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 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
37 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
39 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
42 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
43 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
47 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
49 * New features (see the manual for details)
51 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
53 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
55 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
56 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
57 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
59 * Changes to the distribution
61 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
63 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
64 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
68 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
69 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
70 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
71 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
72 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
73 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
74 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
75 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
76 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
77 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
78 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
79 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
80 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
83 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
85 * Infrastructure changes
87 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
89 The new repository can be accessed using
90 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
91 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
93 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
95 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
97 * New modules (see the manual for details)
101 * New features (see the manual for details)
103 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
104 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
105 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
107 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
108 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
109 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
110 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
112 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
114 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
115 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
116 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
120 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
121 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
123 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
124 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
126 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
127 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
129 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
130 lead to a stack overflow.
132 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
133 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
134 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
135 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
136 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
137 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
138 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
139 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
140 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
141 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
142 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
143 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
144 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
145 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
146 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
147 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
149 * Changes to the distribution
153 We've started collecting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and will
154 distribute these (with answers!) in future Guile releases.
157 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
161 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
162 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
163 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
164 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
165 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
166 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
167 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
168 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
169 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
170 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
171 system and library calls.
172 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
173 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
174 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
175 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
176 uniform vectors on AIX.
177 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
178 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
179 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
180 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
181 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
183 * New modules (see the manual for details)
187 * Documentation fixes and improvements
189 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
191 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
192 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
194 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
196 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
198 * Changes to the distribution
200 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
202 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
203 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
204 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
206 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
208 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
211 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
213 * New modules (see the manual for details)
220 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
221 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
222 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
223 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
224 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
225 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
226 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
228 * Implementation improvements
230 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
231 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
235 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
237 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
239 ** set-program-arguments
244 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
245 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
246 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
247 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
248 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
249 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
251 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
252 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
253 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
254 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
255 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
256 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
257 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
258 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
259 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
260 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
261 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
262 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
263 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
264 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
265 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
266 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
269 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
271 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
273 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
275 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
276 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
277 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
278 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
279 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
280 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
286 * New `(ice-9 i18n)' module (see the manual for details)
290 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
292 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
294 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
296 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
298 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
300 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
302 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
303 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
304 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
306 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
308 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
310 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
311 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
313 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
315 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
316 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
318 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
320 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
322 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
324 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
326 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
328 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
330 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
332 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
334 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
336 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
337 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
338 file was on a different device.
341 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
343 * Changes to the distribution
345 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
347 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
349 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
351 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
353 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
355 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
358 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
360 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
361 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
362 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
363 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
364 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
365 items like the versioned share directory name
366 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
368 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
369 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
370 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
371 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
372 with each micro release during a stable series.
374 ** Thread implementation has changed.
376 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
377 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
378 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
379 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
380 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
383 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
384 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
385 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
386 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
389 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
390 in which case "null" threads are used.
392 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
393 "Blocking", and others.
395 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
397 This is a milder form of deprecation.
399 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
400 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
401 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
402 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
403 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
405 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
406 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
408 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
410 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
411 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
413 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
416 This SRFI is always available.
418 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
420 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
421 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
422 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
423 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
426 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
428 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
429 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
430 parameters without currying.
432 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
434 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
435 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
437 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
438 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
441 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
442 with a renaming import, for example.
444 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
446 The official version is good enough now.
448 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
450 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
451 provided. Use 'make html'.
453 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
455 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
456 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
457 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
458 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
460 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
462 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
465 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
467 ** New command line option `-L'.
469 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
471 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
473 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
474 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
476 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
478 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
479 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
481 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
483 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
484 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
487 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
490 (define-module (demo)
494 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
497 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
499 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
501 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
502 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
503 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
505 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
507 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
508 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
510 ** New function hashx-remove!
512 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
514 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
515 barriers and dynamic states.
517 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
518 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
519 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
522 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
523 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
524 Barriers" in the manual.
526 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
527 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
529 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
531 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
532 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
533 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
536 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
538 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
539 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
541 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
542 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
543 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
545 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
546 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
548 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
549 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
550 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
552 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
553 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
554 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
557 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
558 substrings and read-only strings.
560 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
561 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
564 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
566 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
575 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
576 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
577 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
579 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
580 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
581 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
584 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
585 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
588 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
590 See the manual for details.
592 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
594 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
597 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
599 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
600 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
601 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
602 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
604 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
605 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
606 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
609 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
611 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
612 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
623 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
627 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
632 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
636 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
640 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
643 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
644 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
645 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
646 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
648 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
649 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
652 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
655 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
659 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
661 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
662 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
663 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
666 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
669 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
671 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
674 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
675 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
683 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
684 has been detected is to
686 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
687 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
688 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
691 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
694 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
696 to your .guile init file.
698 ** New define-module option: :replace
700 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
703 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
704 for the core binding `format'.
706 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
708 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
709 a prefix to all imported bindings.
712 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
714 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
717 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
719 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
720 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
721 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
723 ** New function: effective-version
725 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
726 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
727 to the distribution" above.
729 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
731 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
732 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
734 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
736 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
737 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
739 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
741 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
742 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
745 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
747 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
749 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
751 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
752 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
753 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
756 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
757 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
758 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
761 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
762 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
764 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
765 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
766 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
769 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
771 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
772 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
775 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
776 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
778 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
779 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
780 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
781 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
782 level for the current thread.
784 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
786 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
788 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
789 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
792 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
794 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
796 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
799 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
801 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
804 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
805 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
806 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
808 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
809 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
810 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
811 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
822 ERROR: Numerical overflow
824 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
827 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
829 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
830 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
831 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
842 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
844 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
845 them is also done exactly, of course:
850 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
853 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
854 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
856 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
858 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
859 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
860 equal to a floating point number. For example:
862 (inexact->exact 1.234)
863 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
865 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
867 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
870 ** New function 'rationalize'.
872 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
873 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
875 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
878 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
879 result when both its arguments are exact.
881 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
883 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
884 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
885 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
887 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
889 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
890 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
891 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
893 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
896 ** pretty-print has more options.
898 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
899 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
900 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
902 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
904 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
905 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
906 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
908 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
910 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
911 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
913 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
915 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
916 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
919 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
921 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
922 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
923 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
924 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
925 without the soft port blocking.
927 ** Deprecated: undefine
929 There is no replacement for undefine.
931 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
932 have been discouraged.
934 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
935 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
936 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
939 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
941 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
943 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
944 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
945 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
946 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
949 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
950 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
951 be removed in the next major Guile release.
953 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
955 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
956 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
957 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
958 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
959 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
960 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
962 * Changes to the C interface
964 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
965 take a 'delete' function argument.
967 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
968 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
970 This is an incompatible change.
972 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
974 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
975 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
976 --disable-deprecated.
978 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
980 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
981 Scheme values has been added.
983 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
984 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
989 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
990 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
992 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
994 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
995 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
998 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
1000 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
1001 scm_from_int for ints.
1003 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
1004 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
1005 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
1007 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
1009 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
1010 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
1011 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
1014 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
1016 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
1018 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
1020 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
1021 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
1022 following alternatives.
1024 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
1025 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
1026 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
1027 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
1029 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
1030 do the validating for you.
1032 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
1033 have been discouraged.
1035 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
1036 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
1039 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
1041 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
1042 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
1045 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
1047 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
1050 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
1053 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
1055 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
1056 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
1058 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
1059 scm_truncate_number should have.
1061 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
1062 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
1064 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
1067 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
1068 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
1069 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
1071 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
1072 easier to use from C.
1074 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
1075 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
1077 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
1078 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
1079 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
1082 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
1083 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
1084 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
1085 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
1088 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
1089 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
1090 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
1091 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
1092 and is thus quite efficient.
1094 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
1096 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
1097 about the character encoding.
1099 Replace according to the following table:
1101 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
1102 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1103 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1104 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1105 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1106 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1107 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1108 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1109 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1111 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1112 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1114 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1116 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1117 now also available to C code.
1119 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1121 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1122 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1123 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1125 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1128 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1130 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1131 unceremoniously removed.
1133 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1134 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1135 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1137 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1138 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1139 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1140 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1141 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1142 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1145 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1147 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1148 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1149 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1150 manual for more details.
1152 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1153 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1155 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1156 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1157 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1159 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1161 Migrate according to the following table:
1163 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1164 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1165 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1166 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1167 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1168 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1169 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1171 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1172 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1173 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1174 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1175 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1176 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1177 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1179 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1181 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1182 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1184 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1185 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1186 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1187 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1189 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1191 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1192 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1193 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1195 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1196 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1198 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1199 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1200 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1201 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1203 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1205 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1206 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1207 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1208 prevent a potential memory leak:
1215 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1217 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1218 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1220 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1221 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1228 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1229 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1233 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1235 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1237 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1238 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1239 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1241 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1242 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1244 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1246 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1248 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1249 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1250 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1252 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1253 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1255 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1256 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1257 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1258 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1261 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1263 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1264 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1265 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1267 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1269 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1270 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1272 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1274 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1275 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1277 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1279 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1280 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1281 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1283 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1285 You should not have used them.
1287 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1289 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1290 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1292 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1294 This macro is not intended for public use.
1296 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1298 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1300 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1302 Use scm_is_real instead.
1304 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1306 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1308 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1310 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1311 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1313 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1314 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1316 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1317 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1319 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1321 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1324 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1326 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1327 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1328 to the distribution" above.
1330 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1332 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1333 arguments are now passed directly:
1335 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1337 This is an incompatible change.
1339 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1341 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1342 function in the init section.
1344 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1346 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1348 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1349 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1350 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1351 stays roughly constant.
1353 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1354 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1355 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1356 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1357 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1360 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1361 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1362 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1363 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1365 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1366 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1367 objects for every type.
1370 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1372 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1374 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1376 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1377 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1378 initializes a new cell (see below).
1380 ** New functions for memory management
1382 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1383 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1384 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1385 cause aborts in long running programs.
1387 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1388 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1390 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1391 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1392 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1393 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1394 details and for upgrading instructions.
1396 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1397 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1398 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1400 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1402 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1403 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1404 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1405 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1406 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1408 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1409 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1410 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1412 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1413 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1415 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1417 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1418 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1419 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1420 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1421 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1423 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1425 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1428 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1430 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1432 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1434 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1435 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1437 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1439 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1440 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1442 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1443 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1445 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1447 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1449 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1450 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1451 blocking it is not well defined.
1453 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1455 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1456 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1457 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1458 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1459 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1460 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1461 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1462 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1463 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1464 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1465 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1466 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1467 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1468 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1469 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1470 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1471 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1472 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1473 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1474 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1475 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1476 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1477 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1478 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1479 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1480 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1481 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1482 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1483 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1484 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1485 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1487 * Changes to bundled modules
1491 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1492 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1493 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1494 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1495 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1498 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1500 * Changes to the distribution
1502 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1504 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1506 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1507 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1508 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1509 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1510 indicate major changes in Guile.
1512 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1513 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1514 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1515 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1517 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1518 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1519 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1520 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1521 micro version number.
1523 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1525 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1527 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1528 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1530 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1532 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1533 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1534 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1536 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1538 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1539 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1540 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1543 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1545 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1548 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1550 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1551 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1553 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1555 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1556 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1559 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1561 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1564 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1567 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1569 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1571 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1572 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1573 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1575 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1577 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1579 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1582 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1584 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1586 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1588 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1589 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1590 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1592 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1594 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1596 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1597 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1606 See README there for more info.
1608 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1609 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1612 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1614 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1616 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1618 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1619 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1620 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1622 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1624 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1625 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1626 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1628 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1629 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1631 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1634 (oop goops describe)
1636 (oop goops active-slot)
1637 (oop goops composite-slot)
1639 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1640 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1641 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1643 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1645 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1646 in the default environment:
1648 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1649 %read-line write-line
1651 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1652 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1654 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1656 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1659 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1660 can be used for similar functionality.
1662 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1664 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1665 it defines two procedures:
1667 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1669 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1670 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1671 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1674 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1676 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1677 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1678 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1679 write large strings.
1681 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1683 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1684 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1686 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1688 for complete documentation.
1690 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1692 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1693 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1694 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1695 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1697 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1698 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1702 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1703 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1704 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1707 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1710 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1711 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1713 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1714 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1717 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1720 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1722 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1724 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1726 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1728 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1729 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1730 Scheme programs easier.
1732 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1733 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1734 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1735 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1736 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1739 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1740 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1742 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1745 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1747 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1748 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1749 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1752 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1754 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1756 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1757 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1758 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1759 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1760 was also ASCII, for example.
1762 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1764 tag - no replacement.
1765 fseek - replaced by seek.
1766 list* - replaced by cons*.
1768 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1772 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1773 (define m (make-safe-module))
1774 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1775 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1776 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1778 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1780 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1781 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1782 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1784 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1786 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1787 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1788 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1789 from the issues related to the module system.
1791 *** New function: load-extension
1793 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1795 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1797 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1798 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1799 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1801 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1803 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1804 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1805 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1806 support dynamic linking).
1808 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1810 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1811 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1812 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1813 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1816 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1817 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1818 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1819 library and initialize it explicitly.
1821 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1822 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1824 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1826 (define-module (foo bar))
1828 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1830 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1832 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1833 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1835 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1836 (null-environment 5)
1837 (interaction-environment)
1843 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1845 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1846 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1847 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1848 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1850 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1851 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1852 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1853 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1854 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1855 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1856 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1857 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1858 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1859 one eval to the next.
1861 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1862 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1863 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1864 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1865 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1867 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1868 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1869 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1870 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1871 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1872 used in a lexical environment.
1874 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1875 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1876 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1877 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1878 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1879 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1881 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1883 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1884 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1885 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1886 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1887 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1889 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1890 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1891 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1893 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1894 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1896 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1897 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1898 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1900 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1901 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1903 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1904 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1905 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1906 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1909 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1910 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1911 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1912 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1914 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1915 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1916 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1918 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1919 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1920 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1921 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1922 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1924 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1926 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1927 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1928 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1930 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1931 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1932 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1934 See manual for more info.
1936 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1938 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1939 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1940 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1942 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1944 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1945 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1946 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1948 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1949 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1950 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1951 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1953 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1955 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1956 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1958 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1959 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1960 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1961 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1962 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1965 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1966 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1967 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1968 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1969 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1970 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1972 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1973 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1974 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1975 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1976 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1978 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1979 objects are usually permanent.
1981 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1982 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1984 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1986 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1987 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1990 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1994 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1999 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
2001 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
2002 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
2003 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
2004 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
2006 ** New function `make-object-property'
2008 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
2009 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
2013 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
2014 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
2018 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
2019 source properties eventually.
2021 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
2023 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
2024 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
2025 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
2027 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
2028 will be removed in the next release.
2030 ** New define-module option: pure
2032 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
2037 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
2040 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
2042 Export names NAME1 ...
2044 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
2045 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
2049 (define-module (foo)
2051 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
2054 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
2059 ** New function: object->string OBJ
2061 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
2063 ** New function: port? X
2065 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
2066 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
2068 ** New function: file-port?
2070 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
2072 ** New function: port-for-each proc
2074 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
2075 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
2076 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
2077 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
2078 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
2080 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
2082 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
2083 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
2084 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
2085 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
2086 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
2089 ** New function: close-fdes fd
2091 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
2092 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
2093 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
2094 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
2097 ** New function: crypt password salt
2099 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
2102 ** New function: chroot path
2104 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2106 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2108 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2111 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2113 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2115 ** New function: getpass prompt
2117 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2120 ** New function: flock file operation
2122 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2124 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2126 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2129 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2131 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2132 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2133 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2134 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2135 of the temporary file.
2137 ** New function: open-input-string string
2139 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2140 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2141 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2143 ** New function: open-output-string
2145 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2146 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2148 ** New function: get-output-string
2150 Return the contents of an output string port.
2152 ** New function: identity
2154 Return the argument.
2156 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2157 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2159 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2161 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2162 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2163 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2166 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2167 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2169 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2171 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2172 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2173 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2176 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2177 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2178 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2182 Use `identity' instead.
2188 ** Deprecated: return-it
2192 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2194 Use `string-length' instead.
2196 ** Deprecated: flags
2198 Use `logior' instead.
2200 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2202 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2203 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2204 port-for-each is more flexible.
2206 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2207 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2208 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2210 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2212 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2214 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2216 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2218 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2220 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2221 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2223 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2224 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2226 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2227 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2229 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2231 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2232 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2234 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2235 Use module system operations for all variables.
2237 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2239 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2242 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2244 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2245 The following bugs have been fixed:
2247 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2248 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2251 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2252 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2253 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2255 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2256 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2258 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2259 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2262 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2263 The expansion used to be like so:
2265 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2267 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2269 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2271 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2272 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2274 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2276 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2277 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2278 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2282 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2283 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2285 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2290 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2291 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2293 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2294 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2295 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2297 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2300 * Changes to the C interface
2302 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2304 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2305 with "_t". What a concept.
2307 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2309 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2311 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2315 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2316 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2318 *** C Functions removed
2320 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2321 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2322 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2323 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2324 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2325 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2326 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2328 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2330 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2332 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2334 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2336 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2337 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2339 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2341 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2344 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2346 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2348 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2350 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2351 Evaluation" in the manual.
2353 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2355 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2356 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2358 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2360 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2361 Constructors" in the manual.
2363 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2365 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2366 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2368 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2370 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2372 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2373 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2374 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2376 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2378 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2380 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2381 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2382 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2385 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2387 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2389 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2390 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2392 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2394 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2395 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2396 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2397 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2399 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2400 scm_primitive_property_ref
2401 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2402 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2404 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2405 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2407 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2409 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2410 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2411 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2412 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2414 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2416 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2417 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2418 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2419 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2420 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2421 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2422 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2424 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2425 scm_remember_upto_here
2427 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2429 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2431 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2432 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2434 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2436 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2438 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2440 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2442 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2444 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2445 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2446 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2447 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2448 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2449 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2451 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2453 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2455 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2456 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2457 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2459 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2461 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2462 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2463 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2465 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2467 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2468 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2471 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2474 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2475 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2478 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2480 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2482 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2484 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2486 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2488 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2490 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2491 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2492 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2493 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2494 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2495 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2496 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2497 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2498 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2499 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2500 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2501 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2502 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2503 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2504 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2506 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2507 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2508 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2509 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2510 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2511 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2512 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2513 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2514 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2515 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2516 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2517 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2518 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2519 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2520 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2521 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2522 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2523 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2524 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2525 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2526 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2527 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2528 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2529 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2530 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2531 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2532 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2533 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2534 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2536 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2538 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2540 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2541 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2543 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2545 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2547 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2549 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2551 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2553 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2555 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2557 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2559 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2562 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2563 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2565 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2567 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2569 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2571 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2573 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2575 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2577 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2579 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2582 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2584 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2586 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2588 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2589 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2591 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2592 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2594 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2596 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2597 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2598 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2600 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2602 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2604 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2605 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2607 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2608 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2609 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2610 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2612 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2613 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2614 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2616 Use the new ones from above instead.
2618 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2620 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2621 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2622 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2624 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2625 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2627 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2628 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2631 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2632 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2634 Use the new functions instead.
2636 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2639 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2641 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2643 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2646 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2648 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2651 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2653 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2656 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2657 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2658 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2660 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2662 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2663 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2665 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2666 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2667 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2668 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2671 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2673 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2674 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2675 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2676 inexact for an exact.
2678 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2679 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2680 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2683 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2684 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2685 accept an inexact argument.
2687 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2688 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2690 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2693 ** New number validation macros:
2694 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2698 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2700 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2701 scm_unprotect_object.
2703 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2705 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2707 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2710 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2712 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2716 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2718 * Changes to the distribution
2720 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2722 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2723 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2724 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2725 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2726 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2727 obtain these programs.
2728 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2729 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2731 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2732 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2733 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2734 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2735 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2737 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2738 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2739 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2740 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2744 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2747 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2748 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2749 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2750 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2752 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2754 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2756 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2757 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2759 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2760 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2762 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2763 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2765 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2766 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2767 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2768 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2770 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2772 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2776 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2777 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2779 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2781 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2782 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2784 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2785 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2786 number of objects of that kind.
2788 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2790 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2791 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2792 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2793 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2794 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2796 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2798 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2800 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2802 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2805 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2807 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2809 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2811 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2813 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2815 ** New command line option --debug
2817 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2819 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2821 ** New help facility
2823 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2824 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2825 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2826 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2827 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2828 (help) gives this text
2830 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2831 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2833 Examples: (help help)
2835 (help "output-string")
2837 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2839 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2841 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2842 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2845 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2846 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2847 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2850 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2851 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2852 use absolute filenames when possible.
2854 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2855 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2856 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2859 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2861 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2862 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2863 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2864 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2866 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2868 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2870 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2871 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2872 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2874 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2875 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2876 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2878 (read-enable 'positions)
2879 (debug-enable 'debug)
2881 ** Backtraces in scripts
2883 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2887 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2889 at the top of the script.
2891 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2892 The second enables backtraces.)
2894 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2896 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2897 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2898 substantially faster than before.
2900 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2901 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2903 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2904 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2906 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2908 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2909 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2910 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2912 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2913 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2914 when this hook is run in the future.
2916 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2917 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2919 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2921 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2922 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2925 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2926 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2927 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2929 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2930 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2932 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2933 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2935 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2936 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2937 in order not to need further allocation.)
2939 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2942 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2943 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2944 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2945 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2947 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2949 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2952 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2954 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2957 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2958 GC in percent of total heap size
2961 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2962 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2964 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2966 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2967 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2969 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2971 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2972 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2974 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2976 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2977 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2981 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2982 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2984 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2986 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2988 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2990 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2992 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2994 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2995 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2997 (simple-format port message . args)
2998 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2999 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
3000 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
3001 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
3002 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
3003 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
3004 Does not add a trailing newline."
3006 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
3008 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
3009 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
3011 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
3012 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
3014 ** Deprecated: list*
3016 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
3018 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
3020 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
3021 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
3023 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
3024 is returned as result.
3026 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
3028 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
3030 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
3032 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
3033 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
3036 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
3038 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
3040 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
3041 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
3043 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3045 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
3047 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
3049 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3051 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
3053 Thanks to Greg Badros!
3055 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3057 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3058 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
3059 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
3061 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
3064 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
3066 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
3067 the readability of argument checking.
3069 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
3071 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
3073 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
3075 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
3076 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
3077 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
3078 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
3079 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
3080 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
3081 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
3083 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
3085 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
3087 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
3088 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
3090 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
3092 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
3093 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
3096 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
3098 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
3099 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
3100 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
3102 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3103 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3104 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3106 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3107 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3108 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3109 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3110 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3111 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3112 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3114 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3115 scm_end_input (object);
3116 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3117 ptob->flush (object);
3119 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3120 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3123 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3125 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3127 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3128 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3129 removed in a future version.
3131 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3133 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3134 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3135 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3136 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3138 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3139 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3141 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3144 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3146 in your configure.in.
3148 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3153 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3159 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3161 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3165 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3166 (define make-message string-append)
3168 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3170 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3174 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3179 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3183 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3185 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3186 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3188 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3190 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3191 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3192 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3193 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3194 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3195 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3197 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3198 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3199 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3201 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3202 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3203 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3206 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3207 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3208 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3209 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3210 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3212 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3213 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3214 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3215 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3216 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3217 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3218 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3220 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3222 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3223 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3224 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3226 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3227 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3228 KEY in the calling thread.
3230 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3231 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3232 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3233 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3234 associated with the key.
3236 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3238 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3239 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3241 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3243 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3244 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3245 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3247 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3249 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3250 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3252 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3254 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3256 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3257 returned is undefined.
3259 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3260 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3261 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3263 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3264 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3265 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3267 ** New C level GC hooks
3269 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3271 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3274 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3275 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3276 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3278 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3279 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3280 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3282 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3283 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3286 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3288 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3289 allocation parameters
3291 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3292 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3293 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3297 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3298 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3299 scm_default_max_segment_size
3301 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3303 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3304 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3306 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3308 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3309 object and count on the object being protected until
3310 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3312 The functions also have better time complexity.
3314 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3315 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3316 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3317 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3318 are no longer needed.
3320 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3322 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3323 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3324 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3325 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3327 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3329 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3331 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3333 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3334 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3335 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3336 until this issue has been settled.
3338 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3340 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3342 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3345 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3347 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3349 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3350 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3351 descriptors were checked.
3353 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3354 atomically written to a pipe.
3356 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3357 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3358 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3359 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3360 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3361 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3362 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3365 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3366 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3367 is changed without calling tzset.
3369 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3371 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3372 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3373 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3375 (define write-network-long
3376 (lambda (value port)
3377 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3378 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3379 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3381 (define read-network-long
3383 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3384 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3385 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3387 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3388 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3390 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3391 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3392 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3393 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3395 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3396 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3397 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3398 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3402 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3404 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3408 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3409 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3410 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3416 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3417 for a description of available commands.
3419 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3420 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3421 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3423 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3425 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3426 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3428 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3430 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3432 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3433 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3434 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3435 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3436 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3437 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3440 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3442 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3443 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3444 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3445 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3447 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3448 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3450 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3452 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3454 ** Readline support has changed again.
3456 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3457 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3458 to activate readline is now
3460 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3463 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3465 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3466 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3467 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3470 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3471 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3472 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3475 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3476 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3477 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3478 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3479 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3480 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3482 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3483 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3485 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3487 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3488 object it receives is the same string passed to
3489 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3490 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3491 string, not the suffix.
3493 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3494 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3495 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3497 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3499 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3500 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3501 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3502 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3505 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3507 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3509 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3510 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3511 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3512 appear from left to right.
3514 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3517 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3519 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3520 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3522 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3526 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3528 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3530 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3532 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3533 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3534 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3536 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3538 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3540 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3542 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3545 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3547 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3548 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3549 mentioning it here anyway.
3551 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3553 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3554 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3555 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3556 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3559 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3561 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3563 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3565 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3566 otherwise return #f.
3568 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3570 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3571 returned by `opendir'.
3573 ** New function: using-readline?
3575 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3577 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3579 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3580 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3582 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3584 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3586 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3587 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3588 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3590 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3592 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3593 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3595 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3597 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3598 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3599 documentation slots are not yet used.
3601 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3603 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3604 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3605 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3610 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3611 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3612 (string-append x y))
3614 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3615 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3617 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3618 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3619 be made in a clean way.]
3621 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3623 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3625 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3627 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3628 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3630 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3632 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3634 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3636 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3638 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3639 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3640 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3641 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3644 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3646 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3648 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3650 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3652 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3653 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3655 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3657 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3659 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3661 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3663 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3664 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3665 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3666 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3667 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3668 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3670 This should not make any difference for most users.
3672 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3674 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3675 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3677 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3679 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3680 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3681 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3682 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3683 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3685 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3687 It is now replaced by:
3689 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3691 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3692 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3694 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3696 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3697 This might change when we get the new module system.
3699 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3703 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3705 * Changes to mailing lists
3707 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3709 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3712 * Changes to the distribution
3714 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3716 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3717 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3718 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3719 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3720 you explicitly specify it.
3722 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3723 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3724 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3725 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3726 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3729 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3730 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3731 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3732 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3734 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3735 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3736 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3739 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3741 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3744 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3746 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3748 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3749 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3750 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3751 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3753 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3754 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3757 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3759 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3760 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3761 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3762 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3763 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3764 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3765 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3766 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3778 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3779 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3780 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3781 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3782 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3787 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3788 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3796 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3801 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3802 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3805 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3806 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3807 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3808 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3810 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3812 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3814 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3815 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3817 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3819 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3821 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3822 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3824 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3827 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3829 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3831 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3833 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3835 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3837 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3839 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3840 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3841 when the hook was created.
3843 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3844 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3845 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3846 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3847 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3848 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3849 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3850 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3851 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3853 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3854 the dlopen family of functions.
3856 ** New function `provided?'
3858 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3859 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3860 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3861 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3863 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3865 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3866 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3867 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3868 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3871 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3872 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3873 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3874 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3876 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3877 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3878 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3881 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3882 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3883 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3884 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3885 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3886 but with the flag set.
3888 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3890 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3891 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3893 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3894 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3895 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3896 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3897 available Scheme format implementations.
3899 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3900 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3901 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3902 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3903 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3904 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3905 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3906 output is to the current error port if available by the
3907 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3910 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3911 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3912 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3913 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3914 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3915 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3916 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3917 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3919 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3920 be executed at a time.
3923 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3925 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3926 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3927 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3929 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3930 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3931 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3932 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3933 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3934 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3935 general form of a directive is:
3937 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3939 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3941 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3943 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3944 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3945 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3948 Any (print as `display' does).
3952 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3956 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3960 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3966 print number sign always.
3969 print comma separated.
3971 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3977 print number sign always.
3980 print comma separated.
3982 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3988 print number sign always.
3991 print comma separated.
3993 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3999 print number sign always.
4002 print comma separated.
4004 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
4009 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
4013 print a number as a Roman numeral.
4016 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
4019 print a number as an ordinal English number.
4022 print a number as a cardinal English number.
4027 prints `y' and `ies'.
4030 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4033 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4038 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
4042 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
4045 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
4046 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
4048 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4051 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
4052 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
4054 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4057 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
4059 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
4061 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4064 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
4066 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
4068 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4071 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
4074 The sign appears before the padding.
4082 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
4084 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
4089 print N page separators.
4099 newline is ignored, white space left.
4102 newline is left, white space ignored.
4107 relative tabulation.
4113 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4115 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4118 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4120 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4123 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4126 converts by `string-upcase'.
4129 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4131 jumps N arguments forward.
4134 jumps 1 argument backward.
4137 jumps N arguments backward.
4140 jumps to the 0th argument.
4143 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4145 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4146 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4148 take argument from N.
4151 true test conditional.
4154 if-else-then conditional.
4160 default clause follows.
4163 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4165 at most N iterations.
4168 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4171 args from the rest of arguments.
4174 args from the rest args (lists).
4185 aborts if N <= M <= K
4187 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4190 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4193 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4199 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4201 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4203 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4204 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4205 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4206 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4207 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4208 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4212 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4216 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4222 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4225 Print a `#\space' character
4227 print N `#\space' characters.
4230 Print a `#\tab' character
4232 print N `#\tab' characters.
4235 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4236 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4237 must be a positive decimal number.
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 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4246 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4247 be processed by `read'.
4250 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4253 prints format version.
4256 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4257 and format it accordingly.
4259 *** Configuration Variables
4261 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4262 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4263 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4264 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4267 format:symbol-case-conv
4268 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4269 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4270 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4271 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4272 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4274 format:iobj-case-conv
4275 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4276 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4279 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4282 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4288 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4289 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4290 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4291 `format' padding style.
4294 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4295 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4296 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4297 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4301 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4302 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4303 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4306 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4307 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4308 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4309 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4310 parameters or modifiers)).
4313 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4315 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4317 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4318 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4320 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4321 string-downcase! functions.
4323 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4324 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4326 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4329 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4332 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4333 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4335 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4337 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4338 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4340 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4341 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4342 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4343 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4344 would if STRING were input.
4346 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4348 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4349 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4350 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4351 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4354 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4356 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4357 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4360 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4362 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4363 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4365 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4366 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4368 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4369 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4370 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4371 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4373 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4374 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4376 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4377 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4378 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4380 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4381 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4383 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4384 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4385 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4386 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4387 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4389 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4390 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4391 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4392 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4393 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4394 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4396 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4397 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4398 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4401 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4402 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4403 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4404 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4405 the following grammar:
4406 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4407 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4408 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4409 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4410 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4411 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4412 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4413 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4414 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4415 last option in its combination)
4417 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4418 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4419 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4420 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4422 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4423 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4424 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4426 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4427 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4428 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4430 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4431 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4432 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4433 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4434 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4435 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4436 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4437 ordinary argument strings.
4439 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4440 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4441 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4442 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4444 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4445 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4447 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4448 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4449 - a required option is omitted
4450 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4451 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4452 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4453 - an option predicate fails
4458 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4461 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4462 (verbose (required? #f)
4465 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4466 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4467 (predicate ,string?))))
4469 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4470 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4472 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4473 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4474 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4475 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4478 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4480 It will be removed in a few releases.
4482 ** New syntax: lambda*
4483 ** New syntax: define*
4484 ** New syntax: define*-public
4485 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4486 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4487 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4489 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4490 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4491 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4492 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4493 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4495 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4496 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4497 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4499 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4501 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4502 and examples for `lambda*':
4505 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4507 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4508 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4509 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4510 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4511 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4512 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4513 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4514 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4516 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4518 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4519 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4520 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4521 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4523 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4524 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4525 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4526 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4527 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4528 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4529 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4530 and until the procedure is called.
4532 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4534 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4535 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4536 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4537 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4538 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4539 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4540 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4541 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4542 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4543 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4545 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4546 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4547 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4548 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4551 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4553 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4554 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4555 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4556 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4558 ** New syntax: and-let*
4559 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4561 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4562 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4563 (<variable> <expression>)
4566 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4567 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4568 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4571 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4572 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4573 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4574 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4575 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4576 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4577 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4579 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4580 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4581 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4582 shadow earlier bindings.
4584 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4586 ** New sorting functions
4588 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4589 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4590 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4591 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4593 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4594 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4597 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4598 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4599 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4601 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4602 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4603 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4604 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4606 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4607 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4608 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4609 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4610 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4613 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4614 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4615 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4616 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4617 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4618 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4620 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4621 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4622 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4624 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4625 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4626 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4629 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4630 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4631 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4633 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4634 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4636 ** New built-in random number support
4638 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4639 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4640 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4641 returned have a uniform distribution.
4643 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4644 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4645 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4646 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4647 effect of the `random' operation.
4649 *** New variable: *random-state*
4650 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4651 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4652 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4653 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4654 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4657 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4658 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4659 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4660 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4661 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4663 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4664 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4665 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4666 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4667 initialized using SEED.
4669 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4670 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4671 range between 0 and 1.
4673 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4674 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4675 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4676 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4677 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4678 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4679 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4681 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4682 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4683 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4684 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4685 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4686 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4688 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4689 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4690 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4691 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4693 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4694 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4695 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4696 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4698 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4699 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4700 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4702 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4704 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4707 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4708 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4711 ** New function: make-guardian
4712 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4713 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4714 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4715 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4716 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4718 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4719 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4720 one object if at all.
4722 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4723 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4724 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4726 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4727 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4728 read again in last-in first-out order.
4730 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4731 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4733 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4735 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4736 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4737 file position is used.
4739 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4740 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4741 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4743 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4744 redefined using seek.
4746 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4747 size is not supplied.
4749 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4750 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4752 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4753 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4755 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4757 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4758 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4759 and returns the contents as a single string.
4761 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4762 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4763 lists in serial order.
4765 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4766 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4767 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4769 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4770 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4771 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4772 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4774 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4775 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4776 and #f if an error occured.
4778 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4780 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4781 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4782 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4783 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4785 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4787 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4790 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4792 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4795 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4799 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4800 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4802 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4803 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4807 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4809 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4811 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4812 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4814 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4816 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4817 might change when we get the new module system.
4819 ** The smob interface
4821 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4822 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4824 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4826 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4830 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4831 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4832 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4833 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4834 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4835 will be freed by the default free function.
4837 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4838 This function sets the smob marking 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_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4843 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4844 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4845 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4847 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4849 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4850 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4854 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4855 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4856 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4858 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4859 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4860 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4861 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4863 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4864 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4865 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4867 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4868 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4869 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4870 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4872 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4873 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4874 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4876 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4880 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4882 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4883 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4884 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4886 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4887 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4888 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4890 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4891 a string port's buffer.
4893 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4894 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4895 function pointers which together define the current random number
4896 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4897 number library functions.
4899 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4902 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4903 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4906 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4907 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4909 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4910 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4912 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4913 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4916 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4917 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4918 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4919 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4921 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4922 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4923 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4924 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4925 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4926 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4927 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4929 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4930 by libguile and the application.
4932 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4933 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4934 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4935 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4937 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4938 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4940 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4941 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4942 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4944 ** Random number library functions
4945 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4946 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4947 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4949 The default random state is stored in:
4951 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4952 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4953 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4958 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4960 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4961 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4962 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4963 isn't a random state.
4965 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4966 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4968 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4969 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4970 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4971 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4973 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4974 Return 32 random bits.
4976 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4977 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4979 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4980 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4982 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4983 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4985 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4986 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4988 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4989 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4990 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4994 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4996 * Changes to the distribution
4998 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4999 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
5000 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
5003 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
5004 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
5005 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
5007 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
5008 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
5009 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
5010 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
5013 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
5014 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
5015 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
5017 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5019 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
5021 *** Function: batch-mode?
5023 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
5026 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
5028 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
5029 case has not been implemented.
5031 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
5032 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
5033 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
5036 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
5037 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
5039 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
5041 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5043 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
5045 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
5046 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
5049 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
5050 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
5051 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
5052 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
5055 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
5057 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
5058 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
5059 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
5060 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
5061 find those libraries.
5063 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
5064 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
5067 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
5069 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
5070 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
5071 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
5072 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
5074 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
5075 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
5076 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
5080 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
5082 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
5083 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
5084 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
5087 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
5088 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
5089 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
5090 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
5092 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
5093 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
5096 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
5097 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
5098 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
5099 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
5100 compiler where to find the libraries.
5102 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5103 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5104 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5106 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5107 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5108 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5109 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5110 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5114 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5116 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5117 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5118 internationalization support.
5120 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5121 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5122 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5123 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5124 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5126 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5127 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5128 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5129 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5130 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5132 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5133 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5134 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5135 any GNU mirror site.
5137 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5139 ** New function: add-history STRING
5140 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5141 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5142 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5144 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5146 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5147 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5148 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5151 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5152 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5153 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5155 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5157 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5160 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5161 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5164 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5165 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5166 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5167 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5168 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5169 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5171 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5172 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5173 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5174 of the form mentioned above.
5176 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5177 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5178 returned in the special `rest' list.
5180 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5181 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5183 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5185 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5187 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5189 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5190 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5191 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5192 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5193 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5194 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5195 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5196 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5199 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5201 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5203 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5204 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5207 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5208 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5209 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5213 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5214 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5215 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5216 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5217 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5218 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5219 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5220 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5223 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5225 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5226 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5227 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5229 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5231 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5232 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5234 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5235 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5236 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5238 Why do we have this function?
5239 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5240 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5241 primitive, and display it differently, and
5242 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5243 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5246 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5247 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5250 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5251 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5252 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5253 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5255 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5256 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5259 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5260 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5262 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5264 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5265 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5266 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5267 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5268 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5269 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5270 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5273 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5275 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5276 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5278 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5279 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5280 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5281 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5282 properly continue the print chain.
5284 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5285 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5286 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5287 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5288 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5289 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5290 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5291 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5293 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5294 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5295 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5296 safest to not check for these pairs.
5298 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5299 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5300 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5301 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5303 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5305 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5306 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5308 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5310 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5312 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5313 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5314 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5316 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5317 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5318 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5320 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5321 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5322 the following functions and macros:
5324 Function: make-fluid
5326 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5327 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5328 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5329 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5330 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5332 Function: fluid? OBJ
5334 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5336 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5337 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5339 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5340 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5342 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5344 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5345 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5346 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5347 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5348 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5349 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5350 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5352 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5354 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5355 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5356 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5357 should evaluate to a fluid.
5359 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5361 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5362 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5363 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5364 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5365 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5367 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5370 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5372 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5374 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5376 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5379 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5380 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5381 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5382 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5383 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5386 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5387 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5388 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5390 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5391 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5392 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5394 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5395 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5396 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5397 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5399 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5400 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5401 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5402 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5404 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5405 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5406 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5407 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5409 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5410 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5411 their revealed counts set to zero.
5413 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5414 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5416 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5417 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5419 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5420 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5422 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5423 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5424 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5426 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5427 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5428 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5430 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5431 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5432 default environment inherited by child processes.
5434 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5435 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5436 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5438 The return value is unspecified.
5440 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5441 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5442 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5443 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5444 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5446 The return value is unspecified.
5448 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5449 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5457 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5458 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5461 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5464 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5465 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5466 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5468 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5469 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5470 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5471 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5474 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5475 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5477 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5478 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5479 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5480 the `environ' procedure.
5482 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5483 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5486 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5487 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5489 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5490 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5491 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5492 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5494 *** procedure: times
5495 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5496 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5497 return a selected component:
5500 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5504 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5507 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5511 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5512 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5516 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5517 terminated child processes.
5519 ** Removed: list-length
5520 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5521 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5523 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5525 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5527 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5529 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5530 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5531 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5532 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5534 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5535 extra complexity it introduces.
5537 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5538 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5540 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5541 variable to any non-empty value.
5543 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5544 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5546 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5548 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5549 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5551 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5553 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5554 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5556 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5558 ** vector handling routines
5560 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5561 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5562 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5563 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5564 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5566 ** pair and list routines
5568 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5571 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5573 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5576 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5578 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5580 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5581 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5582 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5583 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5584 site-specific initialization code.
5586 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5587 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5588 initialization processes.
5590 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5591 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5592 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5593 initialized properly.
5595 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5596 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5597 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5599 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5600 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5601 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5602 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5603 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5605 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5607 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5608 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5609 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5610 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5611 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5613 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5614 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5615 which look like this:
5618 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5620 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5621 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5624 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5625 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5628 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5630 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5631 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5632 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5634 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5635 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5636 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5637 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5638 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5640 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5641 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5643 int (*free) (SCM port);
5644 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5645 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5646 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5650 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5651 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5652 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5654 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5657 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5658 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5659 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5661 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5662 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5663 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5666 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5670 struct timeval *timeout);
5672 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5673 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5674 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5675 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5676 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5677 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5679 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5680 scm_catch_body_t body,
5682 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5685 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5686 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5687 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5688 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5689 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5690 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5692 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5694 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5697 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5698 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5699 spawning threads from application C code.
5701 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5702 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5703 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5704 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5705 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5706 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5708 ** Removed functions:
5710 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5711 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5713 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5715 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5716 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5718 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5720 ** mbstrings are now removed
5722 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5723 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5725 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5727 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5728 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5729 their new names and arguments:
5731 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5732 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5733 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5734 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5737 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5739 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5741 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5744 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5746 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5747 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5748 pass a #f arg to catch.
5750 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5752 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5753 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5756 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5757 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5758 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5759 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5760 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5761 reclaim its storage.
5763 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5764 worrying that some other function you call will call
5765 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5766 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5767 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5768 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5771 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5773 * Changes to the distribution
5775 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5776 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5779 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5780 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5782 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5783 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5785 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5787 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5788 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5789 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5791 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5793 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5794 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5795 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5796 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5797 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5798 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5800 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5801 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5802 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5805 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5806 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5807 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5808 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5810 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5811 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5812 libraries to your link command:
5814 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5815 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5816 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5817 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5819 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5820 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5821 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5823 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5825 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5826 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5829 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5831 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5832 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5833 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5834 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5835 searched is system dependent.
5837 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5839 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5841 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5843 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5844 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5846 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5848 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5849 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5850 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5851 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5852 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5855 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5857 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5858 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5859 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5860 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5861 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5863 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5865 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5866 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5868 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5870 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5871 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5872 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5875 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5877 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5878 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5879 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5880 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5882 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5883 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5885 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5887 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5888 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5890 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5892 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5893 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5901 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5903 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5904 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5905 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5906 a more informative way.
5908 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5909 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5910 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5911 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5912 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5913 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5915 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5916 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5919 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5920 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5921 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5924 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5925 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5926 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5927 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5928 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5929 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5931 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5932 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5933 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5934 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5937 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5938 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5939 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5940 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5941 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5942 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5944 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5945 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5946 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5947 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5948 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5950 *** regexp functions
5952 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5953 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5954 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5956 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5957 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5958 with SCSH regular expressions.
5960 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5961 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5962 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5963 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5965 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5966 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5967 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5968 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5970 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5971 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5972 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5973 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5974 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5975 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5977 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5978 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5979 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5980 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5981 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5983 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5985 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5986 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5987 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5988 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5990 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5991 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5992 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5994 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5995 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5997 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
6000 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
6001 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6002 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
6004 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
6005 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6006 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
6008 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
6009 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
6010 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
6011 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
6012 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
6015 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6017 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
6018 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
6019 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
6020 used when different portions of a string are passed to
6021 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
6022 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
6024 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
6025 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
6026 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
6028 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
6029 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
6032 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
6033 and replace them with the contents of another string.
6035 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
6036 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
6037 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
6038 may be one of the following arguments:
6040 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
6042 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
6044 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
6045 the regexp match is written.
6047 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
6048 following the regexp match is written.
6050 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
6051 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
6054 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
6055 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
6056 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
6057 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
6058 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
6059 which should be matched against this regular expression.
6061 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
6064 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
6065 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
6066 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
6067 written out to PORT.
6069 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
6070 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
6071 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
6072 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
6073 will return after processing a single match.
6075 *** Match Structures
6077 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
6078 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
6079 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
6080 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
6081 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
6082 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
6085 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
6086 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
6087 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
6088 information about the original target string that was matched against a
6089 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
6091 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
6092 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
6093 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
6095 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
6096 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
6097 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
6098 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
6099 number N did not match, return `#f'.
6101 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
6102 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6104 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6105 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6107 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6108 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6110 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6111 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6113 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6114 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6115 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6116 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6118 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6119 Return the original TARGET string.
6121 *** Backslash Escapes
6123 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6124 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6125 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6126 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6127 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6128 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6130 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6131 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6132 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6133 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6134 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6135 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6136 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6137 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6139 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6140 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6141 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6142 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6143 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6144 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6145 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6147 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6148 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6149 return the resulting string.
6151 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6152 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6153 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6154 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6155 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6156 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6157 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6158 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6159 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6160 translated to the single character `*'.
6162 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6163 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6164 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6165 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6166 consecutive backslashes:
6168 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6170 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6171 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6172 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6174 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6175 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6176 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6177 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6178 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6179 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6181 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6183 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6184 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6185 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6186 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6187 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6188 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6189 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6190 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6191 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6192 cumbersome escape syntax.
6194 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6196 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6198 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6200 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6203 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6205 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6207 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6210 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6211 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6212 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6213 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6214 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6216 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6217 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6218 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6219 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6220 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6221 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6222 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6225 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6226 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6227 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6230 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6231 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6233 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6234 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6235 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6236 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6237 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6238 installed, you can say:
6240 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6243 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6245 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6246 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6247 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6248 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6249 new dynamic roots and threads.
6252 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6254 * Changes to the distribution.
6256 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6258 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6259 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6260 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6261 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6262 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6263 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6264 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6265 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6267 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6270 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6271 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6276 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6278 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6279 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6281 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6282 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6283 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6284 the (command-line) function.
6285 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6286 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6287 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6289 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6290 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6291 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6292 command line arguments
6293 -ds do -s script at this point
6294 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6295 -h, --help display this help and exit
6296 -v, --version display version information and exit
6297 \ read arguments from following script lines
6299 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6300 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6302 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6305 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6309 (main (command-line))
6311 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6313 ekko a speckled gecko
6315 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6316 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6317 following list of command-line arguments:
6319 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6321 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6322 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6323 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6324 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6325 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6327 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6329 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6331 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6332 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6335 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6336 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6337 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6338 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6340 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6341 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6342 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6343 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6345 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6349 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6353 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6355 ekko a speckled gecko
6357 Unix expands this into
6359 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6361 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6362 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6364 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6366 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6367 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6369 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6370 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6371 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6372 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6373 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6374 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6375 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6376 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6377 it only terminates the argument list.)
6378 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6379 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6380 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6381 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6382 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6383 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6384 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6385 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6387 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6389 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6390 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6391 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6392 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6393 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6395 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6396 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6397 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6399 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6401 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6402 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6403 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6404 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6407 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6408 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6409 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6411 * Changes to Scheme functions
6413 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6414 and disabled by default.
6416 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6417 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6418 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6419 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6421 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6423 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6425 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6426 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6428 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6429 (read-set! keywords #f)
6431 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6432 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6433 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6436 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6437 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6438 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6441 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6442 support for Scheme functions.
6444 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6445 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6446 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6447 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6450 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6451 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6452 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6455 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6456 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6457 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6460 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6461 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6462 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6463 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6464 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6465 display the result as a prompt.
6466 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6468 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6469 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6470 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6473 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6474 procedure of zero arguments.
6476 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6477 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6478 argument is bound in the current module.
6480 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6481 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6482 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6483 public bindings into the current module.
6485 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6486 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6488 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6489 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6491 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6492 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6494 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6495 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6497 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6498 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6500 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6501 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6502 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6503 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6504 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6506 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6507 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6508 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6509 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6511 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6514 ** Changes to I/O functions
6516 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6517 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6518 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6520 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6521 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6522 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6524 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6525 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6527 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6528 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6529 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6530 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6532 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6534 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6535 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6537 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6538 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6539 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6540 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6541 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6544 'trim omit delimiter from result
6545 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6546 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6547 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6549 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6551 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6552 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6554 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6555 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6556 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6557 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6558 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6560 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6561 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6562 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6564 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6565 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6566 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6567 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6569 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6570 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6572 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6573 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6575 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6577 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6578 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6579 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6580 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6581 a delimiting character.
6582 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6584 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6585 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6586 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6587 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6588 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6589 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6591 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6592 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6594 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6595 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6596 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6598 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6599 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6600 the array to read and write.
6602 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6603 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6606 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6608 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6611 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6612 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6613 Values for COMMAND are:
6615 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6616 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6617 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6618 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6619 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6620 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6621 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6622 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6624 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6626 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6627 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6628 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6629 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6630 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6631 corresponding return set will be the same.
6633 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6636 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6637 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6638 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6639 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6640 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6641 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6642 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6643 special file being created.
6645 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6646 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6648 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6649 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6650 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6651 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6652 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6653 and originating address.
6655 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6656 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6657 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6659 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6662 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6663 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6666 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6667 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6668 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6669 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6670 this function returns #f.
6672 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6673 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6674 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6677 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6678 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6679 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6682 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6683 a valid STATUS value.
6685 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6687 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6688 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6690 Component Accessor Setter
6691 ========================= ============ ============
6692 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6693 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6694 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6695 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6696 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6697 year tm:year set-tm:year
6698 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6699 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6700 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6701 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6702 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6704 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6705 describing the host system:
6708 ============================================== ================
6709 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6710 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6711 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6712 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6713 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6715 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6716 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6717 system's user database:
6720 ====================== =================
6721 user name passwd:name
6722 user password passwd:passwd
6725 real name passwd:gecos
6726 home directory passwd:dir
6727 shell program passwd:shell
6729 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6730 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6731 system's group database:
6734 ======================= ============
6735 group name group:name
6736 group password group:passwd
6738 group members group:mem
6740 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6741 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6745 ========================= ===============
6746 official name of host hostent:name
6747 alias list hostent:aliases
6748 host address type hostent:addrtype
6749 length of address hostent:length
6750 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6752 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6753 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6757 ========================= ===============
6758 official name of net netent:name
6759 alias list netent:aliases
6760 net number type netent:addrtype
6761 net number netent:net
6763 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6764 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6768 ========================= ===============
6769 official protocol name protoent:name
6770 alias list protoent:aliases
6771 protocol number protoent:proto
6773 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6774 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6778 ========================= ===============
6779 official service name servent:name
6780 alias list servent:aliases
6781 port number servent:port
6782 protocol to use servent:proto
6784 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6785 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6788 ======================================== ===============
6789 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6790 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6791 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6792 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6794 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6795 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6796 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6798 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6799 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6801 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6802 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6804 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6805 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6807 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6809 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6811 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6812 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6813 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6815 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6816 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6817 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6818 return the remaining characters as a string.
6820 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6821 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6822 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6824 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6826 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6828 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6831 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6834 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6835 and returns the array
6837 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6838 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6839 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6841 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6843 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6844 symbol's value from C code:
6846 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6847 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6848 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6849 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6851 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6852 without assigning them a value.
6854 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6855 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6856 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6858 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6859 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6860 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6862 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6863 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6865 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6866 doesn't actually care about that.
6868 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6869 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6870 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6872 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6873 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6874 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6875 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6876 which we have just created and initialized.
6878 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6879 should one occur. We call it like this:
6880 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6882 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6883 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6884 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6885 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6886 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6887 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6890 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6891 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6892 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6893 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6894 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6895 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6896 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6899 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6900 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6901 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6902 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6903 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6906 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6907 scm_internal_catch, except:
6909 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6910 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6911 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6912 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6915 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6916 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6917 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6919 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6920 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6921 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6922 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6925 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6926 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6927 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6929 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6930 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6931 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6932 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6933 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6935 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6936 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6937 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6939 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6940 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6941 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6943 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6944 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6946 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6947 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6948 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6951 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6952 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6953 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6954 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6955 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6956 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6957 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6960 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6961 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6963 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6964 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6965 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6966 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6967 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6970 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6971 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6973 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6974 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6977 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6978 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6980 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6983 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6984 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6985 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6986 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6987 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6988 given the following arguments:
6990 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6992 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6994 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6996 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6999 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
7000 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
7001 command-line arguments.
7003 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
7004 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
7005 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
7006 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
7007 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
7008 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
7011 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7014 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
7015 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
7017 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
7018 rearranged slightly. They are now:
7020 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7021 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7022 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
7023 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
7025 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7026 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7028 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7029 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
7030 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7031 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
7033 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7034 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7036 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
7037 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
7039 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
7041 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
7042 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
7043 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
7046 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
7047 returns a port instead of an FD object.
7049 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
7050 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
7055 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
7058 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
7060 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
7061 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
7062 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
7063 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
7065 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
7067 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
7069 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
7070 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
7071 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
7072 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
7073 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
7074 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
7075 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
7076 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
7077 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
7078 for more information.
7080 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
7081 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
7083 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
7084 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
7085 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
7086 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
7087 following two lines at the top of the file:
7089 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7092 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
7093 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
7094 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
7096 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
7098 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7100 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7103 (display (car args))
7104 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7106 (loop (cdr args)))))
7109 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7110 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7111 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7112 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7113 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7114 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7118 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7121 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7124 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7126 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7127 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7128 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7129 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7130 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7133 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7134 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7135 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7136 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7137 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7140 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7143 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7144 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7145 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7148 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7149 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7150 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7152 to see a backtrace, and
7153 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7154 to see them by default.
7158 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7160 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7162 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7163 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7166 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7167 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7168 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7169 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7172 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7173 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7174 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7175 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7176 functions which inspired them.
7178 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7179 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7183 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7185 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7187 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7188 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7191 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7192 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7193 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7195 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7196 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7197 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7198 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7199 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7201 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7203 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7204 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7205 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7208 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7211 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7213 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7214 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7215 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7216 above should serve their purposes.
7218 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7219 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7220 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7221 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7223 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7226 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7227 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7228 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7229 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7231 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7232 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7233 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7234 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7236 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7237 for the `read' function.
7240 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7241 to that of `integer?'.
7243 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7244 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7246 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7247 it simply returns the object's property list.
7249 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7250 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7251 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7252 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7254 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7256 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7259 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7261 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7262 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7264 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7266 void (*main_func) (),
7269 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7270 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7271 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7272 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7273 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7275 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7276 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7277 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7278 know which arguments have been processed.
7280 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7281 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7282 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7283 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7284 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7286 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7287 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7288 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7289 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7290 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7291 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7292 people from making that mistake.
7294 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7295 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7297 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7299 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7303 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7306 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7307 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7308 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7309 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7312 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7313 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7314 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7315 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7318 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7319 have been added to the Guile library.
7321 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7322 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7323 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7326 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7327 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7328 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7330 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7331 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7332 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7333 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7334 argument from the list.
7337 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7340 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7341 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7343 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7344 to a Scheme port object.
7346 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7347 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7352 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7354 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7355 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7356 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7357 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7358 code as a special datatype.
7360 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7361 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7362 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7363 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7364 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7367 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7368 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7369 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7370 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7371 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7373 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7376 Copyright information:
7378 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7380 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7381 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7382 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7383 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7385 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7386 of this document, or of portions of it,
7387 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7388 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7393 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"