1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 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 1.6.x series:
17 * Changes to the distribution
19 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
21 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
23 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
25 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
27 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
29 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
32 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
34 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
35 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
36 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
37 so the current effective-version is "1.7". The effective version
38 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
39 items like the versioned share directory name
40 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.7.
42 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
43 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
44 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
45 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
46 with each micro release during a stable series.
48 ** Thread implementation has changed.
50 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
51 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
52 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
53 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
54 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
57 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
58 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
59 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
60 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
61 the GC. See the manual for details. [XXX - write this.]
63 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
64 in which case "null" threads are used.
66 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
68 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when
69 you don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but
70 where you have some section(s) of code which you consider can run
71 in parallel to other sections.
73 ### move rest to manual
75 They "flag" (with dynamic extent) sections of code to be of
76 "serial" or "parallel" nature and have the single effect of
77 preventing a serial section from being run in parallel with any
78 serial section (including itself).
80 Both serialize and parallelize can be nested. If so, the
81 inner-most construct is in effect.
83 NOTE 1: A serial section can run in parallel with a parallel
86 NOTE 2: If a serial section S is "interrupted" by a parallel
87 section P in the following manner: S = S1 P S2, S2 is not
88 guaranteed to be resumed by the same thread that previously
91 WARNING: Spawning new threads within a serial section have
92 undefined effects. It is OK, though, to spawn threads in unflagged
93 sections of code where neither serialize or parallelize is in
96 A typical usage is when Guile is used as scripting language in some
97 application doing heavy computations. If each thread is
98 encapsulated with a serialize form, you can then put a parallelize
99 form around the code performing the heavy computations (typically a
100 C code primitive), enabling the computations to run in parallel
101 while the scripting code runs single-threadedly.
103 ** New module (srfi srfi-26)
105 This is an implementation of SRFI-26.
107 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
109 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
110 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
112 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
113 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
116 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
117 with a renaming import, for example.
119 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
121 The official version is good enough now.
123 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
125 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
126 provided. Use 'make html'.
128 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
130 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
133 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
135 ** New command line option `-L'.
137 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
139 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
141 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
142 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
144 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
146 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
147 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
149 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
151 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
152 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
155 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
158 (define-module (demo)
162 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
165 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
167 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
169 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
170 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
171 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
174 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
176 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
177 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
179 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
180 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
181 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform vectors.
182 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
183 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
185 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
186 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
187 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
189 Arrays use generalized vectors their storage, so that you still have
190 arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read! and
191 uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and bitvectors.
193 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
194 substrings and read-only strings.
196 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
197 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
200 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
202 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
211 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
212 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
213 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
215 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
216 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
217 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
220 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
221 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
224 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
226 See the manual for details.
228 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
230 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
233 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
235 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
236 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
237 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
238 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
240 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
241 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
242 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
245 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
247 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
248 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
259 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
263 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
268 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
272 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
276 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
278 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
279 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
280 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
283 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
286 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
288 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
291 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
292 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
300 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
301 has been detected is to
303 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
304 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
305 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
308 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
311 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
313 to your .guile init file.
315 ### move rest to manual
317 The syntax for the :duplicates option is:
319 :duplicates HANDLER-NAME | (HANDLER1-NAME HANDLER2-NAME ...)
321 Specifying multiple handlers is useful since some handlers (such as
322 replace) can defer conflict resolution to others. Each handler is
323 tried until a binding is selected.
325 Currently available duplicates handlers are:
327 check report an error for bindings with a common name
328 warn issue a warning for bindings with a common name
329 replace replace bindings which have an imported replacement
330 warn-override-core issue a warning for imports which override core bindings
331 and accept the override
332 first select the first encountered binding (override)
333 last select the last encountered binding (override)
335 These two are provided by the (oop goops) module:
337 merge-generics merge generic functions with a common name
338 into an <extended-generic>
339 merge-accessors merge accessors with a common name
341 The default duplicates handler is:
343 (replace warn-override-core warn last)
345 A recommended handler (which is likely to correspond to future Guile
346 behavior) can be installed with:
348 (default-duplicate-binding-handler '(replace warn-override-core check))
350 ** New define-module option: :replace
352 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
355 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
356 for the core binding `format'.
358 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
360 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
361 a prefix to all imported bindings.
364 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
366 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
369 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
371 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
372 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
373 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
375 ### move the rest to the manual
377 It is sometimes tempting to use GOOPS accessors with short names.
378 For example, it is tempting to use the name `x' for the x-coordinate
381 Assume that we work with a graphical package which needs to use two
382 independent vector packages for 2D and 3D vectors respectively. If
383 both packages export `x' we will encounter a name collision.
385 This can now be resolved automagically with the duplicates handler
386 `merge-generics' which gives the module system license to merge all
387 generic functions sharing a common name:
389 (define-module (math 2D-vectors)
390 :use-module (oop goops)
393 (define-module (math 3D-vectors)
394 :use-module (oop goops)
397 (define-module (my-module)
398 :use-module (math 2D-vectors)
399 :use-module (math 3D-vectors)
400 :duplicates merge-generics)
402 x in (my-module) will now share methods with x in both imported
405 There will, in fact, now be three distinct generic functions named
406 `x': x in (2D-vectors), x in (3D-vectors), and x in (my-module). The
407 last function will be an <extended-generic>, extending the previous
410 Let's call the imported generic functions the "ancestor functions". x
411 in (my-module) is, in turn, a "descendant function" of the imported
412 functions, extending its ancestors.
414 For any generic function G, the applicable methods are selected from
415 the union of the methods of the descendant functions, the methods of G
416 itself and the methods of the ancestor functions.
418 This, ancestor functions share methods with their descendants and vice
419 versa. This implies that x in (math 2D-vectors) can will share the
420 methods of x in (my-module) and vice versa, while x in (math 2D-vectors)
421 doesn't share the methods of x in (math 3D-vectors), thus preserving
424 Sharing is dynamic, so that adding new methods to a descendant implies
425 adding it to the ancestor.
427 If duplicates checking is desired in the above example, the following
428 form of the :duplicates option can be used instead:
430 :duplicates (merge-generics check)
432 ** New function: effective-version
434 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
435 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
436 to the distribution" above.
438 ** New feature, 'futures': future, make-future, future-ref
440 Futures are like promises, but begin execution immediately in a new
441 thread. See the "Futures" section in the reference manual.
443 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
445 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
446 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
448 ** Fair mutexes and condition variables
450 Fair mutexes and condition variables have been added. The fairness
451 means that scheduling is arranged to give as equal time shares as
452 possible and that threads are awakened in a first-in-first-out
453 manner. This is not guaranteed with standard mutexes and condition
456 In addition, fair mutexes are recursive. Locking a fair mutex that
457 you have already locked will succeed. Every call to lock-mutex must
458 be matched with a call to unlock-mutex. Only the last call to
459 unlock-mutex will actually unlock the mutex.
461 A fair condition variable must be used together with a fair mutex,
462 just as a standard condition variable must be used together with a
465 *** New functions: make-fair-mutex, make-fair-condition-variable'
467 Make a new fair mutex and a new fair condition variable respectively.
469 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
471 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
472 instead if blocking and indicate failure.
474 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
476 The funtion 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
477 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
480 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
482 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
484 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
486 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
487 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
488 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
491 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
492 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
493 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
496 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
497 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
499 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
501 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
502 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
505 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
506 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
508 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
509 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
510 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
511 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
512 level for the current thread.
514 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
516 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
518 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
519 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
522 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
524 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
526 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
529 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
531 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
534 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
535 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
536 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
538 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
539 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
540 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
541 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
552 ERROR: Numerical overflow
554 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
557 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
559 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
560 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
561 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
572 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
574 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
575 them is also done exactly, of course:
580 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
583 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
584 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
586 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
588 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
589 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
590 equal to a floating point number. For example:
592 (inexact->exact 1.234)
593 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
595 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitely:
597 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
600 ** New function 'rationalize'.
602 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
603 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
605 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
608 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
609 result when both its arguments are exact.
611 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
613 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
614 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
615 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
617 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
619 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
620 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
621 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
623 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
626 ** pretty-print has more options.
628 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
629 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
630 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
632 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
634 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
635 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
636 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
638 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
640 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
641 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
643 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
645 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
646 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
649 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
651 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
652 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
653 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
654 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
655 without the soft port blocking.
657 ** New debugging feature: breakpoints.
659 Guile now has breakpoints. For details see the `Debugging Features'
660 chapter in the reference manual.
662 ** Deprecated: undefine
664 There is no replacement for undefine.
666 * The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
667 have been discouraged.
669 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
670 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
671 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
674 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
677 * Changes to the C interface
679 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
681 This is a milder form of deprecation.
683 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
684 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
685 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
686 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
687 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
689 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
690 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
692 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
693 Scheme values has been added.
695 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
696 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
701 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
702 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
704 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
706 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
707 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
710 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
712 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
713 scm_from_int for ints.
715 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
716 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
717 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
719 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
721 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
722 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
723 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
726 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
728 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
730 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
732 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
733 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
734 following alternatives.
736 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
737 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
738 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
739 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
741 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
742 do the validating for you.
744 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
745 have been discouraged.
747 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
748 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
751 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
753 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
754 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
757 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
759 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
762 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
765 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
767 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
768 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
770 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
771 scm_truncate_number should have.
773 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
774 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
776 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
779 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
780 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
781 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
783 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
784 easier to use from C.
786 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
787 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
789 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
790 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
791 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
794 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
795 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
796 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
797 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
800 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
801 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
802 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
803 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
804 and is thus quite efficient.
806 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
808 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
809 about the character encoding.
811 Replace according to the following table:
813 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
814 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
815 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
816 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
817 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
818 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
819 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
820 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
821 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
823 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
824 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
826 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
828 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
829 now also available to C code.
831 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
833 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
834 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
835 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
837 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
838 unceremoniously removed.
840 This implementation exposed the detailes of the tagging system of
841 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
842 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
844 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
845 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
846 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
847 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
848 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
849 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH.
851 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
853 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
854 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc instead. See the manual for more
857 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
858 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
860 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
861 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
862 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
864 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
866 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
867 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
869 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
870 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
871 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
872 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
874 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
876 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
877 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
878 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
880 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
881 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
883 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
884 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
885 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
886 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
888 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
890 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
891 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
892 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
893 prevent a potential memory leak:
902 mem = scm_malloc (100);
903 scm_frame_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITELY);
905 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
906 SCM_FRAME_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
913 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITELY, MEM will be freed by
914 SCM_FRAME_END as well.
918 For full documentation, see the node "Frames" in the manual.
920 ** New function scm_frame_free
922 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a frame is left.
923 Thus the call to scm_frame_unwind_handler above could be replaced with
924 simply scm_frame_free (mem).
926 ** New way to block and unblock asyncs
928 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
929 scm_frame_block_asyncs in a 'frame' (see above). Likewise for
930 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_frame_unblock_asyncs.
932 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
934 C code can now use scm_frame_current_<foo>_port in a 'frame' (see
935 above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
937 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
939 C code can now use scm_frame_fluid in a 'frame' (see
940 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
942 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
944 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
945 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
946 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
948 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
950 You should not have used them.
952 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
954 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
955 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
957 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
959 This macro is not intended for public use.
961 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
963 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
965 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
967 Use scm_is_real instead.
969 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
971 Use scm_is_complex instead.
973 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
975 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
976 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
978 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
979 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
981 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
982 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
984 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
986 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
989 ** New function: scm_effective_version
991 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
992 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
993 to the distribution" above.
995 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
997 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
998 arguments are now passed directly:
1000 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1002 This is an incompatible change.
1004 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1006 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1007 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1008 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1010 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1011 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1013 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1015 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1017 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1018 function in the init section.
1020 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1022 ** New macros SCM_VECTOR_REF and SCM_VECTOR_SET.
1024 Use these in preference to SCM_VELTS.
1026 ** The SCM_VELTS macros now returns a read-only vector. For writing,
1027 use the new macros SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS or SCM_VECTOR_SET. The use of
1028 SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS is discouraged, though.
1030 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1032 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1033 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1034 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1035 stays roughly constant.
1037 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1038 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1039 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1040 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1041 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1044 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1045 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1046 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1047 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1049 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1051 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1053 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1055 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1056 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1057 initializes a new cell (see below).
1059 ** New functions for memory management
1061 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1062 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1063 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1064 cause aborts in long running programs.
1066 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1067 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1069 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1070 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1071 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1072 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1073 details and for upgrading instructions.
1075 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1076 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1077 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1079 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1081 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1082 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1083 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1084 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1085 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1087 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1088 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1089 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1091 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1092 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1094 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1096 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1097 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1098 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1099 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1100 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1102 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1104 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1107 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1109 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1111 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1113 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1114 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1116 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1118 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1119 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1121 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1123 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1124 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1125 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1126 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1127 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1128 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1129 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1130 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1131 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1132 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1133 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1134 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1135 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1136 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1137 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1138 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1139 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1140 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1141 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1142 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1143 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1144 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1145 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1146 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1147 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1148 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1149 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1150 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1151 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1152 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1153 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1156 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1158 * Changes to the distribution
1160 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1162 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1164 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1165 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1166 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1167 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1168 indicate major changes in Guile.
1170 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1171 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1172 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1173 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1175 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1176 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1177 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1178 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1179 micro version number.
1181 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1183 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1185 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1186 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1188 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1190 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1191 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1192 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1194 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1196 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1197 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1198 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1201 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1203 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1206 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1208 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1209 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1211 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1213 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1214 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1217 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1219 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1222 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1225 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1227 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1229 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1230 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1231 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1233 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1235 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1237 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1240 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1242 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1244 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1246 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1247 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1248 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1250 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1252 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1254 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1255 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1264 See README there for more info.
1266 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1267 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1270 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1272 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1274 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1276 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1277 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1278 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1280 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1282 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1283 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1284 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1286 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1287 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1289 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1292 (oop goops describe)
1294 (oop goops active-slot)
1295 (oop goops composite-slot)
1297 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1298 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1299 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1301 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1303 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1304 in the default environment:
1306 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1307 %read-line write-line
1309 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1310 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1312 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1314 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1317 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1318 can be used for similar functionality.
1320 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1322 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1323 it defines two procedures:
1325 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1327 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1328 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1329 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1332 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1334 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1335 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1336 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1337 write large strings.
1339 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1341 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1342 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1344 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1346 for complete documentation.
1348 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1350 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1351 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1352 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1353 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1355 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1356 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1360 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1361 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1362 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1365 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1368 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1369 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1371 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1372 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1375 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1378 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1380 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1382 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1384 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1386 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1387 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1388 Scheme programs easier.
1390 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1391 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1392 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1393 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1394 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1397 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1398 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1400 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1403 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1405 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1406 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1407 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1410 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1412 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1414 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1415 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1416 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1417 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1418 was also ASCII, for example.
1420 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1422 tag - no replacement.
1423 fseek - replaced by seek.
1424 list* - replaced by cons*.
1426 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1430 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1431 (define m (make-safe-module))
1432 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1433 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1434 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1436 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1438 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1439 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1440 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1442 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1444 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1445 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1446 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1447 from the issues related to the module system.
1449 *** New function: load-extension
1451 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1453 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1455 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1456 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1457 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1459 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1461 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1462 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1463 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1464 support dynamic linking).
1466 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1468 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1469 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1470 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1471 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1474 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1475 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1476 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1477 library and initialize it explicitely.
1479 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1480 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1482 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1484 (define-module (foo bar))
1486 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1488 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1490 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1491 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1493 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1494 (null-environment 5)
1495 (interaction-environment)
1501 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1503 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1504 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1505 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1506 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1508 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1509 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1510 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1511 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1512 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1513 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1514 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1515 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1516 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1517 one eval to the next.
1519 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1520 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1521 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1522 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1523 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1525 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1526 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1527 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1528 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1529 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1530 used in a lexical environment.
1532 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1533 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1534 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1535 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1536 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1537 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1539 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1541 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1542 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1543 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1544 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1545 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1547 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1548 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1549 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1551 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1552 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1554 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1555 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1556 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1558 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1559 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1561 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1562 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1563 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1564 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1567 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1568 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1569 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1570 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1572 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1573 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1574 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1576 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1577 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1578 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1579 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1580 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1582 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1584 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1585 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1586 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1588 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1589 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1590 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1592 See manual for more info.
1594 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1596 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1597 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1598 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1600 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1602 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1603 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1604 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1606 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1607 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1608 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1609 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1611 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1613 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1614 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1616 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1617 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1618 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1619 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1620 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1623 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1624 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1625 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1626 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1627 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1628 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1630 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1631 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1632 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1633 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1634 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1636 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1637 objects are usually permanent.
1639 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1640 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1642 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1644 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1645 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1648 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1652 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1657 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1659 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1660 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1661 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1662 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1664 ** New function `make-object-property'
1666 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1667 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1671 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1672 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1676 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1677 source properties eventually.
1679 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1681 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1682 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1683 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1685 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1686 will be removed in the next release.
1688 ** New define-module option: pure
1690 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1695 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1698 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1700 Export names NAME1 ...
1702 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1703 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1707 (define-module (foo)
1709 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1712 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1717 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1719 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1721 ** New function: port? X
1723 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1724 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1726 ** New function: file-port?
1728 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1730 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1732 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1733 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1734 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1735 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1736 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1738 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1740 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1741 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1742 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1743 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1744 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1747 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1749 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1750 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1751 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1752 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1755 ** New function: crypt password salt
1757 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1760 ** New function: chroot path
1762 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1764 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1766 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1769 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1771 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1773 ** New function: getpass prompt
1775 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1778 ** New function: flock file operation
1780 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1782 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1784 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1787 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1789 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1790 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1791 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1792 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1793 of the temporary file.
1795 ** New function: open-input-string string
1797 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1798 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1799 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1801 ** New function: open-output-string
1803 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1804 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1806 ** New function: get-output-string
1808 Return the contents of an output string port.
1810 ** New function: identity
1812 Return the argument.
1814 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1815 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1817 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1819 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1820 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1821 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1824 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1825 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1827 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1829 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1830 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1831 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1834 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1835 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1836 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1840 Use `identity' instead.
1846 ** Deprecated: return-it
1850 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1852 Use `string-length' instead.
1854 ** Deprecated: flags
1856 Use `logior' instead.
1858 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1860 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1861 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
1862 port-for-each is more flexible.
1864 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
1865 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
1866 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
1868 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
1870 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
1872 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
1874 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
1876 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
1878 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
1879 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
1881 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
1882 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
1884 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
1885 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
1887 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
1889 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
1890 Removed function: builtin-bindings
1892 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
1893 Use module system operations for all variables.
1895 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
1897 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
1900 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
1902 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
1903 The following bugs have been fixed:
1905 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
1906 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
1909 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
1910 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
1911 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
1913 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
1914 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
1916 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
1917 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
1920 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
1921 The expansion used to be like so:
1923 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
1925 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
1927 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
1929 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
1930 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
1932 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
1934 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
1935 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
1936 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
1940 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
1941 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
1943 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
1948 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
1949 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
1951 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
1952 and `d', other keywords allowed.
1953 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
1955 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
1958 * Changes to the C interface
1960 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
1962 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
1963 with "_t". What a concept.
1965 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
1967 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
1969 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
1973 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
1974 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
1976 *** C Functions removed
1978 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
1979 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
1980 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
1981 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
1982 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
1983 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
1984 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
1986 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
1988 Use scm_mem2string instead.
1990 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
1992 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
1994 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
1995 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
1997 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
1999 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2002 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2004 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2006 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2008 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2009 Evaluation" in the manual.
2011 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2013 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2014 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2016 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2018 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2019 Constructors" in the manual.
2021 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2023 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2024 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2026 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2028 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2030 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2031 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2032 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2034 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2036 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2038 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2039 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2040 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2043 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2045 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2047 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2048 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2050 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2052 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2053 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2054 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2055 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2057 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2058 scm_primitive_property_ref
2059 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2060 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2062 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2063 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2065 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2067 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2068 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2069 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2070 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2072 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2074 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2075 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2076 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2077 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2078 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2079 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2080 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2082 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2083 scm_remember_upto_here
2085 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2087 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2089 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2090 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2092 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2094 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2096 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2098 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2100 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2102 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2103 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2104 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2105 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2106 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2107 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2109 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2111 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2113 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2114 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2115 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2117 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2119 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2120 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2121 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2123 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2125 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2126 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2129 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2132 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2133 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2136 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2138 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2140 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2142 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2144 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2146 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2148 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2149 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2150 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2151 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2152 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2153 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2154 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2155 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2156 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2157 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2158 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2159 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2160 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2161 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2162 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2164 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2165 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2166 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2167 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2168 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2169 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2170 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2171 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2172 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2173 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2174 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2175 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2176 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2177 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2178 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2179 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2180 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2181 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2182 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2183 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2184 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2185 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2186 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2187 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2188 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2189 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2190 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2191 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2192 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2194 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2196 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2198 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2199 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2201 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2203 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2205 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2207 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2209 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2211 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2213 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2215 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2217 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2220 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2221 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2223 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2225 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2227 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2229 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2231 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2233 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2235 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2237 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2240 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2242 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2244 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2246 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2247 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2249 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2250 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2252 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2254 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2255 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2256 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2258 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2260 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2262 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2263 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2265 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2266 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2267 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2268 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2270 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2271 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2272 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2274 Use the new ones from above instead.
2276 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2278 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2279 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2280 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2282 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2283 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2285 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2286 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2289 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2290 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2292 Use the new functions instead.
2294 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2297 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2299 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2301 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2304 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2306 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2309 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2311 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2314 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2315 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2316 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2318 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2320 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2321 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2323 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2324 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2325 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2326 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2329 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2331 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2332 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2333 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2334 inexact for an exact.
2336 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2337 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2338 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2341 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2342 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2343 accept an inexact argument.
2345 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2346 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2348 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2351 ** New number validation macros:
2352 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2356 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2358 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2359 scm_unprotect_object.
2361 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2363 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2365 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2368 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2370 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2374 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2376 * Changes to the distribution
2378 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2380 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2381 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2382 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2383 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2384 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2385 obtain these programs.
2386 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2387 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2389 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2390 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2391 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2392 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2393 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2395 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2396 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2397 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2398 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2402 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2405 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2406 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2407 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2408 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2410 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2412 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2414 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2415 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2417 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2418 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2420 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2421 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2423 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2424 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2425 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2426 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2428 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2430 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2434 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2435 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2437 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2439 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2440 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2442 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2443 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2444 number of objects of that kind.
2446 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2448 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2449 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2450 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2451 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2452 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2454 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2456 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2458 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2460 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2463 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2465 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2467 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2469 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2471 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2473 ** New command line option --debug
2475 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2477 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2479 ** New help facility
2481 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2482 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2483 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2484 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2485 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2486 (help) gives this text
2488 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2489 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2491 Examples: (help help)
2493 (help "output-string")
2495 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2497 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2499 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2500 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2503 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2504 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2505 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2508 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2509 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2510 use absolute filenames when possible.
2512 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2513 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2514 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2517 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2519 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2520 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2521 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2522 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2524 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2526 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2528 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2529 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2530 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2532 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2533 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2534 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2536 (read-enable 'positions)
2537 (debug-enable 'debug)
2539 ** Backtraces in scripts
2541 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2545 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2547 at the top of the script.
2549 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2550 The second enables backtraces.)
2552 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2554 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2555 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2556 substantially faster than before.
2558 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2559 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2561 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2562 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2564 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2566 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2567 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2568 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2570 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2571 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2572 when this hook is run in the future.
2574 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2575 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2577 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2579 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2580 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2583 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2584 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2585 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2587 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2588 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2590 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2591 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2593 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2594 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2595 in order not to need further allocation.)
2597 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2600 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2601 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2602 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2603 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2605 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2607 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2610 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2612 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2615 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2616 GC in percent of total heap size
2619 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2620 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2622 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2624 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2625 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2627 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2629 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2630 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2632 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2634 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2635 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2639 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2640 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2642 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2644 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2646 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2648 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2650 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2652 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2653 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2655 (simple-format port message . args)
2656 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2657 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2658 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2659 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2660 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2661 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2662 Does not add a trailing newline."
2664 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2666 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2667 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2669 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2670 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2672 ** Deprecated: list*
2674 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2676 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2678 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2679 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2681 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2682 is returned as result.
2684 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2686 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2688 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2690 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2691 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2694 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2696 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2698 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2699 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2701 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2703 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2705 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2707 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2709 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2711 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2713 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2715 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2716 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2717 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2719 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2722 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2724 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2725 the readability of argument checking.
2727 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2729 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2731 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2733 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2734 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2735 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2736 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2737 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2738 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2739 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2741 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2743 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2745 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2746 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2748 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2750 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2751 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2754 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2756 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2757 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2758 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2760 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2761 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2762 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2764 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2765 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2766 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2767 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2768 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2769 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2770 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2772 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2773 scm_end_input (object);
2774 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2775 ptob->flush (object);
2777 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2778 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2781 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2783 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2785 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2786 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2787 removed in a future version.
2789 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2791 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2792 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2793 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2794 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2796 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2797 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2799 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2802 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2804 in your configure.in.
2806 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2811 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2817 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2819 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2823 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2824 (define make-message string-append)
2826 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2828 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2832 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2837 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2841 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2843 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2844 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2846 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2848 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2849 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2850 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2851 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2852 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2853 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2855 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2856 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2857 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2859 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2860 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2861 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
2864 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
2865 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
2866 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
2867 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
2868 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
2870 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
2871 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
2872 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
2873 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
2874 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
2875 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
2876 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
2878 Destructors are not yet implemented.
2880 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
2881 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
2882 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
2884 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
2885 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
2886 KEY in the calling thread.
2888 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
2889 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
2890 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
2891 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
2892 associated with the key.
2894 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
2896 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
2897 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
2899 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
2901 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
2902 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
2903 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
2905 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
2907 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
2908 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
2910 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
2912 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
2914 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
2915 returned is undefined.
2917 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
2918 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
2919 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
2921 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
2922 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
2923 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
2925 ** New C level GC hooks
2927 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
2929 scm_before_gc_c_hook
2932 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
2933 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
2934 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
2936 scm_before_mark_c_hook
2937 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
2938 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
2940 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
2941 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
2944 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
2946 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
2947 allocation parameters
2949 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
2950 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
2951 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
2955 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
2956 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
2957 scm_default_max_segment_size
2959 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
2961 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
2962 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
2964 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
2966 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
2967 object and count on the object being protected until
2968 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
2970 The functions also have better time complexity.
2972 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
2973 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
2974 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
2975 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
2976 are no longer needed.
2978 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
2980 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
2981 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
2982 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
2983 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
2985 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
2987 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
2989 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
2991 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
2992 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
2993 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
2994 until this issue has been settled.
2996 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
2998 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3000 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3003 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3005 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3007 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3008 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3009 descriptors were checked.
3011 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3012 atomically written to a pipe.
3014 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3015 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3016 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3017 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3018 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3019 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3020 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3023 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3024 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3025 is changed without calling tzset.
3027 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3029 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3030 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3031 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3033 (define write-network-long
3034 (lambda (value port)
3035 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3036 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3037 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3039 (define read-network-long
3041 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3042 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3043 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3045 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3046 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3048 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3049 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3050 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3051 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3053 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3054 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3055 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3056 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3060 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3062 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3066 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3067 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3068 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3074 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3075 for a description of available commands.
3077 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3078 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3079 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3081 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3083 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3084 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3086 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3088 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3090 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3091 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3092 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3093 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3094 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3095 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3098 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3100 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3101 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3102 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3103 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3105 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3106 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3108 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3110 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3112 ** Readline support has changed again.
3114 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3115 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3116 to activate readline is now
3118 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3121 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3123 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3124 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3125 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3128 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3129 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3130 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3133 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3134 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3135 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3136 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3137 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3138 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3140 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3141 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3143 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3145 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3146 object it receives is the same string passed to
3147 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3148 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3149 string, not the suffix.
3151 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3152 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3153 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3155 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3157 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3158 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3159 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3160 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3163 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3165 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3167 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3168 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3169 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3170 appear from left to right.
3172 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3175 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3177 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3178 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3180 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3184 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3186 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3188 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3190 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3191 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3192 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3194 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3196 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3198 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3200 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3203 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3205 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3206 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3207 mentioning it here anyway.
3209 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3211 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3212 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3213 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3214 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3217 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3219 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3221 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3223 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3224 otherwise return #f.
3226 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3228 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3229 returned by `opendir'.
3231 ** New function: using-readline?
3233 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3235 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3237 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3238 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3240 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3242 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3244 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3245 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3246 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3248 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3250 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3251 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3253 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3255 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3256 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3257 documentation slots are not yet used.
3259 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3261 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3262 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3263 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3268 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3269 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3270 (string-append x y))
3272 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3273 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3275 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3276 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3277 be made in a clean way.]
3279 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3281 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3283 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3285 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3286 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3288 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3290 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3292 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3294 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3296 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3297 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3298 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3299 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3302 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3304 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3306 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3308 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3310 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3311 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3313 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3315 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3317 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3319 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3321 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3322 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3323 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3324 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3325 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3326 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3328 This should not make any difference for most users.
3330 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3332 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3333 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3335 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3337 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3338 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3339 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3340 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3341 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3343 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3345 It is now replaced by:
3347 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3349 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3350 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3352 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3354 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3355 This might change when we get the new module system.
3357 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3361 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3363 * Changes to mailing lists
3365 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3367 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3370 * Changes to the distribution
3372 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3374 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3375 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3376 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3377 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3378 you explicitly specify it.
3380 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3381 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3382 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3383 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3384 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3387 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3388 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3389 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3390 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3392 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3393 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3394 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3397 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3399 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3402 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3404 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3406 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3407 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3408 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3409 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3411 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3412 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3415 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3417 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3418 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3419 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3420 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3421 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3422 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3423 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3424 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3436 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3437 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3438 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3439 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3440 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3445 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3446 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3454 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3459 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3460 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3463 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3464 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3465 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3466 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3468 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3470 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3472 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3473 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3475 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3477 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3479 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3480 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3482 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3485 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3487 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3489 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3491 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3493 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3495 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3497 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3498 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3499 when the hook was created.
3501 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3502 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3503 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3504 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3505 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3506 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3507 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3508 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3509 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3511 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3512 the dlopen family of functions.
3514 ** New function `provided?'
3516 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3517 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3518 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3519 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3521 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3523 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3524 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3525 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3526 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3529 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3530 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3531 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3532 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3534 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3535 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3536 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3539 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3540 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3541 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3542 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3543 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3544 but with the flag set.
3546 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3548 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3549 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3551 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3552 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3553 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3554 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3555 available Scheme format implementations.
3557 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3558 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3559 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3560 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3561 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3562 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3563 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3564 output is to the current error port if available by the
3565 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3568 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3569 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3570 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3571 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3572 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3573 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3574 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3575 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3577 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3578 be executed at a time.
3581 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3583 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3584 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3585 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3587 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3588 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3589 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3590 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3591 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3592 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3593 general form of a directive is:
3595 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3597 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3599 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3601 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3602 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3603 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3606 Any (print as `display' does).
3610 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3614 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3618 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3624 print number sign always.
3627 print comma separated.
3629 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3635 print number sign always.
3638 print comma separated.
3640 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3646 print number sign always.
3649 print comma separated.
3651 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3657 print number sign always.
3660 print comma separated.
3662 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3667 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3671 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3674 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3677 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3680 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3685 prints `y' and `ies'.
3688 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3691 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3696 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3700 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3703 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3704 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3706 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3709 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3710 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3712 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3715 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3717 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3719 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3722 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3724 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3726 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3729 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3732 The sign appears before the padding.
3740 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3742 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3747 print N page separators.
3757 newline is ignored, white space left.
3760 newline is left, white space ignored.
3765 relative tabulation.
3771 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3773 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3776 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3778 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3781 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3784 converts by `string-upcase'.
3787 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3789 jumps N arguments forward.
3792 jumps 1 argument backward.
3795 jumps N arguments backward.
3798 jumps to the 0th argument.
3801 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3803 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3804 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3806 take argument from N.
3809 true test conditional.
3812 if-else-then conditional.
3818 default clause follows.
3821 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3823 at most N iterations.
3826 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3829 args from the rest of arguments.
3832 args from the rest args (lists).
3843 aborts if N <= M <= K
3845 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3848 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3851 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3857 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3859 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3861 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
3862 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
3863 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
3864 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
3865 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
3866 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
3870 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
3874 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
3880 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
3883 Print a `#\space' character
3885 print N `#\space' characters.
3888 Print a `#\tab' character
3890 print N `#\tab' characters.
3893 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
3894 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
3895 must be a positive decimal number.
3898 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3899 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3900 be processed by `read'.
3903 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3904 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3905 be processed by `read'.
3908 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
3911 prints format version.
3914 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
3915 and format it accordingly.
3917 *** Configuration Variables
3919 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
3920 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
3921 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
3922 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
3925 format:symbol-case-conv
3926 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
3927 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
3928 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
3929 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
3930 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
3932 format:iobj-case-conv
3933 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
3934 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
3937 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
3940 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
3946 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
3947 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
3948 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
3949 `format' padding style.
3952 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
3953 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
3954 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
3955 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
3959 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
3960 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
3961 directive parameters or modifiers)).
3964 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
3965 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
3966 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
3967 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
3968 parameters or modifiers)).
3971 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
3973 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
3975 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
3976 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
3978 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
3979 string-downcase! functions.
3981 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
3982 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
3984 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
3987 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
3990 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
3991 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
3993 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
3995 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
3996 the symbol had be read by `read'.
3998 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
3999 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4000 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4001 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4002 would if STRING were input.
4004 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4006 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4007 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4008 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4009 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4012 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4014 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4015 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4018 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4020 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4021 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4023 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4024 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4026 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4027 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4028 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4029 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4031 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4032 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4034 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4035 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4036 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4038 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4039 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4041 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4042 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4043 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4044 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4045 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4047 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4048 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4049 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4050 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4051 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4052 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4054 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4055 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4056 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4059 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4060 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4061 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4062 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4063 the following grammar:
4064 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4065 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4066 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4067 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4068 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4069 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4070 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4071 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4072 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4073 last option in its combination)
4075 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4076 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4077 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4078 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4080 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4081 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4082 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4084 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4085 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4086 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4088 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4089 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4090 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4091 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4092 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4093 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4094 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4095 ordinary argument strings.
4097 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4098 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4099 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4100 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4102 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4103 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4105 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4106 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4107 - a required option is omitted
4108 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4109 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4110 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4111 - an option predicate fails
4116 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4119 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4120 (verbose (required? #f)
4123 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4124 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4125 (predicate ,string?))))
4127 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4128 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4130 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4131 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4132 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4133 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4136 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4138 It will be removed in a few releases.
4140 ** New syntax: lambda*
4141 ** New syntax: define*
4142 ** New syntax: define*-public
4143 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4144 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4145 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4147 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4148 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4149 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4150 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4151 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4153 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4154 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4155 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4157 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4159 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4160 and examples for `lambda*':
4163 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4165 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4166 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4167 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4168 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4169 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4170 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4171 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4172 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4174 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4176 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4177 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4178 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4179 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4181 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4182 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4183 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4184 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4185 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4186 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4187 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4188 and until the procedure is called.
4190 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4192 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4193 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4194 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4195 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4196 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4197 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4198 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4199 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4200 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4201 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4203 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4204 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4205 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4206 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4209 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4211 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4212 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4213 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4214 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4216 ** New syntax: and-let*
4217 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4219 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4220 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4221 (<variable> <expression>)
4224 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4225 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4226 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4229 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4230 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4231 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4232 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4233 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4234 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4235 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4237 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4238 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4239 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4240 shadow earlier bindings.
4242 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4244 ** New sorting functions
4246 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4247 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4248 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4249 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4251 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4252 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4255 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4256 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4257 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4259 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4260 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4261 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4262 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4264 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4265 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4266 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4267 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4268 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4271 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4272 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4273 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4274 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4275 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4276 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4278 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4279 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4280 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4282 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4283 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4284 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4287 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4288 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4289 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4291 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4292 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4294 ** New built-in random number support
4296 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4297 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4298 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4299 returned have a uniform distribution.
4301 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4302 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4303 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4304 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4305 effect of the `random' operation.
4307 *** New variable: *random-state*
4308 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4309 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4310 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4311 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4312 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4315 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4316 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4317 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4318 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4319 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4321 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4322 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4323 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4324 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4325 initialized using SEED.
4327 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4328 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4329 range between 0 and 1.
4331 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4332 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4333 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4334 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4335 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4336 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4337 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4339 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4340 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4341 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4342 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4343 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4344 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4346 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4347 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4348 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4349 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4351 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4352 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4353 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4354 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4356 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4357 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4358 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4360 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4362 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4365 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4366 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4369 ** New function: make-guardian
4370 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4371 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4372 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4373 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4374 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4376 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4377 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4378 one object if at all.
4380 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4381 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4382 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4384 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4385 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4386 read again in last-in first-out order.
4388 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4389 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4391 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4393 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4394 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4395 file position is used.
4397 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4398 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4399 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4401 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4402 redefined using seek.
4404 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4405 size is not supplied.
4407 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4408 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4410 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4411 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4413 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4415 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4416 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4417 and returns the contents as a single string.
4419 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4420 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4421 lists in serial order.
4423 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4424 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4425 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4427 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4428 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4429 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4430 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4432 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4433 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4434 and #f if an error occured.
4436 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4438 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4439 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4440 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4441 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4443 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4445 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4448 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4450 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4453 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4457 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4458 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4460 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4461 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4465 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4467 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4469 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4470 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4472 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4474 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4475 might change when we get the new module system.
4477 ** The smob interface
4479 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4480 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4482 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4484 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4488 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4489 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4490 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4491 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4492 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4493 will be freed by the default free function.
4495 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4496 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4497 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4498 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4500 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4501 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4502 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4503 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4505 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4507 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4508 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4512 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4513 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4514 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4516 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4517 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4518 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4519 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4521 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4522 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4523 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4525 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4526 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4527 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4528 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4530 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4531 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4532 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4534 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4538 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4540 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4541 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4542 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4544 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4545 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4546 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4548 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4549 a string port's buffer.
4551 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4552 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4553 function pointers which together define the current random number
4554 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4555 number library functions.
4557 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4560 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4561 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4564 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4565 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4567 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4568 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4570 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4571 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4574 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4575 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4576 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4577 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4579 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4580 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4581 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4582 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4583 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4584 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4585 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4587 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4588 by libguile and the application.
4590 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4591 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4592 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4593 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4595 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4596 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4598 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4599 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4600 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4602 ** Random number library functions
4603 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4604 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4605 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4607 The default random state is stored in:
4609 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4610 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4611 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4616 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4618 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4619 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4620 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4621 isn't a random state.
4623 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4624 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4626 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4627 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4628 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4629 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4631 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4632 Return 32 random bits.
4634 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4635 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4637 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4638 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4640 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4641 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4643 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4644 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4646 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4647 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4648 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4652 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4654 * Changes to the distribution
4656 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4657 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4658 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4661 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4662 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4663 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4665 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4666 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4667 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4668 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4671 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4672 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4673 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4675 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4677 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4679 *** Function: batch-mode?
4681 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4684 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4686 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4687 case has not been implemented.
4689 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4690 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4691 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4694 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4695 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4697 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4699 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4701 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4703 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4704 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4707 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4708 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4709 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4710 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4713 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4715 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4716 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4717 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4718 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4719 find those libraries.
4721 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4722 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4725 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4727 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4728 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4729 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4730 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4732 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4733 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4734 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4738 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4740 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4741 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4742 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4745 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4746 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4747 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4748 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4750 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4751 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4754 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4755 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4756 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4757 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4758 compiler where to find the libraries.
4760 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4761 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4762 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4764 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4765 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4766 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4767 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4768 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4772 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4774 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4775 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4776 internationalization support.
4778 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4779 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4780 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4781 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4782 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4784 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4785 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4786 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4787 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4788 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4790 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4791 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4792 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4793 any GNU mirror site.
4795 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4797 ** New function: add-history STRING
4798 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4799 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4800 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4802 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4804 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4805 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4806 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4809 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4810 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4811 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4813 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4815 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4818 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4819 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4822 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4823 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4824 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4825 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4826 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4827 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4829 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4830 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4831 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4832 of the form mentioned above.
4834 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4835 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4836 returned in the special `rest' list.
4838 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4839 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4841 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4843 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4845 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4847 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4848 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4849 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4850 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4851 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4852 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4853 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4854 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4857 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4859 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4861 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
4862 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
4865 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
4866 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
4867 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
4871 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
4872 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
4873 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
4874 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
4875 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
4876 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
4877 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
4878 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
4881 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
4883 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
4884 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
4885 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
4887 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
4889 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
4890 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
4892 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
4893 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
4894 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
4896 Why do we have this function?
4897 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
4898 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
4899 primitive, and display it differently, and
4900 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
4901 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
4904 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
4905 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
4908 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
4909 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
4910 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
4911 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
4913 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
4914 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
4917 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
4918 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
4920 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
4922 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
4923 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
4924 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
4925 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
4926 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
4927 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
4928 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
4931 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
4933 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
4934 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
4936 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
4937 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
4938 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
4939 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
4940 properly continue the print chain.
4942 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
4943 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
4944 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
4945 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
4946 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
4947 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
4948 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
4949 print-state, it is simply ignored.
4951 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
4952 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
4953 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
4954 safest to not check for these pairs.
4956 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
4957 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
4958 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
4959 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
4961 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
4963 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
4964 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
4966 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
4968 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
4970 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
4971 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
4972 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
4974 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
4975 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
4976 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
4978 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
4979 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
4980 the following functions and macros:
4982 Function: make-fluid
4984 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
4985 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
4986 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
4987 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
4988 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
4990 Function: fluid? OBJ
4992 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
4994 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
4995 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
4997 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
4998 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5000 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5002 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5003 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5004 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5005 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5006 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5007 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5008 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5010 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5012 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5013 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5014 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5015 should evaluate to a fluid.
5017 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5019 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5020 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5021 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5022 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5023 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5025 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5028 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5030 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5032 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5034 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5037 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5038 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5039 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5040 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5041 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5044 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5045 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5046 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5048 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5049 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5050 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5052 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5053 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5054 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5055 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5057 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5058 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5059 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5060 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5062 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5063 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5064 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5065 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5067 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5068 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5069 their revealed counts set to zero.
5071 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5072 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5074 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5075 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5077 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5078 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5080 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5081 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5082 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5084 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5085 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5086 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5088 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5089 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5090 default environment inherited by child processes.
5092 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5093 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5094 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5096 The return value is unspecified.
5098 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5099 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5100 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5101 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5102 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5104 The return value is unspecified.
5106 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5107 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5115 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5116 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5119 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5122 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5123 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5124 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5126 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5127 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5128 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5129 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5132 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5133 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5135 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5136 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5137 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5138 the `environ' procedure.
5140 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5141 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5144 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5145 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5147 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5148 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5149 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5150 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5152 *** procedure: times
5153 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5154 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5155 return a selected component:
5158 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5162 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5165 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5169 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5170 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5174 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5175 terminated child processes.
5177 ** Removed: list-length
5178 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5179 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5181 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5183 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5185 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5187 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5188 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5189 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5190 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5192 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5193 extra complexity it introduces.
5195 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5196 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5198 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5199 variable to any non-empty value.
5201 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5202 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5204 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5206 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5207 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5209 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5211 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5212 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5214 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5216 ** vector handling routines
5218 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5219 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5220 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5221 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5222 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5224 ** pair and list routines
5226 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5229 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5231 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5234 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5236 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5238 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5239 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5240 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5241 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5242 site-specific initialization code.
5244 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5245 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5246 initialization processes.
5248 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5249 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5250 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5251 initialized properly.
5253 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5254 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5255 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5257 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5258 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5259 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5260 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5261 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5263 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5265 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5266 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5267 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5268 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5269 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5271 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5272 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5273 which look like this:
5276 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5278 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5279 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5282 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5283 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5286 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5288 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5289 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5290 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5292 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5293 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5294 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5295 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5296 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5298 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5299 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5301 int (*free) (SCM port);
5302 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5303 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5304 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5308 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5309 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5310 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5312 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5315 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5316 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5317 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5319 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5320 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5321 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5324 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5328 struct timeval *timeout);
5330 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5331 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5332 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5333 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5334 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5335 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5337 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5338 scm_catch_body_t body,
5340 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5343 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5344 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5345 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5346 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5347 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5348 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5350 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5352 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5355 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5356 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5357 spawning threads from application C code.
5359 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5360 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5361 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5362 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5363 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5364 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5366 ** Removed functions:
5368 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5369 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5371 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5373 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5374 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5376 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5378 ** mbstrings are now removed
5380 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5381 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5383 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5385 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5386 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5387 their new names and arguments:
5389 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5390 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5391 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5392 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5395 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5397 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5399 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5402 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5404 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5405 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5406 pass a #f arg to catch.
5408 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5410 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5411 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5414 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5415 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5416 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5417 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5418 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5419 reclaim its storage.
5421 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5422 worrying that some other function you call will call
5423 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5424 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5425 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5426 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5429 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5431 * Changes to the distribution
5433 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5434 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5437 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5438 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5440 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5441 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5443 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5445 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5446 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5447 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5449 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5451 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5452 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5453 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5454 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5455 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5456 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5458 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5459 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5460 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5463 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5464 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5465 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5466 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5468 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5469 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5470 libraries to your link command:
5472 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5473 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5474 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5475 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5477 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5478 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5479 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5481 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5483 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5484 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5487 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5489 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5490 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5491 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5492 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5493 searched is system dependent.
5495 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5497 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5499 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5501 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5502 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5504 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5506 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5507 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5508 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5509 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5510 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5513 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5515 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5516 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5517 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5518 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5519 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5521 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5523 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5524 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5526 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5528 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5529 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5530 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5533 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5535 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5536 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5537 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5538 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5540 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5541 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5543 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5545 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5546 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5548 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5550 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5551 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5559 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5561 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5562 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5563 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5564 a more informative way.
5566 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5567 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5568 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5569 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5570 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5571 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5573 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5574 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5577 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5578 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5579 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5582 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5583 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5584 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5585 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5586 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5587 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5589 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5590 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5591 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5592 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5595 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5596 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5597 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5598 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5599 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5600 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5602 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5603 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5604 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5605 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5606 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5608 *** regexp functions
5610 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5611 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5612 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5614 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5615 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5616 with SCSH regular expressions.
5618 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5619 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5620 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5621 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5623 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5624 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5625 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5626 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5628 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5629 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5630 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5631 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5632 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5633 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5635 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5636 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5637 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5638 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5639 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5641 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5643 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5644 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5645 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5646 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5648 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5649 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5650 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5652 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5653 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5655 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5658 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5659 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5660 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5662 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5663 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5664 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5666 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5667 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5668 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5669 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5670 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5673 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5675 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5676 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5677 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5678 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5679 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5680 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5682 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5683 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5684 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5686 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5687 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5690 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5691 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5693 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5694 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5695 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5696 may be one of the following arguments:
5698 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5700 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5702 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5703 the regexp match is written.
5705 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5706 following the regexp match is written.
5708 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5709 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5712 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5713 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5714 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5715 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5716 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5717 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5719 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5722 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5723 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5724 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5725 written out to PORT.
5727 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5728 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5729 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5730 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5731 will return after processing a single match.
5733 *** Match Structures
5735 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5736 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5737 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5738 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5739 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5740 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5743 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5744 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5745 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5746 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5747 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5749 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5750 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5751 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5753 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5754 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5755 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5756 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5757 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5759 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5760 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5762 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5763 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5765 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5766 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5768 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5769 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5771 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5772 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5773 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5774 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5776 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5777 Return the original TARGET string.
5779 *** Backslash Escapes
5781 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5782 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5783 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5784 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5785 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5786 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5788 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5789 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5790 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5791 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5792 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5793 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5794 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5795 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5797 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5798 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5799 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5800 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5801 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5802 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5803 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5805 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5806 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5807 return the resulting string.
5809 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5810 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5811 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5812 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5813 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5814 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5815 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5816 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5817 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5818 translated to the single character `*'.
5820 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5821 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5822 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5823 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5824 consecutive backslashes:
5826 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5828 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5829 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5830 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5832 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5833 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5834 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5835 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5836 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5837 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5839 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5841 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5842 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5843 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5844 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5845 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5846 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5847 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5848 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5849 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5850 cumbersome escape syntax.
5852 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5854 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5856 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5858 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5861 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
5863 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
5865 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
5868 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
5869 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
5870 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
5871 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
5872 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
5874 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
5875 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
5876 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
5877 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
5878 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
5879 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
5880 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
5883 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
5884 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
5885 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
5888 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
5889 `force-output' on every port open for output.
5891 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
5892 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
5893 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
5894 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
5895 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
5896 installed, you can say:
5898 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
5901 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5903 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
5904 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
5905 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
5906 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
5907 new dynamic roots and threads.
5910 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
5912 * Changes to the distribution.
5914 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
5916 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
5917 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
5918 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
5919 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
5920 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
5921 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
5922 programming language. These are packaged together because the
5923 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
5925 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
5928 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
5929 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
5934 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5936 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
5937 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
5939 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
5940 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
5941 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
5942 the (command-line) function.
5943 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
5944 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
5945 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
5947 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
5948 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
5949 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
5950 command line arguments
5951 -ds do -s script at this point
5952 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
5953 -h, --help display this help and exit
5954 -v, --version display version information and exit
5955 \ read arguments from following script lines
5957 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
5958 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
5960 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5963 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5967 (main (command-line))
5969 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
5971 ekko a speckled gecko
5973 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
5974 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
5975 following list of command-line arguments:
5977 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
5979 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
5980 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
5981 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
5982 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
5983 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5985 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
5987 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
5989 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
5990 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
5993 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
5994 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
5995 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
5996 SCSH) for circumventing them.
5998 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
5999 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6000 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6001 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6003 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6007 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6011 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6013 ekko a speckled gecko
6015 Unix expands this into
6017 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6019 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6020 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6022 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6024 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6025 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6027 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6028 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6029 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6030 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6031 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6032 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6033 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6034 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6035 it only terminates the argument list.)
6036 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6037 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6038 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6039 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6040 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6041 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6042 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6043 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6045 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6047 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6048 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6049 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6050 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6051 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6053 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6054 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6055 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6057 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6059 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6060 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6061 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6062 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6065 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6066 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6067 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6069 * Changes to Scheme functions
6071 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6072 and disabled by default.
6074 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6075 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6076 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6077 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6079 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6081 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6083 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6084 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6086 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6087 (read-set! keywords #f)
6089 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6090 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6091 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6094 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6095 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6096 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6099 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6100 support for Scheme functions.
6102 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6103 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6104 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6105 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6108 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6109 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6110 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6113 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6114 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6115 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6118 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6119 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6120 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6121 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6122 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6123 display the result as a prompt.
6124 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6126 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6127 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6128 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6131 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6132 procedure of zero arguments.
6134 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6135 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6136 argument is bound in the current module.
6138 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6139 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6140 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6141 public bindings into the current module.
6143 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6144 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6146 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6147 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6149 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6150 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6152 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6153 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6155 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6156 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6158 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6159 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6160 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6161 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6162 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6164 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6165 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6166 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6167 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6169 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6172 ** Changes to I/O functions
6174 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6175 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6176 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6178 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6179 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6180 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6182 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6183 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6185 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6186 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6187 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6188 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6190 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6192 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6193 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6195 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6196 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6197 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6198 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6199 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6202 'trim omit delimiter from result
6203 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6204 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6205 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6207 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6209 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6210 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6212 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6213 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6214 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6215 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6216 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6218 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6219 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6220 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6222 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6223 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6224 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6225 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6227 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6228 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6230 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6231 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6233 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6235 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6236 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6237 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6238 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6239 a delimiting character.
6240 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6242 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6243 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6244 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6245 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6246 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6247 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6249 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6250 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6252 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6253 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6254 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6256 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6257 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6258 the array to read and write.
6260 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6261 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6264 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6266 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6269 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6270 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6271 Values for COMMAND are:
6273 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6274 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6275 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6276 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6277 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6278 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6279 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6280 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6282 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6284 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6285 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6286 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6287 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6288 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6289 corresponding return set will be the same.
6291 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6294 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6295 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6296 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6297 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6298 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6299 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6300 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6301 special file being created.
6303 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6304 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6306 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6307 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6308 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6309 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6310 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6311 and originating address.
6313 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6314 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6315 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6317 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6320 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6321 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6324 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6325 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6326 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6327 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6328 this function returns #f.
6330 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6331 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6332 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6335 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6336 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6337 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6340 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6341 a valid STATUS value.
6343 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6345 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6346 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6348 Component Accessor Setter
6349 ========================= ============ ============
6350 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6351 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6352 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6353 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6354 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6355 year tm:year set-tm:year
6356 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6357 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6358 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6359 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6360 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6362 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6363 describing the host system:
6366 ============================================== ================
6367 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6368 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6369 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6370 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6371 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6373 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6374 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6375 system's user database:
6378 ====================== =================
6379 user name passwd:name
6380 user password passwd:passwd
6383 real name passwd:gecos
6384 home directory passwd:dir
6385 shell program passwd:shell
6387 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6388 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6389 system's group database:
6392 ======================= ============
6393 group name group:name
6394 group password group:passwd
6396 group members group:mem
6398 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6399 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6403 ========================= ===============
6404 official name of host hostent:name
6405 alias list hostent:aliases
6406 host address type hostent:addrtype
6407 length of address hostent:length
6408 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6410 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6411 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6415 ========================= ===============
6416 official name of net netent:name
6417 alias list netent:aliases
6418 net number type netent:addrtype
6419 net number netent:net
6421 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6422 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6426 ========================= ===============
6427 official protocol name protoent:name
6428 alias list protoent:aliases
6429 protocol number protoent:proto
6431 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6432 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6436 ========================= ===============
6437 official service name servent:name
6438 alias list servent:aliases
6439 port number servent:port
6440 protocol to use servent:proto
6442 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6443 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6446 ======================================== ===============
6447 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6448 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6449 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6450 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6452 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6453 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6454 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6456 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6457 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6459 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6460 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6462 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6463 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6465 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6467 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6469 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6470 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6471 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6473 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6474 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6475 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6476 return the remaining characters as a string.
6478 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6479 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6480 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6482 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6484 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6486 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6489 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6492 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6493 and returns the array
6495 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6496 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6497 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6499 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6501 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6502 symbol's value from C code:
6504 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6505 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6506 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6507 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6509 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6510 without assigning them a value.
6512 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6513 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6514 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6516 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6517 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6518 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6520 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6521 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6523 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6524 doesn't actually care about that.
6526 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6527 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6528 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6530 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6531 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6532 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6533 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6534 which we have just created and initialized.
6536 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6537 should one occur. We call it like this:
6538 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6540 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6541 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6542 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6543 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6544 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6545 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6548 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6549 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6550 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6551 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6552 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6553 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6554 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6557 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6558 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6559 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6560 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6561 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6564 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6565 scm_internal_catch, except:
6567 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6568 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6569 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6570 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6573 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6574 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6575 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6577 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6578 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6579 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6580 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6583 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6584 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6585 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6587 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6588 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6589 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6590 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6591 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6593 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6594 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6595 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6597 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6598 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6599 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6601 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6602 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6604 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6605 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6606 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6609 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6610 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6611 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6612 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6613 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6614 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6615 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6618 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6619 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6621 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6622 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6623 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6624 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6625 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6628 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6629 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6631 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6632 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6635 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6636 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6638 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6641 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6642 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6643 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6644 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6645 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6646 given the following arguments:
6648 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6650 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6652 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6654 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6657 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6658 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6659 command-line arguments.
6661 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6662 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6663 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6664 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6665 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6666 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6669 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6672 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6673 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6675 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6676 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6678 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6679 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6680 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6681 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6683 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6684 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6686 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6687 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6688 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6689 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6691 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6692 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6694 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6695 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6697 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6699 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6700 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6701 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6704 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6705 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6707 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6708 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6713 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6716 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6718 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6719 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6720 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6721 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6723 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6725 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6727 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6728 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6729 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6730 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6731 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6732 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6733 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6734 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6735 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6736 for more information.
6738 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6739 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6741 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6742 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6743 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6744 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6745 following two lines at the top of the file:
6747 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6750 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6751 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6752 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6754 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6756 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6758 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6761 (display (car args))
6762 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6764 (loop (cdr args)))))
6767 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6768 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6769 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6770 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6771 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6772 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6776 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6779 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6782 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6784 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6785 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6786 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6787 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6788 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6791 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6792 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6793 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6794 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6795 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6798 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6801 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6802 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6803 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6806 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6807 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6808 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6810 to see a backtrace, and
6811 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6812 to see them by default.
6816 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6818 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6820 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6821 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6824 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6825 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6826 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6827 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6830 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6831 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6832 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6833 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6834 functions which inspired them.
6836 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6837 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6841 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6843 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6845 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6846 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6849 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6850 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6851 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6853 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6854 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6855 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6856 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6857 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6859 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6861 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
6862 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
6863 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
6866 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
6869 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
6871 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
6872 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
6873 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
6874 above should serve their purposes.
6876 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
6877 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
6878 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
6879 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
6881 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
6884 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
6885 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
6886 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
6887 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
6889 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
6890 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
6891 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
6892 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
6894 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
6895 for the `read' function.
6898 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
6899 to that of `integer?'.
6901 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
6902 use the R4RS names for these functions.
6904 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
6905 it simply returns the object's property list.
6907 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
6908 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
6909 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
6910 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
6912 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
6914 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
6917 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
6919 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
6920 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
6922 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
6924 void (*main_func) (),
6927 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
6928 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
6929 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
6930 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
6931 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
6933 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
6934 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
6935 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
6936 know which arguments have been processed.
6938 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
6939 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
6940 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
6941 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
6942 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
6944 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
6945 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
6946 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
6947 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
6948 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
6949 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
6950 people from making that mistake.
6952 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
6953 convenient ways to override these when desired.
6955 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
6957 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
6961 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
6964 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
6965 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
6966 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
6967 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
6970 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
6971 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
6972 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
6973 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
6976 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
6977 have been added to the Guile library.
6979 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
6980 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
6981 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
6984 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
6985 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
6986 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
6988 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
6989 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
6990 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
6991 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
6992 argument from the list.
6995 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
6998 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
6999 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7001 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7002 to a Scheme port object.
7004 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7005 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7010 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7012 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7013 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7014 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7015 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7016 code as a special datatype.
7018 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7019 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7020 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7021 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7022 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7025 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7026 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7027 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7028 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7029 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7031 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7034 Copyright information:
7036 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7038 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7039 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7040 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7041 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7043 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7044 of this document, or of portions of it,
7045 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7046 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7051 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"