1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 Changes in 2.0.9 (since 2.0.7):
10 Note: 2.0.8 was a brown paper bag release that was never announced, but
11 some mirrors may have picked it up. Please do not use it.
15 ** New keyword arguments for procedures that open files
17 The following procedures that open files now support keyword arguments
18 to request binary I/O or to specify the character encoding for text
19 files: `open-file', `open-input-file', `open-output-file',
20 `call-with-input-file', `call-with-output-file', `with-input-from-file',
21 `with-output-to-file', and `with-error-to-file'.
23 It is also now possible to specify whether Guile should scan files for
24 Emacs-style coding declarations. This scan was done by default in
25 versions 2.0.0 through 2.0.7, but now must be explicitly requested.
27 See "File Ports" in the manual for details.
31 The `guile.m4' autoconf macros have been rewritten to use `guild' and
32 `pkg-config' instead of the deprecated `guile-config' (which itself
35 There is also a new macro, `GUILE_PKG', which allows packages to select
36 the version of Guile that they want to compile against. See "Autoconf
37 Macros" in the manual, for more information.
39 ** Better Windows support
41 Guile now correctly identifies absolute paths on Windows (MinGW), and
42 creates files on that platform according to its path conventions. See
43 "File System" in the manual, for all details.
45 In addition, the new Gnulib imports provide `select' and `poll' on
48 As an incompatible change, systems that are missing <sys/select.h> were
49 previously provided a public `scm_std_select' C function that defined a
50 version of `select', but unhappily it also provided its own incompatible
51 definitions for FD_SET, FD_ZERO, and other system interfaces. Guile
52 should not be setting these macros in public API, so this interface was
53 removed on those plaforms (basically only MinGW).
55 ** Numerics improvements
57 `number->string' now reliably outputs enough digits to produce the same
58 number when read back in. Previously, it mishandled subnormal numbers
59 (printing them as "#.#"), and failed to distinguish between some
60 distinct inexact numbers, e.g. 1.0 and (+ 1.0 (expt 2.0 -52)). These
61 problems had far-reaching implications, since the compiler uses
62 `number->string' to serialize numeric constants into .go files.
64 `sqrt' now produces exact rational results when possible, and handles
65 very large or very small numbers more robustly.
67 A number (ahem) of operations involving exact rationals have been
68 optimized, most notably `integer-expt' and `expt'.
70 `exact->inexact' now performs correct IEEE rounding.
74 There were a number of improvements to the partial evaluator, allowing
75 complete reduction of forms such as:
77 ((let ((_ 10)) (lambda () _)))
81 (apply (lambda _ _) 1 2 3 '(4))
83 (call-with-values (lambda () (values 1 2)) (lambda _ _))
85 `string-join' now handles huge lists efficiently.
87 `get-bytevector-some' now uses buffered input, which is much faster.
89 Finally, `array-ref', `array-set!' on arrays of rank 1 or 2 is now
90 faster, because it avoids building a rest list. Similarly, the
91 one-argument case of `array-for-each' and `array-map!' has been
92 optimized, and `array-copy!' and `array-fill!' are faster.
94 ** `peek-char' no longer consumes EOF
96 As required by the R5RS, if `peek-char' returns EOF, then the next read
97 will also return EOF. Previously `peek-char' would consume the EOF.
98 This makes a difference for terminal devices where it is possible to
103 Guile's copy of Gnulib was updated to v0.0-7865-ga828bb2. The following
104 modules were imported from Gnulib: select, times, pipe-posix, fstat,
105 getlogin, poll, and c-strcase.
107 ** `include' resolves relative file names relative to including file
109 Given a relative file name, `include' will look for it relative to the
110 directory of the including file. This harmonizes the behavior of
111 `include' with that of `load'.
113 ** SLIB compatibility restored
115 Guile 2.0.8 is now compatible with SLIB. You will have to use a
116 development version of SLIB, however, until a new version of SLIB is
119 ** Better ,trace REPL command
121 Sometimes the ,trace output for nested function calls could overflow the
122 terminal width, which wasn't useful. Now there is a limit to the amount
123 of space the prefix will take. See the documentation for ",trace" for
126 ** Better docstring syntax supported for `case-lambda'
128 Docstrings can now be placed immediately after the `case-lambda' or
129 `case-lambda*' keyword. See "Case-lambda" in the manual.
131 ** Improved handling of Unicode byte order marks
133 See "BOM Handling" in the manual for details.
135 ** Update predefined character sets to Unicode 6.2
137 ** GMP 4.2 or later required
139 Guile used to require GMP at least version 4.1 (released in May 2002),
140 and now requires at least version 4.2 (released in March 2006).
144 ** Better SXML documentation
146 The documentation for SXML modules was much improved, though there is
147 still far to go. See "SXML" in manual.
151 Use of "iff" was replaced with standard English. Keyword arguments are
152 now documented consistently, along with their default values.
154 ** An end to the generated-documentation experiment
156 When Guile 2.0 imported some modules from Guile-Lib, they came with a
157 system that generated documentation from docstrings and module
158 commentaries. This produced terrible documentation. We finally bit the
159 bullet and incorporated these modules into the main text, and will be
160 improving them manually over time, as is the case with SXML. Help is
165 There is now documentation for `scm_array_type', and `scm_array_ref', as
166 well as for the new `array-length' / 'scm_c_array_length' /
167 `scm_array_length' functions. `array-in-bounds?' has better
168 documentation as well. The `program-arguments-alist' and
169 `program-lambda-list' functions are now documented, as well as `and=>',
170 `exit', and `quit'. The (system repl server) module is now documented
171 (see REPL Servers). Finally, the GOOPS class hierarchy diagram has been
172 regenerated for the web and print output formats.
176 ** Deprecate generalized vector interface
178 The generalized vector interface, introduced in 1.8.0, is simply a
179 redundant, verbose interface to arrays of rank 1. `array-ref' and
180 similar functions are entirely sufficient. Thus,
181 `scm_generalized_vector_p', `scm_generalized_vector_length',
182 `scm_generalized_vector_ref', `scm_generalized_vector_set_x', and
183 `scm_generalized_vector_to_list' are now deprecated.
185 ** Deprecate SCM_CHAR_CODE_LIMIT and char-code-limit
187 These constants were defined to 256, which is not the highest codepoint
188 supported by Guile. Given that they were useless and incorrect, they
189 have been deprecated.
191 ** Deprecate `http-get*'
193 The new `#:streaming?' argument to `http-get' subsumes the functionality
194 of `http-get*' (introduced in 2.0.7). Also, the `#:extra-headers'
195 argument is deprecated in favor of `#:headers'.
197 ** Deprecate (ice-9 mapping)
199 This module, present in Guile since 1996 but never used or documented,
200 has never worked in Guile 2.0. It has now been deprecated and will be
201 removed in Guile 2.2.
203 ** Deprecate undocumented array-related C functions
205 These are `scm_array_fill_int', `scm_ra_eqp', `scm_ra_lessp',
206 `scm_ra_leqp', `scm_ra_grp', `scm_ra_greqp', `scm_ra_sum',
207 `scm_ra_product', `scm_ra_difference', `scm_ra_divide', and
208 `scm_array_identity'.
214 See "SRFI-41" in the manual.
216 ** SRFI-45 exports `promise?'
218 SRFI-45 now exports a `promise?' procedure that works with its promises.
219 Also, its promises now print more nicely.
221 ** New HTTP client procedures
223 See "Web Client" for documentation on the new `http-head', `http-post',
224 `http-put', `http-delete', `http-trace', and `http-options' procedures,
225 and also for more options to `http-get'.
227 ** Much more capable `xml->sxml'
229 See "Reading and Writing XML" for information on how the `xml->sxml'
230 parser deals with namespaces, processed entities, doctypes, and literal
231 strings. Incidentally, `current-ssax-error-port' is now a parameter
234 ** New procedures for converting strings to and from bytevectors
236 See "Representing Strings as Bytes" for documention on the new `(ice-9
237 iconv)' module and its `bytevector->string' and `string->bytevector'
240 ** Escape continuations with `call/ec' and `let/ec'
242 See "Prompt Primitives".
244 ** New procedures to read all characters from a port
246 See "Line/Delimited" in the manual for documentation on `read-string'
249 ** New procedure `sendfile'
253 ** New procedure `unget-bytevector'
255 See "R6RS Binary Input".
257 ** New C helper: `scm_c_bind_keyword_arguments'
259 See "Keyword Procedures".
261 ** New command-line arguments: `--language' and `-C'
263 See "Command-line Options" in the manual.
265 ** New environment variables: `GUILE_STACK_SIZE', `GUILE_INSTALL_LOCALE'
267 See "Environment Variables".
269 ** New procedures for dealing with file names
271 See "File System" for documentation on `system-file-name-convention',
272 `file-name-separator?', `absolute-file-name?', and
273 `file-name-separator-string'.
275 ** `array-length', an array's first dimension
277 See "Array Procedures".
279 ** `hash-count', for hash tables
283 ** `round-ash', a bit-shifting operator that rounds on right-shift
285 See "Bitwise Operations".
287 ** New foreign types: `ssize_t', `ptrdiff_t'
291 ** New C helpers: `scm_from_ptrdiff_t', `scm_to_ptrdiff_t'
295 ** Socket option `SO_REUSEPORT' now available from Scheme
297 If supported on the platform, `SO_REUSEPORT' is now available from
298 Scheme as well. See "Network Sockets and Communication".
300 ** `current-language' in default environment
302 Previously defined only in `(system base language)', `current-language'
303 is now defined in the default environment, and is used to determine the
304 language for the REPL, and for `compile-and-load'.
306 ** New procedure: `fluid->parameter'
308 See "Parameters", for information on how to convert a fluid to a
311 ** New `print' REPL option
313 See "REPL Commands" in the manual for information on the new
314 user-customizable REPL printer.
316 ** New variable: %site-ccache-dir
318 The "Installing Site Packages" and "Build Config" manual sections now
319 refer to this variable to describe where users should install their
324 ** Fix compilation against libgc 7.3.
325 ** Fix cross-compilation of `c-tokenize.o'.
326 ** Fix warning when compiling against glibc 2.17.
327 ** Fix documentation build against Texinfo 5.0.
328 ** Fix building Guile from a directory with non-ASCII characters.
329 ** Fix native MinGW build.
330 ** Fix --disable-posix build.
331 ** Fix MinGW builds with networking, POSIX, and thread support.
335 ** Fix inexact number printer.
336 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13757)
337 ** Fix infinite loop when parsing optional-argument short options (SRFI-37).
338 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13176)
339 ** web: Support non-GMT date headers in the HTTP client.
340 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13544)
341 ** web: support IP-literal (IPv6 address) in Host header.
342 ** Avoid stack overflows with `par-map' and nested futures in general.
343 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13188)
344 ** Peek-char no longer consumes EOF.
345 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12216)
346 ** Avoid swallowing multiple EOFs in R6RS binary-input procedures.
347 ** A fork when multiple threads are running will now print a warning.
348 ** Allow for spurious wakeups from pthread_cond_wait.
349 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10641)
350 ** Warn and ignore module autoload failures.
351 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12202)
352 ** Use chmod portably in (system base compile).
353 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10474)
354 ** Fix response-body-port for HTTP responses without content-length.
355 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13857)
356 ** Allow case-lambda expressions with no clauses.
357 (http://bugs.gnu.org/9776)
358 ** Improve standards conformance of string->number.
359 (http://bugs.gnu.org/11887)
360 ** Support calls and tail-calls with more than 255 formals.
361 ** ,option evaluates its right-hand-side.
362 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13076)
363 ** Structs with tail arrays are not simple.
364 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12808)
365 ** Make `SCM_LONG_BIT' usable in preprocessor conditionals.
366 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13848)
367 ** Fix thread-unsafe lazy initializations.
368 ** Allow SMOB mark procedures to be called from parallel markers.
369 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13611)
370 ** Fix later-bindings-win logic in with-fluids.
371 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13843)
372 ** Fix duplicate removal of with-fluids.
373 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13838)
374 ** Support calling foreign functions of 10 arguments or more.
375 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13809)
376 ** Let reverse! accept arbitrary types as second argument.
377 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13835)
378 ** Recognize the `x86_64.*-gnux32' triplet.
379 ** Check whether a triplet's OS part specifies an ABI.
380 ** Recognize mips64* as having 32-bit pointers by default.
381 ** Use portable sed constructs.
382 (http://bugs.gnu.org/14042)
383 ** Remove language/glil/decompile-assembly.scm.
384 (http://bugs.gnu.org/10622)
385 ** Use O_BINARY in `copy-file', `load-objcode', `mkstemp'.
386 ** Use byte-oriented functions in `get-bytevector*'.
387 ** Fix abort when iconv swallows BOM from UTF-16 or UTF-32 stream.
388 ** Fix compilation of functions with more than 255 local variables.
389 ** Fix `getgroups' for when zero supplementary group IDs exist.
390 ** Allow (define-macro name (lambda ...)).
391 ** Various fixes to the (texinfo) modules.
392 ** guild: Gracefully handle failures to install the locale.
393 ** Fix format string warnings for ~!, ~|, ~/, ~q, ~Q, and ~^.
394 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13485)
395 ** Fix source annotation bug in psyntax 'expand-body'.
396 ** Ecmascript: Fix conversion to boolean for non-numbers.
397 ** Use case-insensitive comparisons for encoding names.
398 ** Add missing cond-expand feature identifiers.
399 ** A failure to find a module's file does not prevent future loading.
400 ** Many (oop goops save) fixes.
401 ** `http-get': don't shutdown write end of socket.
402 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13095)
403 ** Avoid signed integer overflow in scm_product.
404 ** http: read-response-body always returns bytevector or #f, never EOF.
405 ** web: Correctly detect "No route to host" conditions.
406 ** `system*': failure to execvp no longer leaks dangling processes.
407 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13166)
408 ** More sensible case-lambda* dispatch.
409 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12929)
410 ** Do not defer expansion of internal define-syntax forms.
411 (http://bugs.gnu.org/13509)
415 Changes in 2.0.7 (since 2.0.6):
419 ** SRFI-105 curly infix expressions are supported
421 Curly infix expressions as described at
422 http://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-105/srfi-105.html are now supported by
423 Guile's reader. This allows users to write things like {a * {b + c}}
424 instead of (* a (+ b c)). SRFI-105 support is enabled by using the
425 `#!curly-infix' directive in source code, or the `curly-infix' reader
426 option. See the manual for details.
428 ** Reader options may now be per-port
430 Historically, `read-options' and related procedures would manipulate
431 global options, affecting the `read' procedure for all threads, and all
432 current uses of `read'.
434 Guile can now associate `read' options with specific ports, allowing
435 different ports to use different options. For instance, the
436 `#!fold-case' and `#!no-fold-case' reader directives have been
437 implemented, and their effect is to modify the current read options of
438 the current port only; similarly for `#!curly-infix'. Thus, it is
439 possible, for instance, to have one port reading case-sensitive code,
440 while another port reads case-insensitive code.
442 ** Futures may now be nested
444 Futures may now be nested: a future can itself spawn and then `touch'
445 other futures. In addition, any thread that touches a future that has
446 not completed now processes other futures while waiting for the touched
447 future to completed. This allows all threads to be kept busy, and was
448 made possible by the use of delimited continuations (see the manual for
451 Consequently, `par-map' and `par-for-each' have been rewritten and can
454 ** `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' et al can now add directories to the end of the path
456 `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' and `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' can now be used to add
457 directories to both ends of the load path. If the special path
458 component `...' (ellipsis) is present in these environment variables,
459 then the default path is put in place of the ellipsis, otherwise the
460 default path is placed at the end. See "Environment Variables" in the
463 ** `load-in-vicinity' search for `.go' files in `%load-compiled-path'
465 Previously, `load-in-vicinity' would look for compiled files in the
466 auto-compilation cache, but not in `%load-compiled-path'. This is now
467 fixed. This affects `load', and the `-l' command-line flag. See
468 <http://bugs.gnu.org/12519> for details.
470 ** Extension search order fixed, and LD_LIBRARY_PATH preserved
472 Up to 2.0.6, Guile would modify the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment
473 variable (or whichever is relevant for the host OS) to insert its own
474 default extension directories in the search path (using GNU libltdl
475 facilities was not possible here.) This approach was problematic in two
478 First, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification would be visible to
479 sub-processes, and would also affect future calls to `dlopen', which
480 could lead to subtle bugs in the application or sub-processes. Second,
481 when the installation prefix is /usr, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' modification
482 would typically end up inserting /usr/lib before /usr/local/lib in the
483 search path, which is often the opposite of system-wide settings such as
486 Both issues have now been fixed.
488 ** `make-vtable-vtable' is now deprecated
490 Programs should instead use `make-vtable' and `<standard-vtable>'.
492 ** The `-Wduplicate-case-datum' and `-Wbad-case-datum' are enabled
494 These recently introduced warnings have been documented and are now
495 enabled by default when auto-compiling.
497 ** Optimize calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant argument
499 The compiler simplifies calls to `equal?' or `eqv?' with a constant
500 argument to use `eq?' instead, when applicable.
504 ** SRFI-9 records now documented under "Compound Data Types"
506 The documentation of SRFI-9 record types has been moved in the "Compound
507 Data Types", next to Guile's other record APIs. A new section
508 introduces the various record APIs, and describes the trade-offs they
509 make. These changes were made in an attempt to better guide users
510 through the maze of records API, and to recommend SRFI-9 as the main
513 The documentation of Guile's raw `struct' API has also been improved.
515 ** (ice-9 and-let-star) and (ice-9 curried-definitions) now documented
517 These modules were missing from the manual.
521 ** New "functional record setters" as a GNU extension of SRFI-9
523 The (srfi srfi-9 gnu) module now provides three new macros to deal with
524 "updates" of immutable records: `define-immutable-record-type',
525 `set-field', and `set-fields'.
527 The first one allows record type "functional setters" to be defined;
528 such setters keep the record unchanged, and instead return a new record
529 with only one different field. The remaining macros provide the same
530 functionality, and also optimize updates of multiple or nested fields.
531 See the manual for details.
533 ** web: New `http-get*', `response-body-port', and `text-content-type?'
536 These procedures return a port from which to read the response's body.
537 Unlike `http-get' and `read-response-body', they allow the body to be
538 processed incrementally instead of being stored entirely in memory.
540 The `text-content-type?' predicate allows users to determine whether the
541 content type of a response is textual.
543 See the manual for details.
545 ** `string-split' accepts character sets and predicates
547 The `string-split' procedure can now be given a SRFI-14 character set or
548 a predicate, instead of just a character.
552 Previously, in R6RS modules, Guile incorrectly ignored components of
553 SRFI module names after the SRFI number, making it impossible to specify
554 sub-libraries. This release corrects this, bringing us into accordance
557 ** `define-public' is no a longer curried definition by default
559 The (ice-9 curried-definitions) should be used for such uses. See the
564 ** Remove reference to `scm_init_popen' when `fork' is unavailable
566 This fixes a MinGW build issue (http://bugs.gnu.org/12477).
568 ** Fix race between installing `guild' and the `guile-tools' symlink
572 ** Procedures returned by `eval' now have docstrings
573 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12173)
574 ** web client: correctly handle uri-query, etc. in relative URI headers
575 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12827)
576 ** Fix docs for R6RS `hashtable-copy'
577 ** R6RS `string-for-each' now accepts multiple string arguments
578 ** Fix out-of-range error in the compiler's CSE pass
579 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12883)
580 ** Add missing R6RS `open-file-input/output-port' procedure
581 ** Futures: Avoid creating the worker pool more than once
582 ** Fix invalid assertion about mutex ownership in threads.c
583 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12719)
584 ** Have `SCM_NUM2FLOAT' and `SCM_NUM2DOUBLE' use `scm_to_double'
585 ** The `scandir' procedure now uses `lstat' instead of `stat'
586 ** Fix `generalized-vector->list' indexing bug with shared arrays
587 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12465)
588 ** web: Change `http-get' to try all the addresses for the given URI
589 ** Implement `hash' for structs
590 (http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2012-10/msg00031.html)
591 ** `read' now adds source properties for data types beyond pairs
592 ** Improve error reporting in `append!'
593 ** In fold-matches, set regexp/notbol unless matching string start
594 ** Don't stat(2) and access(2) the .go location before using it
595 ** SRFI-19: use zero padding for hours in ISO 8601 format, not blanks
596 ** web: Fix uri-encoding for strings with no unreserved chars, and octets 0-15
597 ** More robust texinfo alias handling
598 ** Optimize `format' and `simple-format'
599 (http://bugs.gnu.org/12033)
600 ** Angle of -0.0 is pi, not zero
603 Changes in 2.0.6 (since 2.0.5):
607 ** New optimization pass: common subexpression elimination (CSE)
609 Guile's optimizer will now run a CSE pass after partial evaluation.
610 This pass propagates static information about branches taken, bound
611 lexicals, and effects from an expression's dominators. It can replace
612 common subexpressions with their boolean values (potentially enabling
613 dead code elimination), equivalent bound lexicals, or it can elide them
614 entirely, depending on the context in which they are executed. This
615 pass is especially useful in removing duplicate type checks, such as
616 those produced by SRFI-9 record accessors.
618 ** Improvements to the partial evaluator
620 Peval can now hoist tests that are common to both branches of a
621 conditional into the test. This can help with long chains of
622 conditionals, such as those generated by the `match' macro. Peval can
623 now do simple beta-reductions of procedures with rest arguments. It
624 also avoids residualizing degenerate lexical aliases, even when full
625 inlining is not possible. Finally, peval now uses the effects analysis
626 introduced for the CSE pass. More precise effects analysis allows peval
629 ** Run finalizers asynchronously in asyncs
631 Finalizers are now run asynchronously, via an async. See Asyncs in the
632 manual. This allows Guile and user code to safely allocate memory while
635 ** Update SRFI-14 character sets to Unicode 6.1
637 Note that this update causes the Latin-1 characters `§' and `¶' to be
638 reclassified as punctuation. They were previously considered to be part
639 of `char-set:symbol'.
641 ** Better source information for datums
643 When the `positions' reader option is on, as it is by default, Guile's
644 reader will record source information for more kinds of datums.
646 ** Improved error and warning messages
648 `syntax-violation' errors now prefer `subform' for source info, with
649 `form' as fallback. Syntactic errors in `cond' and `case' now produce
650 better errors. `case' can now warn on duplicate datums, or datums that
651 cannot be usefully compared with `eqv?'. `-Warity-mismatch' now handles
652 applicable structs. `-Wformat' is more robust in the presence of
653 `gettext'. Finally, various exceptions thrown by the Web modules now
654 define appropriate exception printers.
656 ** A few important bug fixes in the HTTP modules.
658 Guile's web server framework now checks if an application returns a body
659 where it is not permitted, for example in response to a HEAD request,
660 and warn or truncate the response as appropriate. Bad requests now
661 cause a 400 Bad Request response to be printed before closing the port.
662 Finally, some date-printing and URL-parsing bugs were fixed.
664 ** Pretty-print improvements
666 When Guile needs to pretty-print Tree-IL, it will try to reconstruct
667 `cond', `or`, and other derived syntax forms from the primitive tree-IL
668 forms. It also uses the original names instead of the fresh unique
669 names, when it is unambiguous to do so. This can be seen in the output
670 of REPL commands like `,optimize'.
672 Also, the `pretty-print' procedure has a new keyword argument,
675 ** Fix memory leak involving applicable SMOBs
677 At some point in the 1.9.x series, Guile began leaking any applicable
678 SMOB that was actually applied. (There was a weak-key map from SMOB to
679 trampoline functions, where the value had a strong reference on the
680 key.) This has been fixed. There was much rejoicing!
682 ** Support for HTTP/1.1 chunked transfer coding
684 See "Transfer Codings" in the manual, for more.
686 ** Micro-optimizations
688 A pile of micro-optimizations: the `string-trim' function when called
689 with `char-set:whitespace'; the `(web http)' parsers; SMOB application;
690 conversion of raw UTF-8 and UTF-32 data to and from SCM strings; vlists
691 and vhashes; `read' when processing string literals.
693 ** Incompatible change to `scandir'
695 As was the original intention, `scandir' now runs the `select?'
696 procedure on all items, including subdirectories and the `.' and `..'
697 entries. It receives the basename of the file in question instead of
698 the full name. We apologize for this incompatible change to this
699 function introduced in the 2.0.4 release.
703 The manual has been made much more consistent in its naming conventions
704 with regards to formal parameters of functions. Thanks to Bake Timmons.
708 ** New C function: `scm_to_pointer'
709 ** New C inline functions: `scm_new_smob', `scm_new_double_smob'
710 ** (ice-9 format): Add ~h specifier for localized number output.
711 ** (web response): New procedure: `response-must-not-include-body?'
712 ** New predicate: 'supports-source-properties?'
713 ** New C helpers: `scm_c_values', `scm_c_nvalues'
714 ** Newly public inline C function: `scm_unget_byte'
715 ** (language tree-il): New functions: `tree-il=?', `tree-il-hash'
716 ** New fluid: `%default-port-conversion-strategy'
717 ** New syntax: `=>' within `case'
718 ** (web http): `make-chunked-input-port', `make-chunked-output-port'
719 ** (web http): `declare-opaque-header!'
721 Search the manual for these identifiers, for more information.
725 ** `close-io-port' deprecated
729 ** `scm_sym2var' deprecated
731 In most cases, replace with `scm_lookup' or `scm_module_variable'. Use
732 `scm_define' or `scm_module_ensure_local_variable' if the second
733 argument is nonzero. See "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual, for
736 ** Lookup closures deprecated
738 These were never documented. See "Module System Reflection" in the
739 manual for replacements.
743 ** Fix compilation against uninstalled Guile on non-GNU platforms.
744 ** Fix `SCM_I_ERROR' definition for MinGW without networking.
745 ** Fix compilation with the Sun C compiler.
746 ** Fix check for `clock_gettime' on OpenBSD and some other systems.
747 ** Fix build with --enable-debug-malloc.
748 ** Honor $(program_transform_name) for the `guile-tools' symlink.
749 ** Fix cross-compilation of GOOPS-using code.
753 ** Fix use of unitialized stat buffer in search-path of absolute paths.
754 ** Avoid calling `freelocale' with a NULL argument.
755 ** Work around erroneous tr_TR locale in Darwin 8 in tests.
756 ** Fix `getaddrinfo' test for Darwin 8.
757 ** Use Gnulib's `regex' module for better regex portability.
758 ** `source-properties' and friends work on any object
759 ** Rewrite open-process in C, for robustness related to threads and fork
760 ** Fix <TAG>vector-length when applied to other uniform vector types
761 ** Fix escape-only prompt optimization (was disabled previously)
762 ** Fix a segfault when /dev/urandom is not accessible
763 ** Fix flush on soft ports, so that it actually runs.
764 ** Better compatibility of SRFI-9 records with core records
765 ** Fix and clarify documentation of `sorted?'.
766 ** Fix IEEE-754 endianness conversion in bytevectors.
767 ** Correct thunk check in the `wind' instruction.
768 ** Add @acronym support to texinfo modules
769 ** Fix docbook->texi for <ulink> without URL
770 ** Fix `setvbuf' to leave the line/column number unchanged.
771 ** Add missing public declaration for `scm_take_from_input_buffers'.
772 ** Fix relative file name canonicalization with empty %LOAD-PATH entries.
773 ** Import newer (ice-9 match) from Chibi-Scheme.
774 ** Fix unbound variables and unbound values in ECMAScript runtime.
775 ** Make SRFI-6 string ports Unicode-capable.
778 Changes in 2.0.5 (since 2.0.4):
780 This release fixes the binary interface information (SONAME) of
781 libguile, which was incorrect in 2.0.4. It does not contain other
785 Changes in 2.0.4 (since 2.0.3):
789 ** Better debuggability for interpreted procedures.
791 Guile 2.0 came with a great debugging experience for compiled
792 procedures, but the story for interpreted procedures was terrible. Now,
793 at least, interpreted procedures have names, and the `arity' procedure
794 property is always correct (or, as correct as it can be, in the presence
797 ** Support for cross-compilation.
799 One can now use a native Guile to cross-compile `.go' files for a
800 different architecture. See the documentation for `--target' in the
801 "Compilation" section of the manual, for information on how to use the
802 cross-compiler. See the "Cross building Guile" section of the README,
803 for more on how to cross-compile Guile itself.
805 ** The return of `local-eval'.
807 Back by popular demand, `the-environment' and `local-eval' allow the
808 user to capture a lexical environment, and then evaluate arbitrary
809 expressions in that context. There is also a new `local-compile'
810 command. See "Local Evaluation" in the manual, for more. Special
811 thanks to Mark Weaver for an initial implementation of this feature.
813 ** Fluids can now have default values.
815 Fluids are used for dynamic and thread-local binding. They have always
816 inherited their values from the context or thread that created them.
817 However, there was a case in which a new thread would enter Guile, and
818 the default values of all the fluids would be `#f' for that thread.
820 This has now been fixed so that `make-fluid' has an optional default
821 value for fluids in unrelated dynamic roots, which defaults to `#f'.
823 ** Garbage collector tuning.
825 The garbage collector has now been tuned to run more often under some
828 *** Unmanaged allocation
830 The new `scm_gc_register_allocation' function will notify the collector
831 of unmanaged allocation. This will cause the collector to run sooner.
832 Guile's `scm_malloc', `scm_calloc', and `scm_realloc' unmanaged
833 allocators eventually call this function. This leads to better
834 performance under steady-state unmanaged allocation.
836 *** Transient allocation
838 When the collector runs, it will try to record the total memory
839 footprint of a process, if the platform supports this information. If
840 the memory footprint is growing, the collector will run more frequently.
841 This reduces the increase of the resident size of a process in response
842 to a transient increase in allocation.
844 *** Management of threads, bignums
846 Creating a thread will allocate a fair amount of memory. Guile now does
847 some GC work (using `GC_collect_a_little') when allocating a thread.
848 This leads to a better memory footprint when creating many short-lived
851 Similarly, bignums can occupy a lot of memory. Guile now offers hooks
852 to enable custom GMP allocators that end up calling
853 `scm_gc_register_allocation'. These allocators are enabled by default
854 when running Guile from the command-line. To enable them in libraries,
855 set the `scm_install_gmp_memory_functions' variable to a nonzero value
856 before loading Guile.
858 ** SRFI-39 parameters are available by default.
860 Guile now includes support for parameters, as defined by SRFI-39, in the
861 default environment. See "Parameters" in the manual, for more
862 information. `current-input-port', `current-output-port', and
863 `current-error-port' are now parameters.
865 ** Add `current-warning-port'.
867 Guile now outputs warnings on a separate port, `current-warning-port',
868 initialized to the value that `current-error-port' has on startup.
870 ** Syntax parameters.
872 Following Racket's lead, Guile now supports syntax parameters. See
873 "Syntax parameters" in the manual, for more.
875 Also see Barzilay, Culpepper, and Flatt's 2011 SFP workshop paper,
876 "Keeping it Clean with syntax-parameterize".
878 ** Parse command-line arguments from the locale encoding.
880 Guile now attempts to parse command-line arguments using the user's
881 locale. However for backwards compatibility with other 2.0.x releases,
882 it does so without actually calling `setlocale'. Please report any bugs
883 in this facility to bug-guile@gnu.org.
885 ** One-armed conditionals: `when' and `unless'
887 Guile finally has `when' and `unless' in the default environment. Use
888 them whenever you would use an `if' with only one branch. See
889 "Conditionals" in the manual, for more.
891 ** `current-filename', `add-to-load-path'
893 There is a new form, `(current-filename)', which expands out to the
894 source file in which it occurs. Combined with the new
895 `add-to-load-path', this allows simple scripts to easily add nearby
896 directories to the load path. See "Load Paths" in the manual, for more.
898 ** `random-state-from-platform'
900 This procedure initializes a random seed using good random sources
901 available on your platform, such as /dev/urandom. See "Random Number
902 Generation" in the manual, for more.
904 ** Warn about unsupported `simple-format' options.
906 The `-Wformat' compilation option now reports unsupported format options
907 passed to `simple-format'.
911 Besides the sections already mentioned, the following manual sections
912 are new in this release: "Modules and the File System", "Module System
913 Reflection", "Syntax Transformer Helpers", and "Local Inclusion".
917 ** (ice-9 session): `apropos-hook'
918 ** New print option: `escape-newlines', defaults to #t.
919 ** (ice-9 ftw): `file-system-fold', `file-system-tree', `scandir'
920 ** `scm_c_value_ref': access to multiple returned values from C
921 ** scm_call (a varargs version), scm_call_7, scm_call_8, scm_call_9
922 ** Some new syntax helpers in (system syntax)
924 Search the manual for these identifiers and modules, for more.
928 ** FreeBSD build fixes.
929 ** OpenBSD compilation fixes.
930 ** Solaris 2.10 test suite fixes.
931 ** IA64 compilation fix.
932 ** MinGW build fixes.
933 ** Work around instruction reordering on SPARC and HPPA in the VM.
934 ** Gnulib updates: added `dirfd', `setenv' modules.
938 ** Add a deprecated alias for $expt.
939 ** Add an exception printer for `getaddrinfo-error'.
940 ** Add deprecated shim for `scm_display_error' with stack as first argument.
941 ** Add warnings for unsupported `simple-format' options.
942 ** Allow overlapping regions to be passed to `bytevector-copy!'.
943 ** Better function prologue disassembly
944 ** Compiler: fix miscompilation of (values foo ...) in some contexts.
945 ** Compiler: fix serialization of #nil-terminated lists.
946 ** Compiler: allow values bound in non-tail let expressions to be collected.
947 ** Deprecate SCM_ASRTGO.
948 ** Document invalidity of (begin) as expression; add back-compat shim.
949 ** Don't leak file descriptors when mmaping objcode.
950 ** Empty substrings no longer reference the original stringbuf.
951 ** FFI: Fix `set-pointer-finalizer!' to leave the type cell unchanged.
952 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the CIF made by `procedure->pointer'.
953 ** FFI: Hold a weak reference to the procedure passed to `procedure->pointer'.
954 ** FFI: Properly unpack small integer return values in closure call.
955 ** Fix R6RS `fold-left' so the accumulator is the first argument.
956 ** Fix bit-set*! bug from 2005.
957 ** Fix bug in `make-repl' when `lang' is actually a <language>.
958 ** Fix bugs related to mutation, the null string, and shared substrings.
959 ** Fix <dynwind> serialization.
960 ** Fix erroneous check in `set-procedure-properties!'.
961 ** Fix generalized-vector-{ref,set!} for slices.
962 ** Fix error messages involving definition forms.
963 ** Fix primitive-eval to return #<unspecified> for definitions.
964 ** HTTP: Extend handling of "Cache-Control" header.
965 ** HTTP: Fix qstring writing of cache-extension values
966 ** HTTP: Fix validators for various list-style headers.
967 ** HTTP: Permit non-date values for Expires header.
968 ** HTTP: `write-request-line' writes absolute paths, not absolute URIs.
969 ** Hack the port-column of current-output-port after printing a prompt.
970 ** Make sure `regexp-quote' tests use Unicode-capable string ports.
971 ** Peval: Fix bugs in the new optimizer.
972 ** Statistically unique marks and labels, for robust hygiene across sessions.
973 ** Web: Allow URIs with empty authorities, like "file:///etc/hosts".
974 ** `,language' at REPL sets the current-language fluid.
975 ** `primitive-load' returns the value(s) of the last expression.
976 ** `scm_from_stringn' always returns unique strings.
977 ** `scm_i_substring_copy' tries to narrow the substring.
978 ** i18n: Fix gc_malloc/free mismatch on non-GNU systems.
981 Changes in 2.0.3 (since 2.0.2):
985 ** Guile has a new optimizer, `peval'.
987 `Peval' is a partial evaluator that performs constant folding, dead code
988 elimination, copy propagation, and inlining. By default it runs on
989 every piece of code that Guile compiles, to fold computations that can
990 happen at compile-time, so they don't have to happen at runtime.
992 If we did our job right, the only impact you would see would be your
993 programs getting faster. But if you notice slowdowns or bloated code,
994 please send a mail to bug-guile@gnu.org with details.
996 Thanks to William R. Cook, Oscar Waddell, and Kent Dybvig for inspiring
997 peval and its implementation.
999 You can see what peval does on a given piece of code by running the new
1000 `,optimize' REPL meta-command, and comparing it to the output of
1001 `,expand'. See "Compile Commands" in the manual, for more.
1003 ** Fewer calls to `stat'.
1005 Guile now stats only the .go file and the .scm file when loading a fresh
1010 ** New module: `(web client)', a simple synchronous web client.
1012 See "Web Client" in the manual, for more.
1014 ** Users can now install compiled `.go' files.
1016 See "Installing Site Packages" in the manual.
1018 ** Remove Front-Cover and Back-Cover text from the manual.
1020 The manual is still under the GNU Free Documentation License, but no
1021 longer has any invariant sections.
1023 ** More helpful `guild help'.
1025 `guild' is Guile's multi-tool, for use in shell scripting. Now it has a
1026 nicer interface for querying the set of existing commands, and getting
1027 help on those commands. Try it out and see!
1029 ** New macro: `define-syntax-rule'
1031 `define-syntax-rule' is a shorthand to make a `syntax-rules' macro with
1032 one clause. See "Syntax Rules" in the manual, for more.
1034 ** The `,time' REPL meta-command now has more precision.
1036 The output of this command now has microsecond precision, instead of
1037 10-millisecond precision.
1039 ** `(ice-9 match)' can now match records.
1041 See "Pattern Matching" in the manual, for more on matching records.
1043 ** New module: `(language tree-il debug)'.
1045 This module provides a tree-il verifier. This is useful for people that
1046 generate tree-il, usually as part of a language compiler.
1048 ** New functions: `scm_is_exact', `scm_is_inexact'.
1050 These provide a nice C interface for Scheme's `exact?' and `inexact?',
1055 See the git log (or the ChangeLog) for more details on these bugs.
1057 ** Fix order of importing modules and resolving duplicates handlers.
1058 ** Fix a number of bugs involving extended (merged) generics.
1059 ** Fix invocation of merge-generics duplicate handler.
1060 ** Fix write beyond array end in arrays.c.
1061 ** Fix read beyond end of hashtable size array in hashtab.c.
1062 ** (web http): Locale-independent parsing and serialization of dates.
1063 ** Ensure presence of Host header in HTTP/1.1 requests.
1064 ** Fix take-right and drop-right for improper lists.
1065 ** Fix leak in get_current_locale().
1066 ** Fix recursive define-inlinable expansions.
1067 ** Check that srfi-1 procedure arguments are procedures.
1068 ** Fix r6rs `map' for multiple returns.
1069 ** Fix scm_tmpfile leak on POSIX platforms.
1070 ** Fix a couple of leaks (objcode->bytecode, make-boot-program).
1071 ** Fix guile-lib back-compatibility for module-stexi-documentation.
1072 ** Fix --listen option to allow other ports.
1073 ** Fix scm_to_latin1_stringn for substrings.
1074 ** Fix compilation of untyped arrays of rank not 1.
1075 ** Fix unparse-tree-il of <dynset>.
1076 ** Fix reading of #||||#.
1077 ** Fix segfault in GOOPS when class fields are redefined.
1078 ** Prefer poll(2) over select(2) to allow file descriptors above FD_SETSIZE.
1081 Changes in 2.0.2 (since 2.0.1):
1085 ** `guile-tools' renamed to `guild'
1087 The new name is shorter. Its intended future use is for a CPAN-like
1088 system for Guile wizards and journeyfolk to band together to share code;
1089 hence the name. `guile-tools' is provided as a backward-compatible
1090 symbolic link. See "Using Guile Tools" in the manual, for more.
1092 ** New control operators: `shift' and `reset'
1094 See "Shift and Reset" in the manual, for more information.
1096 ** `while' as an expression
1098 Previously the return value of `while' was unspecified. Now its
1099 values are specified both in the case of normal termination, and via
1100 termination by invoking `break', possibly with arguments. See "while
1101 do" in the manual for more.
1103 ** Disallow access to handles of weak hash tables
1105 `hash-get-handle' and `hash-create-handle!' are no longer permitted to
1106 be called on weak hash tables, because the fields in a weak handle could
1107 be nulled out by the garbage collector at any time, but yet they are
1108 otherwise indistinguishable from pairs. Use `hash-ref' and `hash-set!'
1111 ** More precision for `get-internal-run-time', `get-internal-real-time'
1113 On 64-bit systems which support POSIX clocks, Guile's internal timing
1114 procedures offer nanosecond resolution instead of the 10-millisecond
1115 resolution previously available. 32-bit systems now use 1-millisecond
1118 ** Guile now measures time spent in GC
1120 `gc-stats' now returns a meaningful value for `gc-time-taken'.
1124 The statprof profiler now exports a `gcprof' procedure, driven by the
1125 `after-gc-hook', to see which parts of your program are causing GC. Let
1126 us know if you find it useful.
1128 ** `map', `for-each' and some others now implemented in Scheme
1130 We would not mention this in NEWS, as it is not a user-visible change,
1131 if it were not for one thing: `map' and `for-each' are no longer
1132 primitive generics. Instead they are normal bindings, which can be
1133 wrapped by normal generics. This fixes some modularity issues between
1134 core `map', SRFI-1 `map', and GOOPS.
1136 Also it's pretty cool that we can do this without a performance impact.
1138 ** Add `scm_peek_byte_or_eof'.
1140 This helper is like `scm_peek_char_or_eof', but for bytes instead of
1143 ** Implement #:stop-at-first-non-option option for getopt-long
1145 See "getopt-long Reference" in the manual, for more information.
1147 ** Improve R6RS conformance for conditions in the I/O libraries
1149 The `(rnrs io simple)' module now raises the correct R6RS conditions in
1150 error cases. `(rnrs io ports)' is also more correct now, though it is
1151 still a work in progress.
1153 ** All deprecated routines emit warnings
1155 A few deprecated routines were lacking deprecation warnings. This has
1158 * Speed improvements
1160 ** Constants in compiled code now share state better
1162 Constants with shared state, like `("foo")' and `"foo"', now share state
1163 as much as possible, in the entire compilation unit. This cuts compiled
1164 `.go' file sizes in half, generally, and speeds startup.
1166 ** VLists: optimize `vlist-fold-right', and add `vhash-fold-right'
1168 These procedures are now twice as fast as they were.
1170 ** UTF-8 ports to bypass `iconv' entirely
1172 This reduces memory usage in a very common case.
1174 ** Compiler speedups
1176 The compiler is now about 40% faster. (Note that this is only the case
1177 once the compiler is itself compiled, so the build still takes as long
1182 Some assertions that were mostly useful for sanity-checks on the
1183 bytecode compiler are now off for both "regular" and "debug" engines.
1184 This together with a fix to cache a TLS access and some other tweaks
1185 improve the VM's performance by about 20%.
1187 ** SRFI-1 list-set optimizations
1189 lset-adjoin and lset-union now have fast paths for eq? sets.
1191 ** `memq', `memv' optimizations
1193 These procedures are now at least twice as fast than in 2.0.1.
1197 ** Deprecate scm_whash API
1199 `scm_whash_get_handle', `SCM_WHASHFOUNDP', `SCM_WHASHREF',
1200 `SCM_WHASHSET', `scm_whash_create_handle', `scm_whash_lookup', and
1201 `scm_whash_insert' are now deprecated. Use the normal hash table API
1204 ** Deprecate scm_struct_table
1206 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME',
1207 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS',
1208 `scm_struct_table', and `scm_struct_create_handle' are now deprecated.
1209 These routines formed part of the internals of the map between structs
1212 ** Deprecate scm_internal_dynamic_wind
1214 The `scm_t_inner' type and `scm_internal_dynamic_wind' are deprecated,
1215 as the `scm_dynwind' API is better, and this API encourages users to
1216 stuff SCM values into pointers.
1218 ** Deprecate scm_immutable_cell, scm_immutable_double_cell
1220 These routines are deprecated, as the GC_STUBBORN API doesn't do
1225 Andreas Rottman kindly transcribed the missing parts of the `(rnrs io
1226 ports)' documentation from the R6RS documentation. Thanks Andreas!
1230 ** Fix double-loading of script in -ds case
1231 ** -x error message fix
1232 ** iconveh-related cross-compilation fixes
1233 ** Fix small integer return value packing on big endian machines.
1234 ** Fix hash-set! in weak-value table from non-immediate to immediate
1235 ** Fix call-with-input-file & relatives for multiple values
1236 ** Fix `hash' for inf and nan
1237 ** Fix libguile internal type errors caught by typing-strictness==2
1238 ** Fix compile error in MinGW fstat socket detection
1239 ** Fix generation of auto-compiled file names on MinGW
1240 ** Fix multithreaded access to internal hash tables
1241 ** Emit a 1-based line number in error messages
1242 ** Fix define-module ordering
1243 ** Fix several POSIX functions to use the locale encoding
1244 ** Add type and range checks to the complex generalized vector accessors
1245 ** Fix unaligned accesses for bytevectors of complex numbers
1247 ** Fix erroneous VM stack overflow for canceled threads
1250 Changes in 2.0.1 (since 2.0.0):
1254 ** guile.m4 supports linking with rpath
1256 The GUILE_FLAGS macro now sets GUILE_LIBS and GUILE_LTLIBS, which
1257 include appropriate directives to the linker to include libguile-2.0.so
1258 in the runtime library lookup path.
1260 ** `begin' expands macros in its body before other expressions
1262 This enables support for programs like the following:
1267 (or (= x 0) (odd? (- x 1)))))
1270 ((odd? x) (not (even? x)))))
1273 ** REPL reader usability enhancements
1275 The REPL now flushes input after a read error, which should prevent one
1276 error from causing other errors. The REPL also now interprets comments
1279 ** REPL output has configurable width
1281 The REPL now defaults to output with the current terminal's width, in
1282 columns. See "Debug Commands" in the manual for more information on
1285 ** Better C access to the module system
1287 Guile now has convenient C accessors to look up variables or values in
1288 modules and their public interfaces. See `scm_c_public_ref' and friends
1289 in "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual.
1291 ** Added `scm_call_5', `scm_call_6'
1293 See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
1295 ** Added `scm_from_latin1_keyword', `scm_from_utf8_keyword'
1297 See "Keyword Procedures" in the manual, for more. Note that
1298 `scm_from_locale_keyword' should not be used when the name is a C string
1301 ** R6RS unicode and string I/O work
1303 Added efficient implementations of `get-string-n' and `get-string-n!'
1304 for binary ports. Exported `current-input-port', `current-output-port'
1305 and `current-error-port' from `(rnrs io ports)', and enhanced support
1308 ** Added `pointer->scm', `scm->pointer' to `(system foreign)'
1310 These procedure are useful if one needs to pass and receive SCM values
1311 to and from foreign functions. See "Foreign Variables" in the manual,
1314 ** Added `heap-allocated-since-gc' to `(gc-stats)'
1316 Also fixed the long-standing bug in the REPL `,stat' command.
1318 ** Add `on-error' REPL option
1320 This option controls what happens when an error occurs at the REPL, and
1321 defaults to `debug', indicating that Guile should enter the debugger.
1322 Other values include `report', which will simply print a backtrace
1323 without entering the debugger. See "System Commands" in the manual.
1325 ** Enforce immutability of string literals
1327 Attempting to mutate a string literal now causes a runtime error.
1329 ** Fix pthread redirection
1331 Guile 2.0.0 shipped with headers that, if configured with pthread
1332 support, would re-define `pthread_create', `pthread_join', and other API
1333 to redirect to the BDW-GC wrappers, `GC_pthread_create', etc. This was
1334 unintended, and not necessary: because threads must enter Guile with
1335 `scm_with_guile', Guile can handle thread registration itself, without
1336 needing to make the GC aware of all threads. This oversight has been
1339 ** `with-continuation-barrier' now unwinds on `quit'
1341 A throw to `quit' in a continuation barrier will cause Guile to exit.
1342 Before, it would do so before unwinding to the barrier, which would
1343 prevent cleanup handlers from running. This has been fixed so that it
1344 exits only after unwinding.
1346 ** `string->pointer' and `pointer->string' have optional encoding arg
1348 This allows users of the FFI to more easily deal in strings with
1349 particular (non-locale) encodings, like "utf-8". See "Void Pointers and
1350 Byte Access" in the manual, for more.
1352 ** R6RS fixnum arithmetic optimizations
1354 R6RS fixnum operations are are still slower than generic arithmetic,
1357 ** New procedure: `define-inlinable'
1359 See "Inlinable Procedures" in the manual, for more.
1361 ** New procedure: `exact-integer-sqrt'
1363 See "Integer Operations" in the manual, for more.
1365 ** "Extended read syntax" for symbols parses better
1367 In #{foo}# symbols, backslashes are now treated as escapes, as the
1368 symbol-printing code intended. Additionally, "\x" within #{foo}# is now
1369 interpreted as starting an R6RS hex escape. This is backward compatible
1370 because the symbol printer would never produce a "\x" before. The
1371 printer also works better too.
1373 ** Added `--fresh-auto-compile' option
1375 This allows a user to invalidate the auto-compilation cache. It's
1376 usually not needed. See "Compilation" in the manual, for a discussion.
1380 ** GOOPS documentation updates
1384 Thanks to Mark Harig for improvements to guile.1.
1386 ** SRFI-23 documented
1388 The humble `error' SRFI now has an entry in the manual.
1392 ** `(ice-9 binary-ports)': "R6RS I/O Ports", in the manual
1393 ** `(ice-9 eval-string)': "Fly Evaluation", in the manual
1394 ** `(ice-9 command-line)', not documented yet
1398 ** Fixed `iconv_t' memory leak on close-port
1399 ** Fixed some leaks with weak hash tables
1400 ** Export `vhash-delq' and `vhash-delv' from `(ice-9 vlist)'
1401 ** `after-gc-hook' works again
1402 ** `define-record-type' now allowed in nested contexts
1403 ** `exact-integer-sqrt' now handles large integers correctly
1404 ** Fixed C extension examples in manual
1405 ** `vhash-delete' honors HASH argument
1406 ** Make `locale-digit-grouping' more robust
1407 ** Default exception printer robustness fixes
1408 ** Fix presence of non-I CPPFLAGS in `guile-2.0.pc'
1409 ** `read' updates line/column numbers when reading SCSH block comments
1410 ** Fix imports of multiple custom interfaces of same module
1411 ** Fix encoding scanning for non-seekable ports
1412 ** Fix `setter' when called with a non-setter generic
1413 ** Fix f32 and f64 bytevectors to not accept rationals
1414 ** Fix description of the R6RS `finite?' in manual
1415 ** Quotient, remainder and modulo accept inexact integers again
1416 ** Fix `continue' within `while' to take zero arguments
1417 ** Fix alignment for structures in FFI
1418 ** Fix port-filename of stdin, stdout, stderr to match the docs
1419 ** Fix weak hash table-related bug in `define-wrapped-pointer-type'
1420 ** Fix partial continuation application with pending procedure calls
1421 ** scm_{to,from}_locale_string use current locale, not current ports
1422 ** Fix thread cleanup, by using a pthread_key destructor
1423 ** Fix `quit' at the REPL
1424 ** Fix a failure to sync regs in vm bytevector ops
1425 ** Fix (texinfo reflection) to handle nested structures like syntax patterns
1426 ** Fix stexi->html double translation
1427 ** Fix tree-il->scheme fix for <prompt>
1428 ** Fix compilation of <prompt> in <fix> in single-value context
1429 ** Fix race condition in ensure-writable-dir
1430 ** Fix error message on ,disassemble "non-procedure"
1431 ** Fix prompt and abort with the boot evaluator
1432 ** Fix `procedure->pointer' for functions returning `void'
1433 ** Fix error reporting in dynamic-pointer
1434 ** Fix problems detecting coding: in block comments
1435 ** Fix duplicate load-path and load-compiled-path in compilation environment
1436 ** Add fallback read(2) suppport for .go files if mmap(2) unavailable
1437 ** Fix c32vector-set!, c64vector-set!
1438 ** Fix mistakenly deprecated read syntax for uniform complex vectors
1439 ** Fix parsing of exact numbers with negative exponents
1440 ** Ignore SIGPIPE in (system repl server)
1441 ** Fix optional second arg to R6RS log function
1442 ** Fix R6RS `assert' to return true value.
1443 ** Fix fencepost error when seeking in bytevector input ports
1444 ** Gracefully handle `setlocale' errors when starting the REPL
1445 ** Improve support of the `--disable-posix' configure option
1446 ** Make sure R6RS binary ports pass `binary-port?' regardless of the locale
1447 ** Gracefully handle unterminated UTF-8 sequences instead of hitting an `assert'
1451 Changes in 2.0.0 (changes since the 1.8.x series):
1453 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1455 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
1456 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
1457 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
1458 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
1459 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
1460 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
1461 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
1462 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
1463 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
1464 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
1465 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
1466 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
1467 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
1468 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
1469 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
1470 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
1471 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
1472 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
1473 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
1474 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
1475 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
1476 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
1477 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
1479 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
1481 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
1482 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
1483 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
1485 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
1486 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
1487 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
1489 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
1491 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
1492 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
1493 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
1495 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
1497 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
1498 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
1501 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1503 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
1505 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
1506 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
1508 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
1510 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
1511 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
1512 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
1514 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
1515 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
1517 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
1518 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
1519 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
1522 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
1524 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
1525 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
1527 ** Remove old Emacs interface
1529 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
1530 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
1531 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
1534 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
1536 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
1537 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
1538 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
1541 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
1543 ** Command line additions
1545 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
1546 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
1549 ** New reader options: `square-brackets', `r6rs-hex-escapes',
1550 `hungry-eol-escapes'
1552 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
1553 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
1554 parentheses. This option is on by default.
1556 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
1557 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
1558 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
1559 so this option is off by default.
1561 Additionally, Guile follows the R6RS newline escaping rules when the
1562 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled.
1564 See "String Syntax" in the manual, for more information.
1566 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
1568 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
1569 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
1570 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
1572 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
1573 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
1575 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
1577 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
1578 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
1579 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
1581 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
1582 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
1583 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
1584 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
1586 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
1587 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
1590 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
1592 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
1595 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
1597 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
1598 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
1599 include `/path/to/lib'.
1601 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
1603 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
1606 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
1608 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
1609 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
1610 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
1611 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
1614 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
1616 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
1617 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
1618 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
1620 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
1622 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
1623 just for the operator position.
1625 ** Expression-oriented readline history
1627 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
1628 input lines. Let us know what you think!
1630 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
1632 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
1633 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
1635 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1637 ** Support for R6RS libraries
1639 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
1640 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
1641 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
1642 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
1643 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
1645 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
1647 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
1648 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
1649 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
1651 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
1653 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
1656 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
1657 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
1658 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
1661 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
1662 mentioned in that compatibility list.
1664 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
1666 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
1667 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
1668 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
1669 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
1671 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
1672 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
1673 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
1674 code, and simplifying debugging.
1676 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
1677 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
1679 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
1680 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
1681 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
1682 both of these situations.
1684 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
1685 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
1686 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
1687 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
1689 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
1691 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
1692 not apply to the compiler.
1694 ** No more `local-eval'
1696 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
1697 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
1698 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
1699 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
1702 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
1703 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
1706 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
1708 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
1709 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
1710 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
1712 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
1713 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
1714 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
1717 Auto-compiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
1718 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
1719 will be created if needed.
1721 To inhibit automatic compilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
1722 variable to 0, or pass --no-auto-compile on the Guile command line.
1724 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
1726 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
1727 in the next prerelease.
1729 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
1731 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
1733 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
1735 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
1737 ** Multicast socket options
1739 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
1740 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
1743 ** `recv!', `recvfrom!', `send', `sendto' now deal in bytevectors
1745 These socket procedures now take bytevectors as arguments, instead of
1746 strings. There is some deprecated string support, however.
1748 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
1750 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
1752 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
1754 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
1756 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
1758 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
1759 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
1760 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
1762 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
1763 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
1764 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
1765 procedures' docstrings for more information.
1767 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
1768 combining arity and formals. For example:
1770 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
1771 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
1773 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
1776 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
1778 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
1779 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
1780 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
1781 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
1783 ** New language: ECMAScript
1785 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
1786 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
1787 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
1788 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
1790 ** New language: Brainfuck
1792 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
1793 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
1794 languages. See the manual for details, or
1795 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
1796 Brainfuck language itself.
1798 ** New language: Elisp
1800 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
1801 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
1802 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
1804 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
1806 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
1807 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
1808 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
1809 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
1812 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
1814 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
1815 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
1816 properties. For example:
1822 (procedure-properties foo)
1823 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
1825 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
1828 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
1830 (procedure-properties bar)
1831 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
1833 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
1836 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
1839 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
1841 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
1842 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
1843 like this works now:
1845 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
1846 (define (helper x) ...)
1848 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
1850 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
1853 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
1854 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
1856 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
1858 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
1859 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
1860 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
1862 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
1864 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
1865 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
1866 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
1867 for more information.
1869 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
1871 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
1872 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
1874 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
1876 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
1879 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
1881 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
1882 in the manual, for more information.
1884 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
1887 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
1888 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
1890 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
1892 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
1894 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
1896 It is possible to circumvent this restriction with e.g.
1897 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. Contact the list if you
1900 ** Support for `letrec*'
1902 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
1903 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
1904 manual, for more details.
1906 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
1908 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
1909 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
1914 (define baz (+ bar 20))
1917 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
1918 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
1919 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
1922 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
1923 in earlier Guile dialects.
1925 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
1927 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
1928 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
1929 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
1930 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
1932 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
1933 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
1934 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
1935 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
1938 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
1940 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
1941 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
1944 (define (helper x) ...)
1945 (define-macro (foo bar)
1948 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
1951 (define (helper x) ...)
1952 (define-macro (foo bar)
1953 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
1955 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
1959 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
1961 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
1963 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
1970 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
1971 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
1974 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
1976 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
1977 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
1980 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
1982 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
1983 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
1984 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
1986 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
1988 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
1992 (define-macro (ref x) x)
1995 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
1996 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
1997 macros before code that uses them.
1999 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
2002 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
2004 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
2005 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
2006 (double-literal 2) => 4
2008 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
2009 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
2010 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
2012 (eval-when (load compile eval)
2013 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
2014 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
2015 (double-literal 2) => 4
2017 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
2019 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
2021 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
2022 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
2023 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
2024 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
2027 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
2029 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
2030 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
2032 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
2034 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
2035 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
2036 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
2038 ** Incompatible change to #'
2040 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
2041 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
2042 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
2043 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
2045 ** `unquote' and `unquote-splicing' accept multiple expressions
2047 As per the R6RS, these syntax operators can now accept any number of
2048 expressions to unquote.
2050 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
2052 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
2055 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
2057 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
2058 in the manual, for more information.
2060 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
2061 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
2063 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
2064 works (with compiled procedures)
2066 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
2067 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
2068 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
2069 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
2071 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
2072 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
2073 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
2074 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
2075 number of stack frames.
2077 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
2078 active in the current continuation
2080 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
2081 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
2082 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
2083 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
2085 ** `positions' reader option enabled by default
2087 This change allows primitive-load without --auto-compile to also
2088 propagate source information through the expander, for better errors and
2089 to let macros know their source locations. The compiler was already
2090 turning it on anyway.
2092 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
2094 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
2096 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
2097 through to the expanded code
2099 This should result in better backtraces.
2101 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
2103 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
2105 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
2107 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
2108 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
2111 ** New procedure, `define!'
2113 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
2114 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
2115 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
2116 less verbose than `module-define!'.
2118 ** All modules have names now
2120 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
2121 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
2122 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
2123 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
2125 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
2127 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
2128 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
2129 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
2130 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
2132 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
2133 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
2134 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
2135 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
2136 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
2137 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
2139 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
2140 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
2141 days of Guile's modules.
2143 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
2144 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
2145 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
2146 record accessors appropriately.
2148 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
2149 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
2150 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
2152 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
2153 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
2154 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
2156 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
2157 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
2160 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
2161 namespaces instead of values.
2163 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
2165 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
2166 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
2167 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
2168 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
2170 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
2172 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
2174 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
2176 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
2177 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
2179 ** Modules load within a known environment
2181 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
2182 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
2183 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
2186 ** `load' is a macro (!) that resolves paths relative to source file dir
2188 The familiar Schem `load' procedure is now a macro that captures the
2189 name of the source file being expanded, and dispatches to the new
2190 `load-in-vicinity'. Referencing `load' by bare name returns a closure
2191 that embeds the current source file name.
2193 This fix allows `load' of relative paths to be resolved with respect to
2194 the location of the file that calls `load'.
2196 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
2198 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
2199 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
2200 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
2202 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
2203 values to the expected number
2205 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
2206 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
2207 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
2209 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
2210 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
2211 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
2212 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
2214 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
2215 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
2216 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
2218 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
2221 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
2223 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
2225 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
2226 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
2227 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
2228 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
2229 the interpreter would proceed.
2231 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
2232 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
2233 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
2234 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
2236 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
2238 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
2239 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
2240 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
2241 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
2242 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
2243 you to contact the Guile developers.
2245 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
2247 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
2248 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
2249 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
2251 ** psyntax is now the default expander
2253 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
2254 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
2257 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
2258 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
2259 code in question was memoized.
2261 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
2262 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
2263 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
2264 `x432' instead of `x'.
2266 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
2267 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
2268 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
2269 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
2271 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
2273 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
2274 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
2275 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
2278 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
2279 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
2280 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
2281 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
2283 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
2285 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
2286 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
2287 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
2288 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
2291 (syntax-rules (else)
2292 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
2295 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
2296 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
2297 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
2299 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
2300 by nonhygienic macros.
2302 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
2303 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
2306 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
2307 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
2308 (define-macro (ref x)
2310 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
2315 (define-syntax bind-x
2317 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
2318 (define-macro (ref x)
2320 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
2322 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
2323 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
2324 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
2325 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
2326 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
2327 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
2329 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
2331 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
2332 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
2334 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
2335 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
2338 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
2340 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
2341 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
2342 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
2343 transformer procedures.
2345 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
2347 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
2348 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
2349 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
2351 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
2353 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
2354 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
2355 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
2356 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
2358 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
2360 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
2361 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
2362 arity that the function has, in the same format as the old arity
2365 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
2367 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
2368 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
2369 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
2370 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
2372 ** New syntax: define-once
2374 `define-once' is like Lisp's `defvar': it creates a toplevel binding,
2375 but only if one does not exist already.
2377 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
2379 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
2380 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
2381 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
2384 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
2385 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
2386 documentation for more details.
2388 ** Better pretty-printing
2390 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
2391 macros like `quote' are printed better.
2393 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
2395 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
2396 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
2398 Also, it used to be that you could omit passing a port to `format', in
2399 some cases. This still works, but has been formally deprecated.
2401 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
2403 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
2404 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
2405 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
2406 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
2407 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
2408 addressed by element and not by byte.
2410 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
2411 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
2412 endianness, as one would expect.
2414 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
2415 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
2416 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
2417 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
2420 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
2421 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
2423 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
2424 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
2426 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
2428 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
2430 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
2431 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
2432 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
2434 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
2435 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
2437 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
2439 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
2441 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
2442 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
2444 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
2446 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
2447 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
2450 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
2452 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
2453 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
2455 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
2457 *** Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operators
2459 Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operator pairs with
2460 different semantics than the R5RS operators. They support not only
2461 integers, but all reals, including exact rationals and inexact
2462 floating point numbers.
2464 These procedures accept two real numbers N and D, where the divisor D
2465 must be non-zero. Each set of operators computes an integer quotient
2466 Q and a real remainder R such that N = Q*D + R and |R| < |D|. They
2467 differ only in how N/D is rounded to produce Q.
2469 `euclidean-quotient' returns the integer Q and `euclidean-remainder'
2470 returns the real R such that N = Q*D + R and 0 <= R < |D|. `euclidean/'
2471 returns both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each
2472 separately. Note that when D > 0, `euclidean-quotient' returns
2473 floor(N/D), and when D < 0 it returns ceiling(N/D).
2475 `centered-quotient', `centered-remainder', and `centered/' are similar
2476 except that the range of remainders is -abs(D/2) <= R < abs(D/2), and
2477 `centered-quotient' rounds N/D to the nearest integer. Note that these
2478 operators are equivalent to the R6RS integer division operators `div',
2479 `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', and `div0-and-mod0'.
2481 `floor-quotient' and `floor-remainder' compute Q and R, respectively,
2482 where Q has been rounded toward negative infinity. `floor/' returns
2483 both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each separately.
2484 Note that when applied to integers, `floor-remainder' is equivalent to
2485 the R5RS integer-only `modulo' operator. `ceiling-quotient',
2486 `ceiling-remainder', and `ceiling/' are similar except that Q is
2487 rounded toward positive infinity.
2489 For `truncate-quotient', `truncate-remainder', and `truncate/', Q is
2490 rounded toward zero. Note that when applied to integers,
2491 `truncate-quotient' and `truncate-remainder' are equivalent to the
2492 R5RS integer-only operators `quotient' and `remainder'.
2494 For `round-quotient', `round-remainder', and `round/', Q is rounded to
2495 the nearest integer, with ties going to the nearest even integer.
2497 *** Complex number changes
2499 Guile is now able to represent non-real complex numbers whose
2500 imaginary part is an _inexact_ zero (0.0 or -0.0), per R6RS.
2501 Previously, such numbers were immediately changed into inexact reals.
2503 (real? 0.0+0.0i) now returns #f, per R6RS, although (zero? 0.0+0.0i)
2504 still returns #t, per R6RS. (= 0 0.0+0.0i) and (= 0.0 0.0+0.0i) are
2505 #t, but the same comparisons using `eqv?' or `equal?' are #f.
2507 Like other non-real numbers, these complex numbers with inexact zero
2508 imaginary part will raise exceptions is passed to procedures requiring
2509 reals, such as `<', `>', `<=', `>=', `min', `max', `positive?',
2510 `negative?', `inf?', `nan?', `finite?', etc.
2512 **** `make-rectangular' changes
2514 scm_make_rectangular `make-rectangular' now returns a real number only
2515 if the imaginary part is an _exact_ 0. Previously, it would return a
2516 real number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
2518 scm_c_make_rectangular now always returns a non-real complex number,
2519 even if the imaginary part is zero. Previously, it would return a
2520 real number if the imaginary part was zero.
2522 **** `make-polar' changes
2524 scm_make_polar `make-polar' now returns a real number only if the
2525 angle or magnitude is an _exact_ 0. If the magnitude is an exact 0,
2526 it now returns an exact 0. Previously, it would return a real
2527 number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
2529 scm_c_make_polar now always returns a non-real complex number, even if
2530 the imaginary part is 0.0. Previously, it would return a real number
2531 if the imaginary part was 0.0.
2533 **** `imag-part' changes
2535 scm_imag_part `imag-part' now returns an exact 0 if applied to an
2536 inexact real number. Previously it returned an inexact zero in this
2539 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
2541 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
2542 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
2543 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
2544 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
2547 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
2549 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
2550 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
2551 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
2552 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
2554 *** Change in handling products `*' involving exact 0
2556 scm_product `*' now handles exact 0 differently. A product containing
2557 an exact 0 now returns an exact 0 if and only if the other arguments
2558 are all exact. An inexact zero is returned if and only if the other
2559 arguments are all finite but not all exact. If an infinite or NaN
2560 value is present, a NaN value is returned. Previously, any product
2561 containing an exact 0 yielded an exact 0, regardless of the other
2564 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
2566 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
2567 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
2568 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
2569 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
2572 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' are more generic, less strict
2574 When raising to an exact non-negative integer exponent, `expt' and
2575 `integer-expt' are now able to exponentiate any object that can be
2576 multiplied using `*'. They can also raise an object to an exact
2577 negative integer power if its reciprocal can be taken using `/'.
2578 In order to allow this, the type of the first argument is no longer
2579 checked when raising to an exact integer power. If the exponent is 0
2580 or 1, the first parameter is not manipulated at all, and need not
2581 even support multiplication.
2583 *** Infinities are no longer integers, nor rationals
2585 scm_integer_p `integer?' and scm_rational_p `rational?' now return #f
2586 for infinities, per R6RS. Previously they returned #t for real
2587 infinities. The real infinities and NaNs are still considered real by
2588 scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
2590 *** NaNs are no longer rationals
2592 scm_rational_p `rational?' now returns #f for NaN values, per R6RS.
2593 Previously it returned #t for real NaN values. They are still
2594 considered real by scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
2596 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
2598 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
2599 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
2600 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
2603 *** `rationalize' bugfixes and changes
2605 Fixed bugs in scm_rationalize `rationalize'. Previously, it returned
2606 exact integers unmodified, although that was incorrect if the epsilon
2607 was at least 1 or inexact, e.g. (rationalize 4 1) should return 3 per
2608 R5RS and R6RS, but previously it returned 4. It also now handles
2609 cases involving infinities and NaNs properly, per R6RS.
2611 *** Trigonometric functions now return exact numbers in some cases
2613 scm_sin `sin', scm_cos `cos', scm_tan `tan', scm_asin `asin', scm_acos
2614 `acos', scm_atan `atan', scm_sinh `sinh', scm_cosh `cosh', scm_tanh
2615 `tanh', scm_sys_asinh `asinh', scm_sys_acosh `acosh', and
2616 scm_sys_atanh `atanh' now return exact results in some cases.
2618 *** New procedure: `finite?'
2620 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
2621 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
2622 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
2623 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
2625 *** Improved exactness handling for complex number parsing
2627 When parsing non-real complex numbers, exactness specifiers are now
2628 applied to each component, as is done in PLT Scheme. For complex
2629 numbers written in rectangular form, exactness specifiers are applied
2630 to the real and imaginary parts before calling scm_make_rectangular.
2631 For complex numbers written in polar form, exactness specifiers are
2632 applied to the magnitude and angle before calling scm_make_polar.
2634 Previously, exactness specifiers were applied to the number as a whole
2635 _after_ calling scm_make_rectangular or scm_make_polar.
2637 For example, (string->number "#i5.0+0i") now does the equivalent of:
2639 (make-rectangular (exact->inexact 5.0) (exact->inexact 0))
2641 which yields 5.0+0.0i. Previously it did the equivalent of:
2643 (exact->inexact (make-rectangular 5.0 0))
2647 ** Unicode characters
2649 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
2650 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
2651 probably be introduced at some point.
2655 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
2656 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
2657 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
2659 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
2660 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
2661 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
2662 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
2666 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
2668 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
2670 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
2671 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
2672 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
2673 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
2674 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
2677 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
2678 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
2679 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
2681 ** Source files default to UTF-8.
2683 If source files do not specify their encoding via a `coding:' block,
2684 the default encoding is UTF-8, instead of being taken from the current
2687 ** Interactive Guile installs the current locale.
2689 Instead of leaving the user in the "C" locale, running the Guile REPL
2690 installs the current locale. [FIXME xref?]
2692 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
2694 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
2695 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
2696 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
2699 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
2700 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
2701 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
2703 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
2705 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
2707 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
2708 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
2709 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
2710 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
2712 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
2714 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
2715 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
2716 Unicode code points.
2718 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
2720 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
2721 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
2722 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
2725 ** EBCDIC support is removed
2727 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
2728 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
2729 and was unmaintained.
2731 ** Compile-time warnings
2733 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
2734 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
2735 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
2736 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
2739 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
2740 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
2741 `#:warnings' as above.
2743 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
2744 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
2745 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
2747 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
2749 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
2752 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
2754 This slightly improves program startup times.
2756 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
2758 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
2760 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
2762 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
2763 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
2764 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
2765 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
2767 ** New helpers: `print-exception', `set-exception-printer!'
2769 These functions implement an extensible exception printer. Guile
2770 registers printers for all of the exceptions it throws. Users may add
2771 their own printers. There is also `scm_print_exception', for use by C
2772 programs. Pleasantly, this allows SRFI-35 and R6RS exceptions to be
2773 printed appropriately.
2775 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
2777 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
2778 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
2779 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
2780 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
2782 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
2783 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
2784 implement method combinations.
2786 ** Applicable struct support
2788 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
2789 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
2790 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
2791 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
2792 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
2793 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
2794 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
2795 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
2799 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
2800 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
2801 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
2802 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
2803 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
2805 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
2807 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
2808 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
2809 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
2810 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
2812 ** eqv? not a generic
2814 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
2815 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
2816 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
2817 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
2819 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
2821 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
2822 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
2823 functions are deprecated.
2825 ** `getopt-long' parsing errors throw to `quit', not `misc-error'
2827 This change should inhibit backtraces on argument parsing errors.
2828 `getopt-long' has been modified to print out the error that it throws
2831 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
2833 See "File System" in the manual.
2835 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
2837 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
2838 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
2839 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
2841 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
2843 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
2844 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
2845 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
2847 ** Fast bit operations.
2849 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
2850 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
2851 it's for number crunching too.
2853 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
2855 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
2856 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
2857 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
2858 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
2860 ** R6RS block comment support
2862 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
2863 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
2865 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
2867 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
2868 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
2870 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
2871 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
2872 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
2874 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
2875 ;; separate compilation phase.
2876 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
2878 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
2880 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
2882 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
2884 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
2885 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
2886 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
2887 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
2888 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
2891 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
2892 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
2893 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
2894 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
2895 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
2897 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
2899 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
2901 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
2903 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
2905 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
2907 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
2909 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
2910 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
2911 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
2913 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
2915 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
2916 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
2918 ** New readline history functions
2920 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
2921 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
2922 History library functions.
2924 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
2925 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
2927 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
2930 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
2932 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
2933 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
2934 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
2935 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
2936 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
2937 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
2938 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
2940 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
2941 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
2943 The following bindings have been totally removed:
2944 `before-signal-stack'.
2946 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
2947 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
2948 a deprecation warning.
2950 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
2952 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
2953 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
2954 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
2955 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
2958 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
2960 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
2961 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
2962 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
2963 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
2965 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
2966 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
2968 ** `top-repl' has its own module
2970 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
2971 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
2972 left in the default environment.
2974 ** `display-error' takes a frame
2976 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
2977 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
2978 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
2979 information for the error.
2981 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
2983 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
2984 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
2985 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
2987 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
2989 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
2990 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
2992 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
2994 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
2997 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
2999 ** Remove obsolete print-options
3001 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
3004 ** Remove obsolete read-options
3006 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
3007 obsolete, so they have been removed.
3009 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
3011 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
3014 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
3016 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
3017 on their replacements.
3019 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
3021 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
3022 should use Guile with Emacs.
3024 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
3026 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
3027 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
3028 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
3029 `with-throw-handler'.
3031 ** Deprecated: primitive properties
3033 The `primitive-make-property', `primitive-property-set!',
3034 `primitive-property-ref', and `primitive-property-del!' procedures were
3035 crufty and only used to implement object properties, which has a new,
3036 threadsafe implementation. Use object properties or weak hash tables
3039 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
3041 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
3042 and is no longer used.
3044 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
3046 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
3047 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
3049 Additionally, the procedures `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
3050 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
3051 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', and `set-batch-mode?!' have all
3054 ** Add support for unbound fluids
3056 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
3059 ** Add `variable-unset!'
3061 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
3063 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
3065 * Changes to the C interface
3067 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
3069 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
3070 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
3071 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
3073 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
3074 code easier and less error-prone.
3076 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
3077 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,latin1}_symbol{n,}
3078 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,utf32,latin1}_string{n,}
3080 These new procedures convert to and from string representations in
3081 particular encodings.
3083 Users should continue to use locale encoding for user input, user
3084 output, or interacting with the C library.
3086 Use the Latin-1 functions for ASCII, and for literals in source code.
3088 Use UTF-8 functions for interaction with modern libraries which deal in
3089 UTF-8, and UTF-32 for interaction with utf32-using libraries.
3091 Otherwise, use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn with a specific
3094 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
3096 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
3097 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
3098 available to C. Have fun!
3100 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
3102 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
3104 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
3107 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
3108 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
3110 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
3112 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
3113 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
3114 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
3117 ** Remove old evaluator closures
3119 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
3120 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
3121 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
3122 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
3125 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
3127 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
3128 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
3129 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
3130 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
3131 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
3132 both with the old 1.8 and with the current 1.9 branch.
3134 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
3135 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
3136 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
3137 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
3138 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
3139 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
3141 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
3142 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
3143 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
3144 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
3145 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
3147 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
3148 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
3149 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
3150 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
3151 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
3152 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
3154 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
3155 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
3156 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
3157 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
3160 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
3161 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
3164 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
3166 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
3167 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
3168 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
3169 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
3170 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
3172 ** Remove unused snarf macros
3174 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
3175 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
3177 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
3179 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
3180 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
3182 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
3184 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
3185 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
3187 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
3189 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
3190 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
3191 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
3192 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
3193 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
3196 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
3198 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
3199 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
3200 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
3201 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
3204 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
3205 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
3206 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
3207 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
3209 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
3211 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
3212 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
3213 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
3216 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
3217 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
3218 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
3219 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
3221 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
3223 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
3225 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
3227 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
3230 ** Inline vector allocation
3232 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
3233 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
3234 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
3235 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
3238 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
3240 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
3241 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
3245 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
3246 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
3247 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
3248 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
3249 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
3251 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
3253 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
3254 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
3255 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
3256 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
3257 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
3258 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
3262 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
3263 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
3264 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
3265 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
3267 ** Deprecate trampolines
3269 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
3270 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
3271 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
3272 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
3273 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
3275 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
3277 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
3279 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
3281 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
3282 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
3283 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
3284 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
3286 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
3288 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
3289 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
3290 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
3291 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
3292 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
3293 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
3294 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
3296 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
3298 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
3299 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
3302 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
3303 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
3305 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
3307 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
3308 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
3310 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
3312 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
3313 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
3314 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
3315 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
3317 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
3319 * Changes to the distribution
3321 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
3323 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
3324 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
3329 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
3330 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
3332 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
3334 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
3335 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
3337 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
3339 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
3340 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
3341 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
3344 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
3346 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
3347 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
3349 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
3351 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
3352 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
3354 ** Parallel installability fixes
3356 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
3357 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
3358 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
3360 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
3361 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
3362 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
3365 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
3367 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
3368 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
3369 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
3370 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
3371 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
3373 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
3375 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
3376 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
3377 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
3378 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
3379 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
3380 searched before the global site directory.
3382 ** New dependency: libgc
3384 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
3386 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
3388 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
3389 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
3391 ** New dependency: libffi
3393 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
3397 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
3401 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
3402 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
3403 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
3406 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
3408 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3410 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
3414 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
3415 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
3416 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
3417 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
3418 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
3419 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
3420 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
3421 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
3422 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
3423 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
3424 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
3426 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
3428 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
3429 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
3430 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
3433 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
3436 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
3438 * New features (see the manual for details)
3440 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
3442 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
3444 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
3445 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
3446 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
3448 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
3450 * Changes to the distribution
3452 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
3454 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
3455 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
3457 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
3459 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
3460 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
3465 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
3466 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
3467 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
3468 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
3469 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
3470 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
3471 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
3472 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
3473 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
3474 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
3475 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
3476 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
3477 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
3478 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
3480 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
3481 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
3482 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
3483 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
3484 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
3487 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
3489 * Infrastructure changes
3491 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
3493 The new repository can be accessed using
3494 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
3495 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
3497 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
3499 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
3501 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3505 * New features (see the manual for details)
3507 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
3508 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
3509 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
3511 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
3512 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
3513 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
3514 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
3516 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
3518 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
3519 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
3520 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
3524 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
3525 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
3527 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
3528 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
3530 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
3531 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
3533 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
3534 lead to a stack overflow.
3536 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
3537 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
3538 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
3539 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
3540 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
3541 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
3542 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
3543 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
3544 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
3545 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
3546 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
3547 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
3548 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
3549 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
3550 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
3551 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
3554 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
3558 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
3559 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
3560 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
3561 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
3562 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
3563 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
3564 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
3565 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
3566 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
3567 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
3568 system and library calls.
3569 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
3570 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
3571 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
3572 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
3573 uniform vectors on AIX.
3574 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
3575 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
3576 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
3577 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
3578 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
3580 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3584 * Documentation fixes and improvements
3586 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
3588 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
3589 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
3591 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
3593 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
3595 * Changes to the distribution
3597 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
3599 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
3600 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
3601 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
3603 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
3605 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
3608 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
3610 * New modules (see the manual for details)
3617 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
3618 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
3619 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
3620 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
3621 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
3622 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
3623 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
3625 * Implementation improvements
3627 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
3628 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
3631 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
3633 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
3635 ** set-program-arguments
3638 * Incompatible changes
3640 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
3642 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
3643 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
3644 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
3645 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
3650 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
3651 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
3652 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
3653 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
3654 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
3655 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
3657 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
3658 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
3659 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
3660 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
3661 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
3662 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
3663 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
3664 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
3665 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
3666 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
3667 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
3668 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
3669 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
3670 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
3671 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
3672 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
3675 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
3677 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
3679 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
3681 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
3682 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
3683 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
3684 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
3685 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
3686 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
3694 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
3696 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
3698 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
3700 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
3702 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
3704 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
3706 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
3707 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
3708 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
3710 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
3712 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
3714 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
3715 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
3717 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
3719 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
3720 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
3722 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
3724 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
3726 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
3728 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
3730 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
3732 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
3734 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
3736 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
3738 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
3740 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
3741 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
3742 file was on a different device.
3745 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
3747 * Changes to the distribution
3749 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
3751 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
3753 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
3755 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
3757 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
3759 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
3762 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
3764 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
3765 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
3766 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
3767 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
3768 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
3769 items like the versioned share directory name
3770 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
3772 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
3773 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
3774 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
3775 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
3776 with each micro release during a stable series.
3778 ** Thread implementation has changed.
3780 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
3781 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
3782 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
3783 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
3784 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
3787 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
3788 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
3789 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
3790 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
3793 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
3794 in which case "null" threads are used.
3796 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
3797 "Blocking", and others.
3799 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
3801 This is a milder form of deprecation.
3803 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
3804 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
3805 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
3806 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
3807 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
3809 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
3810 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
3812 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
3814 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
3815 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
3817 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
3820 This SRFI is always available.
3822 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
3824 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
3825 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
3826 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
3827 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
3830 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
3832 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
3833 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
3834 parameters without currying.
3836 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
3838 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
3839 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
3841 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
3842 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
3845 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
3846 with a renaming import, for example.
3848 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
3850 The official version is good enough now.
3852 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
3854 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
3855 provided. Use 'make html'.
3857 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
3859 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
3860 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
3861 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
3862 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
3864 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
3866 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
3869 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3871 ** New command line option `-L'.
3873 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
3875 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
3877 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
3878 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
3880 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
3882 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
3883 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
3885 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
3887 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
3888 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
3891 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
3894 (define-module (demo)
3898 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
3901 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3903 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
3905 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
3906 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
3907 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
3909 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
3911 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
3912 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
3914 ** New function hashx-remove!
3916 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
3918 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
3919 barriers and dynamic states.
3921 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
3922 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
3923 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
3926 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
3927 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
3928 Barriers" in the manual.
3930 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
3931 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
3933 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
3935 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
3936 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
3937 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
3938 variable %load-path.
3940 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
3942 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
3943 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
3945 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
3946 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
3947 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
3949 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
3950 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
3952 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
3953 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
3954 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
3956 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
3957 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
3958 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
3961 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
3962 substrings and read-only strings.
3964 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
3965 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
3968 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
3970 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
3979 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
3980 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
3981 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
3983 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
3984 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
3985 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
3986 on an ANSI terminal:
3988 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
3989 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
3992 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
3994 See the manual for details.
3996 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
3998 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
4001 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
4003 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
4004 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
4005 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
4006 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
4008 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
4009 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
4010 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
4013 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
4015 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
4016 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
4027 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
4031 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
4036 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
4040 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
4044 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
4047 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
4048 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
4049 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
4050 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
4052 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
4053 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
4056 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
4059 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
4063 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
4065 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
4066 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
4067 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
4070 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
4073 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
4075 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
4078 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
4079 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
4082 (define-module (foo)
4087 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
4088 has been detected is to
4090 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
4091 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
4092 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
4095 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
4098 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
4100 to your .guile init file.
4102 ** New define-module option: :replace
4104 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
4107 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
4108 for the core binding `format'.
4110 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
4112 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
4113 a prefix to all imported bindings.
4115 (define-module (foo)
4116 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
4118 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
4121 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
4123 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
4124 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
4125 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
4127 ** New function: effective-version
4129 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
4130 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
4131 to the distribution" above.
4133 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
4135 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
4136 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
4138 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
4140 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
4141 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
4143 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
4145 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
4146 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
4149 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
4151 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
4153 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
4155 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
4156 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
4157 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
4160 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
4161 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
4162 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
4163 'system-async-mark'.
4165 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
4166 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
4168 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
4169 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
4170 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
4173 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
4175 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
4176 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
4179 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
4180 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4182 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
4183 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
4184 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
4185 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
4186 level for the current thread.
4188 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
4190 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
4192 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
4193 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
4196 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
4198 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
4200 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
4203 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
4205 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
4208 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
4209 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
4210 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
4212 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
4213 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
4214 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
4215 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
4226 ERROR: Numerical overflow
4228 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
4231 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
4233 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
4234 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
4235 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
4246 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
4248 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
4249 them is also done exactly, of course:
4254 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
4255 for exact arguments.
4257 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
4258 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
4260 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
4262 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
4263 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
4264 equal to a floating point number. For example:
4266 (inexact->exact 1.234)
4267 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
4269 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
4271 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
4274 ** New function 'rationalize'.
4276 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
4277 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
4279 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
4282 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
4283 result when both its arguments are exact.
4285 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
4287 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
4288 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
4289 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
4291 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
4293 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
4294 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
4295 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
4297 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
4300 ** pretty-print has more options.
4302 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
4303 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
4304 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
4306 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
4308 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
4309 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
4310 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
4312 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
4314 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
4315 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
4317 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
4319 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
4320 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
4323 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
4325 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
4326 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
4327 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
4328 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
4329 without the soft port blocking.
4331 ** Deprecated: undefine
4333 There is no replacement for undefine.
4335 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
4336 have been discouraged.
4338 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
4339 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
4340 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
4343 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
4345 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
4347 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
4348 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
4349 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
4350 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
4353 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
4354 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
4355 be removed in the next major Guile release.
4357 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
4359 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
4360 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
4361 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
4362 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
4363 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
4364 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
4366 * Changes to the C interface
4368 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
4369 take a 'delete' function argument.
4371 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
4372 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
4374 This is an incompatible change.
4376 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
4378 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
4379 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
4380 --disable-deprecated.
4382 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
4384 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
4385 Scheme values has been added.
4387 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
4388 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
4391 - int scm_is_* (...)
4393 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
4394 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
4396 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
4398 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
4399 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
4402 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
4404 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
4405 scm_from_int for ints.
4407 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
4408 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
4409 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
4411 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
4413 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
4414 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
4415 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
4418 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
4420 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
4422 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
4424 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
4425 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
4426 following alternatives.
4428 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
4429 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
4430 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
4431 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
4433 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
4434 do the validating for you.
4436 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
4437 have been discouraged.
4439 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
4440 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
4443 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
4445 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
4446 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
4449 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
4451 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
4454 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
4457 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
4459 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
4460 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
4462 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
4463 scm_truncate_number should have.
4465 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
4466 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
4468 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
4471 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
4472 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
4473 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
4475 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
4476 easier to use from C.
4478 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
4479 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
4481 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
4482 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
4483 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
4486 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
4487 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
4488 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
4489 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
4492 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
4493 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
4494 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
4495 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
4496 and is thus quite efficient.
4498 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
4500 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
4501 about the character encoding.
4503 Replace according to the following table:
4505 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
4506 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
4507 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
4508 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
4509 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
4510 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
4511 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
4512 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
4513 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
4515 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
4516 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
4518 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
4520 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
4521 now also available to C code.
4523 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
4525 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
4526 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
4527 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
4529 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
4532 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
4534 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
4535 unceremoniously removed.
4537 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
4538 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
4539 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
4541 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
4542 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
4543 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
4544 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
4545 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
4546 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
4549 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
4551 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
4552 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
4553 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
4554 manual for more details.
4556 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
4557 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
4559 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
4560 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
4561 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
4563 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
4565 Migrate according to the following table:
4567 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
4568 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
4569 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
4570 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
4571 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
4572 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
4573 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
4575 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
4576 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
4577 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
4578 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
4579 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
4580 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
4581 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
4583 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
4585 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
4586 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
4588 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
4589 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
4590 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
4591 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
4593 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
4595 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
4596 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
4597 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
4599 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
4600 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
4602 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
4603 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
4604 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
4605 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
4607 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
4609 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
4610 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
4611 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
4612 prevent a potential memory leak:
4619 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
4621 mem = scm_malloc (100);
4622 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
4624 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
4625 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
4632 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
4633 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
4637 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
4639 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
4641 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
4642 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
4643 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
4645 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
4646 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
4648 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
4650 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
4652 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
4653 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
4654 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
4656 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
4657 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
4659 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
4660 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
4661 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
4662 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
4665 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
4667 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
4668 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
4669 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
4671 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
4673 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
4674 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
4676 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
4678 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
4679 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
4681 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
4683 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
4684 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
4685 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
4687 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
4689 You should not have used them.
4691 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
4693 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
4694 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
4696 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
4698 This macro is not intended for public use.
4700 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
4702 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
4704 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
4706 Use scm_is_real instead.
4708 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
4710 Use scm_is_complex instead.
4712 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
4714 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
4715 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
4717 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
4718 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
4720 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
4721 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
4723 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
4725 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
4728 ** New function: scm_effective_version
4730 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
4731 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
4732 to the distribution" above.
4734 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
4736 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
4737 arguments are now passed directly:
4739 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
4741 This is an incompatible change.
4743 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
4745 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
4746 function in the init section.
4748 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
4750 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
4752 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
4753 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
4754 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
4755 stays roughly constant.
4757 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
4758 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
4759 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
4760 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
4761 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
4764 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
4765 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
4766 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
4767 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
4769 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
4770 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
4771 objects for every type.
4774 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
4776 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
4778 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
4780 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
4781 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
4782 initializes a new cell (see below).
4784 ** New functions for memory management
4786 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
4787 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
4788 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
4789 cause aborts in long running programs.
4791 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
4792 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
4794 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
4795 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
4796 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
4797 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
4798 details and for upgrading instructions.
4800 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
4801 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
4802 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
4804 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
4806 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
4807 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
4808 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
4809 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
4810 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
4812 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
4813 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
4814 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
4816 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
4817 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
4819 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
4821 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
4822 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
4823 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
4824 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
4825 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
4827 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
4829 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
4832 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
4834 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
4836 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
4838 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
4839 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
4841 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
4843 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
4844 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
4846 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
4847 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
4849 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
4851 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
4853 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
4854 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
4855 blocking it is not well defined.
4857 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
4859 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
4860 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
4861 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
4862 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
4863 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
4864 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
4865 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
4866 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
4867 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
4868 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
4869 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
4870 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
4871 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
4872 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
4873 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
4874 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
4875 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
4876 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
4877 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
4878 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
4879 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
4880 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
4881 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
4882 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
4883 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
4884 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
4885 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
4886 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
4887 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
4888 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
4889 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
4891 * Changes to bundled modules
4895 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
4896 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
4897 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
4898 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
4899 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
4902 Changes since Guile 1.4:
4904 * Changes to the distribution
4906 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
4908 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
4910 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
4911 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
4912 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
4913 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
4914 indicate major changes in Guile.
4916 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
4917 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
4918 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
4919 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
4921 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
4922 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
4923 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
4924 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
4925 micro version number.
4927 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
4929 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
4931 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
4932 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
4934 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
4936 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
4937 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
4938 See INSTALL and README for more information.
4940 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
4942 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
4943 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
4944 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
4947 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
4949 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
4952 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
4954 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
4955 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
4957 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
4959 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
4960 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
4963 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
4965 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
4968 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
4971 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
4973 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
4975 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
4976 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
4977 open-output-string, get-output-string.
4979 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
4981 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
4983 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
4986 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
4988 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
4990 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
4992 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
4993 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
4994 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
4996 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
4998 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
5000 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
5001 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
5010 See README there for more info.
5012 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
5013 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
5016 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
5018 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
5020 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
5022 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
5023 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
5024 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
5026 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
5028 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
5029 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
5030 to be named `and-let*', of course.
5032 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
5033 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
5035 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
5038 (oop goops describe)
5040 (oop goops active-slot)
5041 (oop goops composite-slot)
5043 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
5044 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
5045 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
5047 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
5049 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
5050 in the default environment:
5052 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
5053 %read-line write-line
5055 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
5056 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
5058 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
5060 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
5063 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
5064 can be used for similar functionality.
5066 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
5068 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
5069 it defines two procedures:
5071 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
5073 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
5074 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
5075 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
5078 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
5080 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
5081 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
5082 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
5083 write large strings.
5085 ** New module (ice-9 match)
5087 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
5088 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
5090 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
5092 for complete documentation.
5094 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
5096 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
5097 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
5098 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
5099 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
5101 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
5102 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
5106 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
5107 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
5108 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
5111 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
5114 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
5115 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
5117 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
5118 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
5121 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
5124 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
5126 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
5128 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5130 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
5132 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
5133 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
5134 Scheme programs easier.
5136 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
5137 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
5138 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
5139 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
5140 `cond-expand' when using this option.
5143 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
5144 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
5146 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
5149 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
5151 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
5152 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
5153 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
5156 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5158 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
5160 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
5161 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
5162 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
5163 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
5164 was also ASCII, for example.
5166 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
5168 tag - no replacement.
5169 fseek - replaced by seek.
5170 list* - replaced by cons*.
5172 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
5176 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
5177 (define m (make-safe-module))
5178 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
5179 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
5180 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
5182 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
5184 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
5185 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
5186 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
5188 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
5190 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
5191 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
5192 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
5193 from the issues related to the module system.
5195 *** New function: load-extension
5197 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
5199 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
5201 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
5202 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
5203 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
5205 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
5207 This function registers a initialization function for use by
5208 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
5209 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
5210 support dynamic linking).
5212 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
5214 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
5215 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
5216 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
5217 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
5220 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
5221 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
5222 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
5223 library and initialize it explicitly.
5225 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
5226 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
5228 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
5230 (define-module (foo bar))
5232 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
5234 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
5236 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
5237 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
5239 (scheme-report-environment 5)
5240 (null-environment 5)
5241 (interaction-environment)
5247 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
5249 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
5250 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
5251 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
5252 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
5254 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
5255 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
5256 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
5257 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
5258 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
5259 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
5260 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
5261 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
5262 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
5263 one eval to the next.
5265 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
5266 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
5267 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
5268 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
5269 subforms are at the top-level as well.
5271 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
5272 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
5273 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
5274 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
5275 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
5276 used in a lexical environment.
5278 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
5279 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
5280 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
5281 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
5282 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
5283 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
5285 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
5287 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
5288 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
5289 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
5290 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
5291 new facilities: selection and renaming.
5293 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
5294 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
5295 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
5297 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
5298 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
5300 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
5301 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
5302 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5304 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5305 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
5307 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
5308 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
5309 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
5310 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
5313 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
5314 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
5315 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
5316 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5318 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5319 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
5320 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
5322 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
5323 ;; and all four by upcasing.
5324 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
5325 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
5326 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
5328 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
5330 (remove-if . zonk-y)
5331 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
5332 :renamer upcase-symbol))
5334 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
5335 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
5336 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
5338 See manual for more info.
5340 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
5342 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
5343 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
5344 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
5346 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
5348 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
5349 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
5350 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
5352 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
5353 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
5354 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
5355 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
5357 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
5359 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
5360 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
5362 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
5363 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
5364 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
5365 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
5366 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
5369 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
5370 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
5371 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
5372 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
5373 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
5374 successful and #f if it wasn't.
5376 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
5377 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
5378 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
5379 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
5380 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
5382 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
5383 objects are usually permanent.
5385 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
5386 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
5388 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
5390 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
5391 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
5394 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
5398 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
5403 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
5405 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
5406 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
5407 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
5408 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
5410 ** New function `make-object-property'
5412 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
5413 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
5417 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
5418 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
5422 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
5423 source properties eventually.
5425 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
5427 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
5428 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
5429 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
5431 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
5432 will be removed in the next release.
5434 ** New define-module option: pure
5436 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
5441 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
5444 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
5446 Export names NAME1 ...
5448 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
5449 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
5453 (define-module (foo)
5455 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
5458 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
5463 ** New function: object->string OBJ
5465 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
5467 ** New function: port? X
5469 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
5470 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
5472 ** New function: file-port?
5474 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
5476 ** New function: port-for-each proc
5478 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
5479 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
5480 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
5481 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
5482 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
5484 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
5486 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
5487 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
5488 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
5489 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
5490 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
5493 ** New function: close-fdes fd
5495 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
5496 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
5497 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
5498 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
5501 ** New function: crypt password salt
5503 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
5506 ** New function: chroot path
5508 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
5510 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
5512 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
5515 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
5517 Get or set the priority of the running process.
5519 ** New function: getpass prompt
5521 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
5524 ** New function: flock file operation
5526 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
5528 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
5530 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
5533 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
5535 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
5536 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
5537 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
5538 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
5539 of the temporary file.
5541 ** New function: open-input-string string
5543 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
5544 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
5545 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
5547 ** New function: open-output-string
5549 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
5550 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
5552 ** New function: get-output-string
5554 Return the contents of an output string port.
5556 ** New function: identity
5558 Return the argument.
5560 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
5561 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
5563 ** New function: inet-pton family address
5565 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
5566 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
5567 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
5570 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
5571 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
5573 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
5575 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
5576 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
5577 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
5580 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
5581 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
5582 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
5586 Use `identity' instead.
5592 ** Deprecated: return-it
5596 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
5598 Use `string-length' instead.
5600 ** Deprecated: flags
5602 Use `logior' instead.
5604 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
5606 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
5607 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
5608 port-for-each is more flexible.
5610 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
5611 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
5612 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
5614 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
5616 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
5618 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
5620 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
5622 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
5624 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
5625 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
5627 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
5628 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
5630 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
5631 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
5633 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
5635 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
5636 Removed function: builtin-bindings
5638 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
5639 Use module system operations for all variables.
5641 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
5643 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
5646 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
5648 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
5649 The following bugs have been fixed:
5651 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
5652 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
5655 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
5656 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
5657 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
5659 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
5660 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
5662 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
5663 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
5666 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
5667 The expansion used to be like so:
5669 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
5671 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
5673 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
5675 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
5676 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
5678 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
5680 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
5681 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
5682 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
5686 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
5687 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
5689 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
5694 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
5695 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
5697 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
5698 and `d', other keywords allowed.
5699 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
5701 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
5704 * Changes to the C interface
5706 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
5708 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
5709 with "_t". What a concept.
5711 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
5713 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
5715 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
5719 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
5720 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
5722 *** C Functions removed
5724 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
5725 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
5726 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
5727 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
5728 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
5729 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
5730 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
5732 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
5734 Use scm_mem2string instead.
5736 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
5738 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
5740 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
5741 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
5743 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
5745 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
5748 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
5750 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
5752 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
5754 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
5755 Evaluation" in the manual.
5757 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
5759 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
5760 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
5762 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
5764 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
5765 Constructors" in the manual.
5767 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
5769 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
5770 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
5772 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
5774 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
5776 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
5777 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
5778 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
5780 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
5782 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
5784 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
5785 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
5786 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
5789 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
5791 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
5793 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
5794 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
5796 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
5798 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
5799 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
5800 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
5801 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
5803 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
5804 scm_primitive_property_ref
5805 scm_primitive_property_set_x
5806 scm_primitive_property_del_x
5808 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
5809 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
5811 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
5813 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
5814 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
5815 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
5816 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
5818 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
5820 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
5821 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
5822 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
5823 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
5824 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
5825 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
5826 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
5828 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
5829 scm_remember_upto_here
5831 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
5833 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
5835 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
5836 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
5838 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
5840 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
5842 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
5844 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
5846 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
5848 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
5849 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
5850 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
5851 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
5852 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
5853 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
5855 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
5857 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
5859 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
5860 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
5861 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
5863 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
5865 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
5866 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
5867 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
5869 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
5871 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
5872 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
5875 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
5878 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
5879 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
5882 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
5884 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
5886 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
5888 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
5890 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
5892 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
5894 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
5895 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
5896 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
5897 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
5898 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
5899 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
5900 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
5901 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
5902 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
5903 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
5904 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
5905 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
5906 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
5907 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
5908 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
5910 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
5911 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
5912 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
5913 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
5914 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
5915 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
5916 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
5917 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
5918 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
5919 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
5920 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
5921 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
5922 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
5923 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
5924 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
5925 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
5926 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
5927 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
5928 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
5929 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
5930 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
5931 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
5932 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
5933 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
5934 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
5935 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
5936 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
5937 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
5938 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
5940 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
5942 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
5944 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
5945 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
5947 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
5949 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
5951 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
5953 Use scm_string_hash instead.
5955 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
5957 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
5959 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
5961 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
5963 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
5966 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
5967 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
5969 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
5971 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
5973 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
5975 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
5977 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
5979 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
5981 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
5983 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
5986 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
5988 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
5990 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
5992 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
5993 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
5995 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
5996 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
5998 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
6000 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
6001 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
6002 scm_module_define, scm_define.
6004 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
6006 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
6008 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
6009 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
6011 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
6012 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
6013 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
6014 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
6016 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
6017 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
6018 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
6020 Use the new ones from above instead.
6022 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
6024 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
6025 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
6026 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
6028 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
6029 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
6031 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
6032 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
6035 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
6036 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
6038 Use the new functions instead.
6040 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
6043 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
6045 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
6047 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
6050 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
6052 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
6055 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
6057 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
6060 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
6061 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
6062 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
6064 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
6066 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
6067 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
6069 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
6070 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
6071 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
6072 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
6075 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
6077 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
6078 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
6079 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
6080 inexact for an exact.
6082 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
6083 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
6084 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
6087 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
6088 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
6089 accept an inexact argument.
6091 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
6092 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
6094 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
6097 ** New number validation macros:
6098 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
6102 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
6104 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
6105 scm_unprotect_object.
6107 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
6109 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
6111 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
6114 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
6116 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
6120 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
6122 * Changes to the distribution
6124 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
6126 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
6127 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
6128 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
6129 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
6130 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
6131 obtain these programs.
6132 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
6133 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
6135 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
6136 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
6137 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
6138 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
6139 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
6141 However, this approach means that minor differences between
6142 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
6143 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
6144 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
6148 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
6151 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
6152 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
6153 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
6154 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
6156 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
6158 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
6160 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
6161 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
6163 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
6164 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
6166 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
6167 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
6169 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
6170 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
6171 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
6172 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
6174 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
6176 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
6180 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
6181 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
6183 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
6185 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
6186 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
6188 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
6189 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
6190 number of objects of that kind.
6192 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
6194 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
6195 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
6196 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
6197 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
6198 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
6200 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
6202 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
6204 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
6206 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
6209 ** New module (ice-9 time)
6211 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
6213 ** New module (ice-9 history)
6215 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
6217 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6219 ** New command line option --debug
6221 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
6223 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
6225 ** New help facility
6227 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
6228 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
6229 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
6230 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
6231 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
6232 (help) gives this text
6234 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
6235 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
6237 Examples: (help help)
6239 (help "output-string")
6241 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
6243 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
6245 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
6246 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
6249 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
6250 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
6251 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
6254 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
6255 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
6256 use absolute filenames when possible.
6258 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
6259 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
6260 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
6263 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
6265 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
6266 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
6267 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
6268 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
6270 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
6272 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
6274 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
6275 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
6276 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
6278 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
6279 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
6280 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
6282 (read-enable 'positions)
6283 (debug-enable 'debug)
6285 ** Backtraces in scripts
6287 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
6291 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
6293 at the top of the script.
6295 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
6296 The second enables backtraces.)
6298 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
6300 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
6301 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
6302 substantially faster than before.
6304 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
6305 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
6307 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
6308 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
6310 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
6312 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
6313 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
6314 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
6316 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
6317 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
6318 when this hook is run in the future.
6320 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
6321 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
6323 ** Improvements to garbage collector
6325 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
6326 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
6329 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
6330 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
6331 more and more memory for certain programs.)
6333 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
6334 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
6336 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
6337 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
6339 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
6340 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
6341 in order not to need further allocation.)
6343 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
6346 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
6347 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
6348 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
6349 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
6351 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
6353 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
6356 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
6358 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
6361 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
6362 GC in percent of total heap size
6365 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
6366 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
6368 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
6370 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
6371 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
6373 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
6375 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
6376 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
6378 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
6380 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
6381 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
6385 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
6386 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
6388 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
6390 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6392 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
6394 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
6396 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
6398 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
6399 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
6401 (simple-format port message . args)
6402 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
6403 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
6404 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
6405 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
6406 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
6407 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
6408 Does not add a trailing newline."
6410 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
6412 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
6413 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
6415 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
6416 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
6418 ** Deprecated: list*
6420 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
6422 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
6424 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
6425 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
6427 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
6428 is returned as result.
6430 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
6432 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
6434 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
6436 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
6437 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
6440 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
6442 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
6444 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
6445 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
6447 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6449 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
6451 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
6453 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6455 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
6457 Thanks to Greg Badros!
6459 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
6461 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
6462 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
6463 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
6465 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
6468 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
6470 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
6471 the readability of argument checking.
6473 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
6475 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
6477 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
6479 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
6480 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
6481 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
6482 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
6483 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
6484 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
6485 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
6487 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
6489 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
6491 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
6492 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
6494 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
6496 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
6497 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
6500 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
6502 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
6503 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
6504 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
6506 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
6507 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
6508 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
6510 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
6511 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
6512 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
6513 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
6514 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
6515 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
6516 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
6518 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
6519 scm_end_input (object);
6520 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
6521 ptob->flush (object);
6523 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
6524 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
6527 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
6529 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
6531 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
6532 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
6533 removed in a future version.
6535 ** The format of error message strings has changed
6537 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
6538 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
6539 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
6540 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
6542 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
6543 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
6545 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
6548 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
6550 in your configure.in.
6552 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
6557 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
6563 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
6565 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
6569 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
6570 (define make-message string-append)
6572 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
6574 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
6578 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
6583 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
6587 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
6589 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
6590 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
6592 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
6594 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
6595 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
6596 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
6597 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
6598 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
6599 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
6601 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
6602 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
6603 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
6605 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
6606 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
6607 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
6610 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
6611 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
6612 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
6613 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
6614 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
6616 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
6617 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
6618 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
6619 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
6620 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
6621 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
6622 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
6624 Destructors are not yet implemented.
6626 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
6627 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
6628 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
6630 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
6631 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
6632 KEY in the calling thread.
6634 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
6635 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
6636 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
6637 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
6638 associated with the key.
6640 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
6642 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
6643 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
6645 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
6647 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
6648 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
6649 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
6651 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
6653 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
6654 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
6656 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
6658 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
6660 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
6661 returned is undefined.
6663 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
6664 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
6665 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
6667 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
6668 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
6669 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
6671 ** New C level GC hooks
6673 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
6675 scm_before_gc_c_hook
6678 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
6679 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
6680 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
6682 scm_before_mark_c_hook
6683 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
6684 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
6686 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
6687 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
6690 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
6692 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
6693 allocation parameters
6695 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
6696 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
6697 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
6701 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
6702 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
6703 scm_default_max_segment_size
6705 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
6707 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
6708 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
6710 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
6712 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
6713 object and count on the object being protected until
6714 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
6716 The functions also have better time complexity.
6718 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
6719 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
6720 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
6721 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
6722 are no longer needed.
6724 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
6726 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
6727 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
6728 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
6729 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
6731 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
6733 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
6735 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
6737 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
6738 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
6739 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
6740 until this issue has been settled.
6742 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
6744 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
6746 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
6749 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
6751 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6753 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
6754 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
6755 descriptors were checked.
6757 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
6758 atomically written to a pipe.
6760 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
6761 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
6762 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
6763 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
6764 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
6765 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
6766 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
6769 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
6770 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
6771 is changed without calling tzset.
6773 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
6775 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
6776 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
6777 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
6779 (define write-network-long
6780 (lambda (value port)
6781 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
6782 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
6783 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
6785 (define read-network-long
6787 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
6788 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
6789 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
6791 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
6792 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
6794 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
6795 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
6796 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
6797 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
6799 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
6800 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
6801 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
6802 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
6806 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
6808 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6812 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
6813 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
6814 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
6820 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
6821 for a description of available commands.
6823 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
6824 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
6825 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
6827 (debug-enable 'backwards)
6829 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
6830 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
6832 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
6834 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
6836 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
6837 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
6838 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
6839 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
6840 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
6841 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
6844 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
6846 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
6847 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
6848 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
6849 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
6851 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
6852 the file and should not be affected by this change.
6854 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
6856 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6858 ** Readline support has changed again.
6860 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
6861 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
6862 to activate readline is now
6864 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
6867 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
6869 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
6870 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
6871 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
6874 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
6875 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
6876 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
6879 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
6880 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
6881 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
6882 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
6883 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
6884 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
6886 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
6887 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
6889 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
6891 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
6892 object it receives is the same string passed to
6893 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
6894 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
6895 string, not the suffix.
6897 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
6898 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
6899 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
6901 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
6903 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
6904 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
6905 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
6906 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
6909 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
6911 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
6913 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
6914 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
6915 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
6916 appear from left to right.
6918 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
6921 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
6923 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
6924 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
6926 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
6930 *** New function: hook? OBJ
6932 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
6934 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
6936 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
6937 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
6938 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
6940 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
6942 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
6944 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
6946 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
6949 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
6951 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
6952 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
6953 mentioning it here anyway.
6955 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
6957 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
6958 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
6959 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
6960 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
6963 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
6965 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
6967 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
6969 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
6970 otherwise return #f.
6972 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
6974 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
6975 returned by `opendir'.
6977 ** New function: using-readline?
6979 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
6981 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
6983 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
6984 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
6986 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6988 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
6990 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
6991 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
6992 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
6994 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
6996 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
6997 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
6999 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
7001 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
7002 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
7003 documentation slots are not yet used.
7005 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
7007 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
7008 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
7009 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
7014 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
7015 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
7016 (string-append x y))
7018 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
7019 can also be used for concatenating strings.
7021 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
7022 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
7023 be made in a clean way.]
7025 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
7027 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
7029 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
7031 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
7032 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
7034 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7036 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
7038 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
7040 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
7042 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
7043 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
7044 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
7045 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
7048 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7050 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
7052 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
7054 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
7056 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
7057 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
7059 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
7061 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
7063 Evaluates the body of a special form.
7065 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
7067 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
7068 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
7069 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
7070 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
7071 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
7072 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
7074 This should not make any difference for most users.
7076 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
7078 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
7079 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
7081 *** New functions for applying generic functions
7083 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
7084 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
7085 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
7086 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
7087 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
7089 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
7091 It is now replaced by:
7093 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
7095 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
7096 binds a variable named NAME to it.
7098 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
7100 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
7101 This might change when we get the new module system.
7103 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
7107 Changes since Guile 1.3:
7109 * Changes to mailing lists
7111 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
7113 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
7116 * Changes to the distribution
7118 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
7120 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
7121 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
7122 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
7123 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
7124 you explicitly specify it.
7126 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
7127 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
7128 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
7129 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
7130 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
7133 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
7134 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
7135 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
7136 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
7138 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
7139 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
7140 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
7143 You can activate the readline support by issuing
7145 (use-modules (readline-activator))
7148 from your ".guile" file, for example.
7150 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7152 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
7153 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
7154 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
7155 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
7157 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
7158 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
7161 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7163 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
7164 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
7165 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
7166 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
7167 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
7168 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
7169 the Guile interpreter or other unwanted results. An example of
7170 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
7182 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
7183 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
7184 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
7185 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
7186 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
7191 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
7192 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
7200 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
7205 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
7206 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
7209 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
7210 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
7211 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
7212 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
7214 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
7216 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
7218 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
7219 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
7221 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
7223 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
7225 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
7226 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
7228 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
7231 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
7233 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
7235 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
7237 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
7239 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
7241 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
7243 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
7244 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
7245 when the hook was created.
7247 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
7248 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
7249 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
7250 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
7251 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
7252 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
7253 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
7254 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
7255 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
7257 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
7258 the dlopen family of functions.
7260 ** New function `provided?'
7262 - Function: provided? FEATURE
7263 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
7264 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
7265 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
7267 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
7269 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
7270 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
7271 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
7272 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
7275 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
7276 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
7277 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
7278 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
7280 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
7281 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
7282 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
7285 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
7286 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
7287 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
7288 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
7289 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
7290 but with the flag set.
7292 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
7294 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
7295 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
7297 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
7298 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
7299 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
7300 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
7301 available Scheme format implementations.
7303 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
7304 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
7305 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
7306 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
7307 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
7308 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
7309 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
7310 output is to the current error port if available by the
7311 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
7314 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
7315 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
7316 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
7317 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
7318 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
7319 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
7320 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
7321 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
7323 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
7324 be executed at a time.
7327 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
7329 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
7330 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
7331 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
7333 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
7334 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
7335 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
7336 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
7337 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
7338 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
7339 general form of a directive is:
7341 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
7343 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
7345 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
7347 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
7348 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
7349 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
7352 Any (print as `display' does).
7356 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
7360 S-expression (print as `write' does).
7364 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
7370 print number sign always.
7373 print comma separated.
7375 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
7381 print number sign always.
7384 print comma separated.
7386 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
7392 print number sign always.
7395 print comma separated.
7397 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
7403 print number sign always.
7406 print comma separated.
7408 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
7413 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
7417 print a number as a Roman numeral.
7420 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
7423 print a number as an ordinal English number.
7426 print a number as a cardinal English number.
7431 prints `y' and `ies'.
7434 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
7437 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
7442 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
7446 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
7449 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
7450 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
7452 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7455 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
7456 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
7458 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7461 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
7463 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
7465 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7468 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
7470 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
7472 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
7475 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
7478 The sign appears before the padding.
7486 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
7488 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
7493 print N page separators.
7503 newline is ignored, white space left.
7506 newline is left, white space ignored.
7511 relative tabulation.
7517 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
7519 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
7522 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
7524 converts by `string-capitalize'.
7527 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
7530 converts by `string-upcase'.
7533 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
7535 jumps N arguments forward.
7538 jumps 1 argument backward.
7541 jumps N arguments backward.
7544 jumps to the 0th argument.
7547 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
7549 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
7550 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
7552 take argument from N.
7555 true test conditional.
7558 if-else-then conditional.
7564 default clause follows.
7567 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
7569 at most N iterations.
7572 args from next arg (a list of lists).
7575 args from the rest of arguments.
7578 args from the rest args (lists).
7589 aborts if N <= M <= K
7591 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
7594 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
7597 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
7603 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
7605 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
7607 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
7608 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
7609 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
7610 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
7611 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
7612 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
7616 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
7620 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
7626 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
7629 Print a `#\space' character
7631 print N `#\space' characters.
7634 Print a `#\tab' character
7636 print N `#\tab' characters.
7639 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
7640 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
7641 must be a positive decimal number.
7644 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
7645 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
7646 be processed by `read'.
7649 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
7650 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
7651 be processed by `read'.
7654 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
7657 prints format version.
7660 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
7661 and format it accordingly.
7663 *** Configuration Variables
7665 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
7666 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
7667 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
7668 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
7671 format:symbol-case-conv
7672 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
7673 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
7674 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
7675 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
7676 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
7678 format:iobj-case-conv
7679 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
7680 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
7683 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
7686 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
7692 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
7693 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
7694 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
7695 `format' padding style.
7698 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
7699 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
7700 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
7701 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
7705 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
7706 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
7707 directive parameters or modifiers)).
7710 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
7711 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
7712 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
7713 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
7714 parameters or modifiers)).
7717 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
7719 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
7721 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
7722 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
7724 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
7725 string-downcase! functions.
7727 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
7728 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
7730 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
7733 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
7736 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
7737 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
7739 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
7741 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
7742 the symbol had be read by `read'.
7744 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
7745 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
7746 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
7747 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
7748 would if STRING were input.
7750 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
7752 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
7753 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
7754 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
7755 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
7758 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
7760 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
7761 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
7764 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
7766 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
7767 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
7769 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
7770 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
7772 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
7773 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
7774 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
7775 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
7777 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
7778 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
7780 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
7781 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
7782 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
7784 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
7785 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
7787 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
7788 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
7789 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
7790 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
7791 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
7793 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
7794 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
7795 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
7796 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
7797 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
7798 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
7800 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
7801 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
7802 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
7805 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
7806 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
7807 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
7808 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
7809 the following grammar:
7810 ((apples (single-char #\a))
7811 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
7812 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
7813 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
7814 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
7815 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
7816 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
7817 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
7818 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
7819 last option in its combination)
7821 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
7822 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
7823 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
7824 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
7826 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
7827 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
7828 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
7830 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
7831 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
7832 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
7834 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
7835 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
7836 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
7837 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
7838 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
7839 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
7840 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
7841 ordinary argument strings.
7843 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
7844 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
7845 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
7846 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
7848 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
7849 as a list, associated with the empty list.
7851 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
7852 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
7853 - a required option is omitted
7854 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
7855 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
7856 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
7857 - an option predicate fails
7862 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
7865 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
7866 (verbose (required? #f)
7869 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
7870 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
7871 (predicate ,string?))))
7873 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
7874 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
7876 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
7877 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
7878 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
7879 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
7882 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
7884 It will be removed in a few releases.
7886 ** New syntax: lambda*
7887 ** New syntax: define*
7888 ** New syntax: define*-public
7889 ** New syntax: defmacro*
7890 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
7891 Guile now supports optional arguments.
7893 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
7894 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
7895 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
7896 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
7897 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
7899 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
7900 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
7901 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
7903 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
7905 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
7906 and examples for `lambda*':
7909 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
7911 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
7912 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
7913 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
7914 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
7915 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
7916 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
7917 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
7918 can be checked with the bound? macro.
7920 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
7922 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
7923 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
7924 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
7925 are given as keywords are bound to values.
7927 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
7928 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
7929 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
7930 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
7931 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
7932 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
7933 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
7934 and until the procedure is called.
7936 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
7938 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
7939 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
7940 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
7941 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
7942 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
7943 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
7944 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
7945 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
7946 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
7947 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
7949 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
7950 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
7951 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
7952 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
7955 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
7957 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
7958 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
7959 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
7960 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
7962 ** New syntax: and-let*
7963 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
7965 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
7966 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
7967 (<variable> <expression>)
7970 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
7971 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
7972 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
7975 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
7976 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
7977 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
7978 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
7979 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
7980 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
7981 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
7983 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
7984 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
7985 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
7986 shadow earlier bindings.
7988 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
7990 ** New sorting functions
7992 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
7993 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
7994 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
7995 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
7997 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
7998 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
8001 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
8002 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
8003 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
8005 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
8006 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
8007 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
8008 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
8010 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
8011 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
8012 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
8013 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
8014 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
8017 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
8018 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
8019 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
8020 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
8021 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
8022 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
8024 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
8025 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
8026 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
8028 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
8029 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
8030 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
8033 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
8034 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
8035 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
8037 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
8038 Added for compatibility with scsh.
8040 ** New built-in random number support
8042 *** New function: random N [STATE]
8043 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
8044 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
8045 returned have a uniform distribution.
8047 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
8048 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
8049 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
8050 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
8051 effect of the `random' operation.
8053 *** New variable: *random-state*
8054 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
8055 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
8056 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
8057 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
8058 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
8061 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
8062 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
8063 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
8064 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
8065 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
8067 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
8068 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
8069 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
8070 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
8071 initialized using SEED.
8073 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
8074 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
8075 range between 0 and 1.
8077 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
8078 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
8079 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
8080 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
8081 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
8082 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
8083 or a uniform vector of doubles.
8085 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
8086 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
8087 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
8088 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
8089 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
8090 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8092 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
8093 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
8094 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
8095 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
8097 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
8098 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
8099 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
8100 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
8102 *** New function: random:exp STATE
8103 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
8104 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
8106 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
8108 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
8111 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
8112 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
8115 ** New function: make-guardian
8116 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
8117 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
8118 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
8119 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
8120 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
8122 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
8123 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
8124 one object if at all.
8126 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
8127 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
8128 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
8130 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
8131 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
8132 read again in last-in first-out order.
8134 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
8135 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
8137 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
8139 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
8140 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
8141 file position is used.
8143 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
8144 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
8145 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
8147 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
8148 redefined using seek.
8150 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
8151 size is not supplied.
8153 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
8154 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
8156 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
8157 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
8159 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
8161 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
8162 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
8163 and returns the contents as a single string.
8165 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
8166 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
8167 lists in serial order.
8169 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
8170 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
8171 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
8173 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
8174 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
8175 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
8176 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
8178 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
8179 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
8180 and #f if an error occured.
8182 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
8184 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
8185 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
8186 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
8187 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
8189 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
8191 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
8194 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
8196 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
8199 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8203 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
8204 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
8206 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
8207 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
8211 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8213 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
8215 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
8216 binds a variable named NAME to it.
8218 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
8220 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
8221 might change when we get the new module system.
8223 ** The smob interface
8225 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
8226 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
8228 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
8230 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
8234 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
8235 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
8236 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
8237 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
8238 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
8239 will be freed by the default free function.
8241 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8242 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
8243 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8244 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8246 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
8247 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
8248 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8249 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8251 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
8253 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
8254 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
8258 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
8259 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8260 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8262 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
8263 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
8264 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
8265 `scm_make_smob_type'.
8267 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
8268 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
8269 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
8271 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
8272 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
8273 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
8274 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
8276 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
8277 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
8278 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
8280 *** scm_newptob has been removed
8284 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
8286 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
8287 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
8288 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
8290 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
8291 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
8292 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
8294 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
8295 a string port's buffer.
8297 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
8298 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
8299 function pointers which together define the current random number
8300 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
8301 number library functions.
8303 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
8306 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
8307 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
8310 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
8311 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
8313 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
8314 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
8316 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
8317 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
8320 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
8321 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
8322 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
8323 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
8325 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
8326 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
8327 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
8328 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
8329 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
8330 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
8331 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
8333 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
8334 by libguile and the application.
8336 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
8337 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
8338 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
8339 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
8341 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
8342 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
8344 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
8345 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
8346 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
8348 ** Random number library functions
8349 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
8350 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
8351 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
8353 The default random state is stored in:
8355 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
8356 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
8357 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
8362 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
8364 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
8365 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
8366 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
8367 isn't a random state.
8369 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
8370 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
8372 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
8373 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
8374 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
8375 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
8377 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8378 Return 32 random bits.
8380 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8381 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
8383 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8384 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
8386 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
8387 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
8389 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
8390 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
8392 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
8393 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
8394 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
8398 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
8400 * Changes to the distribution
8402 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
8403 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
8404 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
8407 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
8408 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
8409 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
8411 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
8412 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
8413 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
8414 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
8417 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
8418 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
8419 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
8421 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
8423 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
8425 *** Function: batch-mode?
8427 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
8430 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
8432 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
8433 case has not been implemented.
8435 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
8436 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
8437 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
8440 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
8441 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
8443 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
8445 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8447 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
8449 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
8450 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
8453 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
8454 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
8455 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
8456 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
8459 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
8461 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
8462 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
8463 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
8464 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
8465 find those libraries.
8467 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
8468 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
8471 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
8473 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
8474 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
8475 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
8476 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
8478 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
8479 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
8480 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
8484 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
8486 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
8487 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
8488 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
8491 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
8492 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
8493 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
8494 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
8496 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
8497 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
8500 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
8501 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
8502 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
8503 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
8504 compiler where to find the libraries.
8506 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
8507 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
8508 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
8510 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
8511 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
8512 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
8513 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
8514 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
8518 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
8520 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
8521 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
8522 internationalization support.
8524 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
8525 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
8526 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
8527 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
8528 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
8530 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
8531 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
8532 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
8533 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
8534 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
8536 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
8537 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
8538 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
8539 any GNU mirror site.
8541 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
8543 ** New function: add-history STRING
8544 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
8545 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
8546 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
8548 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
8550 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
8551 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
8552 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
8555 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
8556 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
8557 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
8559 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
8561 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
8564 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
8565 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
8568 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
8569 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
8570 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
8571 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
8572 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
8573 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
8575 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
8576 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
8577 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
8578 of the form mentioned above.
8580 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
8581 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
8582 returned in the special `rest' list.
8584 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
8585 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
8587 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
8589 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
8591 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
8593 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
8594 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
8595 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
8596 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
8597 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
8598 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
8599 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
8600 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
8603 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
8605 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
8607 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
8608 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
8611 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
8612 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
8613 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
8617 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
8618 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
8619 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
8620 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
8621 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
8622 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
8623 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
8624 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
8627 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
8629 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
8630 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
8631 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
8633 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
8635 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
8636 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
8638 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
8639 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
8640 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
8642 Why do we have this function?
8643 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
8644 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
8645 primitive, and display it differently, and
8646 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
8647 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
8650 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
8651 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
8654 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
8655 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
8656 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
8657 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
8659 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
8660 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
8663 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
8664 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
8666 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
8668 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
8669 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
8670 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
8671 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
8672 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
8673 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
8674 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
8677 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
8679 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
8680 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
8682 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
8683 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
8684 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
8685 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
8686 properly continue the print chain.
8688 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
8689 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
8690 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
8691 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
8692 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
8693 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
8694 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
8695 print-state, it is simply ignored.
8697 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
8698 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
8699 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
8700 safest to not check for these pairs.
8702 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
8703 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
8704 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
8705 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
8707 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
8709 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
8710 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
8712 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
8714 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
8716 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
8717 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
8718 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
8720 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
8721 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
8722 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
8724 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
8725 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
8726 the following functions and macros:
8728 Function: make-fluid
8730 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
8731 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
8732 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
8733 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
8734 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
8736 Function: fluid? OBJ
8738 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
8740 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
8741 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
8743 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
8744 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
8746 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
8748 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
8749 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
8750 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
8751 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
8752 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
8753 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
8754 modified by `with-fluids*'.
8756 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
8758 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
8759 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
8760 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
8761 should evaluate to a fluid.
8763 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
8765 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
8766 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
8767 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
8768 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
8769 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
8771 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
8774 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
8776 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
8778 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
8780 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
8783 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
8784 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
8785 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
8786 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
8787 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
8790 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
8791 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
8792 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
8794 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
8795 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
8796 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
8798 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
8799 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
8800 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
8801 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
8803 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
8804 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
8805 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
8806 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
8808 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
8809 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
8810 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
8811 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
8813 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
8814 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
8815 their revealed counts set to zero.
8817 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
8818 Returns an integer file descriptor.
8820 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
8821 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
8823 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
8824 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
8826 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
8827 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
8828 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
8830 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
8831 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
8832 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
8834 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
8835 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
8836 default environment inherited by child processes.
8838 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
8839 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
8840 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
8842 The return value is unspecified.
8844 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
8845 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
8846 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
8847 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
8848 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
8850 The return value is unspecified.
8852 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
8853 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
8861 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
8862 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
8865 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
8868 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
8869 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
8870 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
8872 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
8873 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
8874 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
8875 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
8878 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
8879 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
8881 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
8882 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
8883 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
8884 the `environ' procedure.
8886 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
8887 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
8890 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
8891 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
8893 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
8894 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
8895 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
8896 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
8898 *** procedure: times
8899 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
8900 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
8901 return a selected component:
8904 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
8908 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
8911 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
8915 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
8916 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
8920 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
8921 terminated child processes.
8923 ** Removed: list-length
8924 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
8925 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
8927 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
8929 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
8931 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
8933 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
8934 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
8935 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
8936 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
8938 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
8939 extra complexity it introduces.
8941 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
8942 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
8944 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
8945 variable to any non-empty value.
8947 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
8948 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
8950 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8952 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
8953 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
8955 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
8957 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
8958 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
8960 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
8962 ** vector handling routines
8964 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
8965 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
8966 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
8967 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
8968 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
8970 ** pair and list routines
8972 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
8975 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
8977 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
8980 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8982 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
8984 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
8985 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
8986 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
8987 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
8988 site-specific initialization code.
8990 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
8991 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
8992 initialization processes.
8994 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
8995 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
8996 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
8997 initialized properly.
8999 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
9000 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
9001 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
9003 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
9004 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
9005 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
9006 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
9007 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
9009 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
9011 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
9012 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
9013 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
9014 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
9015 objects the smob refers to get marked.
9017 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
9018 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
9019 which look like this:
9022 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
9024 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
9025 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
9028 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
9029 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
9032 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
9034 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
9035 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
9036 you will need to change your functions slightly.
9038 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
9039 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
9040 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
9041 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
9042 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
9044 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
9045 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
9047 int (*free) (SCM port);
9048 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
9049 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
9050 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
9054 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
9055 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
9056 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
9058 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
9061 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
9062 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
9063 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
9065 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
9066 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
9067 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
9070 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
9074 struct timeval *timeout);
9076 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
9077 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
9078 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
9079 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
9080 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
9081 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
9083 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
9084 scm_catch_body_t body,
9086 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9089 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
9090 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
9091 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
9092 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
9093 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
9094 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
9096 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
9098 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
9101 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
9102 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
9103 spawning threads from application C code.
9105 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
9106 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
9107 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
9108 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
9109 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
9110 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
9112 ** Removed functions:
9114 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
9115 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
9117 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
9119 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
9120 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
9122 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
9124 ** mbstrings are now removed
9126 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
9127 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
9129 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
9131 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
9132 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
9133 their new names and arguments:
9135 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
9136 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
9137 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
9138 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
9141 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
9143 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
9145 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
9148 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
9150 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
9151 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
9152 pass a #f arg to catch.
9154 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
9156 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
9157 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
9160 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
9161 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
9162 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
9163 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
9164 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
9165 reclaim its storage.
9167 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
9168 worrying that some other function you call will call
9169 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
9170 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
9171 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
9172 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
9175 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
9177 * Changes to the distribution
9179 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
9180 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
9183 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
9184 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
9186 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9187 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
9189 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
9191 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
9192 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
9193 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
9195 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
9197 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
9198 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
9199 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
9200 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
9201 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
9202 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
9204 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
9205 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
9206 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
9209 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
9210 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
9211 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
9212 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
9214 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
9215 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
9216 libraries to your link command:
9218 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
9219 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
9220 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
9221 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
9223 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
9224 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
9225 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
9227 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
9229 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
9230 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
9233 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
9235 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
9236 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
9237 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
9238 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
9239 searched is system dependent.
9241 (dynamic-object? VAL)
9243 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
9245 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
9247 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
9248 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
9250 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9252 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
9253 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
9254 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
9255 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
9256 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
9259 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
9261 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
9262 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
9263 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
9264 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
9265 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
9267 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
9269 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
9270 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
9272 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
9274 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
9275 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
9276 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
9279 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
9281 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
9282 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
9283 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
9284 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
9286 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
9287 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
9289 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
9291 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
9292 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
9294 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
9296 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
9297 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
9305 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
9307 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
9308 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
9309 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
9310 a more informative way.
9312 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
9313 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
9314 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
9315 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
9316 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
9317 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
9319 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
9320 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
9323 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
9324 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
9325 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
9328 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
9329 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
9330 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
9331 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
9332 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
9333 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
9335 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
9336 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
9337 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
9338 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
9341 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
9342 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
9343 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
9344 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
9345 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
9346 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
9348 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
9349 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
9350 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
9351 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
9352 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
9354 *** regexp functions
9356 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
9357 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
9358 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
9360 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
9361 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
9362 with SCSH regular expressions.
9364 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
9365 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
9366 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
9367 position of STR at which to begin matching.
9369 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
9370 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
9371 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
9372 `string-match' returns `#f'.
9374 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
9375 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
9376 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
9377 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
9378 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
9379 match strings against the compiled regexp.
9381 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
9382 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
9383 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
9384 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
9385 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
9387 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
9389 **** Constant: regexp/extended
9390 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
9391 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
9392 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
9394 **** Constant: regexp/icase
9395 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
9396 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
9398 **** Constant: regexp/newline
9399 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
9401 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
9404 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
9405 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
9406 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
9408 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
9409 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
9410 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
9412 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
9413 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
9414 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
9415 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
9416 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
9419 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
9421 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
9422 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
9423 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
9424 used when different portions of a string are passed to
9425 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
9426 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
9428 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
9429 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
9430 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
9432 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
9433 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
9436 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
9437 and replace them with the contents of another string.
9439 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
9440 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
9441 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
9442 may be one of the following arguments:
9444 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
9446 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
9448 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
9449 the regexp match is written.
9451 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
9452 following the regexp match is written.
9454 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
9455 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
9458 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
9459 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
9460 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
9461 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
9462 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
9463 which should be matched against this regular expression.
9465 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
9468 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
9469 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
9470 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
9471 written out to PORT.
9473 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
9474 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
9475 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
9476 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
9477 will return after processing a single match.
9479 *** Match Structures
9481 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
9482 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
9483 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
9484 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
9485 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
9486 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
9489 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
9490 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
9491 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
9492 information about the original target string that was matched against a
9493 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
9495 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
9496 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
9497 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
9499 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
9500 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
9501 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
9502 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
9503 number N did not match, return `#f'.
9505 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
9506 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
9508 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
9509 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
9511 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
9512 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
9514 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
9515 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
9517 **** Function: match:count MATCH
9518 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
9519 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
9520 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
9522 **** Function: match:string MATCH
9523 Return the original TARGET string.
9525 *** Backslash Escapes
9527 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
9528 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
9529 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
9530 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
9531 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
9532 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
9534 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
9535 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
9536 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
9537 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
9538 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
9539 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
9540 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
9541 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
9543 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
9544 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
9545 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
9546 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
9547 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
9548 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
9549 each match a single backslash in the target string.
9551 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
9552 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
9553 return the resulting string.
9555 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
9556 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
9557 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
9558 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
9559 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
9560 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
9561 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
9562 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
9563 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
9564 translated to the single character `*'.
9566 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
9567 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
9568 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
9569 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
9570 consecutive backslashes:
9572 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
9574 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
9575 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
9576 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
9578 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
9579 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
9580 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
9581 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
9582 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
9583 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
9585 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
9587 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
9588 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
9589 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
9590 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
9591 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
9592 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
9593 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
9594 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
9595 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
9596 cumbersome escape syntax.
9598 * Changes to the gh_ interface
9600 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9602 * Changes to system call interfaces:
9604 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
9607 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
9609 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
9611 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
9614 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
9615 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
9616 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
9617 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
9618 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
9620 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
9621 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
9622 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
9623 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
9624 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
9625 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
9626 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
9629 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
9630 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
9631 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
9634 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
9635 `force-output' on every port open for output.
9637 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
9638 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
9639 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
9640 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
9641 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
9642 installed, you can say:
9644 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
9647 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9649 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
9650 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
9651 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
9652 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
9653 new dynamic roots and threads.
9656 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
9658 * Changes to the distribution.
9660 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
9662 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
9663 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
9664 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
9665 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
9666 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
9667 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
9668 programming language. These are packaged together because the
9669 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
9671 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
9674 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
9675 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
9680 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
9682 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
9683 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
9685 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
9686 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
9687 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
9688 the (command-line) function.
9689 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
9690 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
9691 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
9693 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
9694 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
9695 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
9696 command line arguments
9697 -ds do -s script at this point
9698 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
9699 -h, --help display this help and exit
9700 -v, --version display version information and exit
9701 \ read arguments from following script lines
9703 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
9704 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
9706 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
9709 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
9713 (main (command-line))
9715 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
9717 ekko a speckled gecko
9719 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
9720 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
9721 following list of command-line arguments:
9723 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
9725 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
9726 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
9727 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
9728 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
9729 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
9731 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
9733 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
9735 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
9736 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
9739 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
9740 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
9741 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
9742 SCSH) for circumventing them.
9744 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
9745 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
9746 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
9747 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
9749 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
9753 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
9757 If the user invokes this script as follows:
9759 ekko a speckled gecko
9761 Unix expands this into
9763 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
9765 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
9766 read from the second line of the script, producing:
9768 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
9770 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
9771 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
9773 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
9774 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
9775 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
9776 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
9777 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
9778 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
9779 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
9780 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
9781 it only terminates the argument list.)
9782 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
9783 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
9784 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
9785 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
9786 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
9787 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
9788 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
9789 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
9791 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
9793 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
9794 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
9795 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
9796 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
9797 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
9799 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
9800 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
9801 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
9803 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
9805 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
9806 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
9807 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
9808 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
9811 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
9812 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
9813 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
9815 * Changes to Scheme functions
9817 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
9818 and disabled by default.
9820 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
9821 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
9822 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
9823 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
9825 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
9827 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
9829 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
9830 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
9832 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
9833 (read-set! keywords #f)
9835 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
9836 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
9837 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
9840 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
9841 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
9842 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
9845 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
9846 support for Scheme functions.
9848 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
9849 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
9850 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
9851 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
9854 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
9855 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
9856 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
9859 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
9860 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
9861 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
9864 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
9865 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
9866 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
9867 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
9868 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
9869 display the result as a prompt.
9870 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
9872 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
9873 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
9874 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
9877 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
9878 procedure of zero arguments.
9880 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
9881 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
9882 argument is bound in the current module.
9884 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
9885 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
9886 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
9887 public bindings into the current module.
9889 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
9890 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
9892 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
9893 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
9895 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
9896 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
9898 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
9899 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
9901 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
9902 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
9904 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
9905 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
9906 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
9907 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
9908 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
9910 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
9911 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
9912 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
9913 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
9915 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
9918 ** Changes to I/O functions
9920 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
9921 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
9922 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
9924 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
9925 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
9926 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
9928 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
9929 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
9931 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
9932 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
9933 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
9934 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
9936 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
9938 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
9939 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
9941 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
9942 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
9943 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
9944 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
9945 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
9948 'trim omit delimiter from result
9949 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
9950 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
9951 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
9953 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
9955 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
9956 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
9958 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
9959 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
9960 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
9961 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
9962 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
9964 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
9965 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
9966 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
9968 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
9969 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
9970 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
9971 above, and defaults to 'peek.
9973 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
9974 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
9976 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
9977 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
9979 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
9981 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
9982 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
9983 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
9984 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
9985 a delimiting character.
9986 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
9988 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
9989 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
9990 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
9991 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
9992 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
9993 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
9995 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
9996 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
9998 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
9999 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
10000 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
10002 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
10003 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
10004 the array to read and write.
10006 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
10007 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
10010 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
10012 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
10015 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
10016 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
10017 Values for COMMAND are:
10019 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
10020 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
10021 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
10022 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
10023 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
10024 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
10025 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
10026 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
10028 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
10030 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
10031 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
10032 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
10033 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
10034 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
10035 corresponding return set will be the same.
10037 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
10040 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
10041 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
10042 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
10043 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
10044 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
10045 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
10046 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
10047 special file being created.
10049 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
10050 clashing with various SCSH forks.
10052 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
10053 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
10054 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
10055 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
10056 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
10057 and originating address.
10059 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
10060 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
10061 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
10063 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
10066 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
10067 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
10070 (status:exit-val STATUS)
10071 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
10072 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
10073 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
10074 this function returns #f.
10076 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
10077 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
10078 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
10081 (status:term-sig STATUS)
10082 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
10083 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
10086 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
10087 a valid STATUS value.
10089 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
10091 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
10092 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
10094 Component Accessor Setter
10095 ========================= ============ ============
10096 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
10097 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
10098 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
10099 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
10100 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
10101 year tm:year set-tm:year
10102 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
10103 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
10104 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
10105 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
10106 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
10108 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
10109 describing the host system:
10112 ============================================== ================
10113 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
10114 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
10115 release level of the operating system utsname:release
10116 version level of the operating system utsname:version
10117 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
10119 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
10120 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
10121 system's user database:
10124 ====================== =================
10125 user name passwd:name
10126 user password passwd:passwd
10128 group id passwd:gid
10129 real name passwd:gecos
10130 home directory passwd:dir
10131 shell program passwd:shell
10133 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
10134 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
10135 system's group database:
10138 ======================= ============
10139 group name group:name
10140 group password group:passwd
10142 group members group:mem
10144 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
10145 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
10149 ========================= ===============
10150 official name of host hostent:name
10151 alias list hostent:aliases
10152 host address type hostent:addrtype
10153 length of address hostent:length
10154 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
10156 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
10157 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
10161 ========================= ===============
10162 official name of net netent:name
10163 alias list netent:aliases
10164 net number type netent:addrtype
10165 net number netent:net
10167 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
10168 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
10169 internet protocols:
10172 ========================= ===============
10173 official protocol name protoent:name
10174 alias list protoent:aliases
10175 protocol number protoent:proto
10177 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
10178 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
10179 internet protocols:
10182 ========================= ===============
10183 official service name servent:name
10184 alias list servent:aliases
10185 port number servent:port
10186 protocol to use servent:proto
10188 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
10189 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
10192 ======================================== ===============
10193 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
10194 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
10195 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
10196 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
10198 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
10199 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
10200 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
10202 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
10203 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
10205 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
10206 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
10208 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
10209 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
10211 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
10213 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
10215 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
10216 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
10217 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
10219 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
10220 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
10221 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
10222 return the remaining characters as a string.
10224 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
10225 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
10226 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
10228 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
10230 * Changes to the gh_ interface
10232 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
10235 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
10238 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
10239 and returns the array
10241 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
10242 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
10243 the user to interpret the data both ways.
10245 * Changes to the scm_ interface
10247 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
10248 symbol's value from C code:
10250 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
10251 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
10252 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
10253 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
10255 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
10256 without assigning them a value.
10258 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
10259 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
10260 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
10262 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
10263 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
10264 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
10266 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
10267 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
10269 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
10270 doesn't actually care about that.
10272 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
10273 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
10274 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
10276 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
10277 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
10278 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
10279 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
10280 which we have just created and initialized.
10282 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
10283 should one occur. We call it like this:
10284 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
10286 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
10287 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
10288 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
10289 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
10290 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
10291 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
10294 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
10295 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
10296 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
10297 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
10298 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
10299 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
10300 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
10301 enclosed variables.
10303 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
10304 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
10305 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
10306 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
10307 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
10310 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
10311 scm_internal_catch, except:
10313 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
10314 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
10315 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
10316 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
10319 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
10320 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
10321 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
10323 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
10324 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
10325 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
10326 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
10329 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
10330 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
10331 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
10333 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
10334 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
10335 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
10336 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
10337 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
10339 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
10340 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
10341 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
10343 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
10344 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
10345 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
10347 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
10348 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
10350 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
10351 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
10352 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
10355 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
10356 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
10357 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
10358 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
10359 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
10360 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
10361 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
10362 interpreter" above.
10364 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
10365 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
10367 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
10368 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
10369 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
10370 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
10371 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
10374 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
10375 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
10377 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
10378 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
10381 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
10382 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
10384 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10387 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
10388 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
10389 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
10390 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
10391 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
10392 given the following arguments:
10394 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
10396 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
10398 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
10400 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10403 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
10404 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
10405 command-line arguments.
10407 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
10408 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
10409 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
10410 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
10411 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
10412 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
10415 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
10418 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
10419 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
10421 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
10422 rearranged slightly. They are now:
10424 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10425 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
10426 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
10427 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
10429 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10430 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
10432 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10433 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
10434 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
10435 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
10437 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
10438 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
10440 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
10441 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
10443 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
10445 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
10446 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
10447 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
10450 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
10451 returns a port instead of an FD object.
10453 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
10454 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
10459 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
10462 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
10464 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
10465 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
10466 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
10467 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
10469 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
10471 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
10473 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
10474 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
10475 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
10476 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
10477 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
10478 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
10479 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
10480 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
10481 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
10482 for more information.
10484 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
10485 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
10487 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
10488 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
10489 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
10490 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
10491 following two lines at the top of the file:
10493 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10496 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
10497 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
10498 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
10500 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
10502 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
10504 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
10507 (display (car args))
10508 (if (pair? (cdr args))
10510 (loop (cdr args)))))
10513 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
10514 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
10515 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
10516 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
10517 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
10518 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
10522 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
10525 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
10528 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
10530 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
10531 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
10532 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
10533 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
10534 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
10537 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
10538 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
10539 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
10540 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
10541 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
10544 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
10547 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
10548 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
10549 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
10552 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
10553 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
10554 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
10556 to see a backtrace, and
10557 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
10558 to see them by default.
10562 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
10564 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
10566 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
10567 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
10570 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
10571 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
10572 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
10573 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
10576 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
10577 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
10578 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
10579 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
10580 functions which inspired them.
10582 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
10583 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
10587 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
10589 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
10591 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
10592 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
10595 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
10596 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
10597 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
10599 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
10600 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
10601 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
10602 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
10603 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
10605 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
10607 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
10608 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
10609 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
10612 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
10615 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
10617 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
10618 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
10619 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
10620 above should serve their purposes.
10622 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
10623 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
10624 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
10625 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
10627 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
10630 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
10631 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
10632 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
10633 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
10635 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
10636 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
10637 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
10638 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
10640 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
10641 for the `read' function.
10644 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
10645 to that of `integer?'.
10647 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
10648 use the R4RS names for these functions.
10650 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
10651 it simply returns the object's property list.
10653 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
10654 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
10655 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
10656 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
10658 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
10660 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
10663 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
10665 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
10666 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
10668 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
10670 void (*main_func) (),
10673 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
10674 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
10675 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
10676 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
10677 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
10679 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
10680 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
10681 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
10682 know which arguments have been processed.
10684 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
10685 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
10686 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
10687 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
10688 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
10690 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
10691 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
10692 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
10693 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
10694 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
10695 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
10696 people from making that mistake.
10698 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
10699 convenient ways to override these when desired.
10701 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
10703 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
10707 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
10710 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
10711 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
10712 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
10713 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
10716 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
10717 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
10718 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
10719 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
10722 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
10723 have been added to the Guile library.
10725 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
10726 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
10727 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
10730 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
10731 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
10732 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
10734 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
10735 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
10736 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
10737 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
10738 argument from the list.
10741 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
10744 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
10745 null-terminated string, and returns it.
10747 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
10748 to a Scheme port object.
10750 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
10751 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
10756 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
10758 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
10759 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
10760 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
10761 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
10762 code as a special datatype.
10764 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
10765 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
10766 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
10767 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
10768 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
10771 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
10772 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
10773 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
10774 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
10775 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
10777 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
10780 Copyright information:
10782 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
10784 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
10785 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
10786 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
10787 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
10789 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
10790 of this document, or of portions of it,
10791 under the above conditions, provided also that they
10792 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
10797 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"