-string doesn't segv on closed port
506 Previously call-with-output-string would give a segmentation fault if
507 the string port was closed by the called function. An exception is
510 ** (ice-9 popen) duplicate pipe fd fix
512 open-pipe, open-input-pipe and open-output-pipe left an extra copy of
513 their pipe file descriptor in the child, which was normally harmless,
514 but it can prevent the parent seeing eof or a broken pipe immediately
515 and has now been fixed.
517 ** source-properties and set-source-properties! fix
519 Properties set with set-source-properties! can now be read back
520 correctly with source-properties.
524 delete and delete! now call the "=" procedure with arguments in the
525 order described by the SRFI-1 specification
527 list-copy now accepts improper lists, per the specification.
531 date-week-number now correctly respects the requested day of week
534 * Changes to the C interface
536 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
538 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
539 private or renamed with a more suitable public name. See below for
540 the ones which have been renamed.
542 ** HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H have been removed from public use.
544 HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H removed from public use. These are
545 no longer needed since the older uses of stdint.h and inttypes.h are
546 now handled by configure.in and gen-scmconfig.c.
548 ** USE_DLL_IMPORT is no longer defined publically.
550 gen-scmconfig now uses it to decide what contents to place in the
551 public scmconfig.h header without adding the USE_DLL_IMPORT itself.
553 ** HAVE_LIMITS_H has been removed from public use.
555 gen-scmconfig now just uses HAVE_LIMITS_H to decide whether or not to
556 add a limits.h include in scmconfig.h.
558 ** time.h, sys/time.h, etc. #ifdefery has been removed from public headers.
560 gen-scmconfig now just uses the same logic to decide what time related
561 #includes to add to scmconfig.h.
563 ** HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC has been removed from public use.
565 scmconfig.h now just defines scm_t_timespec.
567 ** HAVE_PTRDIFF has been removed from public use and Guile doesn't
570 Guile now publically defines scm_t_ptrdiff and
571 SCM_SIZEOF_SCM_T_PTRDIFF in scmconfig.h, and all occurrences of
572 ptrdiff_t have been replaced with scm_t_ptrdiff.
574 Guile defines its own type this rather than just relying on ptrdiff_t
575 and SCM_SIZEOF_PTRDIFF_T because Guile actually typedefs long to
576 scm_t_ptrdiff when ptrdiff_t isn't available. A public "typedef long
577 ptrdiff_t" could conflict with other headers.
579 ** HAVE_UINTPTR_T and HAVE_UINTPTR_T have been removed from public use.
581 They are replaced by public definitions of SCM_SIZEOF_UINTPTR_T and
582 SCM_SIZEOF_INTPTR_T. These are defined to 0 if the corresponding type
585 ** The public #define STDC_HEADERS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_STDC_HEADERS.
587 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
589 ** The public #define HAVE_SYS_SELECT has been renamed to
590 SCM_HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H.
592 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
594 ** The public #define HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H has been renamed to
595 SCM_HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H.
597 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
599 ** The public #define HAVE_IEEEFP_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_IEEEFP_H.
601 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
603 ** The public #define HAVE_NAN_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_NAN_H.
605 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
607 ** The public #define HAVE_WINSOCK2_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_WINSOCK2_H.
609 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
611 ** The public #define HAVE_ARRAYS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_ARRAYS.
613 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
615 ** The public #define STACK_GROWS_UP has been renamed to SCM_STACK_GROWS_UP.
617 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
619 ** The public #define USE_PTHREAD_THREADS has been renamed to
620 SCM_USE_PTHREAD_THREADS.
622 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
624 ** The public #define USE_NULL_THREADS has been renamed to
625 SCM_USE_NULL_THREADS.
627 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
629 ** The public #define USE_COOP_THREADS has been renamed to
630 SCM_USE_COOP_THREADS.
632 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
634 ** SCM_C_INLINE is publically defined if possible.
636 If the platform has a way to define inline functions, SCM_C_INLINE
637 will be defined to that text. Otherwise it will be undefined. This
638 is a little bit different than autoconf's normal handling of the
639 inline define via AC_C_INLINE.
641 ** Guile now publically defines some basic type infrastructure.
646 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_CHAR
648 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_SHORT
650 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG
652 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_INT
653 SCM_SIZEOF_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
654 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
668 and when either of these are defined to 1, optionally defines
679 ** The macro SCM_IFLAGP now only returns true for flags
681 User code should never have used this macro anyway. And, you should not use
682 it in the future either. Thus, the following explanation is just for the
683 impropable case that your code actually made use of this macro, and that you
684 are willing to depend on internals which will probably change in the near
687 Formerly, SCM_IFLAGP also returned true for evaluator bytecodes created with
688 SCM_MAKSPCSYM (short instructions) and evaluator bytecodes created with
689 SCM_MAKISYM (short instructions). Now, SCM_IFLAG only returns true for
690 Guile's special constants created with SCM_MAKIFLAG. To achieve the old
691 behaviour, instead of
695 you would have to write
697 (SCM_ISYMP(x) || SCM_IFLAGP(x))
699 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
701 This macro is not intended for public use. However, if you allocated types
702 with tc16 type codes in a way that you would have needed this macro, you are
703 expected to have a deep knowledge of Guile's type system. Thus, you should
704 know how to replace this macro.
706 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
708 Use SCM_INEXACTP instead.
710 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
712 Use SCM_REALP instead.
714 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
716 Use SCM_COMPLEXP instead.
718 ** The preprocessor define USE_THREADS has been deprecated.
720 Going forward, assume that the thread API is always present.
722 ** The preprocessor define GUILE_ISELECT has been deprecated.
724 Going forward, assume that scm_internal_select is always present.
726 ** The preprocessor define READER_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
728 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
729 READER_EXTENSIONS are always present.
731 ** The preprocessor define DEBUG_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
733 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
734 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS are always present.
736 ** The preprocessor define DYNAMIC_LINKING has been deprecated.
738 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
739 DYNAMIC_LINKING are always present.
741 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
743 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
744 programs. (Do not use.)
746 ** New function: scm_effective_version
748 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
749 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
750 to the distribution" above.
752 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
754 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
755 arguments are now passed directly:
757 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
759 This is an incompatible change.
761 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
763 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
764 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
765 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
767 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
768 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
770 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
772 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
774 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
775 function in the init section.
777 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
779 ** New macros SCM_VECTOR_REF and SCM_VECTOR_SET.
781 Use these in preference to SCM_VELTS.
783 ** The SCM_VELTS macros now returns a read-only vector. For writing,
784 use the new macros SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS or SCM_VECTOR_SET. The use of
785 SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS is discouraged, though.
787 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
789 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
790 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
791 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
792 stays roughly constant.
794 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
795 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
796 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
797 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
798 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
801 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
802 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
803 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
804 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
806 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
808 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
810 ** The struct scm_cell has been renamed to scm_t_cell
812 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
813 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
814 initializes a new cell (see below).
816 ** New functions for memory management
818 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
819 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
820 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
821 cause aborts in long running programs.
823 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
824 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
826 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
827 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
828 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
829 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
830 details and for upgrading instructions.
832 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
833 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
834 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
836 ** New function: scm_str2string
838 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
841 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
843 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
844 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
845 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
846 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
847 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
849 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
850 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
851 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
853 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, QT_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
854 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
856 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
858 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old macros
859 had problems because with them allocation and initialization was separated and
860 the GC could sometimes observe half initialized cells. Only careful coding by
861 the user of SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
863 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
865 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
868 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
870 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
872 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
874 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or, probably better, to use r5rs
875 macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done during
876 evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
878 ** Removed from scm_root_state: def_inp, def_outp, def_errp, together
879 with corresponding macros scm_def_inp, scm_def_outp and scm_def_errp.
880 These were undocumented and unused copies of the standard ports at the
881 time that Guile was initialised. Normally the current ports should be
882 used instead, obtained from scm_current_input_port () etc. If an
883 application needs to retain earlier ports, it should save them in a
884 gc-protected location.
886 ** Removed compile time option MEMOIZE_LOCALS
888 Now, caching of local variable positions during memoization is mandatory.
889 However, the option to disable the caching has most probably not been used
892 ** Removed compile time option SCM_RECKLESS
894 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
895 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
897 ** Removed compile time option SCM_CAUTIOUS
899 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
900 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
902 ** Deprecated configure flags USE_THREADS and GUILE_ISELECT
904 Previously, when the C preprocessor macro USE_THREADS was defined,
905 libguile included a thread API. This API is now always included, even
906 when threads are not really supported. Thus, you don't need to test
909 Analogously, GUILE_ISELECT was defined when the function
910 scm_internal_select was provided by Guile. This function is now
911 always defined, and GUILE_ISELECT with it.
913 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
915 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
916 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
918 ** Deprecated definitions of error strings: scm_s_expression, scm_s_test,
919 scm_s_body, scm_s_bindings, scm_s_variable, scm_s_clauses, scm_s_formals
921 These error message strings were used to issue syntax error messages by
922 guile's evaluator. It's unlikely that they have been used by user code.
924 ** Deprecated helper macros for evaluation and application: SCM_EVALIM2,
925 SCM_EVALIM, SCM_XEVAL, SCM_XEVALCAR
927 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
928 that they have been used by user code.
930 ** Deprecated helper functions for evaluation and application:
931 scm_m_expand_body, scm_macroexp
933 These functions were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's
934 unlikely that they have been used by user code.
936 ** Deprecated functions for unmemoization: scm_unmemocar
938 ** Deprecated macros for iloc handling: SCM_ILOC00, SCM_IDINC, SCM_IDSTMSK
940 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
941 that they have been used by user code.
943 ** Removed definitions: scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify,
944 scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify, scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify,
945 scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify, scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell,
946 scm_debug_newcell2, scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH,
947 SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY, SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY,
948 SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED, scm_debug_newcell,
949 scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL,
950 SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL,
951 SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS,
952 scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var, *top-level-lookup-closure*,
953 scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3, scm_eval2,
954 root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP,
955 scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring, scm_tc7_substring,
956 sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP, SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig,
957 scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big,
958 scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT, SCM_SETCHARS,
959 SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_LENGTH_MAX,
960 SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS,
961 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern,
962 scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
963 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
964 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
965 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
966 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
967 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
968 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
969 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
970 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
971 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
972 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
973 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable
976 Changes since Guile 1.4:
978 * Changes to the distribution
980 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
982 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
984 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
985 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
986 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
987 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
988 indicate major changes in Guile.
990 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
991 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
992 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
993 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
995 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
996 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
997 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
998 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
999 micro version number.
1001 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1003 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1005 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1006 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1008 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1010 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1011 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1012 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1014 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1016 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1017 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1018 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1021 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1023 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1026 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1028 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1029 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1031 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1033 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1034 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1037 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1039 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1042 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1045 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1047 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1049 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1050 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1051 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1053 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1055 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1057 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1060 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1062 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1064 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1066 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1067 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1068 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1070 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1072 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1074 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1075 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1084 See README there for more info.
1086 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1087 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1090 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1092 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1094 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1096 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1097 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1098 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1100 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1102 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1103 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1104 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1106 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1107 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1109 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1112 (oop goops describe)
1114 (oop goops active-slot)
1115 (oop goops composite-slot)
1117 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1118 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1119 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1121 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1123 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1124 in the default environment:
1126 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1127 %read-line write-line
1129 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1130 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1132 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1134 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1137 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1138 can be used for similar functionality.
1140 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1142 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1143 it defines two procedures:
1145 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1147 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1148 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1149 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1152 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1154 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1155 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1156 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1157 write large strings.
1159 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1161 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1162 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1164 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1166 for complete documentation.
1168 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1170 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1171 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1172 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1173 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1175 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1176 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1180 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1181 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1182 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1185 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1188 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1189 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1191 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1192 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1195 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1198 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1200 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1202 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1204 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1206 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1207 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1208 Scheme programs easier.
1210 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1211 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1212 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1213 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1214 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1217 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1218 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1220 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1223 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1225 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1226 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1227 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1230 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1232 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1234 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1235 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1236 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1237 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1238 was also ASCII, for example.
1240 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1242 tag - no replacement.
1243 fseek - replaced by seek.
1244 list* - replaced by cons*.
1246 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1250 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1251 (define m (make-safe-module))
1252 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1253 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1254 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1256 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1258 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1259 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1260 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1262 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1264 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1265 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1266 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1267 from the issues related to the module system.
1269 *** New function: load-extension
1271 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1273 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1275 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1276 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1277 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1279 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1281 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1282 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1283 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1284 support dynamic linking).
1286 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1288 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1289 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1290 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1291 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1294 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1295 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1296 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1297 library and initialize it explicitely.
1299 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1300 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1302 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1304 (define-module (foo bar))
1306 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1308 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1310 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1311 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1313 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1314 (null-environment 5)
1315 (interaction-environment)
1321 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1323 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1324 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1325 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1326 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1328 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1329 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1330 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1331 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1332 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1333 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1334 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1335 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1336 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1337 one eval to the next.
1339 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1340 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1341 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1342 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1343 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1345 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1346 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1347 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1348 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1349 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1350 used in a lexical environment.
1352 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1353 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1354 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1355 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1356 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1357 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1359 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1361 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1362 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1363 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1364 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1365 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1367 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1368 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1369 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1371 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1372 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1374 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1375 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1376 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1378 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1379 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1381 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1382 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1383 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1384 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1387 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1388 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1389 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1390 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1392 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1393 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1394 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1396 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1397 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1398 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1399 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1400 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1402 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1404 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1405 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1406 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1408 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1409 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1410 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1412 See manual for more info.
1414 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1416 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1417 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1418 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1420 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1422 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1423 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1424 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1426 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1427 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1428 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1429 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1431 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1433 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1434 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1436 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1437 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1438 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1439 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1440 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1443 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1444 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1445 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1446 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1447 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1448 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1450 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1451 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1452 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1453 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1454 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1456 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1457 objects are usually permanent.
1459 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1460 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1462 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1464 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1465 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1468 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1472 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1477 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1479 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1480 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1481 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1482 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1484 ** New function `make-object-property'
1486 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1487 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1491 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1492 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1496 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1497 source properties eventually.
1499 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1501 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1502 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1503 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1505 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1506 will be removed in the next release.
1508 ** New define-module option: pure
1510 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1515 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1518 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1520 Export names NAME1 ...
1522 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1523 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1527 (define-module (foo)
1529 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1532 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1537 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1539 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1541 ** New function: port? X
1543 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1544 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1546 ** New function: file-port?
1548 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1550 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1552 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1553 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1554 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1555 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1556 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1558 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1560 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1561 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1562 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1563 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1564 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1567 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1569 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1570 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1571 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1572 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1575 ** New function: crypt password salt
1577 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1580 ** New function: chroot path
1582 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1584 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1586 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1589 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1591 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1593 ** New function: getpass prompt
1595 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1598 ** New function: flock file operation
1600 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1602 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1604 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1607 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1609 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1610 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1611 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1612 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1613 of the temporary file.
1615 ** New function: open-input-string string
1617 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1618 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1619 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1621 ** New function: open-output-string
1623 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1624 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1626 ** New function: get-output-string
1628 Return the contents of an output string port.
1630 ** New function: identity
1632 Return the argument.
1634 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1635 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1637 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1639 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1640 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1641 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1644 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1645 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1647 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1649 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1650 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1651 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1654 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1655 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1656 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1660 Use `identity' instead.
1666 ** Deprecated: return-it
1670 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1672 Use `string-length' instead.
1674 ** Deprecated: flags
1676 Use `logior' instead.
1678 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1680 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1681 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
1682 port-for-each is more flexible.
1684 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
1685 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
1686 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
1688 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
1690 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
1692 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
1694 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
1696 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
1698 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
1699 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
1701 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
1702 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
1704 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
1705 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
1707 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
1709 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
1710 Removed function: builtin-bindings
1712 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
1713 Use module system operations for all variables.
1715 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
1717 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
1720 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
1722 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
1723 The following bugs have been fixed:
1725 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
1726 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
1729 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
1730 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
1731 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
1733 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
1734 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
1736 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
1737 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
1740 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
1741 The expansion used to be like so:
1743 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
1745 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
1747 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
1749 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
1750 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
1752 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
1754 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
1755 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
1756 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
1760 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
1761 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
1763 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
1768 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
1769 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
1771 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
1772 and `d', other keywords allowed.
1773 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
1775 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
1778 * Changes to the C interface
1780 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
1782 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
1783 with "_t". What a concept.
1785 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
1787 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
1789 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
1793 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
1794 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
1796 *** C Functions removed
1798 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
1799 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
1800 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
1801 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
1802 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
1803 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
1804 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
1806 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
1808 Use scm_mem2string instead.
1810 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
1812 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
1814 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
1815 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
1817 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
1819 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
1822 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
1824 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
1826 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
1828 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
1829 Evaluation" in the manual.
1831 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
1833 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
1834 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
1836 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
1838 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
1839 Constructors" in the manual.
1841 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
1843 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
1844 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
1846 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
1848 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
1850 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
1851 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
1852 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
1854 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1856 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
1858 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
1859 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
1860 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
1863 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1865 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
1867 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
1868 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
1870 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
1872 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
1873 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
1874 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
1875 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
1877 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
1878 scm_primitive_property_ref
1879 scm_primitive_property_set_x
1880 scm_primitive_property_del_x
1882 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
1883 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
1885 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
1887 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
1888 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
1889 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
1890 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
1892 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
1894 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
1895 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
1896 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
1897 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
1898 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
1899 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
1900 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
1902 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
1903 scm_remember_upto_here
1905 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
1907 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
1909 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
1910 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
1912 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
1914 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
1916 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
1918 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
1920 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
1922 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
1923 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
1924 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
1925 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
1926 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
1927 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
1929 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
1931 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1933 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
1934 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1935 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
1937 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
1939 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
1940 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1941 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
1943 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
1945 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
1946 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
1949 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
1952 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
1953 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1956 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1958 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
1960 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
1962 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1964 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
1966 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
1968 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
1969 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
1970 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
1971 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1972 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
1973 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
1974 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
1975 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1976 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
1977 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
1978 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
1979 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
1980 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
1981 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
1982 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
1984 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
1985 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
1986 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
1987 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
1988 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
1989 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
1990 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
1991 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
1992 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1993 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
1994 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
1995 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
1996 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
1997 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
1998 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
1999 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2000 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2001 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2002 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2003 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2004 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2005 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2006 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2007 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2008 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2009 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2010 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2011 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2012 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2014 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2016 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2018 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2019 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2021 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2023 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2025 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2027 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2029 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2031 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2033 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2035 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2037 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2040 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2041 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2043 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2045 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2047 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2049 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2051 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2053 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2055 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2057 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2060 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2062 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2064 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2066 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2067 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2069 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2070 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2072 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2074 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2075 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2076 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2078 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2080 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2082 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2083 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2085 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2086 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2087 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2088 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2090 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2091 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2092 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2094 Use the new ones from above instead.
2096 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2098 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2099 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2100 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2102 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2103 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2105 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2106 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2109 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2110 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2112 Use the new functions instead.
2114 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2117 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2119 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2121 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2124 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2126 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2129 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2131 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2134 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2135 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2136 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2138 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2140 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2141 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2143 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2144 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2145 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2146 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2149 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2151 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2152 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2153 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2154 inexact for an exact.
2156 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2157 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2158 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2161 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2162 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2163 accept an inexact argument.
2165 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2166 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2168 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2171 ** New number validation macros:
2172 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2176 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2178 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2179 scm_unprotect_object.
2181 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2183 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2185 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2188 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2190 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2194 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2196 * Changes to the distribution
2198 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2200 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2201 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2202 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2203 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2204 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2205 obtain these programs.
2206 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2207 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2209 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2210 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2211 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2212 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2213 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2215 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2216 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2217 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2218 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2222 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2225 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2226 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2227 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2228 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2230 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2232 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2234 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2235 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2237 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2238 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2240 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2241 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2243 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2244 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2245 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2246 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2248 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2250 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2254 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2255 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2257 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2259 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2260 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2262 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2263 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2264 number of objects of that kind.
2266 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2268 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2269 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2270 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2271 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2272 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2274 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2276 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2278 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2280 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2283 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2285 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2287 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2289 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2291 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2293 ** New command line option --debug
2295 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2297 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2299 ** New help facility
2301 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2302 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2303 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2304 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2305 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2306 (help) gives this text
2308 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2309 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2311 Examples: (help help)
2313 (help "output-string")
2315 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2317 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2319 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2320 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2323 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2324 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2325 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2328 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2329 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2330 use absolute filenames when possible.
2332 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2333 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2334 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2337 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2339 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2340 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2341 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2342 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2344 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2346 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2348 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2349 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2350 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2352 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2353 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2354 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2356 (read-enable 'positions)
2357 (debug-enable 'debug)
2359 ** Backtraces in scripts
2361 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2365 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2367 at the top of the script.
2369 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2370 The second enables backtraces.)
2372 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2374 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2375 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2376 substantially faster than before.
2378 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2379 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2381 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2382 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2384 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2386 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2387 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2388 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2390 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2391 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2392 when this hook is run in the future.
2394 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2395 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2397 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2399 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2400 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2403 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2404 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2405 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2407 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2408 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2410 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2411 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2413 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2414 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2415 in order not to need further allocation.)
2417 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2420 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2421 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2422 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2423 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2425 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2427 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2430 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2432 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2435 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2436 GC in percent of total heap size
2439 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2440 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2442 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2444 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2445 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2447 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2449 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2450 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2452 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2454 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2455 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2459 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2460 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2462 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2464 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2466 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2468 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2470 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2472 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2473 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2475 (simple-format port message . args)
2476 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2477 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2478 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2479 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2480 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2481 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2482 Does not add a trailing newline."
2484 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2486 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2487 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2489 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2490 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2492 ** Deprecated: list*
2494 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2496 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2498 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2499 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2501 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2502 is returned as result.
2504 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2506 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2508 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2510 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2511 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2514 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2516 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2518 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2519 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2521 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2523 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2525 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2527 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2529 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2531 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2533 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2535 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2536 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2537 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2539 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2542 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2544 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2545 the readability of argument checking.
2547 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2549 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2551 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2553 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2554 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2555 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2556 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2557 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2558 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2559 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2561 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2563 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2565 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2566 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2568 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2570 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2571 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2574 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2576 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2577 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2578 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2580 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2581 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2582 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2584 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2585 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2586 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2587 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2588 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2589 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2590 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2592 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2593 scm_end_input (object);
2594 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2595 ptob->flush (object);
2597 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2598 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2601 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2603 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2605 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2606 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2607 removed in a future version.
2609 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2611 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2612 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2613 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2614 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2616 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2617 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2619 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2622 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2624 in your configure.in.
2626 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2631 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2637 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2639 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2643 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2644 (define make-message string-append)
2646 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2648 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2652 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2657 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2661 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2663 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2664 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2666 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2668 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2669 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2670 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2671 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2672 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2673 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2675 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2676 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2677 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2679 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2680 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2681 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
2684 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
2685 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
2686 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
2687 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
2688 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
2690 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
2691 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
2692 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
2693 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
2694 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
2695 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
2696 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
2698 Destructors are not yet implemented.
2700 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
2701 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
2702 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
2704 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
2705 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
2706 KEY in the calling thread.
2708 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
2709 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
2710 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
2711 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
2712 associated with the key.
2714 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
2716 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
2717 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
2719 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
2721 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
2722 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
2723 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
2725 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
2727 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
2728 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
2730 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
2732 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
2734 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
2735 returned is undefined.
2737 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
2738 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
2739 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
2741 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
2742 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
2743 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
2745 ** New C level GC hooks
2747 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
2749 scm_before_gc_c_hook
2752 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
2753 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
2754 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
2756 scm_before_mark_c_hook
2757 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
2758 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
2760 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
2761 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
2764 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
2766 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
2767 allocation parameters
2769 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
2770 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
2771 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
2775 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
2776 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
2777 scm_default_max_segment_size
2779 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
2781 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
2782 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
2784 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
2786 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
2787 object and count on the object being protected until
2788 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
2790 The functions also have better time complexity.
2792 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
2793 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
2794 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
2795 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
2796 are no longer needed.
2798 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
2800 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
2801 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
2802 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
2803 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
2805 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
2807 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
2809 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
2811 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
2812 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
2813 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
2814 until this issue has been settled.
2816 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
2818 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
2820 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
2823 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
2825 * Changes to system call interfaces:
2827 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
2828 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
2829 descriptors were checked.
2831 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
2832 atomically written to a pipe.
2834 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
2835 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
2836 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
2837 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
2838 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
2839 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
2840 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
2843 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
2844 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
2845 is changed without calling tzset.
2847 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
2849 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
2850 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
2851 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
2853 (define write-network-long
2854 (lambda (value port)
2855 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2856 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
2857 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
2859 (define read-network-long
2861 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2862 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
2863 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
2865 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
2866 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
2868 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
2869 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
2870 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
2871 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
2873 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
2874 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
2875 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
2876 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
2880 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
2882 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2886 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
2887 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
2888 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
2894 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
2895 for a description of available commands.
2897 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
2898 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
2899 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
2901 (debug-enable 'backwards)
2903 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
2904 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
2906 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
2908 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
2910 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
2911 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
2912 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
2913 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
2914 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
2915 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
2918 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
2920 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
2921 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
2922 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
2923 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
2925 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
2926 the file and should not be affected by this change.
2928 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
2930 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2932 ** Readline support has changed again.
2934 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
2935 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
2936 to activate readline is now
2938 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
2941 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
2943 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
2944 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
2945 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
2948 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
2949 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
2950 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
2953 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
2954 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
2955 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
2956 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
2957 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
2958 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
2960 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
2961 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
2963 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
2965 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
2966 object it receives is the same string passed to
2967 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
2968 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
2969 string, not the suffix.
2971 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
2972 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
2973 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
2975 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
2977 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
2978 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
2979 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
2980 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
2983 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2985 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
2987 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
2988 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
2989 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
2990 appear from left to right.
2992 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
2995 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
2997 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
2998 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3000 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3004 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3006 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3008 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3010 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3011 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3012 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3014 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3016 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3018 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3020 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3023 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3025 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3026 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3027 mentioning it here anyway.
3029 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3031 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3032 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3033 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3034 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3037 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3039 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3041 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3043 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3044 otherwise return #f.
3046 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3048 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3049 returned by `opendir'.
3051 ** New function: using-readline?
3053 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3055 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3057 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3058 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3060 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3062 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3064 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3065 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3066 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3068 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3070 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3071 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3073 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3075 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3076 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3077 documentation slots are not yet used.
3079 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3081 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3082 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3083 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3088 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3089 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3090 (string-append x y))
3092 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3093 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3095 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3096 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3097 be made in a clean way.]
3099 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3101 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3103 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3105 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3106 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3108 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3110 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3112 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3114 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3116 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3117 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3118 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3119 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3122 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3124 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3126 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3128 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3130 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3131 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3133 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3135 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3137 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3139 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3141 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3142 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3143 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3144 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3145 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3146 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3148 This should not make any difference for most users.
3150 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3152 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3153 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3155 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3157 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3158 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3159 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3160 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3161 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3163 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3165 It is now replaced by:
3167 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3169 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3170 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3172 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3174 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3175 This might change when we get the new module system.
3177 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3181 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3183 * Changes to mailing lists
3185 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3187 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3190 * Changes to the distribution
3192 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3194 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3195 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3196 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3197 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3198 you explicitly specify it.
3200 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3201 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3202 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3203 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3204 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3207 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3208 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3209 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3210 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3212 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3213 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3214 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3217 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3219 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3222 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3224 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3226 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3227 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3228 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3229 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3231 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3232 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3235 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3237 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3238 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3239 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3240 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3241 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3242 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3243 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3244 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3256 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3257 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3258 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3259 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3260 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3265 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3266 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3274 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3279 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3280 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3283 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3284 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3285 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3286 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3288 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3290 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3292 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3293 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3295 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3297 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3299 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3300 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3302 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3305 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3307 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3309 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3311 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3313 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3315 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3317 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3318 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3319 when the hook was created.
3321 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3322 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3323 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3324 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3325 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3326 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3327 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3328 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3329 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3331 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3332 the dlopen family of functions.
3334 ** New function `provided?'
3336 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3337 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3338 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3339 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3341 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3343 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3344 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3345 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3346 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3349 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3350 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3351 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3352 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3354 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3355 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3356 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3359 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3360 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3361 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3362 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3363 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3364 but with the flag set.
3366 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3368 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3369 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3371 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3372 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3373 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3374 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3375 available Scheme format implementations.
3377 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3378 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3379 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3380 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3381 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3382 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3383 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3384 output is to the current error port if available by the
3385 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3388 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3389 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3390 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3391 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3392 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3393 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3394 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3395 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3397 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3398 be executed at a time.
3401 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3403 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3404 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3405 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3407 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3408 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3409 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3410 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3411 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3412 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3413 general form of a directive is:
3415 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3417 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3419 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3421 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3422 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3423 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3426 Any (print as `display' does).
3430 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3434 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3438 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3444 print number sign always.
3447 print comma separated.
3449 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3455 print number sign always.
3458 print comma separated.
3460 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3466 print number sign always.
3469 print comma separated.
3471 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3477 print number sign always.
3480 print comma separated.
3482 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3487 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3491 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3494 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3497 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3500 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3505 prints `y' and `ies'.
3508 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3511 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3516 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3520 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3523 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3524 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3526 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3529 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3530 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3532 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3535 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3537 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3539 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3542 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3544 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3546 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3549 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3552 The sign appears before the padding.
3560 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3562 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3567 print N page separators.
3577 newline is ignored, white space left.
3580 newline is left, white space ignored.
3585 relative tabulation.
3591 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3593 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3596 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3598 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3601 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3604 converts by `string-upcase'.
3607 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3609 jumps N arguments forward.
3612 jumps 1 argument backward.
3615 jumps N arguments backward.
3618 jumps to the 0th argument.
3621 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3623 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3624 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3626 take argument from N.
3629 true test conditional.
3632 if-else-then conditional.
3638 default clause follows.
3641 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3643 at most N iterations.
3646 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3649 args from the rest of arguments.
3652 args from the rest args (lists).
3663 aborts if N <= M <= K
3665 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3668 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3671 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3677 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3679 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3681 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
3682 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
3683 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
3684 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
3685 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
3686 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
3690 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
3694 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
3700 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
3703 Print a `#\space' character
3705 print N `#\space' characters.
3708 Print a `#\tab' character
3710 print N `#\tab' characters.
3713 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
3714 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
3715 must be a positive decimal number.
3718 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3719 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3720 be processed by `read'.
3723 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3724 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3725 be processed by `read'.
3728 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
3731 prints format version.
3734 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
3735 and format it accordingly.
3737 *** Configuration Variables
3739 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
3740 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
3741 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
3742 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
3745 format:symbol-case-conv
3746 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
3747 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
3748 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
3749 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
3750 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
3752 format:iobj-case-conv
3753 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
3754 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
3757 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
3760 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
3766 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
3767 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
3768 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
3769 `format' padding style.
3772 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
3773 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
3774 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
3775 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
3779 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
3780 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
3781 directive parameters or modifiers)).
3784 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
3785 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
3786 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
3787 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
3788 parameters or modifiers)).
3791 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
3793 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
3795 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
3796 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
3798 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
3799 string-downcase! functions.
3801 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
3802 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
3804 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
3807 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
3810 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
3811 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
3813 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
3815 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
3816 the symbol had be read by `read'.
3818 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
3819 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
3820 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
3821 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
3822 would if STRING were input.
3824 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
3826 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
3827 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
3828 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
3829 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
3832 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
3834 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
3835 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
3838 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
3840 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
3841 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
3843 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
3844 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
3846 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
3847 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
3848 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
3849 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
3851 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
3852 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
3854 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
3855 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
3856 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
3858 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
3859 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
3861 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
3862 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
3863 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
3864 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
3865 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
3867 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
3868 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
3869 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
3870 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
3871 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
3872 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
3874 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
3875 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
3876 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
3879 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
3880 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
3881 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
3882 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
3883 the following grammar:
3884 ((apples (single-char #\a))
3885 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
3886 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
3887 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
3888 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
3889 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
3890 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
3891 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
3892 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
3893 last option in its combination)
3895 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
3896 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
3897 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
3898 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
3900 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
3901 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
3902 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
3904 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
3905 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
3906 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
3908 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
3909 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
3910 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
3911 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
3912 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
3913 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
3914 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
3915 ordinary argument strings.
3917 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
3918 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
3919 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
3920 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
3922 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
3923 as a list, associated with the empty list.
3925 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
3926 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
3927 - a required option is omitted
3928 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
3929 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
3930 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
3931 - an option predicate fails
3936 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
3939 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
3940 (verbose (required? #f)
3943 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
3944 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
3945 (predicate ,string?))))
3947 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
3948 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3950 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3951 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
3952 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
3953 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
3956 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
3958 It will be removed in a few releases.
3960 ** New syntax: lambda*
3961 ** New syntax: define*
3962 ** New syntax: define*-public
3963 ** New syntax: defmacro*
3964 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
3965 Guile now supports optional arguments.
3967 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
3968 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
3969 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
3970 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
3971 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
3973 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
3974 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
3975 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
3977 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
3979 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
3980 and examples for `lambda*':
3983 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
3985 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
3986 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
3987 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
3988 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
3989 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
3990 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
3991 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
3992 can be checked with the bound? macro.
3994 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
3996 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
3997 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
3998 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
3999 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4001 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4002 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4003 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4004 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4005 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4006 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4007 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4008 and until the procedure is called.
4010 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4012 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4013 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4014 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4015 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4016 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4017 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4018 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4019 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4020 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4021 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4023 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4024 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4025 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4026 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4029 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4031 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4032 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4033 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4034 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4036 ** New syntax: and-let*
4037 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4039 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4040 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4041 (<variable> <expression>)
4044 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4045 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4046 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4049 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4050 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4051 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4052 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4053 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4054 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4055 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4057 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4058 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4059 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4060 shadow earlier bindings.
4062 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4064 ** New sorting functions
4066 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4067 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4068 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4069 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4071 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4072 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4075 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4076 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4077 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4079 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4080 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4081 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4082 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4084 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4085 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4086 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4087 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4088 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4091 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4092 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4093 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4094 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4095 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4096 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4098 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4099 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4100 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4102 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4103 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4104 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4107 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4108 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4109 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4111 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4112 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4114 ** New built-in random number support
4116 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4117 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4118 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4119 returned have a uniform distribution.
4121 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4122 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4123 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4124 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4125 effect of the `random' operation.
4127 *** New variable: *random-state*
4128 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4129 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4130 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4131 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4132 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4135 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4136 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4137 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4138 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4139 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4141 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4142 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4143 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4144 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4145 initialized using SEED.
4147 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4148 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4149 range between 0 and 1.
4151 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4152 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4153 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4154 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4155 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4156 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4157 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4159 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4160 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4161 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4162 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4163 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4164 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4166 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4167 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4168 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4169 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4171 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4172 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4173 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4174 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4176 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4177 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4178 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4180 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4182 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4185 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4186 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4189 ** New function: make-guardian
4190 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4191 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4192 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4193 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4194 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4196 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4197 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4198 one object if at all.
4200 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4201 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4202 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4204 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4205 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4206 read again in last-in first-out order.
4208 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4209 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4211 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4213 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4214 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4215 file position is used.
4217 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4218 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4219 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4221 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4222 redefined using seek.
4224 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4225 size is not supplied.
4227 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4228 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4230 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4231 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4233 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4235 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4236 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4237 and returns the contents as a single string.
4239 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4240 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4241 lists in serial order.
4243 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4244 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4245 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4247 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4248 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4249 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4250 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4252 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4253 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4254 and #f if an error occured.
4256 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4258 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4259 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4260 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4261 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4263 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4265 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4268 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4270 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4273 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4277 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4278 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4280 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4281 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4285 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4287 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4289 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4290 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4292 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4294 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4295 might change when we get the new module system.
4297 ** The smob interface
4299 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4300 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4302 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4304 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4308 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4309 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4310 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4311 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4312 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4313 will be freed by the default free function.
4315 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4316 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4317 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4318 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4320 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4321 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4322 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4323 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4325 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4327 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4328 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4332 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4333 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4334 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4336 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4337 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4338 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4339 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4341 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4342 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4343 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4345 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4346 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4347 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4348 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4350 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4351 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4352 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4354 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4358 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4360 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4361 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4362 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4364 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4365 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4366 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4368 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4369 a string port's buffer.
4371 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4372 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4373 function pointers which together define the current random number
4374 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4375 number library functions.
4377 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4380 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4381 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4384 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4385 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4387 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4388 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4390 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4391 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4394 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4395 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4396 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4397 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4399 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4400 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4401 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4402 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4403 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4404 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4405 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4407 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4408 by libguile and the application.
4410 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4411 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4412 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4413 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4415 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4416 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4418 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4419 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4420 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4422 ** Random number library functions
4423 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4424 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4425 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4427 The default random state is stored in:
4429 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4430 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4431 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4436 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4438 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4439 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4440 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4441 isn't a random state.
4443 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4444 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4446 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4447 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4448 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4449 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4451 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4452 Return 32 random bits.
4454 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4455 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4457 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4458 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4460 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4461 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4463 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4464 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4466 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4467 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4468 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4472 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4474 * Changes to the distribution
4476 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4477 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4478 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4481 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4482 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4483 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4485 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4486 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4487 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4488 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4491 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4492 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4493 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4495 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4497 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4499 *** Function: batch-mode?
4501 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4504 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4506 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4507 case has not been implemented.
4509 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4510 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4511 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4514 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4515 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4517 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4519 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4521 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4523 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4524 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4527 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4528 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4529 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4530 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4533 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4535 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4536 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4537 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4538 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4539 find those libraries.
4541 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4542 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4545 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4547 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4548 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4549 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4550 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4552 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4553 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4554 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4558 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4560 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4561 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4562 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4565 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4566 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4567 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4568 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4570 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4571 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4574 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4575 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4576 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4577 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4578 compiler where to find the libraries.
4580 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4581 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4582 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4584 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4585 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4586 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4587 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4588 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4592 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4594 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4595 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4596 internationalization support.
4598 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4599 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4600 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4601 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4602 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4604 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4605 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4606 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4607 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4608 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4610 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4611 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4612 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4613 any GNU mirror site.
4615 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4617 ** New function: add-history STRING
4618 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4619 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4620 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4622 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4624 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4625 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4626 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4629 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4630 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4631 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4633 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4635 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4638 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4639 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4642 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4643 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4644 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4645 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4646 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4647 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4649 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4650 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4651 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4652 of the form mentioned above.
4654 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4655 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4656 returned in the special `rest' list.
4658 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4659 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4661 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4663 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4665 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4667 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4668 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4669 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4670 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4671 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4672 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4673 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4674 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4677 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4679 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4681 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
4682 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
4685 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
4686 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
4687 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
4691 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
4692 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
4693 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
4694 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
4695 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
4696 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
4697 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
4698 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
4701 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
4703 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
4704 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
4705 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
4707 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
4709 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
4710 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
4712 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
4713 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
4714 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
4716 Why do we have this function?
4717 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
4718 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
4719 primitive, and display it differently, and
4720 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
4721 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
4724 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
4725 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
4728 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
4729 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
4730 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
4731 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
4733 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
4734 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
4737 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
4738 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
4740 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
4742 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
4743 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
4744 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
4745 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
4746 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
4747 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
4748 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
4751 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
4753 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
4754 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
4756 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
4757 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
4758 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
4759 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
4760 properly continue the print chain.
4762 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
4763 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
4764 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
4765 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
4766 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
4767 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
4768 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
4769 print-state, it is simply ignored.
4771 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
4772 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
4773 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
4774 safest to not check for these pairs.
4776 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
4777 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
4778 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
4779 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
4781 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
4783 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
4784 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
4786 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
4788 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
4790 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
4791 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
4792 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
4794 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
4795 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
4796 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
4798 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
4799 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
4800 the following functions and macros:
4802 Function: make-fluid
4804 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
4805 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
4806 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
4807 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
4808 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
4810 Function: fluid? OBJ
4812 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
4814 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
4815 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
4817 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
4818 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
4820 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
4822 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
4823 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
4824 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
4825 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
4826 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
4827 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
4828 modified by `with-fluids*'.
4830 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
4832 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
4833 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
4834 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
4835 should evaluate to a fluid.
4837 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
4839 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
4840 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
4841 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
4842 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
4843 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
4845 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
4848 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
4850 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
4852 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
4854 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
4857 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
4858 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
4859 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
4860 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
4861 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
4864 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
4865 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
4866 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
4868 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
4869 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
4870 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
4872 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
4873 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
4874 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4875 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
4877 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
4878 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
4879 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4880 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
4882 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
4883 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
4884 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
4885 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
4887 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
4888 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
4889 their revealed counts set to zero.
4891 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4892 Returns an integer file descriptor.
4894 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4895 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
4897 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4898 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
4900 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4901 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
4902 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
4904 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
4905 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
4906 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
4908 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
4909 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
4910 default environment inherited by child processes.
4912 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
4913 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
4914 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
4916 The return value is unspecified.
4918 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
4919 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
4920 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
4921 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
4922 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
4924 The return value is unspecified.
4926 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
4927 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
4935 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
4936 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
4939 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
4942 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
4943 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
4944 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
4946 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
4947 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
4948 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
4949 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
4952 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
4953 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
4955 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
4956 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
4957 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
4958 the `environ' procedure.
4960 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
4961 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
4964 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
4965 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
4967 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
4968 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
4969 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
4970 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
4972 *** procedure: times
4973 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
4974 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
4975 return a selected component:
4978 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
4982 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
4985 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
4989 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
4990 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
4994 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
4995 terminated child processes.
4997 ** Removed: list-length
4998 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
4999 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5001 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5003 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5005 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5007 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5008 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5009 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5010 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5012 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5013 extra complexity it introduces.
5015 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5016 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5018 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5019 variable to any non-empty value.
5021 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5022 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5024 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5026 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5027 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5029 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5031 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5032 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5034 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5036 ** vector handling routines
5038 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5039 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5040 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5041 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5042 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5044 ** pair and list routines
5046 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5049 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5051 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5054 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5056 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5058 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5059 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5060 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5061 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5062 site-specific initialization code.
5064 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5065 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5066 initialization processes.
5068 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5069 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5070 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5071 initialized properly.
5073 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5074 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5075 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5077 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5078 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5079 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5080 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5081 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5083 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5085 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5086 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5087 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5088 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5089 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5091 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5092 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5093 which look like this:
5096 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5098 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5099 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5102 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5103 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5106 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5108 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5109 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5110 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5112 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5113 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5114 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5115 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5116 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5118 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5119 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5121 int (*free) (SCM port);
5122 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5123 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5124 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5128 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5129 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5130 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5132 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5135 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5136 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5137 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5139 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5140 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5141 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5144 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5148 struct timeval *timeout);
5150 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5151 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5152 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5153 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5154 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5155 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5157 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5158 scm_catch_body_t body,
5160 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5163 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5164 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5165 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5166 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5167 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5168 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5170 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5172 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5175 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5176 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5177 spawning threads from application C code.
5179 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5180 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5181 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5182 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5183 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5184 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5186 ** Removed functions:
5188 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5189 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5191 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5193 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5194 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5196 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5198 ** mbstrings are now removed
5200 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5201 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5203 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5205 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5206 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5207 their new names and arguments:
5209 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5210 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5211 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5212 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5215 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5217 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5219 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5222 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5224 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5225 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5226 pass a #f arg to catch.
5228 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5230 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5231 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5234 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5235 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5236 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5237 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5238 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5239 reclaim its storage.
5241 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5242 worrying that some other function you call will call
5243 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5244 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5245 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5246 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5249 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5251 * Changes to the distribution
5253 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5254 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5257 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5258 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5260 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5261 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5263 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5265 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5266 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5267 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5269 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5271 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5272 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5273 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5274 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5275 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5276 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5278 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5279 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5280 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5283 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5284 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5285 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5286 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5288 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5289 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5290 libraries to your link command:
5292 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5293 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5294 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5295 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5297 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5298 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5299 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5301 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5303 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5304 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5307 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5309 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5310 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5311 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5312 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5313 searched is system dependent.
5315 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5317 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5319 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5321 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5322 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5324 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5326 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5327 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5328 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5329 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5330 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5333 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5335 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5336 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5337 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5338 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5339 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5341 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5343 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5344 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5346 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5348 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5349 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5350 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5353 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5355 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5356 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5357 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5358 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5360 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5361 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5363 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5365 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5366 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5368 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5370 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5371 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5379 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5381 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5382 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5383 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5384 a more informative way.
5386 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5387 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5388 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5389 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5390 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5391 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5393 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5394 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5397 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5398 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5399 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5402 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5403 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5404 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5405 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5406 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5407 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5409 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5410 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5411 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5412 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5415 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5416 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5417 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5418 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5419 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5420 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5422 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5423 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5424 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5425 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5426 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5428 *** regexp functions
5430 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5431 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5432 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5434 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5435 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5436 with SCSH regular expressions.
5438 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5439 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5440 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5441 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5443 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5444 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5445 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5446 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5448 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5449 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5450 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5451 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5452 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5453 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5455 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5456 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5457 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5458 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5459 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5461 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5463 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5464 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5465 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5466 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5468 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5469 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5470 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5472 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5473 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5475 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5478 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5479 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5480 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5482 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5483 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5484 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5486 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5487 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5488 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5489 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5490 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5493 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5495 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5496 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5497 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5498 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5499 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5500 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5502 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5503 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5504 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5506 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5507 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5510 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5511 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5513 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5514 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5515 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5516 may be one of the following arguments:
5518 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5520 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5522 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5523 the regexp match is written.
5525 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5526 following the regexp match is written.
5528 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5529 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5532 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5533 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5534 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5535 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5536 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5537 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5539 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5542 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5543 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5544 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5545 written out to PORT.
5547 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5548 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5549 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5550 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5551 will return after processing a single match.
5553 *** Match Structures
5555 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5556 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5557 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5558 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5559 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5560 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5563 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5564 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5565 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5566 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5567 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5569 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5570 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5571 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5573 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5574 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5575 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5576 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5577 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5579 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5580 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5582 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5583 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5585 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5586 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5588 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5589 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5591 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5592 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5593 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5594 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5596 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5597 Return the original TARGET string.
5599 *** Backslash Escapes
5601 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5602 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5603 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5604 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5605 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5606 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5608 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5609 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5610 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5611 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5612 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5613 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5614 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5615 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5617 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5618 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5619 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5620 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5621 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5622 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5623 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5625 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5626 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5627 return the resulting string.
5629 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5630 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5631 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5632 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5633 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5634 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5635 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5636 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5637 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5638 translated to the single character `*'.
5640 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5641 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5642 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5643 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5644 consecutive backslashes:
5646 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5648 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5649 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5650 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5652 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5653 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5654 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5655 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5656 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5657 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5659 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5661 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5662 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5663 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5664 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5665 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5666 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5667 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5668 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5669 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5670 cumbersome escape syntax.
5672 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5674 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5676 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5678 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5681 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
5683 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
5685 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
5688 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
5689 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
5690 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
5691 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
5692 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
5694 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
5695 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
5696 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
5697 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
5698 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
5699 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
5700 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
5703 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
5704 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
5705 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
5708 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
5709 `force-output' on every port open for output.
5711 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
5712 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
5713 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
5714 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
5715 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
5716 installed, you can say:
5718 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
5721 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5723 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
5724 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
5725 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
5726 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
5727 new dynamic roots and threads.
5730 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
5732 * Changes to the distribution.
5734 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
5736 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
5737 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
5738 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
5739 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
5740 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
5741 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
5742 programming language. These are packaged together because the
5743 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
5745 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
5748 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
5749 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
5754 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5756 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
5757 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
5759 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
5760 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
5761 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
5762 the (command-line) function.
5763 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
5764 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
5765 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
5767 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
5768 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
5769 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
5770 command line arguments
5771 -ds do -s script at this point
5772 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
5773 -h, --help display this help and exit
5774 -v, --version display version information and exit
5775 \ read arguments from following script lines
5777 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
5778 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
5780 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5783 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5787 (main (command-line))
5789 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
5791 ekko a speckled gecko
5793 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
5794 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
5795 following list of command-line arguments:
5797 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
5799 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
5800 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
5801 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
5802 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
5803 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5805 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
5807 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
5809 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
5810 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
5813 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
5814 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
5815 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
5816 SCSH) for circumventing them.
5818 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
5819 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
5820 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
5821 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
5823 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
5827 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5831 If the user invokes this script as follows:
5833 ekko a speckled gecko
5835 Unix expands this into
5837 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
5839 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
5840 read from the second line of the script, producing:
5842 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5844 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
5845 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5847 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
5848 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
5849 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
5850 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
5851 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
5852 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
5853 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
5854 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
5855 it only terminates the argument list.)
5856 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
5857 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
5858 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
5859 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
5860 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
5861 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
5862 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
5863 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
5865 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5867 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
5868 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
5869 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
5870 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
5871 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
5873 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
5874 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
5875 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
5877 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
5879 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
5880 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
5881 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
5882 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
5885 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
5886 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5887 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5889 * Changes to Scheme functions
5891 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
5892 and disabled by default.
5894 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
5895 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
5896 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
5897 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
5899 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
5901 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
5903 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
5904 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
5906 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
5907 (read-set! keywords #f)
5909 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
5910 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
5911 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
5914 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
5915 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
5916 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
5919 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
5920 support for Scheme functions.
5922 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
5923 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
5924 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
5925 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
5928 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
5929 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
5930 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
5933 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
5934 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
5935 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
5938 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
5939 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
5940 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
5941 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
5942 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
5943 display the result as a prompt.
5944 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
5946 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
5947 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
5948 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
5951 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
5952 procedure of zero arguments.
5954 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
5955 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
5956 argument is bound in the current module.
5958 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
5959 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
5960 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
5961 public bindings into the current module.
5963 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
5964 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
5966 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
5967 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
5969 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
5970 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
5972 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
5973 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
5975 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
5976 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
5978 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
5979 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
5980 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
5981 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
5982 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
5984 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
5985 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
5986 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
5987 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
5989 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
5992 ** Changes to I/O functions
5994 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
5995 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
5996 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
5998 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
5999 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6000 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6002 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6003 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6005 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6006 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6007 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6008 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6010 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6012 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6013 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6015 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6016 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6017 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6018 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6019 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6022 'trim omit delimiter from result
6023 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6024 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6025 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6027 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6029 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6030 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6032 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6033 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6034 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6035 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6036 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6038 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6039 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6040 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6042 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6043 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6044 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6045 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6047 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6048 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6050 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6051 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6053 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6055 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6056 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6057 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6058 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6059 a delimiting character.
6060 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6062 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6063 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6064 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6065 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6066 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6067 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6069 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6070 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6072 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6073 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6074 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6076 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6077 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6078 the array to read and write.
6080 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6081 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6084 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6086 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6089 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6090 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6091 Values for COMMAND are:
6093 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6094 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6095 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6096 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6097 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6098 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6099 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6100 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6102 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6104 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6105 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6106 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6107 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6108 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6109 corresponding return set will be the same.
6111 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6114 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6115 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6116 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6117 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6118 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6119 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6120 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6121 special file being created.
6123 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6124 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6126 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6127 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6128 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6129 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6130 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6131 and originating address.
6133 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6134 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6135 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6137 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6140 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6141 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6144 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6145 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6146 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6147 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6148 this function returns #f.
6150 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6151 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6152 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6155 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6156 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6157 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6160 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6161 a valid STATUS value.
6163 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6165 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6166 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6168 Component Accessor Setter
6169 ========================= ============ ============
6170 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6171 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6172 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6173 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6174 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6175 year tm:year set-tm:year
6176 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6177 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6178 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6179 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6180 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6182 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6183 describing the host system:
6186 ============================================== ================
6187 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6188 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6189 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6190 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6191 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6193 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6194 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6195 system's user database:
6198 ====================== =================
6199 user name passwd:name
6200 user password passwd:passwd
6203 real name passwd:gecos
6204 home directory passwd:dir
6205 shell program passwd:shell
6207 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6208 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6209 system's group database:
6212 ======================= ============
6213 group name group:name
6214 group password group:passwd
6216 group members group:mem
6218 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6219 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6223 ========================= ===============
6224 official name of host hostent:name
6225 alias list hostent:aliases
6226 host address type hostent:addrtype
6227 length of address hostent:length
6228 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6230 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6231 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6235 ========================= ===============
6236 official name of net netent:name
6237 alias list netent:aliases
6238 net number type netent:addrtype
6239 net number netent:net
6241 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6242 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6246 ========================= ===============
6247 official protocol name protoent:name
6248 alias list protoent:aliases
6249 protocol number protoent:proto
6251 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6252 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6256 ========================= ===============
6257 official service name servent:name
6258 alias list servent:aliases
6259 port number servent:port
6260 protocol to use servent:proto
6262 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6263 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6266 ======================================== ===============
6267 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6268 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6269 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6270 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6272 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6273 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6274 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6276 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6277 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6279 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6280 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6282 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6283 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6285 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6287 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6289 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6290 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6291 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6293 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6294 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6295 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6296 return the remaining characters as a string.
6298 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6299 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6300 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6302 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6304 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6306 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6309 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6312 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6313 and returns the array
6315 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6316 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6317 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6319 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6321 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6322 symbol's value from C code:
6324 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6325 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6326 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6327 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6329 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6330 without assigning them a value.
6332 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6333 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6334 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6336 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6337 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6338 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6340 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6341 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6343 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6344 doesn't actually care about that.
6346 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6347 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6348 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6350 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6351 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6352 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6353 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6354 which we have just created and initialized.
6356 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6357 should one occur. We call it like this:
6358 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6360 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6361 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6362 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6363 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6364 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6365 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6368 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6369 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6370 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6371 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6372 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6373 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6374 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6377 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6378 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6379 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6380 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6381 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6384 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6385 scm_internal_catch, except:
6387 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6388 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6389 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6390 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6393 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6394 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6395 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6397 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6398 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6399 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6400 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6403 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6404 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6405 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6407 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6408 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6409 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6410 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6411 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6413 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6414 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6415 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6417 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6418 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6419 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6421 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6422 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6424 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6425 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6426 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6429 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6430 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6431 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6432 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6433 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6434 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6435 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6438 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6439 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6441 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6442 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6443 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6444 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6445 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6448 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6449 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6451 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6452 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6455 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6456 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6458 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6461 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6462 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6463 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6464 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6465 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6466 given the following arguments:
6468 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6470 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6472 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6474 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6477 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6478 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6479 command-line arguments.
6481 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6482 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6483 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6484 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6485 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6486 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6489 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6492 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6493 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6495 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6496 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6498 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6499 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6500 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6501 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6503 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6504 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6506 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6507 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6508 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6509 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6511 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6512 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6514 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6515 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6517 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6519 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6520 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6521 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6524 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6525 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6527 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6528 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6533 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6536 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6538 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6539 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6540 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6541 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6543 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6545 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6547 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6548 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6549 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6550 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6551 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6552 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6553 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6554 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6555 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6556 for more information.
6558 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6559 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6561 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6562 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6563 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6564 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6565 following two lines at the top of the file:
6567 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6570 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6571 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6572 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6574 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6576 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6578 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6581 (display (car args))
6582 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6584 (loop (cdr args)))))
6587 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6588 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6589 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6590 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6591 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6592 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6596 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6599 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6602 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6604 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6605 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6606 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6607 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6608 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6611 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6612 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6613 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6614 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6615 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6618 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6621 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6622 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6623 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6626 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6627 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6628 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6630 to see a backtrace, and
6631 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6632 to see them by default.
6636 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6638 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6640 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6641 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6644 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6645 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6646 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6647 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6650 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6651 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6652 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6653 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6654 functions which inspired them.
6656 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6657 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6661 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6663 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6665 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6666 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6669 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6670 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6671 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6673 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6674 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6675 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6676 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6677 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6679 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6681 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
6682 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
6683 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
6686 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
6689 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
6691 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
6692 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
6693 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
6694 above should serve their purposes.
6696 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
6697 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
6698 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
6699 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
6701 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
6704 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
6705 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
6706 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
6707 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
6709 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
6710 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
6711 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
6712 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
6714 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
6715 for the `read' function.
6718 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
6719 to that of `integer?'.
6721 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
6722 use the R4RS names for these functions.
6724 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
6725 it simply returns the object's property list.
6727 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
6728 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
6729 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
6730 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
6732 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
6734 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
6737 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
6739 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
6740 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
6742 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
6744 void (*main_func) (),
6747 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
6748 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
6749 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
6750 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
6751 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
6753 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
6754 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
6755 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
6756 know which arguments have been processed.
6758 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
6759 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
6760 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
6761 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
6762 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
6764 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
6765 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
6766 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
6767 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
6768 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
6769 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
6770 people from making that mistake.
6772 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
6773 convenient ways to override these when desired.
6775 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
6777 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
6781 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
6784 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
6785 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
6786 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
6787 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
6790 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
6791 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
6792 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
6793 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
6796 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
6797 have been added to the Guile library.
6799 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
6800 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
6801 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
6804 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
6805 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
6806 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
6808 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
6809 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
6810 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
6811 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
6812 argument from the list.
6815 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
6818 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
6819 null-terminated string, and returns it.
6821 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
6822 to a Scheme port object.
6824 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
6825 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
6830 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
6832 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
6833 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
6834 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
6835 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
6836 code as a special datatype.
6838 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
6839 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
6840 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
6841 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
6842 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
6845 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
6846 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
6847 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
6848 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
6849 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
6851 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
6854 Copyright information:
6856 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
6858 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
6859 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
6860 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
6861 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
6863 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
6864 of this document, or of portions of it,
6865 under the above conditions, provided also that they
6866 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
6871 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"