1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
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12 * New modules (see the manual for details)
14 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', multithreading support
15 ** The `(ice-9 i18n)' module provides internationalization support
17 * Changes to the distribution
19 ** Guile now uses Gnulib as a portability aid
21 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
22 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
24 ** A new 'memoize-symbol evaluator trap has been added. This trap can
25 be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code coverage.
27 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
28 This slightly improves program startup times.
30 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
31 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
33 * Changes to the C interface
35 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
37 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
40 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
41 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
45 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
47 * New features (see the manual for details)
49 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
51 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
53 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
54 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
55 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
57 * Changes to the distribution
59 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
61 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
62 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
66 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
67 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
68 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
69 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
70 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
71 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
72 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
73 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
74 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
75 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
78 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
80 * Infrastructure changes
82 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
84 The new repository can be accessed using
85 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
86 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
88 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
90 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
92 * New modules (see the manual for details)
96 * New features (see the manual for details)
98 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
99 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
100 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
102 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
103 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
104 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
105 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
107 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
109 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
110 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
111 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
115 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
116 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
118 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
119 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
121 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
122 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
124 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
125 lead to a stack overflow.
127 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
128 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
129 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
130 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
131 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
132 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
133 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
134 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
135 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
136 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
137 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
138 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
139 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
140 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
141 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
142 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
144 * Changes to the distribution
148 We've started collecting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and will
149 distribute these (with answers!) in future Guile releases.
152 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
156 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
157 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
158 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
159 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
160 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
161 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
162 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
163 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
164 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
165 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
166 system and library calls.
167 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
168 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
169 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
170 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
171 uniform vectors on AIX.
172 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
173 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
174 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
175 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
176 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
178 * New modules (see the manual for details)
182 * Documentation fixes and improvements
184 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
186 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
187 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
189 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
191 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
193 * Changes to the distribution
195 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
197 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
198 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
199 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
201 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
203 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
206 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
208 * New modules (see the manual for details)
215 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
216 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
217 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
218 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
219 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
220 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
221 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
223 * Implementation improvements
225 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
226 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
230 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
232 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
234 ** set-program-arguments
239 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
240 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
241 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
242 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
243 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
244 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
246 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
247 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
248 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
249 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
250 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
251 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
252 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
253 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
254 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
255 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
256 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
257 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
258 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
259 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
260 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
261 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
264 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
266 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
268 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
270 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
271 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
272 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
273 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
274 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
275 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
281 * New `(ice-9 i18n)' module (see the manual for details)
285 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
287 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
289 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
291 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
293 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
295 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
297 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
298 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
299 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
301 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
303 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
305 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
306 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
308 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
310 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
311 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
313 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
315 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
317 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
319 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
321 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
323 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
325 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
327 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
329 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
331 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
332 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
333 file was on a different device.
336 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
338 * Changes to the distribution
340 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
342 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
344 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
346 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
348 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
350 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
353 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
355 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
356 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
357 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
358 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
359 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
360 items like the versioned share directory name
361 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
363 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
364 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
365 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
366 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
367 with each micro release during a stable series.
369 ** Thread implementation has changed.
371 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
372 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
373 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
374 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
375 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
378 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
379 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
380 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
381 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
384 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
385 in which case "null" threads are used.
387 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
388 "Blocking", and others.
390 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
392 This is a milder form of deprecation.
394 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
395 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
396 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
397 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
398 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
400 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
401 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
403 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
405 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
406 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
408 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
411 This SRFI is always available.
413 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
415 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
416 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
417 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
418 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
421 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
423 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
424 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
425 parameters without currying.
427 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
429 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
430 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
432 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
433 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
436 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
437 with a renaming import, for example.
439 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
441 The official version is good enough now.
443 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
445 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
446 provided. Use 'make html'.
448 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
450 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
451 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
452 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
453 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
455 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
457 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
460 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
462 ** New command line option `-L'.
464 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
466 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
468 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
469 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
471 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
473 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
474 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
476 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
478 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
479 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
482 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
485 (define-module (demo)
489 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
492 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
494 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
496 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
497 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
498 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
500 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
502 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
503 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
505 ** New function hashx-remove!
507 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
509 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
510 barriers and dynamic states.
512 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
513 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
514 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
517 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
518 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
519 Barriers" in the manual.
521 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
522 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
524 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
526 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
527 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
528 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
531 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
533 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
534 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
536 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
537 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
538 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
540 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
541 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
543 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
544 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
545 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
547 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
548 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
549 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
552 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
553 substrings and read-only strings.
555 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
556 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
559 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
561 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
570 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
571 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
572 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
574 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
575 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
576 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
579 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
580 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
583 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
585 See the manual for details.
587 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
589 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
592 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
594 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
595 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
596 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
597 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
599 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
600 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
601 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
604 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
606 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
607 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
618 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
622 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
627 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
631 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
635 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
638 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
639 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
640 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
641 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
643 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
644 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
647 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
650 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
654 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
656 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
657 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
658 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
661 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
664 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
666 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
669 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
670 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
678 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
679 has been detected is to
681 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
682 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
683 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
686 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
689 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
691 to your .guile init file.
693 ** New define-module option: :replace
695 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
698 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
699 for the core binding `format'.
701 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
703 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
704 a prefix to all imported bindings.
707 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
709 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
712 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
714 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
715 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
716 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
718 ** New function: effective-version
720 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
721 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
722 to the distribution" above.
724 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
726 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
727 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
729 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
731 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
732 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
734 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
736 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
737 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
740 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
742 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
744 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
746 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
747 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
748 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
751 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
752 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
753 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
756 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
757 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
759 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
760 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
761 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
764 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
766 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
767 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
770 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
771 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
773 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
774 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
775 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
776 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
777 level for the current thread.
779 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
781 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
783 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
784 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
787 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
789 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
791 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
794 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
796 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
799 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
800 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
801 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
803 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
804 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
805 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
806 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
817 ERROR: Numerical overflow
819 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
822 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
824 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
825 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
826 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
837 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
839 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
840 them is also done exactly, of course:
845 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
848 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
849 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
851 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
853 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
854 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
855 equal to a floating point number. For example:
857 (inexact->exact 1.234)
858 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
860 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
862 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
865 ** New function 'rationalize'.
867 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
868 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
870 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
873 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
874 result when both its arguments are exact.
876 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
878 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
879 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
880 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
882 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
884 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
885 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
886 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
888 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
891 ** pretty-print has more options.
893 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
894 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
895 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
897 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
899 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
900 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
901 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
903 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
905 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
906 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
908 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
910 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
911 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
914 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
916 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
917 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
918 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
919 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
920 without the soft port blocking.
922 ** Deprecated: undefine
924 There is no replacement for undefine.
926 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
927 have been discouraged.
929 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
930 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
931 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
934 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
936 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
938 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
939 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
940 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
941 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
944 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
945 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
946 be removed in the next major Guile release.
948 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
950 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
951 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
952 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
953 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
954 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
955 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
957 * Changes to the C interface
959 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
960 take a 'delete' function argument.
962 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
963 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
965 This is an incompatible change.
967 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
969 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
970 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
971 --disable-deprecated.
973 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
975 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
976 Scheme values has been added.
978 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
979 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
984 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
985 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
987 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
989 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
990 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
993 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
995 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
996 scm_from_int for ints.
998 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
999 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
1000 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
1002 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
1004 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
1005 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
1006 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
1009 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
1011 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
1013 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
1015 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
1016 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
1017 following alternatives.
1019 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
1020 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
1021 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
1022 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
1024 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
1025 do the validating for you.
1027 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
1028 have been discouraged.
1030 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
1031 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
1034 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
1036 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
1037 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
1040 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
1042 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
1045 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
1048 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
1050 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
1051 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
1053 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
1054 scm_truncate_number should have.
1056 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
1057 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
1059 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
1062 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
1063 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
1064 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
1066 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
1067 easier to use from C.
1069 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
1070 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
1072 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
1073 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
1074 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
1077 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
1078 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
1079 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
1080 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
1083 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
1084 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
1085 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
1086 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
1087 and is thus quite efficient.
1089 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
1091 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
1092 about the character encoding.
1094 Replace according to the following table:
1096 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
1097 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1098 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1099 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1100 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1101 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1102 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1103 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1104 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1106 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1107 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1109 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1111 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1112 now also available to C code.
1114 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1116 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1117 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1118 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1120 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1123 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1125 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1126 unceremoniously removed.
1128 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1129 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1130 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1132 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1133 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1134 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1135 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1136 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1137 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1140 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1142 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1143 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1144 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1145 manual for more details.
1147 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1148 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1150 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1151 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1152 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1154 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1156 Migrate according to the following table:
1158 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1159 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1160 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1161 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1162 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1163 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1164 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1166 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1167 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1168 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1169 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1170 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1171 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1172 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1174 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1176 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1177 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1179 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1180 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1181 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1182 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1184 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1186 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1187 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1188 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1190 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1191 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1193 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1194 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1195 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1196 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1198 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1200 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1201 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1202 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1203 prevent a potential memory leak:
1210 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1212 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1213 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1215 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1216 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1223 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1224 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1228 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1230 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1232 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1233 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1234 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1236 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1237 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1239 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1241 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1243 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1244 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1245 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1247 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1248 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1250 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1251 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1252 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1253 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1256 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1258 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1259 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1260 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1262 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1264 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1265 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1267 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1269 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1270 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1272 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1274 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1275 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1276 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1278 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1280 You should not have used them.
1282 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1284 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1285 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1287 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1289 This macro is not intended for public use.
1291 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1293 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1295 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1297 Use scm_is_real instead.
1299 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1301 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1303 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1305 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1306 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1308 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1309 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1311 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1312 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1314 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1316 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1319 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1321 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1322 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1323 to the distribution" above.
1325 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1327 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1328 arguments are now passed directly:
1330 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1332 This is an incompatible change.
1334 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1336 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1337 function in the init section.
1339 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1341 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1343 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1344 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1345 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1346 stays roughly constant.
1348 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1349 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1350 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1351 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1352 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1355 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1356 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1357 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1358 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1360 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1361 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1362 objects for every type.
1365 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1367 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1369 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1371 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1372 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1373 initializes a new cell (see below).
1375 ** New functions for memory management
1377 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1378 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1379 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1380 cause aborts in long running programs.
1382 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1383 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1385 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1386 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1387 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1388 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1389 details and for upgrading instructions.
1391 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1392 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1393 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1395 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1397 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1398 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1399 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1400 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1401 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1403 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1404 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1405 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1407 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1408 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1410 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1412 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1413 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1414 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1415 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1416 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1418 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1420 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1423 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1425 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1427 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1429 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1430 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1432 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1434 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1435 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1437 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1438 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1440 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1442 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1444 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1445 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1446 blocking it is not well defined.
1448 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1450 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1451 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1452 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1453 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1454 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1455 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1456 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1457 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1458 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1459 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1460 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1461 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1462 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1463 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1464 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1465 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1466 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1467 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1468 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1469 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1470 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1471 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1472 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1473 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1474 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1475 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1476 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1477 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1478 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1479 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1480 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1482 * Changes to bundled modules
1486 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1487 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1488 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1489 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1490 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1493 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1495 * Changes to the distribution
1497 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1499 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1501 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1502 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1503 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1504 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1505 indicate major changes in Guile.
1507 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1508 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1509 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1510 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1512 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1513 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1514 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1515 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1516 micro version number.
1518 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1520 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1522 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1523 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1525 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1527 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1528 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1529 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1531 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1533 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1534 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1535 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1538 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1540 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1543 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1545 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1546 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1548 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1550 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1551 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1554 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1556 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1559 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1562 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1564 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1566 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1567 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1568 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1570 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1572 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1574 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1577 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1579 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1581 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1583 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1584 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1585 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1587 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1589 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1591 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1592 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1601 See README there for more info.
1603 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1604 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1607 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1609 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1611 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1613 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1614 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1615 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1617 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1619 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1620 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1621 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1623 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1624 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1626 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1629 (oop goops describe)
1631 (oop goops active-slot)
1632 (oop goops composite-slot)
1634 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1635 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1636 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1638 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1640 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1641 in the default environment:
1643 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1644 %read-line write-line
1646 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1647 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1649 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1651 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1654 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1655 can be used for similar functionality.
1657 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1659 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1660 it defines two procedures:
1662 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1664 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1665 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1666 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1669 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1671 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1672 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1673 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1674 write large strings.
1676 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1678 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1679 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1681 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1683 for complete documentation.
1685 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1687 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1688 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1689 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1690 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1692 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1693 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1697 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1698 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1699 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1702 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1705 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1706 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1708 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1709 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1712 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1715 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1717 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1719 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1721 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1723 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1724 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1725 Scheme programs easier.
1727 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1728 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1729 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1730 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1731 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1734 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1735 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1737 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1740 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1742 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1743 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1744 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1747 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1749 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1751 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1752 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1753 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1754 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1755 was also ASCII, for example.
1757 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1759 tag - no replacement.
1760 fseek - replaced by seek.
1761 list* - replaced by cons*.
1763 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1767 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1768 (define m (make-safe-module))
1769 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1770 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1771 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1773 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1775 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1776 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1777 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1779 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1781 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1782 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1783 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1784 from the issues related to the module system.
1786 *** New function: load-extension
1788 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1790 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1792 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1793 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1794 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1796 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1798 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1799 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1800 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1801 support dynamic linking).
1803 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1805 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1806 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1807 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1808 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1811 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1812 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1813 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1814 library and initialize it explicitly.
1816 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1817 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1819 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1821 (define-module (foo bar))
1823 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1825 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1827 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1828 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1830 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1831 (null-environment 5)
1832 (interaction-environment)
1838 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1840 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1841 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1842 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1843 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1845 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1846 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1847 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1848 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1849 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1850 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1851 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1852 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1853 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1854 one eval to the next.
1856 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1857 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1858 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1859 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1860 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1862 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1863 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1864 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1865 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1866 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1867 used in a lexical environment.
1869 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1870 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1871 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1872 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1873 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1874 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1876 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1878 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1879 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1880 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1881 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1882 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1884 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1885 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1886 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1888 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1889 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1891 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1892 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1893 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1895 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1896 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1898 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1899 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1900 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1901 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1904 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1905 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1906 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1907 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1909 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1910 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1911 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1913 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1914 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1915 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1916 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1917 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1919 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1921 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1922 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1923 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1925 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1926 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1927 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1929 See manual for more info.
1931 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1933 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1934 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1935 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1937 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1939 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1940 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1941 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1943 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1944 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1945 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1946 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1948 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1950 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1951 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1953 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1954 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1955 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1956 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1957 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1960 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1961 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1962 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1963 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1964 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1965 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1967 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1968 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1969 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1970 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1971 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1973 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1974 objects are usually permanent.
1976 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1977 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1979 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1981 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1982 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1985 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1989 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1994 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1996 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1997 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1998 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1999 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
2001 ** New function `make-object-property'
2003 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
2004 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
2008 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
2009 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
2013 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
2014 source properties eventually.
2016 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
2018 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
2019 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
2020 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
2022 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
2023 will be removed in the next release.
2025 ** New define-module option: pure
2027 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
2032 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
2035 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
2037 Export names NAME1 ...
2039 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
2040 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
2044 (define-module (foo)
2046 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
2049 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
2054 ** New function: object->string OBJ
2056 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
2058 ** New function: port? X
2060 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
2061 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
2063 ** New function: file-port?
2065 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
2067 ** New function: port-for-each proc
2069 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
2070 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
2071 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
2072 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
2073 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
2075 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
2077 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
2078 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
2079 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
2080 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
2081 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
2084 ** New function: close-fdes fd
2086 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
2087 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
2088 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
2089 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
2092 ** New function: crypt password salt
2094 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
2097 ** New function: chroot path
2099 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2101 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2103 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2106 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2108 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2110 ** New function: getpass prompt
2112 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2115 ** New function: flock file operation
2117 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2119 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2121 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2124 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2126 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2127 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2128 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2129 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2130 of the temporary file.
2132 ** New function: open-input-string string
2134 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2135 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2136 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2138 ** New function: open-output-string
2140 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2141 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2143 ** New function: get-output-string
2145 Return the contents of an output string port.
2147 ** New function: identity
2149 Return the argument.
2151 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2152 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2154 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2156 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2157 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2158 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2161 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2162 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2164 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2166 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2167 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2168 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2171 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2172 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2173 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2177 Use `identity' instead.
2183 ** Deprecated: return-it
2187 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2189 Use `string-length' instead.
2191 ** Deprecated: flags
2193 Use `logior' instead.
2195 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2197 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2198 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2199 port-for-each is more flexible.
2201 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2202 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2203 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2205 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2207 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2209 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2211 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2213 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2215 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2216 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2218 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2219 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2221 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2222 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2224 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2226 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2227 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2229 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2230 Use module system operations for all variables.
2232 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2234 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2237 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2239 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2240 The following bugs have been fixed:
2242 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2243 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2246 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2247 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2248 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2250 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2251 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2253 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2254 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2257 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2258 The expansion used to be like so:
2260 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2262 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2264 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2266 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2267 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2269 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2271 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2272 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2273 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2277 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2278 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2280 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2285 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2286 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2288 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2289 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2290 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2292 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2295 * Changes to the C interface
2297 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2299 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2300 with "_t". What a concept.
2302 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2304 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2306 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2310 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2311 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2313 *** C Functions removed
2315 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2316 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2317 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2318 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2319 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2320 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2321 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2323 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2325 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2327 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2329 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2331 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2332 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2334 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2336 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2339 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2341 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2343 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2345 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2346 Evaluation" in the manual.
2348 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2350 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2351 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2353 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2355 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2356 Constructors" in the manual.
2358 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2360 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2361 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2363 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2365 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2367 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2368 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2369 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2371 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2373 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2375 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2376 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2377 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2380 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2382 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2384 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2385 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2387 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2389 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2390 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2391 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2392 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2394 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2395 scm_primitive_property_ref
2396 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2397 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2399 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2400 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2402 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2404 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2405 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2406 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2407 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2409 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2411 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2412 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2413 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2414 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2415 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2416 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2417 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2419 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2420 scm_remember_upto_here
2422 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2424 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2426 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2427 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2429 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2431 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2433 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2435 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2437 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2439 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2440 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2441 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2442 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2443 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2444 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2446 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2448 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2450 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2451 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2452 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2454 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2456 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2457 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2458 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2460 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2462 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2463 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2466 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2469 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2470 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2473 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2475 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2477 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2479 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2481 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2483 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2485 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2486 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2487 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2488 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2489 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2490 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2491 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2492 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2493 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2494 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2495 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2496 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2497 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2498 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2499 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2501 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2502 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2503 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2504 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2505 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2506 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2507 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2508 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2509 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2510 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2511 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2512 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2513 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2514 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2515 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2516 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2517 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2518 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2519 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2520 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2521 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2522 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2523 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2524 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2525 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2526 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2527 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2528 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2529 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2531 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2533 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2535 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2536 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2538 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2540 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2542 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2544 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2546 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2548 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2550 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2552 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2554 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2557 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2558 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2560 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2562 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2564 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2566 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2568 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2570 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2572 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2574 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2577 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2579 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2581 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2583 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2584 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2586 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2587 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2589 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2591 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2592 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2593 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2595 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2597 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2599 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2600 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2602 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2603 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2604 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2605 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2607 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2608 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2609 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2611 Use the new ones from above instead.
2613 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2615 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2616 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2617 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2619 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2620 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2622 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2623 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2626 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2627 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2629 Use the new functions instead.
2631 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2634 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2636 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2638 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2641 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2643 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2646 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2648 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2651 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2652 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2653 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2655 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2657 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2658 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2660 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2661 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2662 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2663 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2666 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2668 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2669 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2670 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2671 inexact for an exact.
2673 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2674 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2675 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2678 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2679 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2680 accept an inexact argument.
2682 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2683 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2685 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2688 ** New number validation macros:
2689 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2693 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2695 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2696 scm_unprotect_object.
2698 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2700 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2702 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2705 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2707 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2711 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2713 * Changes to the distribution
2715 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2717 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2718 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2719 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2720 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2721 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2722 obtain these programs.
2723 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2724 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2726 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2727 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2728 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2729 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2730 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2732 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2733 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2734 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2735 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2739 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2742 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2743 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2744 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2745 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2747 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2749 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2751 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2752 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2754 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2755 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2757 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2758 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2760 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2761 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2762 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2763 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2765 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2767 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2771 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2772 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2774 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2776 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2777 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2779 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2780 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2781 number of objects of that kind.
2783 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2785 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2786 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2787 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2788 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2789 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2791 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2793 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2795 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2797 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2800 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2802 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2804 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2806 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2808 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2810 ** New command line option --debug
2812 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2814 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2816 ** New help facility
2818 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2819 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2820 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2821 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2822 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2823 (help) gives this text
2825 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2826 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2828 Examples: (help help)
2830 (help "output-string")
2832 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2834 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2836 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2837 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2840 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2841 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2842 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2845 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2846 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2847 use absolute filenames when possible.
2849 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2850 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2851 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2854 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2856 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2857 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2858 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2859 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2861 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2863 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2865 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2866 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2867 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2869 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2870 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2871 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2873 (read-enable 'positions)
2874 (debug-enable 'debug)
2876 ** Backtraces in scripts
2878 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2882 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2884 at the top of the script.
2886 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2887 The second enables backtraces.)
2889 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2891 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2892 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2893 substantially faster than before.
2895 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2896 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2898 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2899 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2901 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2903 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2904 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2905 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2907 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2908 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2909 when this hook is run in the future.
2911 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2912 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2914 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2916 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2917 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2920 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2921 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2922 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2924 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2925 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2927 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2928 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2930 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2931 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2932 in order not to need further allocation.)
2934 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2937 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2938 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2939 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2940 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2942 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2944 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2947 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2949 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2952 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2953 GC in percent of total heap size
2956 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2957 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2959 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2961 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2962 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2964 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2966 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2967 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2969 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2971 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2972 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2976 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2977 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2979 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2981 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2983 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2985 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2987 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2989 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2990 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2992 (simple-format port message . args)
2993 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2994 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2995 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2996 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2997 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2998 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2999 Does not add a trailing newline."
3001 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
3003 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
3004 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
3006 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
3007 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
3009 ** Deprecated: list*
3011 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
3013 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
3015 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
3016 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
3018 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
3019 is returned as result.
3021 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
3023 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
3025 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
3027 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
3028 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
3031 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
3033 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
3035 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
3036 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
3038 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3040 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
3042 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
3044 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3046 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
3048 Thanks to Greg Badros!
3050 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3052 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3053 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
3054 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
3056 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
3059 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
3061 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
3062 the readability of argument checking.
3064 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
3066 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
3068 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
3070 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
3071 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
3072 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
3073 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
3074 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
3075 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
3076 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
3078 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
3080 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
3082 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
3083 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
3085 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
3087 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
3088 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
3091 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
3093 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
3094 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
3095 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
3097 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3098 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3099 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3101 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3102 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3103 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3104 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3105 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3106 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3107 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3109 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3110 scm_end_input (object);
3111 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3112 ptob->flush (object);
3114 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3115 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3118 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3120 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3122 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3123 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3124 removed in a future version.
3126 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3128 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3129 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3130 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3131 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3133 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3134 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3136 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3139 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3141 in your configure.in.
3143 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3148 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3154 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3156 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3160 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3161 (define make-message string-append)
3163 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3165 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3169 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3174 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3178 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3180 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3181 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3183 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3185 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3186 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3187 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3188 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3189 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3190 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3192 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3193 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3194 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3196 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3197 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3198 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3201 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3202 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3203 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3204 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3205 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3207 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3208 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3209 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3210 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3211 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3212 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3213 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3215 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3217 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3218 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3219 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3221 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3222 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3223 KEY in the calling thread.
3225 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3226 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3227 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3228 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3229 associated with the key.
3231 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3233 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3234 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3236 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3238 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3239 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3240 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3242 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3244 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3245 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3247 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3249 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3251 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3252 returned is undefined.
3254 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3255 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3256 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3258 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3259 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3260 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3262 ** New C level GC hooks
3264 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3266 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3269 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3270 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3271 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3273 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3274 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3275 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3277 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3278 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3281 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3283 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3284 allocation parameters
3286 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3287 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3288 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3292 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3293 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3294 scm_default_max_segment_size
3296 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3298 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3299 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3301 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3303 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3304 object and count on the object being protected until
3305 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3307 The functions also have better time complexity.
3309 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3310 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3311 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3312 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3313 are no longer needed.
3315 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3317 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3318 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3319 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3320 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3322 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3324 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3326 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3328 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3329 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3330 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3331 until this issue has been settled.
3333 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3335 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3337 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3340 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3342 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3344 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3345 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3346 descriptors were checked.
3348 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3349 atomically written to a pipe.
3351 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3352 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3353 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3354 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3355 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3356 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3357 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3360 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3361 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3362 is changed without calling tzset.
3364 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3366 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3367 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3368 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3370 (define write-network-long
3371 (lambda (value port)
3372 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3373 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3374 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3376 (define read-network-long
3378 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3379 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3380 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3382 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3383 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3385 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3386 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3387 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3388 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3390 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3391 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3392 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3393 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3397 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3399 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3403 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3404 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3405 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3411 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3412 for a description of available commands.
3414 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3415 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3416 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3418 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3420 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3421 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3423 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3425 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3427 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3428 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3429 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3430 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3431 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3432 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3435 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3437 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3438 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3439 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3440 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3442 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3443 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3445 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3447 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3449 ** Readline support has changed again.
3451 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3452 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3453 to activate readline is now
3455 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3458 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3460 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3461 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3462 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3465 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3466 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3467 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3470 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3471 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3472 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3473 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3474 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3475 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3477 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3478 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3480 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3482 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3483 object it receives is the same string passed to
3484 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3485 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3486 string, not the suffix.
3488 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3489 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3490 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3492 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3494 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3495 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3496 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3497 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3500 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3502 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3504 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3505 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3506 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3507 appear from left to right.
3509 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3512 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3514 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3515 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3517 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3521 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3523 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3525 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3527 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3528 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3529 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3531 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3533 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3535 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3537 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3540 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3542 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3543 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3544 mentioning it here anyway.
3546 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3548 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3549 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3550 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3551 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3554 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3556 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3558 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3560 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3561 otherwise return #f.
3563 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3565 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3566 returned by `opendir'.
3568 ** New function: using-readline?
3570 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3572 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3574 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3575 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3577 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3579 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3581 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3582 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3583 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3585 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3587 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3588 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3590 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3592 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3593 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3594 documentation slots are not yet used.
3596 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3598 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3599 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3600 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3605 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3606 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3607 (string-append x y))
3609 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3610 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3612 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3613 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3614 be made in a clean way.]
3616 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3618 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3620 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3622 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3623 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3625 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3627 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3629 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3631 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3633 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3634 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3635 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3636 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3639 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3641 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3643 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3645 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3647 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3648 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3650 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3652 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3654 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3656 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3658 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3659 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3660 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3661 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3662 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3663 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3665 This should not make any difference for most users.
3667 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3669 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3670 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3672 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3674 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3675 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3676 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3677 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3678 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3680 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3682 It is now replaced by:
3684 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3686 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3687 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3689 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3691 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3692 This might change when we get the new module system.
3694 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3698 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3700 * Changes to mailing lists
3702 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3704 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3707 * Changes to the distribution
3709 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3711 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3712 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3713 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3714 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3715 you explicitly specify it.
3717 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3718 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3719 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3720 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3721 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3724 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3725 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3726 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3727 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3729 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3730 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3731 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3734 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3736 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3739 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3741 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3743 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3744 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3745 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3746 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3748 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3749 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3752 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3754 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3755 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3756 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3757 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3758 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3759 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3760 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3761 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3773 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3774 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3775 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3776 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3777 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3782 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3783 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3791 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3796 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3797 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3800 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3801 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3802 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3803 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3805 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3807 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3809 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3810 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3812 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3814 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3816 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3817 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3819 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3822 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3824 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3826 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3828 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3830 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3832 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3834 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3835 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3836 when the hook was created.
3838 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3839 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3840 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3841 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3842 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3843 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3844 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3845 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3846 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3848 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3849 the dlopen family of functions.
3851 ** New function `provided?'
3853 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3854 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3855 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3856 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3858 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3860 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3861 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3862 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3863 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3866 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3867 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3868 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3869 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3871 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3872 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3873 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3876 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3877 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3878 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3879 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3880 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3881 but with the flag set.
3883 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3885 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3886 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3888 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3889 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3890 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3891 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3892 available Scheme format implementations.
3894 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3895 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3896 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3897 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3898 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3899 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3900 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3901 output is to the current error port if available by the
3902 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3905 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3906 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3907 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3908 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3909 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3910 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3911 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3912 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3914 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3915 be executed at a time.
3918 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3920 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3921 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3922 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3924 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3925 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3926 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3927 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3928 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3929 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3930 general form of a directive is:
3932 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3934 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3936 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3938 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3939 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3940 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3943 Any (print as `display' does).
3947 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3951 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3955 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3961 print number sign always.
3964 print comma separated.
3966 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3972 print number sign always.
3975 print comma separated.
3977 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3983 print number sign always.
3986 print comma separated.
3988 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3994 print number sign always.
3997 print comma separated.
3999 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
4004 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
4008 print a number as a Roman numeral.
4011 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
4014 print a number as an ordinal English number.
4017 print a number as a cardinal English number.
4022 prints `y' and `ies'.
4025 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4028 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4033 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
4037 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
4040 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
4041 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
4043 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4046 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
4047 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
4049 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4052 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
4054 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
4056 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4059 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
4061 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
4063 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4066 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
4069 The sign appears before the padding.
4077 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
4079 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
4084 print N page separators.
4094 newline is ignored, white space left.
4097 newline is left, white space ignored.
4102 relative tabulation.
4108 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4110 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4113 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4115 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4118 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4121 converts by `string-upcase'.
4124 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4126 jumps N arguments forward.
4129 jumps 1 argument backward.
4132 jumps N arguments backward.
4135 jumps to the 0th argument.
4138 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4140 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4141 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4143 take argument from N.
4146 true test conditional.
4149 if-else-then conditional.
4155 default clause follows.
4158 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4160 at most N iterations.
4163 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4166 args from the rest of arguments.
4169 args from the rest args (lists).
4180 aborts if N <= M <= K
4182 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4185 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4188 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4194 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4196 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4198 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4199 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4200 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4201 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4202 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4203 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4207 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4211 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4217 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4220 Print a `#\space' character
4222 print N `#\space' characters.
4225 Print a `#\tab' character
4227 print N `#\tab' characters.
4230 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4231 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4232 must be a positive decimal number.
4235 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4236 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4237 be processed by `read'.
4240 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4241 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4242 be processed by `read'.
4245 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4248 prints format version.
4251 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4252 and format it accordingly.
4254 *** Configuration Variables
4256 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4257 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4258 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4259 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4262 format:symbol-case-conv
4263 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4264 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4265 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4266 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4267 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4269 format:iobj-case-conv
4270 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4271 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4274 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4277 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4283 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4284 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4285 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4286 `format' padding style.
4289 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4290 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4291 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4292 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4296 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4297 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4298 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4301 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4302 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4303 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4304 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4305 parameters or modifiers)).
4308 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4310 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4312 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4313 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4315 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4316 string-downcase! functions.
4318 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4319 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4321 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4324 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4327 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4328 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4330 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4332 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4333 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4335 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4336 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4337 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4338 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4339 would if STRING were input.
4341 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4343 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4344 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4345 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4346 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4349 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4351 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4352 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4355 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4357 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4358 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4360 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4361 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4363 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4364 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4365 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4366 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4368 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4369 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4371 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4372 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4373 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4375 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4376 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4378 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4379 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4380 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4381 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4382 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4384 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4385 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4386 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4387 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4388 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4389 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4391 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4392 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4393 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4396 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4397 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4398 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4399 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4400 the following grammar:
4401 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4402 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4403 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4404 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4405 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4406 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4407 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4408 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4409 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4410 last option in its combination)
4412 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4413 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4414 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4415 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4417 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4418 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4419 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4421 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4422 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4423 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4425 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4426 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4427 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4428 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4429 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4430 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4431 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4432 ordinary argument strings.
4434 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4435 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4436 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4437 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4439 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4440 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4442 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4443 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4444 - a required option is omitted
4445 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4446 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4447 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4448 - an option predicate fails
4453 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4456 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4457 (verbose (required? #f)
4460 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4461 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4462 (predicate ,string?))))
4464 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4465 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4467 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4468 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4469 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4470 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4473 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4475 It will be removed in a few releases.
4477 ** New syntax: lambda*
4478 ** New syntax: define*
4479 ** New syntax: define*-public
4480 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4481 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4482 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4484 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4485 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4486 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4487 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4488 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4490 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4491 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4492 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4494 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4496 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4497 and examples for `lambda*':
4500 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4502 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4503 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4504 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4505 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4506 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4507 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4508 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4509 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4511 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4513 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4514 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4515 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4516 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4518 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4519 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4520 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4521 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4522 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4523 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4524 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4525 and until the procedure is called.
4527 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4529 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4530 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4531 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4532 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4533 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4534 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4535 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4536 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4537 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4538 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4540 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4541 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4542 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4543 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4546 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4548 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4549 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4550 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4551 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4553 ** New syntax: and-let*
4554 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4556 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4557 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4558 (<variable> <expression>)
4561 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4562 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4563 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4566 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4567 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4568 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4569 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4570 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4571 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4572 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4574 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4575 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4576 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4577 shadow earlier bindings.
4579 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4581 ** New sorting functions
4583 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4584 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4585 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4586 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4588 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4589 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4592 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4593 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4594 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4596 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4597 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4598 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4599 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4601 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4602 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4603 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4604 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4605 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4608 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4609 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4610 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4611 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4612 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4613 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4615 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4616 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4617 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4619 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4620 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4621 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4624 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4625 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4626 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4628 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4629 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4631 ** New built-in random number support
4633 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4634 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4635 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4636 returned have a uniform distribution.
4638 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4639 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4640 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4641 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4642 effect of the `random' operation.
4644 *** New variable: *random-state*
4645 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4646 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4647 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4648 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4649 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4652 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4653 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4654 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4655 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4656 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4658 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4659 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4660 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4661 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4662 initialized using SEED.
4664 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4665 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4666 range between 0 and 1.
4668 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4669 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4670 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4671 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4672 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4673 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4674 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4676 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4677 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4678 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4679 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4680 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4681 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4683 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4684 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4685 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4686 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4688 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4689 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4690 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4691 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4693 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4694 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4695 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4697 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4699 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4702 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4703 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4706 ** New function: make-guardian
4707 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4708 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4709 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4710 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4711 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4713 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4714 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4715 one object if at all.
4717 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4718 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4719 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4721 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4722 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4723 read again in last-in first-out order.
4725 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4726 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4728 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4730 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4731 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4732 file position is used.
4734 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4735 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4736 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4738 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4739 redefined using seek.
4741 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4742 size is not supplied.
4744 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4745 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4747 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4748 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4750 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4752 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4753 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4754 and returns the contents as a single string.
4756 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4757 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4758 lists in serial order.
4760 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4761 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4762 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4764 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4765 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4766 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4767 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4769 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4770 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4771 and #f if an error occured.
4773 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4775 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4776 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4777 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4778 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4780 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4782 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4785 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4787 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4790 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4794 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4795 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4797 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4798 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4802 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4804 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4806 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4807 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4809 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4811 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4812 might change when we get the new module system.
4814 ** The smob interface
4816 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4817 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4819 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4821 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4825 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4826 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4827 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4828 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4829 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4830 will be freed by the default free function.
4832 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4833 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4834 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4835 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4837 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4838 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4839 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4840 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4842 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4844 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4845 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4849 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4850 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4851 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4853 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4854 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4855 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4856 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4858 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4859 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4860 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4862 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4863 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4864 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4865 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4867 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4868 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4869 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4871 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4875 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4877 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4878 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4879 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4881 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4882 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4883 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4885 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4886 a string port's buffer.
4888 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4889 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4890 function pointers which together define the current random number
4891 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4892 number library functions.
4894 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4897 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4898 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4901 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4902 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4904 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4905 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4907 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4908 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4911 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4912 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4913 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4914 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4916 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4917 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4918 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4919 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4920 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4921 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4922 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4924 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4925 by libguile and the application.
4927 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4928 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4929 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4930 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4932 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4933 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4935 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4936 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4937 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4939 ** Random number library functions
4940 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4941 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4942 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4944 The default random state is stored in:
4946 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4947 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4948 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4953 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4955 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4956 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4957 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4958 isn't a random state.
4960 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4961 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4963 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4964 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4965 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4966 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4968 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4969 Return 32 random bits.
4971 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4972 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4974 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4975 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4977 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4978 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4980 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4981 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4983 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4984 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4985 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4989 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4991 * Changes to the distribution
4993 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4994 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4995 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4998 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4999 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
5000 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
5002 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
5003 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
5004 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
5005 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
5008 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
5009 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
5010 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
5012 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5014 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
5016 *** Function: batch-mode?
5018 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
5021 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
5023 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
5024 case has not been implemented.
5026 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
5027 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
5028 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
5031 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
5032 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
5034 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
5036 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5038 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
5040 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
5041 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
5044 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
5045 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
5046 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
5047 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
5050 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
5052 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
5053 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
5054 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
5055 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
5056 find those libraries.
5058 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
5059 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
5062 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
5064 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
5065 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
5066 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
5067 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
5069 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
5070 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
5071 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
5075 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
5077 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
5078 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
5079 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
5082 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
5083 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
5084 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
5085 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
5087 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
5088 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
5091 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
5092 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
5093 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
5094 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
5095 compiler where to find the libraries.
5097 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5098 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5099 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5101 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5102 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5103 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5104 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5105 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5109 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5111 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5112 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5113 internationalization support.
5115 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5116 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5117 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5118 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5119 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5121 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5122 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5123 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5124 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5125 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5127 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5128 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5129 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5130 any GNU mirror site.
5132 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5134 ** New function: add-history STRING
5135 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5136 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5137 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5139 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5141 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5142 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5143 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5146 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5147 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5148 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5150 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5152 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5155 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5156 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5159 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5160 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5161 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5162 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5163 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5164 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5166 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5167 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5168 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5169 of the form mentioned above.
5171 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5172 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5173 returned in the special `rest' list.
5175 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5176 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5178 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5180 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5182 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5184 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5185 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5186 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5187 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5188 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5189 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5190 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5191 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5194 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5196 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5198 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5199 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5202 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5203 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5204 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5208 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5209 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5210 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5211 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5212 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5213 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5214 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5215 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5218 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5220 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5221 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5222 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5224 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5226 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5227 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5229 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5230 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5231 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5233 Why do we have this function?
5234 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5235 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5236 primitive, and display it differently, and
5237 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5238 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5241 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5242 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5245 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5246 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5247 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5248 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5250 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5251 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5254 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5255 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5257 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5259 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5260 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5261 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5262 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5263 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5264 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5265 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5268 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5270 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5271 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5273 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5274 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5275 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5276 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5277 properly continue the print chain.
5279 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5280 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5281 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5282 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5283 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5284 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5285 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5286 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5288 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5289 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5290 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5291 safest to not check for these pairs.
5293 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5294 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5295 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5296 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5298 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5300 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5301 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5303 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5305 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5307 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5308 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5309 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5311 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5312 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5313 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5315 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5316 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5317 the following functions and macros:
5319 Function: make-fluid
5321 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5322 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5323 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5324 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5325 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5327 Function: fluid? OBJ
5329 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5331 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5332 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5334 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5335 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5337 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5339 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5340 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5341 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5342 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5343 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5344 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5345 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5347 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5349 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5350 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5351 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5352 should evaluate to a fluid.
5354 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5356 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5357 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5358 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5359 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5360 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5362 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5365 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5367 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5369 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5371 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5374 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5375 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5376 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5377 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5378 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5381 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5382 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5383 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5385 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5386 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5387 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5389 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5390 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5391 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5392 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5394 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5395 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5396 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5397 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5399 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5400 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5401 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5402 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5404 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5405 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5406 their revealed counts set to zero.
5408 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5409 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5411 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5412 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5414 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5415 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5417 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5418 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5419 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5421 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5422 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5423 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5425 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5426 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5427 default environment inherited by child processes.
5429 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5430 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5431 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5433 The return value is unspecified.
5435 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5436 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5437 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5438 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5439 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5441 The return value is unspecified.
5443 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5444 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5452 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5453 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5456 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5459 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5460 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5461 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5463 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5464 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5465 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5466 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5469 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5470 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5472 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5473 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5474 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5475 the `environ' procedure.
5477 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5478 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5481 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5482 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5484 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5485 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5486 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5487 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5489 *** procedure: times
5490 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5491 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5492 return a selected component:
5495 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5499 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5502 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5506 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5507 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5511 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5512 terminated child processes.
5514 ** Removed: list-length
5515 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5516 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5518 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5520 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5522 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5524 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5525 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5526 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5527 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5529 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5530 extra complexity it introduces.
5532 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5533 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5535 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5536 variable to any non-empty value.
5538 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5539 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5541 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5543 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5544 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5546 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5548 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5549 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5551 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5553 ** vector handling routines
5555 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5556 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5557 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5558 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5559 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5561 ** pair and list routines
5563 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5566 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5568 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5571 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5573 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5575 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5576 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5577 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5578 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5579 site-specific initialization code.
5581 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5582 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5583 initialization processes.
5585 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5586 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5587 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5588 initialized properly.
5590 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5591 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5592 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5594 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5595 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5596 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5597 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5598 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5600 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5602 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5603 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5604 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5605 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5606 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5608 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5609 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5610 which look like this:
5613 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5615 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5616 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5619 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5620 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5623 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5625 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5626 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5627 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5629 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5630 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5631 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5632 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5633 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5635 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5636 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5638 int (*free) (SCM port);
5639 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5640 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5641 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5645 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5646 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5647 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5649 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5652 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5653 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5654 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5656 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5657 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5658 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5661 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5665 struct timeval *timeout);
5667 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5668 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5669 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5670 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5671 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5672 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5674 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5675 scm_catch_body_t body,
5677 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5680 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5681 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5682 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5683 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5684 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5685 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5687 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5689 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5692 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5693 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5694 spawning threads from application C code.
5696 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5697 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5698 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5699 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5700 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5701 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5703 ** Removed functions:
5705 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5706 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5708 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5710 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5711 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5713 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5715 ** mbstrings are now removed
5717 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5718 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5720 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5722 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5723 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5724 their new names and arguments:
5726 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5727 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5728 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5729 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5732 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5734 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5736 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5739 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5741 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5742 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5743 pass a #f arg to catch.
5745 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5747 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5748 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5751 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5752 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5753 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5754 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5755 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5756 reclaim its storage.
5758 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5759 worrying that some other function you call will call
5760 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5761 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5762 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5763 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5766 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5768 * Changes to the distribution
5770 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5771 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5774 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5775 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5777 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5778 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5780 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5782 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5783 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5784 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5786 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5788 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5789 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5790 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5791 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5792 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5793 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5795 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5796 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5797 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5800 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5801 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5802 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5803 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5805 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5806 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5807 libraries to your link command:
5809 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5810 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5811 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5812 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5814 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5815 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5816 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5818 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5820 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5821 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5824 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5826 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5827 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5828 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5829 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5830 searched is system dependent.
5832 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5834 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5836 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5838 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5839 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5841 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5843 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5844 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5845 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5846 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5847 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5850 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5852 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5853 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5854 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5855 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5856 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5858 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5860 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5861 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5863 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5865 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5866 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5867 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5870 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5872 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5873 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5874 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5875 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5877 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5878 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5880 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5882 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5883 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5885 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5887 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5888 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5896 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5898 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5899 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5900 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5901 a more informative way.
5903 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5904 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5905 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5906 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5907 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5908 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5910 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5911 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5914 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5915 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5916 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5919 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5920 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5921 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5922 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5923 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5924 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5926 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5927 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5928 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5929 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5932 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5933 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5934 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5935 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5936 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5937 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5939 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5940 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5941 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5942 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5943 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5945 *** regexp functions
5947 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5948 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5949 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5951 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5952 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5953 with SCSH regular expressions.
5955 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5956 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5957 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5958 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5960 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5961 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5962 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5963 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5965 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5966 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5967 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5968 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5969 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5970 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5972 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5973 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5974 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5975 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5976 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5978 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5980 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5981 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5982 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5983 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5985 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5986 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5987 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5989 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5990 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5992 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5995 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5996 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5997 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5999 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
6000 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6001 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
6003 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
6004 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
6005 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
6006 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
6007 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
6010 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6012 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
6013 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
6014 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
6015 used when different portions of a string are passed to
6016 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
6017 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
6019 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
6020 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
6021 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
6023 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
6024 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
6027 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
6028 and replace them with the contents of another string.
6030 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
6031 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
6032 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
6033 may be one of the following arguments:
6035 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
6037 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
6039 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
6040 the regexp match is written.
6042 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
6043 following the regexp match is written.
6045 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
6046 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
6049 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
6050 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
6051 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
6052 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
6053 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
6054 which should be matched against this regular expression.
6056 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
6059 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
6060 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
6061 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
6062 written out to PORT.
6064 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
6065 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
6066 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
6067 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
6068 will return after processing a single match.
6070 *** Match Structures
6072 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
6073 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
6074 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
6075 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
6076 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
6077 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
6080 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
6081 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
6082 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
6083 information about the original target string that was matched against a
6084 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
6086 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
6087 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
6088 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
6090 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
6091 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
6092 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
6093 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
6094 number N did not match, return `#f'.
6096 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
6097 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6099 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6100 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6102 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6103 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6105 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6106 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6108 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6109 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6110 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6111 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6113 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6114 Return the original TARGET string.
6116 *** Backslash Escapes
6118 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6119 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6120 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6121 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6122 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6123 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6125 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6126 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6127 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6128 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6129 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6130 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6131 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6132 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6134 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6135 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6136 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6137 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6138 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6139 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6140 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6142 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6143 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6144 return the resulting string.
6146 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6147 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6148 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6149 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6150 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6151 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6152 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6153 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6154 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6155 translated to the single character `*'.
6157 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6158 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6159 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6160 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6161 consecutive backslashes:
6163 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6165 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6166 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6167 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6169 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6170 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6171 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6172 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6173 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6174 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6176 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6178 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6179 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6180 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6181 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6182 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6183 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6184 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6185 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6186 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6187 cumbersome escape syntax.
6189 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6191 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6193 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6195 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6198 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6200 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6202 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6205 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6206 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6207 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6208 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6209 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6211 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6212 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6213 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6214 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6215 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6216 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6217 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6220 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6221 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6222 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6225 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6226 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6228 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6229 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6230 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6231 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6232 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6233 installed, you can say:
6235 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6238 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6240 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6241 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6242 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6243 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6244 new dynamic roots and threads.
6247 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6249 * Changes to the distribution.
6251 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6253 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6254 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6255 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6256 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6257 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6258 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6259 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6260 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6262 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6265 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6266 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6271 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6273 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6274 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6276 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6277 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6278 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6279 the (command-line) function.
6280 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6281 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6282 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6284 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6285 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6286 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6287 command line arguments
6288 -ds do -s script at this point
6289 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6290 -h, --help display this help and exit
6291 -v, --version display version information and exit
6292 \ read arguments from following script lines
6294 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6295 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6297 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6300 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6304 (main (command-line))
6306 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6308 ekko a speckled gecko
6310 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6311 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6312 following list of command-line arguments:
6314 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6316 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6317 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6318 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6319 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6320 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6322 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6324 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6326 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6327 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6330 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6331 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6332 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6333 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6335 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6336 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6337 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6338 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6340 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6344 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6348 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6350 ekko a speckled gecko
6352 Unix expands this into
6354 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6356 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6357 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6359 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6361 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6362 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6364 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6365 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6366 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6367 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6368 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6369 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6370 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6371 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6372 it only terminates the argument list.)
6373 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6374 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6375 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6376 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6377 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6378 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6379 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6380 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6382 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6384 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6385 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6386 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6387 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6388 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6390 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6391 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6392 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6394 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6396 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6397 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6398 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6399 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6402 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6403 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6404 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6406 * Changes to Scheme functions
6408 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6409 and disabled by default.
6411 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6412 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6413 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6414 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6416 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6418 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6420 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6421 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6423 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6424 (read-set! keywords #f)
6426 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6427 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6428 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6431 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6432 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6433 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6436 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6437 support for Scheme functions.
6439 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6440 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6441 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6442 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6445 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6446 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6447 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6450 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6451 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6452 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6455 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6456 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6457 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6458 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6459 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6460 display the result as a prompt.
6461 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6463 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6464 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6465 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6468 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6469 procedure of zero arguments.
6471 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6472 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6473 argument is bound in the current module.
6475 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6476 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6477 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6478 public bindings into the current module.
6480 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6481 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6483 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6484 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6486 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6487 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6489 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6490 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6492 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6493 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6495 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6496 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6497 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6498 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6499 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6501 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6502 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6503 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6504 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6506 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6509 ** Changes to I/O functions
6511 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6512 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6513 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6515 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6516 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6517 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6519 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6520 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6522 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6523 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6524 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6525 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6527 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6529 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6530 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6532 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6533 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6534 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6535 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6536 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6539 'trim omit delimiter from result
6540 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6541 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6542 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6544 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6546 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6547 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6549 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6550 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6551 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6552 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6553 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6555 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6556 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6557 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6559 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6560 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6561 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6562 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6564 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6565 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6567 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6568 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6570 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6572 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6573 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6574 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6575 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6576 a delimiting character.
6577 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6579 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6580 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6581 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6582 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6583 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6584 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6586 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6587 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6589 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6590 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6591 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6593 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6594 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6595 the array to read and write.
6597 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6598 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6601 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6603 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6606 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6607 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6608 Values for COMMAND are:
6610 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6611 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6612 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6613 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6614 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6615 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6616 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6617 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6619 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6621 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6622 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6623 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6624 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6625 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6626 corresponding return set will be the same.
6628 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6631 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6632 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6633 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6634 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6635 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6636 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6637 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6638 special file being created.
6640 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6641 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6643 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6644 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6645 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6646 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6647 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6648 and originating address.
6650 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6651 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6652 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6654 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6657 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6658 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6661 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6662 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6663 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6664 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6665 this function returns #f.
6667 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6668 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6669 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6672 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6673 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6674 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6677 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6678 a valid STATUS value.
6680 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6682 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6683 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6685 Component Accessor Setter
6686 ========================= ============ ============
6687 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6688 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6689 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6690 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6691 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6692 year tm:year set-tm:year
6693 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6694 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6695 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6696 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6697 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6699 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6700 describing the host system:
6703 ============================================== ================
6704 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6705 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6706 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6707 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6708 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6710 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6711 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6712 system's user database:
6715 ====================== =================
6716 user name passwd:name
6717 user password passwd:passwd
6720 real name passwd:gecos
6721 home directory passwd:dir
6722 shell program passwd:shell
6724 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6725 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6726 system's group database:
6729 ======================= ============
6730 group name group:name
6731 group password group:passwd
6733 group members group:mem
6735 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6736 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6740 ========================= ===============
6741 official name of host hostent:name
6742 alias list hostent:aliases
6743 host address type hostent:addrtype
6744 length of address hostent:length
6745 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6747 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6748 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6752 ========================= ===============
6753 official name of net netent:name
6754 alias list netent:aliases
6755 net number type netent:addrtype
6756 net number netent:net
6758 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6759 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6763 ========================= ===============
6764 official protocol name protoent:name
6765 alias list protoent:aliases
6766 protocol number protoent:proto
6768 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6769 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6773 ========================= ===============
6774 official service name servent:name
6775 alias list servent:aliases
6776 port number servent:port
6777 protocol to use servent:proto
6779 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6780 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6783 ======================================== ===============
6784 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6785 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6786 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6787 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6789 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6790 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6791 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6793 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6794 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6796 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6797 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6799 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6800 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6802 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6804 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6806 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6807 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6808 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6810 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6811 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6812 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6813 return the remaining characters as a string.
6815 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6816 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6817 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6819 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6821 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6823 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6826 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6829 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6830 and returns the array
6832 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6833 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6834 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6836 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6838 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6839 symbol's value from C code:
6841 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6842 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6843 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6844 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6846 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6847 without assigning them a value.
6849 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6850 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6851 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6853 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6854 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6855 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6857 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6858 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6860 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6861 doesn't actually care about that.
6863 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6864 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6865 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6867 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6868 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6869 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6870 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6871 which we have just created and initialized.
6873 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6874 should one occur. We call it like this:
6875 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6877 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6878 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6879 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6880 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6881 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6882 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6885 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6886 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6887 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6888 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6889 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6890 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6891 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6894 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6895 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6896 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6897 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6898 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6901 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6902 scm_internal_catch, except:
6904 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6905 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6906 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6907 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6910 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6911 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6912 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6914 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6915 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6916 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6917 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6920 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6921 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6922 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6924 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6925 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6926 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6927 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6928 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6930 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6931 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6932 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6934 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6935 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6936 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6938 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6939 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6941 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6942 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6943 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6946 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6947 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6948 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6949 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6950 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6951 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6952 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6955 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6956 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6958 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6959 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6960 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6961 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6962 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6965 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6966 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6968 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6969 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6972 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6973 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6975 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6978 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6979 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6980 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6981 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6982 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6983 given the following arguments:
6985 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6987 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6989 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6991 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6994 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6995 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6996 command-line arguments.
6998 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6999 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
7000 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
7001 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
7002 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
7003 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
7006 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7009 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
7010 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
7012 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
7013 rearranged slightly. They are now:
7015 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7016 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7017 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
7018 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
7020 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7021 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7023 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7024 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
7025 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7026 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
7028 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7029 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7031 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
7032 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
7034 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
7036 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
7037 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
7038 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
7041 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
7042 returns a port instead of an FD object.
7044 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
7045 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
7050 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
7053 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
7055 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
7056 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
7057 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
7058 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
7060 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
7062 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
7064 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
7065 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
7066 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
7067 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
7068 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
7069 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
7070 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
7071 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
7072 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
7073 for more information.
7075 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
7076 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
7078 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
7079 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
7080 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
7081 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
7082 following two lines at the top of the file:
7084 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7087 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
7088 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
7089 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
7091 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
7093 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7095 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7098 (display (car args))
7099 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7101 (loop (cdr args)))))
7104 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7105 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7106 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7107 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7108 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7109 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7113 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7116 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7119 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7121 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7122 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7123 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7124 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7125 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7128 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7129 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7130 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7131 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7132 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7135 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7138 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7139 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7140 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7143 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7144 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7145 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7147 to see a backtrace, and
7148 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7149 to see them by default.
7153 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7155 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7157 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7158 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7161 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7162 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7163 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7164 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7167 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7168 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7169 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7170 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7171 functions which inspired them.
7173 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7174 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7178 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7180 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7182 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7183 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7186 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7187 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7188 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7190 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7191 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7192 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7193 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7194 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7196 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7198 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7199 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7200 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7203 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7206 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7208 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7209 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7210 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7211 above should serve their purposes.
7213 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7214 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7215 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7216 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7218 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7221 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7222 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7223 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7224 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7226 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7227 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7228 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7229 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7231 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7232 for the `read' function.
7235 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7236 to that of `integer?'.
7238 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7239 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7241 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7242 it simply returns the object's property list.
7244 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7245 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7246 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7247 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7249 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7251 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7254 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7256 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7257 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7259 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7261 void (*main_func) (),
7264 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7265 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7266 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7267 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7268 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7270 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7271 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7272 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7273 know which arguments have been processed.
7275 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7276 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7277 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7278 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7279 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7281 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7282 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7283 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7284 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7285 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7286 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7287 people from making that mistake.
7289 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7290 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7292 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7294 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7298 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7301 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7302 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7303 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7304 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7307 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7308 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7309 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7310 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7313 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7314 have been added to the Guile library.
7316 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7317 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7318 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7321 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7322 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7323 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7325 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7326 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7327 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7328 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7329 argument from the list.
7332 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7335 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7336 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7338 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7339 to a Scheme port object.
7341 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7342 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7347 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7349 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7350 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7351 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7352 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7353 code as a special datatype.
7355 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7356 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7357 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7358 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7359 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7362 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7363 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7364 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7365 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7366 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7368 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7371 Copyright information:
7373 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7375 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7376 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7377 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7378 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7380 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7381 of this document, or of portions of it,
7382 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7383 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7388 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"