Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
See the end for copying conditions.
-Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@prep.ai.mit.edu.
+Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
\f
Changes since Guile 1.2:
* Changes to the distribution
-** libguile/append.h, libguile/append.c, libguile/sequences.h,
-libguile/sequences.c removed.
+** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
+To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
+themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
+other convention.
+
+For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
+giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
+latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
+
+** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
+They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
+which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
+since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
+below.
+
+** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
+files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
+non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
* Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
-New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
+** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
-Function: batch-mode?
+*** Function: batch-mode?
Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
mode.
-Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
+*** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
case has not been implemented.
+** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
+To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
+The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
+support for it.
+
+The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
+mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
+
+** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
+
* Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
+** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
+
+Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
+can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
+use Guile.
+
+*** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
+You should include this command's output on the command line you use
+to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
+usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
+
+
+*** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
+
+This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
+must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
+The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
+library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
+find those libraries.
+
+For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
+from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
+
+ foo: ${FOO_OBJECTS}
+ ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
+
+Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
+which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
+It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
+libraries the installed Guile library requires.
+
+This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
+`guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
+the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
+`gtk-config'.
+
+
+** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
+
+If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
+you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
+(described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
+Makefiles.
+
+The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
+`guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
+libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
+substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
+
+ GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
+ code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
+ -I flag.
+
+ GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
+ program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
+ library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
+ -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
+ compiler where to find the libraries.
+
+GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
+directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
+package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
+
+If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
+to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
+installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
+use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
+this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
+file.
+
+
* Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
+** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
+ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
+internationalization support.
+
+** New function: readline [PROMPT]
+Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
+prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
+editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
+works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
+
+READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
+it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
+READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
+the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
+because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
+
+For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline library
+installed on your system.
+
+See also ADD-HISTORY function.
+
+** New function: add-history STRING
+Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
+command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
+call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
+
+** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
+
+This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
+function:
+
+Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
+ Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
+ descriptions.
+
+ Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
+ it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
+ `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
+ returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
+ name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
+ an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
+
+ As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
+ car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
+ containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
+ of the form mentioned above.
+
+ The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
+ list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
+ returned in the special `rest' list.
+
+ This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
+ You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
+
+** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
+
** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
-the current `prine-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
+the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
properly continue the print chain.
fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
should evaluate to a fluid.
-** Removed procedures:
+** Changes to system call interfaces:
-list-length, list-append, list-append!, list-reverse, list-reverse!
-
-** array-map renamed to array-map!
-
-** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
-
-* Changes to system call interfaces:
-
-** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
+*** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
-** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
+*** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
file descriptor.
-** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
+*** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
-** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
+*** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
-** the argument to stat can now be a port.
+*** the argument to stat can now be a port.
-** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
+*** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
interfaces):
-** procedure: close PORT/FD
+*** procedure: close PORT/FD
Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
to zero.
-** procedure: port->fdes PORT
+*** procedure: port->fdes PORT
Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
-** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
+*** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
-** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
+*** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
-** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
+*** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
their revealed counts set to zero.
-** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
+*** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
Returns an integer file descriptor.
-** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
+*** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
-** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
+*** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
-** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
+*** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
-** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
+*** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
-** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
+*** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
default environment inherited by child processes.
The return value is unspecified.
-** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
+*** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
The return value is unspecified.
-** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
+*** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
`_IONBF'
non-buffered
size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
-** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
+*** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
unspecified.
-** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
+*** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
-** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
+*** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
the `environ' procedure.
call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
interface.
-** procedure: strerror ERRNO
+*** procedure: strerror ERRNO
Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
-** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
+*** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
-** procedure: times
+*** procedure: times
Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
return a selected component:
Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
terminated child processes.
+** Removed: list-length
+** Removed: list-append, list-append!
+** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
+
+** array-map renamed to array-map!
+
+** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
+
+** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
+
+Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
+That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
+passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
+buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
+
+This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
+extra complexity it introduces.
+
+** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
+This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
+
+To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
+variable to any non-empty value.
+
* Changes to the gh_ interface
+** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
+gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
+
** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
+** vector handling routines
+
+Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
+(vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
+exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
+have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
+vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
+
+** pair and list routines
+
+Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
+missing.
+
+** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
+
+New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
+and C.
+
* Changes to the scm_ interface
+** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
+
+Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
+care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
+Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
+bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
+site-specific initialization code.
+
+Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
+is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
+initialization processes.
+
+This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
+make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
+non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
+initialized properly.
+
+** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
+Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
+see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
+
+** Function: scm_load_startup_files
+This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
+(`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
+this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
+probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
+
+** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
+
+The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
+structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
+smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
+set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
+objects the smob refers to get marked.
+
+Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
+already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
+which look like this:
+
+ {
+ if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
+ return SCM_BOOL_F;
+ SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
+ ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
+ }
+
+are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
+other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
+to work this way.
+
+** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
+
+If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
+functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
+you will need to change your functions slightly.
+
+The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
+as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
+port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
+scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
+it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
+
+Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
+following scm_ptobfuns functions:
+
+ int (*free) (SCM port);
+ int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
+ int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
+ scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
+ scm_sizet size,
+ scm_sizet nitems,
+ SCM port));
+ int (*fflush) (SCM port);
+ int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
+ int (*fclose) (SCM port);
+
+The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
+are unchanged.
+
+If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
+to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
+the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
+
+Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
+C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
+you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
+
+
+** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
+ SELECT_TYPE *rfds,
+ SELECT_TYPE *wfds,
+ SELECT_TYPE *efds,
+ struct timeval *timeout);
+
+This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
+It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
+thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
+these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
+will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
+only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
+
** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
scm_catch_body_t body,
void *body_data,
use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
+** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
+ void *body_data,
+ scm_catch_handler_t handler,
+ void *handler_data)
+
+Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
+scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
+spawning threads from application C code.
+
** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
+** mbstrings are now removed
+
+This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
+scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
+
+** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
+
+** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
+
+SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
+strings.
+
+** All genio functions changed names and interfaces; new functions are
+scm_putc, scm_puts, scm_lfwrite, scm_getc, scm_ungetc, and
+scm_do_read_line.
+
+** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
+
+Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
+take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
+pass a #f arg to catch.
+
+** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
+
+The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
+by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
+protection.
+
+These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
+is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
+scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
+zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
+object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
+reclaim its storage.
+
+This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
+worrying that some other function you call will call
+scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
+functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
+they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
+objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
+
\f
Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
HCoop / bpt / guile.git / blobdiff