1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 (During the 1.9 series, we will keep an incremental NEWS for the latest
9 prerelease, and a full NEWS corresponding to 1.8 -> 2.0.)
11 Changes in 1.9.11 (since the 1.9.10 prerelease):
13 ** New module: (sxml match)
15 Guile has incorporated Jim Bender's `sxml-match' library. See
16 "sxml-match' in the manual for more information. Thanks, Jim!
18 ** New module: (srfi srfi-9 gnu)
20 This module adds an extension to srfi-9, `set-record-type-printer!'. See
21 ... in the manual for more information.
23 ** Support for R6RS libraries
25 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
26 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
27 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
28 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
29 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
31 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
33 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
34 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See ... in the
35 manual for a full list of libraries.
37 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
39 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
40 of R6RS programs. Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many
41 incompatibilities are simply bugs, though some parts of Guile will
42 remain R6RS-incompatible for the foreseeable future. See ... in the
43 manual Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
44 mentioned in that compatibility list.
46 FIXME: put this list in the manual:
48 (rnrs arithmetic bitwise)
49 (rnrs arithmetic flonums)
57 (rnrs mutable-strings)
60 (rnrs record syntactic)
61 (rnrs records inspection)
62 (rnrs records procedural)
66 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
68 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
69 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
70 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
71 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
73 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
74 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
75 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
76 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
79 The real truth is somewhat more involved: Tree-IL doesn't exist until
80 modules have been booted, but we need the expander to boot modules, and
81 additionally we need a boot expander before psyntax is loaded. So a
82 subset of Tree-IL is defined in C, and the boot expander produces these
83 "macroexpanded" structures. Psyntax has been modified to produce those
84 structures as well. When Tree-IL loads, it incorporates those structures
85 directly as part of its language.
87 Finally, the evaluator has been adapted to accept these "expanded"
88 structures, and enhanced to better support the gamut of this subset of
89 Tree-IL, including `lambda*' and `case-lambda'. This was a much-needed
90 harmonization between the compiler, expander, and evaluator.
92 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
94 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
96 ** `sxml->xml' enhancement
98 `sxml->xml' from `(sxml simple)' can now handle the result of
99 `xml->sxml'. See bug #29260 for more information.
101 ** New module: (system vm coverage)
103 This new module can produce code coverage reports for compiled Scheme
104 code on a line-by-line level. See "Code Coverage" in the manual for more
109 The frame objects passed to VM hook procedures are now allocated on the
110 stack instead of the heap, making the next-instruction hook practical to
113 ** Add `program-free-variables' to `(system vm program)'.
117 ** New `eval-when' situation: `expand'
119 Sometimes it's important to cause side-effects while expanding an
120 expression, even in eval mode. This situation is used in
121 `define-module', `use-modules', et al, in order to affect the current
122 module and its set of syntax expanders.
124 ** Better module-level hygiene
126 Instead of attempting to track changes to the current module when
127 expanding toplevel sequences, we instead preserve referential
128 transparency relative to where the macro itself was defined. If the
129 macro should expand to expressions in the context of the new module, it
130 should wrap those expressions in `@@', which has been enhanced to accept
131 generic expressions, not just identifier references. For example, part
132 of the definition of the R6RS `library' form:
135 (define-module (name name* ...) #:pure #:version (version ...))
137 (re-export r ...) (export e ...)
138 (@@ (name name* ...) body)
141 In this example the `import' refers to the `import' definition in the
142 module where the `library' macro is defined, not in the new module.
144 ** Module system macros rewritten as hygienic macros
146 `define-module', `use-modules', `export', and other such macros have
147 been rewritten as hygienic macros. This allows the necessary referential
148 transparency for the R6RS `library' for to do the right thing.
150 ** Compiler and VM documentation updated
152 The documentation for the compiler and VM had slipped out of date; it
153 has been brought back... to the future!
155 ** Tree-IL field renaming: `vars' -> `gensyms'
157 The `vars' fields of <let>, <letrec>, <fix>, and <lambda-case> has been
158 renamed to `gensyms', for clarity, and to match <lexical-ref>.
160 ** Removed `version' field from <language>
162 Language versions weren't being updated or used in any worthwhile way;
163 they have been removed, for now at least.
165 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
167 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
168 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
172 The introductory sections of the manual have been reorganized
173 significantly, making it more accessible to new users of Guile. Check it
176 ** And of course, the usual collection of bugfixes
178 Interested users should see the ChangeLog for more information.
182 Changes in 1.9.x (since the 1.8.x series):
184 * New modules (see the manual for details)
186 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
187 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
188 ** `(rnrs bytevector)', the R6RS bytevector API
189 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
190 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
191 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
192 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
194 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
196 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
197 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
198 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
200 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
202 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
203 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
206 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
208 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
210 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
211 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
213 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
215 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
216 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
217 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
219 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
220 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
222 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
223 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
224 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
227 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
229 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. While
230 it is self-documenting to an extent, the new REPL has not yet been
231 documented in the manual. This will be fixed before 2.0.
233 ** New reader options: `square-brackets' and `r6rs-hex-escapes'
235 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
236 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
237 parentheses. This option is on by default.
239 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
240 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS.
242 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
244 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
245 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
246 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
248 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
249 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
253 By default, if an exception is raised at the REPL and not caught by user
254 code, Guile will drop the user into a debugger. The user may request a
255 backtrace, inspect frames, or continue raising the exception. Full
256 documentation is available from within the debugger.
258 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
260 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
263 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
265 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
266 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
267 include `/path/to/lib'.
269 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
271 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
274 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
276 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
277 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
278 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
279 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
282 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
284 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
285 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
287 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
289 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
291 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
292 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
293 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
294 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
296 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
297 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
298 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
299 code, and simplifying debugging.
301 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
302 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
304 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
305 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
306 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
307 both of these situations.
309 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
310 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
311 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
312 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
314 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
316 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
317 not apply to the compiler.
319 ** No more `local-eval'
321 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
322 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
323 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
324 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
327 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
328 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
331 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
333 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
334 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
335 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
337 Note that this mechanism depends on preservation of the .scm and .go
338 modification times; if the .scm or .go files are moved after
339 installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
342 Autocompiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
343 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
344 will be created if needed.
346 To inhibit autocompilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
347 variable to 0, or pass --no-autocompile on the Guile command line.
349 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
351 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
352 in the next prerelease.
354 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
356 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
358 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
360 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
362 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
364 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
365 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
366 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
368 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
369 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
370 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
371 procedures' docstrings for more information.
373 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
374 combining arity and formals. For example:
376 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
377 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
379 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
382 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
384 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
385 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
386 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
387 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
389 ** New language: ECMAScript
391 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
392 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
393 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
394 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
396 ** New language: Brainfuck
398 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
399 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
400 languages. See the manual for details, or
401 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
402 Brainfuck language itself.
404 ** New language: Elisp
406 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
407 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
408 Kraft, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
410 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
412 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
413 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
414 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
415 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
418 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
420 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
421 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
422 properties. For example:
428 (procedure-properties foo)
429 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
431 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
434 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
436 (procedure-properties bar)
437 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
439 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
442 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
445 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
447 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
448 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
451 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
452 (define (helper x) ...)
454 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
456 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
459 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
460 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
462 ** Complete support for version information in Guile's `module' form
464 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. They may be loaded by
465 version as well. See "R6RS Version References", "General Information
466 about Modules", "Using Guile Modules", and "Creating Guile Modules" in
467 the manual for more information.
469 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
471 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
472 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
473 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
474 for more information.
476 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
478 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
479 in the manual, for more information.
481 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
484 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
485 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
487 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
489 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
491 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
493 It is certainly possible to circumvent this resriction with e.g.
494 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. We would appreciate
495 feedback about this change (a consequence of using psyntax as the
496 default expander), and may choose to revisit this situation before 2.0
497 in response to user feedback.
499 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
501 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
502 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
505 (define (helper x) ...)
506 (define-macro (foo bar)
509 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
512 (define (helper x) ...)
513 (define-macro (foo bar)
514 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
516 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
520 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
522 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
524 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
531 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
532 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
535 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
537 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
541 (define-macro (ref x) x)
544 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
545 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
546 macros before code that uses them.
548 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
551 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
553 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
554 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
555 (double-literal 2) => 4
557 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
558 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
559 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
561 (eval-when (load compile eval)
562 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
563 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
564 (double-literal 2) => 4
566 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
568 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
570 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
571 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
572 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
573 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
576 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
578 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
579 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
581 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
583 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
584 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
585 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
587 ** Incompatible change to #'
589 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
590 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
591 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
592 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
594 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
596 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
599 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
601 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
602 in the manual, for more information.
604 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
605 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
607 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
608 works (with compiled procedures)
610 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
611 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
612 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
613 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
615 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
616 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
617 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
618 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
619 number of stack frames.
621 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
622 active in the current continuation
624 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
625 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
626 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
627 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
629 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
630 through to the expanded code
632 This should result in better backtraces.
634 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
636 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
638 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
640 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
641 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
644 ** New procedure, `define!'
646 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
647 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
648 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
649 less verbose than `module-define!'.
651 ** All modules have names now
653 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
654 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
655 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
656 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
658 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
660 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
661 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
662 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
664 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
665 values to the expected number
667 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
668 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
669 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
671 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
672 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
673 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
674 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
676 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
677 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
678 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
680 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
683 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
685 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
687 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
688 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
689 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
690 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
691 the interpreter would proceed.
693 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
694 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
695 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
696 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
698 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
700 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
701 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
702 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
703 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
704 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
705 you to contact the Guile developers.
707 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
709 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
710 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
711 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
713 ** psyntax is now the default expander
715 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
716 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
719 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
720 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
721 code in question was memoized.
723 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
724 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
725 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
726 `x432' instead of `x'.
728 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
729 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
730 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
731 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
733 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
735 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
736 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
737 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
740 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
741 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
742 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
743 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
745 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
747 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
748 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
749 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
750 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
754 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
757 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
758 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
759 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
761 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
762 by nonhygienic macros.
764 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
765 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
768 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
769 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
770 (define-macro (ref x)
777 (define-syntax bind-x
779 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
780 (define-macro (ref x)
784 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
785 as code is ported over from defmacros to syntax-case, it is possible to
786 run into situations like this. In the future, Guile will probably port
787 its `while' macro to syntax-case, which makes this issue one to know
790 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
792 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
793 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
795 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
796 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
799 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
801 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
802 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
803 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
804 transformer procedures.
806 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
808 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
809 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
810 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
812 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
814 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
815 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
816 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
817 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
819 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
821 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
822 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
823 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
824 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
826 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
828 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
829 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
830 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
833 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
834 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
835 documentation for more details.
837 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
839 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
840 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
841 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
842 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
843 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
844 addressed by element and not by byte.
846 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
847 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
848 endianness, as one would expect.
850 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
851 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
852 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
853 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
856 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
857 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
859 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
860 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
862 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
864 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
866 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
867 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
868 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
870 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
871 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
873 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
875 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
877 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
878 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
880 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
882 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
883 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
886 ** Unicode characters
888 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
889 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
890 probably be introduced at some point.
894 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
895 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
896 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
898 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
899 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
900 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
901 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
905 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
907 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
909 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
910 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
911 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
912 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
913 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
916 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
917 code. This use is now discouraged.
919 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
921 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
922 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
923 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
926 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
927 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
928 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
930 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
932 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
934 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
935 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
936 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
937 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
939 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
941 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
942 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
945 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
947 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
948 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
949 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
952 ** EBCDIC support is removed
954 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
955 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
956 and was unmaintained.
958 ** Compile-time warnings
960 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
961 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
962 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
965 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
966 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
967 `#:warnings' as above.
969 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
970 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables.
972 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
974 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
977 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
979 This slightly improves program startup times.
981 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
983 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
985 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
987 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
988 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
989 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
990 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
992 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
993 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
994 implement method combinations.
996 ** Applicable struct support
998 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
999 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
1000 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
1001 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
1002 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
1003 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
1004 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
1005 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
1009 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
1010 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
1011 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
1012 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
1013 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
1015 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
1017 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
1018 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
1019 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
1020 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
1022 ** eqv? not a generic
1024 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
1025 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
1026 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
1027 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
1029 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
1031 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
1032 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
1033 functions are deprecated.
1035 ** Fast bit operations.
1037 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
1038 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
1039 it's for number crunching too.
1041 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
1043 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
1044 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
1045 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
1046 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
1048 ** R6RS block comment support
1050 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
1051 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
1053 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
1055 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
1056 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
1058 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
1059 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
1060 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1062 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
1063 ;; separate compilation phase.
1064 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1066 ** Fix bad interaction between `false-if-exception' and stack-call.
1068 Exceptions thrown by `false-if-exception' were erronously causing the
1069 stack to be saved, causing later errors to show the incorrectly-saved
1070 backtrace. This has been fixed.
1072 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
1074 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
1076 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
1078 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
1080 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
1082 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
1084 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
1086 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
1088 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
1089 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
1090 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
1092 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
1094 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
1095 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
1097 ** New readline history functions
1099 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
1100 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
1101 History library functions.
1103 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
1104 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
1106 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
1109 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
1111 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
1112 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
1113 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
1114 `with-throw-handler'.
1116 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
1118 * Changes to the C interface
1120 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
1122 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
1123 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
1124 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
1126 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
1127 code easier and less error-prone.
1129 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
1131 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
1132 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
1133 available to C. Have fun!
1135 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
1137 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
1139 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
1142 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
1143 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
1145 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
1147 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
1148 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
1149 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
1152 ** Remove old evaluator closures
1154 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
1155 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
1156 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
1157 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
1160 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
1162 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
1163 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
1164 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
1165 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
1166 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
1167 both with the old 1.8 and and with the current 1.9 branch.
1169 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
1170 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
1171 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
1172 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
1173 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
1174 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
1176 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
1177 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
1178 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
1179 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
1180 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
1182 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
1183 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
1184 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
1185 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
1186 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
1187 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
1189 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
1190 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
1191 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
1192 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
1195 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
1196 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
1199 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
1201 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
1202 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
1203 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
1204 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
1205 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
1207 ** Remove unused snarf macros
1209 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
1210 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
1212 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
1214 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
1215 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
1217 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
1219 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
1220 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
1222 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
1224 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
1225 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
1226 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
1227 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
1228 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
1231 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
1233 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
1234 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
1235 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
1236 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
1239 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
1240 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
1241 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
1242 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
1244 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
1246 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
1248 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
1250 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
1253 ** Inline vector allocation
1255 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
1256 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
1257 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
1258 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
1261 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
1263 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
1264 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
1268 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
1269 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
1270 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
1271 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
1272 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
1274 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
1276 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
1277 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
1278 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
1279 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
1280 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
1281 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
1285 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
1286 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
1287 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
1288 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
1290 ** Deprecate trampolines
1292 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
1293 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
1294 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
1295 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
1296 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
1298 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
1300 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
1301 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
1302 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
1303 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
1305 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
1307 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
1308 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
1309 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
1310 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
1311 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
1312 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
1313 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
1315 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
1317 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
1318 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
1321 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
1322 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
1324 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
1326 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
1327 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
1329 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
1331 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
1332 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
1333 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
1334 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
1336 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
1338 * Changes to the distribution
1340 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
1342 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
1343 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
1346 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
1348 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
1349 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
1351 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
1353 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
1354 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
1355 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
1358 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
1360 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
1361 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
1363 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
1365 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
1366 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
1368 ** Parallel installability fixes
1370 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
1371 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
1372 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
1374 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
1375 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
1376 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
1379 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
1381 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
1382 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
1383 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
1384 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensionsdir
1385 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
1387 ** New dependency: libgc
1389 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
1391 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
1393 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
1394 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
1396 ** New dependency: libffi
1398 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
1402 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
1406 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
1407 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
1408 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
1411 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
1413 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1415 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
1419 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
1420 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
1421 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
1422 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
1423 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
1424 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
1425 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
1426 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
1427 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
1428 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
1429 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
1431 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
1433 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
1434 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
1435 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
1438 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
1441 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
1443 * New features (see the manual for details)
1445 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
1447 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
1449 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
1450 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
1451 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
1453 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
1455 * Changes to the distribution
1457 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
1459 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
1460 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
1462 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
1464 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
1465 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
1470 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
1471 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
1472 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
1473 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
1474 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
1475 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
1476 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
1477 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
1478 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
1479 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
1480 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
1481 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
1482 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
1483 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
1485 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
1486 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
1487 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
1488 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
1489 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
1492 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
1494 * Infrastructure changes
1496 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
1498 The new repository can be accessed using
1499 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
1500 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
1502 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
1504 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
1506 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1510 * New features (see the manual for details)
1512 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
1513 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
1514 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
1516 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
1517 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
1518 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
1519 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
1521 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
1523 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
1524 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
1525 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
1529 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
1530 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
1532 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
1533 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
1535 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
1536 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
1538 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
1539 lead to a stack overflow.
1541 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
1542 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
1543 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
1544 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
1545 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
1546 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
1547 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
1548 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
1549 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
1550 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
1551 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
1552 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
1553 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
1554 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
1555 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
1556 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
1559 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
1563 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
1564 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
1565 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
1566 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
1567 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
1568 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
1569 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
1570 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
1571 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
1572 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
1573 system and library calls.
1574 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
1575 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
1576 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
1577 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
1578 uniform vectors on AIX.
1579 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
1580 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
1581 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
1582 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
1583 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
1585 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1589 * Documentation fixes and improvements
1591 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
1593 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
1594 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
1596 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
1598 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
1600 * Changes to the distribution
1602 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
1604 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
1605 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
1606 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
1608 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
1610 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
1613 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
1615 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1622 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
1623 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
1624 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
1625 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
1626 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
1627 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
1628 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
1630 * Implementation improvements
1632 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
1633 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
1636 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
1638 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1640 ** set-program-arguments
1643 * Incompatible changes
1645 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
1647 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
1648 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
1649 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
1650 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
1655 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
1656 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
1657 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
1658 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
1659 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
1660 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
1662 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
1663 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
1664 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
1665 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
1666 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
1667 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
1668 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
1669 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
1670 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
1671 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
1672 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
1673 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
1674 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
1675 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
1676 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
1677 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
1680 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
1682 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
1684 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1686 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
1687 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
1688 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
1689 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
1690 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
1691 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
1699 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
1701 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
1703 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
1705 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
1707 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
1709 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
1711 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
1712 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
1713 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
1715 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
1717 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
1719 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
1720 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
1722 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
1724 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
1725 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
1727 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
1729 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
1731 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
1733 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
1735 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
1737 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
1739 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
1741 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
1743 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
1745 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
1746 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
1747 file was on a different device.
1750 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
1752 * Changes to the distribution
1754 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
1756 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
1758 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
1760 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
1762 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
1764 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
1767 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
1769 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
1770 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
1771 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
1772 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
1773 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
1774 items like the versioned share directory name
1775 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
1777 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
1778 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
1779 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
1780 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
1781 with each micro release during a stable series.
1783 ** Thread implementation has changed.
1785 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
1786 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
1787 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
1788 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
1789 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
1792 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
1793 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
1794 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
1795 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
1798 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
1799 in which case "null" threads are used.
1801 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
1802 "Blocking", and others.
1804 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
1806 This is a milder form of deprecation.
1808 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
1809 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
1810 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
1811 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
1812 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
1814 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
1815 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
1817 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
1819 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
1820 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
1822 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
1825 This SRFI is always available.
1827 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
1829 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
1830 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
1831 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
1832 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
1835 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
1837 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
1838 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
1839 parameters without currying.
1841 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
1843 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
1844 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
1846 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
1847 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
1850 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
1851 with a renaming import, for example.
1853 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
1855 The official version is good enough now.
1857 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
1859 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
1860 provided. Use 'make html'.
1862 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
1864 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
1865 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
1866 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
1867 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
1869 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
1871 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
1874 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1876 ** New command line option `-L'.
1878 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
1880 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
1882 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
1883 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
1885 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
1887 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
1888 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
1890 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
1892 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
1893 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
1896 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
1899 (define-module (demo)
1903 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
1906 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1908 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
1910 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
1911 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
1912 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
1914 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
1916 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
1917 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
1919 ** New function hashx-remove!
1921 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
1923 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
1924 barriers and dynamic states.
1926 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
1927 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
1928 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
1931 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
1932 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
1933 Barriers" in the manual.
1935 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
1936 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
1938 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
1940 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
1941 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
1942 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
1943 variable %load-path.
1945 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
1947 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
1948 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
1950 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
1951 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
1952 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
1954 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
1955 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
1957 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
1958 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
1959 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
1961 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
1962 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
1963 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
1966 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
1967 substrings and read-only strings.
1969 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
1970 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
1973 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
1975 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
1984 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
1985 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
1986 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
1988 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
1989 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
1990 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
1991 on an ANSI terminal:
1993 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
1994 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
1997 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
1999 See the manual for details.
2001 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
2003 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
2006 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
2008 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
2009 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
2010 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
2011 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
2013 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
2014 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
2015 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
2018 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
2020 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
2021 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
2032 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
2036 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
2041 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
2045 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
2049 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
2052 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
2053 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
2054 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
2055 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
2057 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
2058 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
2061 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
2064 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
2068 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
2070 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
2071 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
2072 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
2075 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
2078 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
2080 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
2083 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
2084 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
2087 (define-module (foo)
2092 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
2093 has been detected is to
2095 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
2096 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
2097 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
2100 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
2103 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
2105 to your .guile init file.
2107 ** New define-module option: :replace
2109 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
2112 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
2113 for the core binding `format'.
2115 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
2117 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
2118 a prefix to all imported bindings.
2120 (define-module (foo)
2121 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
2123 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
2126 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
2128 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
2129 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
2130 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
2132 ** New function: effective-version
2134 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
2135 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
2136 to the distribution" above.
2138 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
2140 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
2141 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
2143 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
2145 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
2146 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
2148 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
2150 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
2151 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
2154 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
2156 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
2158 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
2160 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
2161 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
2162 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
2165 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
2166 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
2167 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
2168 'system-async-mark'.
2170 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
2171 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
2173 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
2174 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
2175 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
2178 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
2180 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
2181 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
2184 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
2185 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2187 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
2188 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
2189 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
2190 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
2191 level for the current thread.
2193 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
2195 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
2197 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2198 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
2201 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
2203 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
2205 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
2208 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
2210 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
2213 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
2214 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
2215 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
2217 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
2218 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
2219 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
2220 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
2231 ERROR: Numerical overflow
2233 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
2236 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
2238 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
2239 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
2240 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
2251 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
2253 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
2254 them is also done exactly, of course:
2259 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
2260 for exact arguments.
2262 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
2263 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
2265 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
2267 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
2268 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
2269 equal to a floating point number. For example:
2271 (inexact->exact 1.234)
2272 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
2274 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
2276 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
2279 ** New function 'rationalize'.
2281 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
2282 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
2284 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
2287 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
2288 result when both its arguments are exact.
2290 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
2292 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
2293 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
2294 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
2296 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
2298 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
2299 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
2300 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
2302 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
2305 ** pretty-print has more options.
2307 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
2308 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
2309 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
2311 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
2313 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
2314 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
2315 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
2317 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
2319 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
2320 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
2322 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
2324 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
2325 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
2328 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
2330 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
2331 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
2332 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
2333 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
2334 without the soft port blocking.
2336 ** Deprecated: undefine
2338 There is no replacement for undefine.
2340 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
2341 have been discouraged.
2343 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
2344 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
2345 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
2348 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
2350 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
2352 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
2353 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
2354 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
2355 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
2358 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
2359 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
2360 be removed in the next major Guile release.
2362 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
2364 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
2365 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
2366 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
2367 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
2368 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
2369 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
2371 * Changes to the C interface
2373 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
2374 take a 'delete' function argument.
2376 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
2377 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
2379 This is an incompatible change.
2381 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
2383 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
2384 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
2385 --disable-deprecated.
2387 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
2389 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
2390 Scheme values has been added.
2392 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
2393 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
2396 - int scm_is_* (...)
2398 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
2399 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
2401 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
2403 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
2404 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
2407 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
2409 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
2410 scm_from_int for ints.
2412 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
2413 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
2414 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
2416 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
2418 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
2419 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
2420 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
2423 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
2425 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
2427 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
2429 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
2430 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
2431 following alternatives.
2433 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
2434 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
2435 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
2436 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
2438 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
2439 do the validating for you.
2441 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
2442 have been discouraged.
2444 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
2445 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
2448 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
2450 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
2451 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
2454 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
2456 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
2459 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
2462 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
2464 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
2465 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
2467 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
2468 scm_truncate_number should have.
2470 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
2471 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
2473 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
2476 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
2477 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
2478 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
2480 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
2481 easier to use from C.
2483 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
2484 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
2486 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
2487 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
2488 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
2491 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
2492 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
2493 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
2494 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
2497 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
2498 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
2499 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
2500 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
2501 and is thus quite efficient.
2503 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
2505 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
2506 about the character encoding.
2508 Replace according to the following table:
2510 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
2511 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
2512 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
2513 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
2514 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
2515 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
2516 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
2517 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
2518 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
2520 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
2521 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
2523 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
2525 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
2526 now also available to C code.
2528 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
2530 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
2531 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
2532 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
2534 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
2537 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
2539 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
2540 unceremoniously removed.
2542 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
2543 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
2544 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
2546 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
2547 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
2548 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2549 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
2550 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
2551 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
2554 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
2556 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
2557 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
2558 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
2559 manual for more details.
2561 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
2562 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
2564 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
2565 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
2566 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
2568 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
2570 Migrate according to the following table:
2572 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
2573 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
2574 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
2575 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
2576 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
2577 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
2578 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
2580 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
2581 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
2582 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
2583 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
2584 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
2585 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
2586 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
2588 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
2590 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
2591 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
2593 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
2594 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
2595 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
2596 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
2598 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
2600 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
2601 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
2602 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
2604 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
2605 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
2607 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
2608 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
2609 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
2610 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
2612 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
2614 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
2615 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
2616 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
2617 prevent a potential memory leak:
2624 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
2626 mem = scm_malloc (100);
2627 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
2629 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
2630 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
2637 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
2638 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
2642 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
2644 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
2646 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
2647 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
2648 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
2650 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
2651 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
2653 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
2655 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
2657 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
2658 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
2659 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
2661 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
2662 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
2664 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
2665 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
2666 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
2667 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
2670 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
2672 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
2673 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
2674 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
2676 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
2678 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
2679 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
2681 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
2683 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
2684 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
2686 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
2688 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
2689 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
2690 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
2692 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
2694 You should not have used them.
2696 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
2698 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
2699 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
2701 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
2703 This macro is not intended for public use.
2705 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
2707 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
2709 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
2711 Use scm_is_real instead.
2713 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
2715 Use scm_is_complex instead.
2717 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
2719 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
2720 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
2722 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
2723 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
2725 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
2726 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
2728 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
2730 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
2733 ** New function: scm_effective_version
2735 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
2736 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
2737 to the distribution" above.
2739 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
2741 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
2742 arguments are now passed directly:
2744 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
2746 This is an incompatible change.
2748 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
2750 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
2751 function in the init section.
2753 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
2755 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
2757 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
2758 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
2759 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
2760 stays roughly constant.
2762 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
2763 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
2764 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
2765 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
2766 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
2769 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
2770 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
2771 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
2772 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
2774 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
2775 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
2776 objects for every type.
2779 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
2781 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
2783 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
2785 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
2786 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
2787 initializes a new cell (see below).
2789 ** New functions for memory management
2791 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
2792 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
2793 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
2794 cause aborts in long running programs.
2796 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
2797 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
2799 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
2800 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
2801 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
2802 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
2803 details and for upgrading instructions.
2805 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
2806 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
2807 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
2809 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
2811 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
2812 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
2813 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
2814 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
2815 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
2817 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
2818 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
2819 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
2821 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
2822 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
2824 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
2826 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
2827 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
2828 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
2829 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
2830 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
2832 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
2834 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
2837 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
2839 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
2841 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
2843 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
2844 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
2846 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
2848 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
2849 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
2851 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
2852 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
2854 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
2856 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
2858 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
2859 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
2860 blocking it is not well defined.
2862 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
2864 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
2865 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
2866 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
2867 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
2868 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
2869 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
2870 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
2871 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
2872 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
2873 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
2874 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2875 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
2876 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
2877 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
2878 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
2879 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
2880 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
2881 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2882 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
2883 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
2884 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
2885 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
2886 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
2887 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
2888 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
2889 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
2890 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
2891 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
2892 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
2893 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
2894 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
2896 * Changes to bundled modules
2900 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
2901 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
2902 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
2903 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
2904 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
2907 Changes since Guile 1.4:
2909 * Changes to the distribution
2911 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
2913 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
2915 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
2916 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
2917 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
2918 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
2919 indicate major changes in Guile.
2921 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
2922 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
2923 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
2924 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
2926 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
2927 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
2928 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
2929 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
2930 micro version number.
2932 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
2934 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
2936 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
2937 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
2939 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
2941 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
2942 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
2943 See INSTALL and README for more information.
2945 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
2947 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
2948 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
2949 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
2952 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
2954 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
2957 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
2959 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
2960 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
2962 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
2964 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
2965 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
2968 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
2970 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
2973 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
2976 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
2978 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
2980 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
2981 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
2982 open-output-string, get-output-string.
2984 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
2986 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
2988 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
2991 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
2993 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
2995 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
2997 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
2998 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
2999 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
3001 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
3003 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
3005 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
3006 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
3015 See README there for more info.
3017 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
3018 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
3021 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
3023 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
3025 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
3027 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
3028 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
3029 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
3031 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
3033 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
3034 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
3035 to be named `and-let*', of course.
3037 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
3038 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
3040 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
3043 (oop goops describe)
3045 (oop goops active-slot)
3046 (oop goops composite-slot)
3048 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
3049 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
3050 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
3052 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
3054 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
3055 in the default environment:
3057 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
3058 %read-line write-line
3060 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
3061 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
3063 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
3065 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
3068 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
3069 can be used for similar functionality.
3071 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
3073 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
3074 it defines two procedures:
3076 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
3078 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
3079 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
3080 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
3083 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
3085 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
3086 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
3087 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
3088 write large strings.
3090 ** New module (ice-9 match)
3092 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
3093 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
3095 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
3097 for complete documentation.
3099 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
3101 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
3102 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
3103 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
3104 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
3106 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
3107 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
3111 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
3112 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
3113 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
3116 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
3119 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
3120 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
3122 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
3123 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
3126 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
3129 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
3131 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
3133 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3135 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
3137 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
3138 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
3139 Scheme programs easier.
3141 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
3142 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
3143 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
3144 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
3145 `cond-expand' when using this option.
3148 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
3149 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
3151 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
3154 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
3156 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
3157 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
3158 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
3161 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3163 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
3165 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
3166 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
3167 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
3168 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
3169 was also ASCII, for example.
3171 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
3173 tag - no replacement.
3174 fseek - replaced by seek.
3175 list* - replaced by cons*.
3177 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
3181 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
3182 (define m (make-safe-module))
3183 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
3184 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
3185 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
3187 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
3189 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
3190 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
3191 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
3193 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
3195 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
3196 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
3197 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
3198 from the issues related to the module system.
3200 *** New function: load-extension
3202 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
3204 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
3206 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
3207 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
3208 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
3210 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
3212 This function registers a initialization function for use by
3213 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
3214 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
3215 support dynamic linking).
3217 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
3219 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
3220 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
3221 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
3222 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
3225 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
3226 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
3227 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
3228 library and initialize it explicitly.
3230 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
3231 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
3233 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
3235 (define-module (foo bar))
3237 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
3239 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
3241 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
3242 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
3244 (scheme-report-environment 5)
3245 (null-environment 5)
3246 (interaction-environment)
3252 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
3254 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
3255 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
3256 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
3257 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
3259 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
3260 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
3261 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
3262 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
3263 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
3264 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
3265 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
3266 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
3267 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
3268 one eval to the next.
3270 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
3271 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
3272 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
3273 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
3274 subforms are at the top-level as well.
3276 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
3277 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
3278 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
3279 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
3280 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
3281 used in a lexical environment.
3283 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
3284 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
3285 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
3286 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
3287 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
3288 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
3290 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
3292 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
3293 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
3294 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
3295 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
3296 new facilities: selection and renaming.
3298 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
3299 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
3300 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
3302 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
3303 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
3305 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
3306 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
3307 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3309 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3310 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
3312 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
3313 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
3314 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
3315 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
3318 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
3319 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
3320 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
3321 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3323 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3324 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
3325 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
3327 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
3328 ;; and all four by upcasing.
3329 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
3330 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
3331 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
3333 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3335 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3336 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
3337 :renamer upcase-symbol))
3339 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
3340 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
3341 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
3343 See manual for more info.
3345 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
3347 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
3348 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
3349 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
3351 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
3353 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
3354 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
3355 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
3357 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
3358 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
3359 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
3360 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
3362 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
3364 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
3365 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
3367 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
3368 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
3369 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
3370 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
3371 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
3374 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
3375 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
3376 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
3377 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
3378 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
3379 successful and #f if it wasn't.
3381 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
3382 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
3383 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
3384 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
3385 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
3387 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
3388 objects are usually permanent.
3390 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
3391 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
3393 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
3395 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
3396 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
3399 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
3403 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
3408 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
3410 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
3411 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
3412 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
3413 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
3415 ** New function `make-object-property'
3417 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
3418 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
3422 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
3423 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
3427 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
3428 source properties eventually.
3430 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
3432 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
3433 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
3434 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
3436 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
3437 will be removed in the next release.
3439 ** New define-module option: pure
3441 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
3446 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
3449 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
3451 Export names NAME1 ...
3453 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
3454 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
3458 (define-module (foo)
3460 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
3463 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
3468 ** New function: object->string OBJ
3470 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
3472 ** New function: port? X
3474 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
3475 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
3477 ** New function: file-port?
3479 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
3481 ** New function: port-for-each proc
3483 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
3484 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
3485 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
3486 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
3487 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
3489 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
3491 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
3492 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
3493 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
3494 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
3495 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
3498 ** New function: close-fdes fd
3500 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
3501 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
3502 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
3503 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
3506 ** New function: crypt password salt
3508 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
3511 ** New function: chroot path
3513 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
3515 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
3517 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
3520 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
3522 Get or set the priority of the running process.
3524 ** New function: getpass prompt
3526 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
3529 ** New function: flock file operation
3531 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
3533 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
3535 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
3538 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
3540 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
3541 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
3542 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
3543 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
3544 of the temporary file.
3546 ** New function: open-input-string string
3548 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
3549 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
3550 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
3552 ** New function: open-output-string
3554 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
3555 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
3557 ** New function: get-output-string
3559 Return the contents of an output string port.
3561 ** New function: identity
3563 Return the argument.
3565 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
3566 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
3568 ** New function: inet-pton family address
3570 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
3571 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
3572 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
3575 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
3576 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
3578 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
3580 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
3581 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
3582 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
3585 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
3586 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
3587 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
3591 Use `identity' instead.
3597 ** Deprecated: return-it
3601 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
3603 Use `string-length' instead.
3605 ** Deprecated: flags
3607 Use `logior' instead.
3609 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
3611 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
3612 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
3613 port-for-each is more flexible.
3615 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
3616 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
3617 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
3619 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
3621 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
3623 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
3625 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
3627 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
3629 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
3630 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
3632 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
3633 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
3635 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
3636 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
3638 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
3640 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
3641 Removed function: builtin-bindings
3643 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
3644 Use module system operations for all variables.
3646 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
3648 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
3651 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
3653 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
3654 The following bugs have been fixed:
3656 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
3657 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
3660 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
3661 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
3662 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
3664 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
3665 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
3667 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
3668 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
3671 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
3672 The expansion used to be like so:
3674 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
3676 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
3678 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
3680 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
3681 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
3683 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
3685 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
3686 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
3687 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
3691 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
3692 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
3694 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
3699 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
3700 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
3702 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
3703 and `d', other keywords allowed.
3704 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
3706 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
3709 * Changes to the C interface
3711 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
3713 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
3714 with "_t". What a concept.
3716 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
3718 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
3720 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
3724 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
3725 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
3727 *** C Functions removed
3729 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
3730 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
3731 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
3732 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
3733 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
3734 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
3735 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
3737 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
3739 Use scm_mem2string instead.
3741 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
3743 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
3745 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
3746 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
3748 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
3750 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
3753 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
3755 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
3757 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
3759 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
3760 Evaluation" in the manual.
3762 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
3764 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
3765 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
3767 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
3769 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
3770 Constructors" in the manual.
3772 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
3774 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
3775 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
3777 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
3779 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
3781 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
3782 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
3783 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
3785 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
3787 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
3789 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
3790 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
3791 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
3794 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
3796 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
3798 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
3799 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
3801 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
3803 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
3804 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
3805 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
3806 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
3808 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
3809 scm_primitive_property_ref
3810 scm_primitive_property_set_x
3811 scm_primitive_property_del_x
3813 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
3814 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
3816 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
3818 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
3819 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
3820 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
3821 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
3823 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
3825 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
3826 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
3827 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
3828 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
3829 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
3830 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
3831 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
3833 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
3834 scm_remember_upto_here
3836 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
3838 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
3840 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
3841 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
3843 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
3845 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
3847 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
3849 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
3851 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
3853 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
3854 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
3855 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
3856 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
3857 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
3858 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
3860 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
3862 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
3864 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
3865 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
3866 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
3868 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
3870 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
3871 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
3872 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
3874 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
3876 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
3877 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
3880 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
3883 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
3884 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
3887 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
3889 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
3891 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
3893 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
3895 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
3897 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
3899 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
3900 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
3901 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
3902 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
3903 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
3904 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
3905 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
3906 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
3907 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
3908 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
3909 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
3910 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
3911 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
3912 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
3913 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
3915 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
3916 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
3917 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
3918 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
3919 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
3920 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
3921 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
3922 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
3923 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
3924 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
3925 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
3926 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
3927 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
3928 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
3929 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
3930 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
3931 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
3932 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
3933 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
3934 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
3935 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
3936 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
3937 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
3938 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
3939 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
3940 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
3941 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
3942 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
3943 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
3945 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
3947 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
3949 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
3950 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
3952 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
3954 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
3956 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
3958 Use scm_string_hash instead.
3960 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
3962 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
3964 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
3966 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
3968 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
3971 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
3972 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
3974 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
3976 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
3978 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
3980 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
3982 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
3984 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
3986 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
3988 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
3991 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
3993 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
3995 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
3997 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
3998 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
4000 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
4001 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
4003 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
4005 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
4006 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
4007 scm_module_define, scm_define.
4009 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
4011 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
4013 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
4014 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
4016 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
4017 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
4018 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
4019 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
4021 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
4022 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
4023 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
4025 Use the new ones from above instead.
4027 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
4029 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
4030 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
4031 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
4033 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
4034 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
4036 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
4037 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
4040 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
4041 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
4043 Use the new functions instead.
4045 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
4048 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
4050 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
4052 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
4055 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
4057 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
4060 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
4062 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
4065 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
4066 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
4067 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
4069 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
4071 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
4072 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
4074 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
4075 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
4076 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
4077 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
4080 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
4082 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
4083 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
4084 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
4085 inexact for an exact.
4087 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
4088 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
4089 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
4092 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
4093 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
4094 accept an inexact argument.
4096 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
4097 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
4099 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
4102 ** New number validation macros:
4103 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
4107 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
4109 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
4110 scm_unprotect_object.
4112 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
4114 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
4116 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
4119 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
4121 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
4125 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
4127 * Changes to the distribution
4129 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
4131 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
4132 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
4133 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
4134 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
4135 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
4136 obtain these programs.
4137 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
4138 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
4140 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
4141 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
4142 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
4143 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
4144 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
4146 However, this approach means that minor differences between
4147 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
4148 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
4149 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
4153 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
4156 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
4157 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
4158 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
4159 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
4161 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
4163 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
4165 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
4166 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
4168 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
4169 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
4171 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
4172 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
4174 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
4175 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
4176 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
4177 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
4179 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
4181 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
4185 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
4186 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
4188 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
4190 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
4191 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
4193 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
4194 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
4195 number of objects of that kind.
4197 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
4199 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
4200 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
4201 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
4202 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
4203 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
4205 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
4207 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
4209 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
4211 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
4214 ** New module (ice-9 time)
4216 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
4218 ** New module (ice-9 history)
4220 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
4222 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4224 ** New command line option --debug
4226 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
4228 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
4230 ** New help facility
4232 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
4233 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
4234 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
4235 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
4236 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
4237 (help) gives this text
4239 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
4240 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
4242 Examples: (help help)
4244 (help "output-string")
4246 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
4248 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
4250 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
4251 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
4254 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
4255 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
4256 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
4259 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
4260 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
4261 use absolute filenames when possible.
4263 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
4264 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
4265 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
4268 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
4270 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
4271 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
4272 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
4273 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
4275 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
4277 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
4279 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
4280 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
4281 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
4283 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
4284 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
4285 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
4287 (read-enable 'positions)
4288 (debug-enable 'debug)
4290 ** Backtraces in scripts
4292 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
4296 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
4298 at the top of the script.
4300 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
4301 The second enables backtraces.)
4303 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
4305 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
4306 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
4307 substantially faster than before.
4309 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
4310 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
4312 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
4313 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
4315 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
4317 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
4318 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
4319 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
4321 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
4322 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
4323 when this hook is run in the future.
4325 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
4326 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
4328 ** Improvements to garbage collector
4330 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
4331 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
4334 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
4335 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
4336 more and more memory for certain programs.)
4338 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
4339 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
4341 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
4342 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
4344 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
4345 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
4346 in order not to need further allocation.)
4348 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
4351 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
4352 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
4353 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
4354 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
4356 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
4358 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
4361 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
4363 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
4366 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
4367 GC in percent of total heap size
4370 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
4371 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
4373 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
4375 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
4376 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
4378 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
4380 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
4381 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
4383 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
4385 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
4386 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
4390 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
4391 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
4393 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
4395 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4397 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
4399 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
4401 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
4403 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
4404 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
4406 (simple-format port message . args)
4407 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
4408 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
4409 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
4410 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
4411 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
4412 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
4413 Does not add a trailing newline."
4415 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
4417 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
4418 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
4420 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
4421 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
4423 ** Deprecated: list*
4425 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
4427 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
4429 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
4430 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
4432 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
4433 is returned as result.
4435 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
4437 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
4439 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
4441 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
4442 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
4445 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
4447 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
4449 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
4450 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
4452 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4454 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
4456 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
4458 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4460 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
4462 Thanks to Greg Badros!
4464 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
4466 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
4467 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
4468 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
4470 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
4473 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
4475 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
4476 the readability of argument checking.
4478 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
4480 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
4482 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
4484 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
4485 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
4486 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
4487 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
4488 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
4489 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
4490 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
4492 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
4494 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
4496 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
4497 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
4499 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
4501 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
4502 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
4505 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
4507 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
4508 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
4509 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
4511 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
4512 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
4513 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
4515 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
4516 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
4517 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
4518 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
4519 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
4520 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
4521 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
4523 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
4524 scm_end_input (object);
4525 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
4526 ptob->flush (object);
4528 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
4529 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
4532 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
4534 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
4536 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
4537 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
4538 removed in a future version.
4540 ** The format of error message strings has changed
4542 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
4543 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
4544 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
4545 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
4547 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
4548 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
4550 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
4553 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
4555 in your configure.in.
4557 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
4562 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
4568 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
4570 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
4574 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
4575 (define make-message string-append)
4577 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
4579 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
4583 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
4588 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
4592 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
4594 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
4595 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
4597 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
4599 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
4600 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
4601 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
4602 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
4603 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
4604 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
4606 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
4607 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
4608 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
4610 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
4611 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
4612 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
4615 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
4616 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
4617 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
4618 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
4619 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
4621 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
4622 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
4623 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
4624 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
4625 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
4626 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
4627 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
4629 Destructors are not yet implemented.
4631 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
4632 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
4633 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
4635 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
4636 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
4637 KEY in the calling thread.
4639 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
4640 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
4641 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
4642 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
4643 associated with the key.
4645 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
4647 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
4648 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
4650 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
4652 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
4653 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
4654 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
4656 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
4658 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
4659 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
4661 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
4663 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
4665 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
4666 returned is undefined.
4668 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
4669 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
4670 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
4672 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
4673 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
4674 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
4676 ** New C level GC hooks
4678 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
4680 scm_before_gc_c_hook
4683 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
4684 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
4685 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
4687 scm_before_mark_c_hook
4688 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
4689 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
4691 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
4692 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
4695 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
4697 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
4698 allocation parameters
4700 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
4701 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
4702 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
4706 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
4707 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
4708 scm_default_max_segment_size
4710 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
4712 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
4713 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
4715 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
4717 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
4718 object and count on the object being protected until
4719 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
4721 The functions also have better time complexity.
4723 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
4724 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
4725 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
4726 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
4727 are no longer needed.
4729 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
4731 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
4732 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
4733 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
4734 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
4736 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
4738 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
4740 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
4742 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
4743 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
4744 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
4745 until this issue has been settled.
4747 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
4749 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
4751 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
4754 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
4756 * Changes to system call interfaces:
4758 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
4759 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
4760 descriptors were checked.
4762 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
4763 atomically written to a pipe.
4765 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
4766 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
4767 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
4768 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
4769 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
4770 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
4771 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
4774 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
4775 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
4776 is changed without calling tzset.
4778 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
4780 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
4781 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
4782 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
4784 (define write-network-long
4785 (lambda (value port)
4786 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
4787 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
4788 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
4790 (define read-network-long
4792 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
4793 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
4794 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
4796 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
4797 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
4799 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
4800 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
4801 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
4802 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
4804 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
4805 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
4806 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
4807 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
4811 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
4813 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4817 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
4818 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
4819 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
4825 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
4826 for a description of available commands.
4828 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
4829 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
4830 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
4832 (debug-enable 'backwards)
4834 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
4835 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
4837 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
4839 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
4841 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
4842 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
4843 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
4844 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
4845 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
4846 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
4849 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
4851 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
4852 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
4853 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
4854 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
4856 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
4857 the file and should not be affected by this change.
4859 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
4861 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4863 ** Readline support has changed again.
4865 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
4866 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
4867 to activate readline is now
4869 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
4872 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
4874 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
4875 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
4876 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
4879 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
4880 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
4881 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
4884 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
4885 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
4886 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
4887 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
4888 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
4889 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
4891 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
4892 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
4894 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
4896 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
4897 object it receives is the same string passed to
4898 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
4899 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
4900 string, not the suffix.
4902 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
4903 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
4904 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
4906 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
4908 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
4909 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
4910 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
4911 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
4914 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
4916 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
4918 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
4919 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
4920 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
4921 appear from left to right.
4923 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
4926 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
4928 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
4929 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
4931 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
4935 *** New function: hook? OBJ
4937 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
4939 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
4941 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
4942 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
4943 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
4945 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
4947 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
4949 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
4951 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
4954 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
4956 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
4957 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
4958 mentioning it here anyway.
4960 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
4962 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
4963 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
4964 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
4965 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
4968 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
4970 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
4972 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
4974 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
4975 otherwise return #f.
4977 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
4979 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
4980 returned by `opendir'.
4982 ** New function: using-readline?
4984 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
4986 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
4988 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
4989 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
4991 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4993 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
4995 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
4996 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
4997 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
4999 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
5001 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
5002 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
5004 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
5006 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
5007 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
5008 documentation slots are not yet used.
5010 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
5012 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
5013 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
5014 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
5019 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
5020 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
5021 (string-append x y))
5023 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
5024 can also be used for concatenating strings.
5026 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
5027 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
5028 be made in a clean way.]
5030 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
5032 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
5034 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
5036 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
5037 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
5039 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5041 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
5043 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
5045 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
5047 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
5048 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
5049 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
5050 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
5053 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5055 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
5057 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
5059 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
5061 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
5062 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
5064 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5066 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
5068 Evaluates the body of a special form.
5070 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
5072 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
5073 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
5074 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
5075 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
5076 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
5077 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
5079 This should not make any difference for most users.
5081 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
5083 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
5084 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
5086 *** New functions for applying generic functions
5088 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
5089 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
5090 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
5091 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
5092 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
5094 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
5096 It is now replaced by:
5098 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
5100 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
5101 binds a variable named NAME to it.
5103 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
5105 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
5106 This might change when we get the new module system.
5108 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
5112 Changes since Guile 1.3:
5114 * Changes to mailing lists
5116 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
5118 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
5121 * Changes to the distribution
5123 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
5125 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
5126 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
5127 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
5128 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
5129 you explicitly specify it.
5131 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
5132 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
5133 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
5134 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
5135 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
5138 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
5139 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
5140 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
5141 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
5143 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
5144 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
5145 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
5148 You can activate the readline support by issuing
5150 (use-modules (readline-activator))
5153 from your ".guile" file, for example.
5155 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5157 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
5158 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
5159 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
5160 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
5162 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
5163 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
5166 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5168 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
5169 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
5170 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
5171 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
5172 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
5173 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
5174 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
5175 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
5187 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
5188 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
5189 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
5190 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
5191 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
5196 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
5197 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
5205 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
5210 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
5211 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
5214 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
5215 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
5216 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
5217 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
5219 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
5221 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
5223 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
5224 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
5226 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
5228 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
5230 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
5231 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
5233 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
5236 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
5238 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
5240 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
5242 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
5244 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
5246 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
5248 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
5249 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
5250 when the hook was created.
5252 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
5253 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
5254 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
5255 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
5256 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
5257 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
5258 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
5259 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
5260 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
5262 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
5263 the dlopen family of functions.
5265 ** New function `provided?'
5267 - Function: provided? FEATURE
5268 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
5269 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
5270 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
5272 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
5274 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
5275 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
5276 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
5277 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
5280 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
5281 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
5282 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
5283 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
5285 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
5286 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
5287 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
5290 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
5291 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
5292 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
5293 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
5294 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
5295 but with the flag set.
5297 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
5299 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
5300 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
5302 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
5303 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
5304 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
5305 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
5306 available Scheme format implementations.
5308 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
5309 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
5310 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
5311 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
5312 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
5313 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
5314 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
5315 output is to the current error port if available by the
5316 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
5319 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
5320 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
5321 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
5322 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
5323 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
5324 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
5325 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
5326 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
5328 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
5329 be executed at a time.
5332 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
5334 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
5335 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
5336 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
5338 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
5339 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
5340 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
5341 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
5342 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
5343 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
5344 general form of a directive is:
5346 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
5348 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
5350 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
5352 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
5353 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
5354 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
5357 Any (print as `display' does).
5361 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
5365 S-expression (print as `write' does).
5369 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
5375 print number sign always.
5378 print comma separated.
5380 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
5386 print number sign always.
5389 print comma separated.
5391 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
5397 print number sign always.
5400 print comma separated.
5402 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
5408 print number sign always.
5411 print comma separated.
5413 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
5418 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
5422 print a number as a Roman numeral.
5425 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
5428 print a number as an ordinal English number.
5431 print a number as a cardinal English number.
5436 prints `y' and `ies'.
5439 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
5442 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
5447 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
5451 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
5454 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
5455 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
5457 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5460 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
5461 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
5463 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5466 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
5468 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
5470 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5473 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
5475 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
5477 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5480 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
5483 The sign appears before the padding.
5491 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
5493 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
5498 print N page separators.
5508 newline is ignored, white space left.
5511 newline is left, white space ignored.
5516 relative tabulation.
5522 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
5524 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
5527 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
5529 converts by `string-capitalize'.
5532 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
5535 converts by `string-upcase'.
5538 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
5540 jumps N arguments forward.
5543 jumps 1 argument backward.
5546 jumps N arguments backward.
5549 jumps to the 0th argument.
5552 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
5554 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
5555 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
5557 take argument from N.
5560 true test conditional.
5563 if-else-then conditional.
5569 default clause follows.
5572 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
5574 at most N iterations.
5577 args from next arg (a list of lists).
5580 args from the rest of arguments.
5583 args from the rest args (lists).
5594 aborts if N <= M <= K
5596 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
5599 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
5602 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
5608 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
5610 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
5612 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
5613 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
5614 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
5615 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
5616 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
5617 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
5621 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
5625 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
5631 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
5634 Print a `#\space' character
5636 print N `#\space' characters.
5639 Print a `#\tab' character
5641 print N `#\tab' characters.
5644 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
5645 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
5646 must be a positive decimal number.
5649 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
5650 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
5651 be processed by `read'.
5654 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
5655 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
5656 be processed by `read'.
5659 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
5662 prints format version.
5665 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
5666 and format it accordingly.
5668 *** Configuration Variables
5670 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
5671 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
5672 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
5673 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
5676 format:symbol-case-conv
5677 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
5678 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
5679 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
5680 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
5681 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
5683 format:iobj-case-conv
5684 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
5685 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
5688 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
5691 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
5697 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
5698 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
5699 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
5700 `format' padding style.
5703 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
5704 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
5705 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
5706 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
5710 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
5711 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
5712 directive parameters or modifiers)).
5715 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
5716 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
5717 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
5718 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
5719 parameters or modifiers)).
5722 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
5724 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
5726 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
5727 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
5729 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
5730 string-downcase! functions.
5732 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
5733 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
5735 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
5738 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
5741 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
5742 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
5744 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
5746 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
5747 the symbol had be read by `read'.
5749 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
5750 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
5751 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
5752 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
5753 would if STRING were input.
5755 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
5757 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
5758 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
5759 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
5760 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
5763 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
5765 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
5766 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
5769 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
5771 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
5772 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
5774 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
5775 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
5777 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
5778 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
5779 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
5780 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
5782 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
5783 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
5785 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
5786 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
5787 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
5789 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
5790 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
5792 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
5793 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
5794 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
5795 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
5796 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
5798 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
5799 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
5800 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
5801 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
5802 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
5803 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
5805 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
5806 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
5807 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
5810 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
5811 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
5812 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
5813 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
5814 the following grammar:
5815 ((apples (single-char #\a))
5816 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
5817 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
5818 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
5819 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
5820 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
5821 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
5822 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
5823 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
5824 last option in its combination)
5826 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
5827 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
5828 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
5829 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
5831 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
5832 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
5833 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
5835 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
5836 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
5837 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
5839 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
5840 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
5841 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
5842 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
5843 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
5844 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
5845 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
5846 ordinary argument strings.
5848 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
5849 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
5850 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
5851 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
5853 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
5854 as a list, associated with the empty list.
5856 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
5857 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
5858 - a required option is omitted
5859 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
5860 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
5861 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
5862 - an option predicate fails
5867 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
5870 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
5871 (verbose (required? #f)
5874 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
5875 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
5876 (predicate ,string?))))
5878 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
5879 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
5881 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
5882 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
5883 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
5884 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
5887 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
5889 It will be removed in a few releases.
5891 ** New syntax: lambda*
5892 ** New syntax: define*
5893 ** New syntax: define*-public
5894 ** New syntax: defmacro*
5895 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
5896 Guile now supports optional arguments.
5898 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
5899 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
5900 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
5901 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
5902 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
5904 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
5905 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
5906 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
5908 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
5910 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
5911 and examples for `lambda*':
5914 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
5916 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
5917 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
5918 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
5919 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
5920 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
5921 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
5922 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
5923 can be checked with the bound? macro.
5925 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
5927 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
5928 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
5929 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
5930 are given as keywords are bound to values.
5932 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
5933 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
5934 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
5935 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
5936 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
5937 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
5938 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
5939 and until the procedure is called.
5941 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
5943 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
5944 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
5945 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
5946 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
5947 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
5948 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
5949 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
5950 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
5951 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
5952 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
5954 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
5955 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
5956 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
5957 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
5960 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
5962 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
5963 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
5964 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
5965 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
5967 ** New syntax: and-let*
5968 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
5970 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
5971 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
5972 (<variable> <expression>)
5975 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
5976 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
5977 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
5980 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
5981 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
5982 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
5983 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
5984 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
5985 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
5986 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
5988 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
5989 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
5990 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
5991 shadow earlier bindings.
5993 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
5995 ** New sorting functions
5997 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
5998 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
5999 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
6000 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
6002 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
6003 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
6006 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
6007 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
6008 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
6010 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
6011 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
6012 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
6013 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
6015 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
6016 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
6017 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
6018 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
6019 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
6022 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
6023 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
6024 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
6025 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
6026 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
6027 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
6029 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
6030 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
6031 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
6033 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
6034 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
6035 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
6038 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
6039 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
6040 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
6042 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
6043 Added for compatibility with scsh.
6045 ** New built-in random number support
6047 *** New function: random N [STATE]
6048 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
6049 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
6050 returned have a uniform distribution.
6052 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
6053 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
6054 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
6055 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
6056 effect of the `random' operation.
6058 *** New variable: *random-state*
6059 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
6060 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
6061 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
6062 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
6063 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
6066 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
6067 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
6068 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
6069 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
6070 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
6072 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
6073 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
6074 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
6075 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
6076 initialized using SEED.
6078 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
6079 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
6080 range between 0 and 1.
6082 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
6083 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
6084 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
6085 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
6086 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
6087 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
6088 or a uniform vector of doubles.
6090 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
6091 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
6092 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
6093 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
6094 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
6095 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
6097 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
6098 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
6099 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
6100 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
6102 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
6103 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
6104 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
6105 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
6107 *** New function: random:exp STATE
6108 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
6109 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
6111 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
6113 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
6116 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
6117 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
6120 ** New function: make-guardian
6121 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
6122 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
6123 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
6124 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
6125 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
6127 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
6128 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
6129 one object if at all.
6131 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
6132 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
6133 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
6135 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
6136 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
6137 read again in last-in first-out order.
6139 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
6140 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
6142 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
6144 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
6145 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
6146 file position is used.
6148 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
6149 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
6150 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
6152 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
6153 redefined using seek.
6155 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
6156 size is not supplied.
6158 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
6159 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
6161 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
6162 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
6164 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
6166 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
6167 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
6168 and returns the contents as a single string.
6170 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
6171 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
6172 lists in serial order.
6174 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
6175 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
6176 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
6178 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
6179 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
6180 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
6181 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
6183 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
6184 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
6185 and #f if an error occured.
6187 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
6189 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
6190 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
6191 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
6192 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
6194 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
6196 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
6199 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
6201 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
6204 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6208 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
6209 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
6211 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
6212 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
6216 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6218 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
6220 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
6221 binds a variable named NAME to it.
6223 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
6225 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
6226 might change when we get the new module system.
6228 ** The smob interface
6230 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
6231 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
6233 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
6235 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
6239 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
6240 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
6241 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
6242 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
6243 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
6244 will be freed by the default free function.
6246 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6247 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
6248 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6249 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6251 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6252 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
6253 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6254 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6256 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
6258 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
6259 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
6263 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
6264 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6265 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6267 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
6268 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
6269 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6270 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6272 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
6273 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
6274 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
6276 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
6277 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
6278 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
6279 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
6281 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
6282 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
6283 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
6285 *** scm_newptob has been removed
6289 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
6291 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
6292 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
6293 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
6295 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
6296 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
6297 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
6299 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
6300 a string port's buffer.
6302 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
6303 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
6304 function pointers which together define the current random number
6305 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
6306 number library functions.
6308 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
6311 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
6312 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
6315 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
6316 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
6318 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
6319 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
6321 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
6322 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
6325 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
6326 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
6327 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
6328 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
6330 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
6331 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
6332 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
6333 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
6334 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
6335 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
6336 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
6338 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
6339 by libguile and the application.
6341 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
6342 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
6343 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
6344 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
6346 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
6347 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
6349 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
6350 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
6351 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
6353 ** Random number library functions
6354 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
6355 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
6356 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
6358 The default random state is stored in:
6360 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
6361 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
6362 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
6367 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
6369 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
6370 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
6371 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
6372 isn't a random state.
6374 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
6375 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
6377 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
6378 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
6379 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
6380 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
6382 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6383 Return 32 random bits.
6385 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6386 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
6388 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6389 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
6391 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6392 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
6394 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
6395 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
6397 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
6398 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
6399 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
6403 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
6405 * Changes to the distribution
6407 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
6408 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
6409 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
6412 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
6413 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
6414 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
6416 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
6417 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
6418 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
6419 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
6422 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
6423 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
6424 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
6426 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6428 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
6430 *** Function: batch-mode?
6432 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
6435 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
6437 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
6438 case has not been implemented.
6440 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
6441 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
6442 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
6445 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
6446 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
6448 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
6450 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6452 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
6454 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
6455 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
6458 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
6459 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
6460 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
6461 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
6464 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
6466 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
6467 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
6468 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
6469 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
6470 find those libraries.
6472 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
6473 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
6476 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
6478 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
6479 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
6480 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
6481 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
6483 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
6484 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
6485 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
6489 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
6491 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
6492 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
6493 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
6496 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
6497 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
6498 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
6499 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
6501 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
6502 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
6505 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
6506 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
6507 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
6508 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
6509 compiler where to find the libraries.
6511 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
6512 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
6513 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
6515 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
6516 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
6517 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
6518 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
6519 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
6523 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6525 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
6526 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
6527 internationalization support.
6529 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
6530 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
6531 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
6532 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
6533 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
6535 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
6536 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
6537 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
6538 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
6539 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
6541 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
6542 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
6543 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
6544 any GNU mirror site.
6546 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
6548 ** New function: add-history STRING
6549 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
6550 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
6551 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
6553 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
6555 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
6556 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
6557 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
6560 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
6561 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
6562 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
6564 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
6566 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
6569 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
6570 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
6573 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
6574 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
6575 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
6576 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
6577 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
6578 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
6580 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
6581 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
6582 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
6583 of the form mentioned above.
6585 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
6586 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
6587 returned in the special `rest' list.
6589 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
6590 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
6592 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
6594 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
6596 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
6598 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
6599 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
6600 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
6601 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
6602 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
6603 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
6604 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
6605 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
6608 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
6610 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
6612 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
6613 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
6616 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
6617 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
6618 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
6622 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
6623 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
6624 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
6625 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
6626 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
6627 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
6628 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
6629 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
6632 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
6634 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
6635 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
6636 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
6638 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
6640 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
6641 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
6643 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
6644 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
6645 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
6647 Why do we have this function?
6648 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
6649 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
6650 primitive, and display it differently, and
6651 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
6652 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
6655 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
6656 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
6659 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
6660 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
6661 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
6662 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
6664 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
6665 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
6668 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
6669 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
6671 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
6673 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
6674 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
6675 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
6676 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
6677 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
6678 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
6679 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
6682 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
6684 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
6685 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
6687 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
6688 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
6689 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
6690 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
6691 properly continue the print chain.
6693 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
6694 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
6695 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
6696 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
6697 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
6698 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
6699 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
6700 print-state, it is simply ignored.
6702 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
6703 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
6704 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
6705 safest to not check for these pairs.
6707 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
6708 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
6709 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
6710 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
6712 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
6714 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
6715 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
6717 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
6719 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
6721 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
6722 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
6723 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
6725 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
6726 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
6727 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
6729 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
6730 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
6731 the following functions and macros:
6733 Function: make-fluid
6735 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
6736 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
6737 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
6738 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
6739 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
6741 Function: fluid? OBJ
6743 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
6745 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
6746 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
6748 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
6749 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
6751 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
6753 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
6754 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
6755 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
6756 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
6757 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
6758 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
6759 modified by `with-fluids*'.
6761 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
6763 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
6764 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
6765 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
6766 should evaluate to a fluid.
6768 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
6770 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
6771 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
6772 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
6773 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
6774 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
6776 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
6779 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
6781 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
6783 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
6785 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
6788 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
6789 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
6790 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
6791 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
6792 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
6795 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
6796 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
6797 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
6799 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
6800 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
6801 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
6803 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
6804 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
6805 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
6806 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
6808 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
6809 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
6810 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
6811 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
6813 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
6814 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
6815 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
6816 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
6818 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
6819 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
6820 their revealed counts set to zero.
6822 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6823 Returns an integer file descriptor.
6825 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6826 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
6828 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6829 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
6831 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6832 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
6833 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
6835 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
6836 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
6837 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
6839 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
6840 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
6841 default environment inherited by child processes.
6843 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
6844 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
6845 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
6847 The return value is unspecified.
6849 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
6850 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
6851 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
6852 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
6853 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
6855 The return value is unspecified.
6857 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
6858 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
6866 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
6867 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
6870 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
6873 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
6874 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
6875 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
6877 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
6878 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
6879 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
6880 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
6883 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
6884 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
6886 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
6887 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
6888 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
6889 the `environ' procedure.
6891 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
6892 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
6895 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
6896 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
6898 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
6899 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
6900 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
6901 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
6903 *** procedure: times
6904 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
6905 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
6906 return a selected component:
6909 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
6913 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
6916 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
6920 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
6921 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
6925 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
6926 terminated child processes.
6928 ** Removed: list-length
6929 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
6930 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
6932 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
6934 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
6936 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
6938 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
6939 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
6940 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
6941 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
6943 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
6944 extra complexity it introduces.
6946 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
6947 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
6949 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
6950 variable to any non-empty value.
6952 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
6953 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
6955 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6957 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
6958 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
6960 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
6962 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
6963 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
6965 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
6967 ** vector handling routines
6969 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
6970 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
6971 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
6972 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
6973 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
6975 ** pair and list routines
6977 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
6980 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
6982 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
6985 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6987 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
6989 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
6990 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
6991 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
6992 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
6993 site-specific initialization code.
6995 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
6996 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
6997 initialization processes.
6999 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
7000 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
7001 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
7002 initialized properly.
7004 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
7005 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
7006 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
7008 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
7009 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
7010 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
7011 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
7012 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
7014 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
7016 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
7017 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
7018 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
7019 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
7020 objects the smob refers to get marked.
7022 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
7023 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
7024 which look like this:
7027 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
7029 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
7030 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
7033 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
7034 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
7037 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
7039 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
7040 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
7041 you will need to change your functions slightly.
7043 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
7044 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
7045 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
7046 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
7047 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
7049 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
7050 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
7052 int (*free) (SCM port);
7053 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
7054 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
7055 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
7059 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
7060 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
7061 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
7063 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
7066 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
7067 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
7068 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
7070 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
7071 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
7072 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
7075 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
7079 struct timeval *timeout);
7081 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
7082 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
7083 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
7084 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
7085 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
7086 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
7088 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
7089 scm_catch_body_t body,
7091 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
7094 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
7095 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
7096 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
7097 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
7098 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
7099 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
7101 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
7103 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
7106 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
7107 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
7108 spawning threads from application C code.
7110 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
7111 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
7112 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
7113 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
7114 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
7115 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
7117 ** Removed functions:
7119 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
7120 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
7122 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
7124 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
7125 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
7127 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
7129 ** mbstrings are now removed
7131 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
7132 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
7134 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
7136 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
7137 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
7138 their new names and arguments:
7140 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
7141 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
7142 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
7143 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
7146 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
7148 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
7150 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
7153 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
7155 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
7156 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
7157 pass a #f arg to catch.
7159 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
7161 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
7162 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
7165 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
7166 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
7167 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
7168 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
7169 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
7170 reclaim its storage.
7172 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
7173 worrying that some other function you call will call
7174 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
7175 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
7176 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
7177 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
7180 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
7182 * Changes to the distribution
7184 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
7185 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
7188 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
7189 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
7191 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7192 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7194 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
7196 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
7197 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
7198 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
7200 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7202 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
7203 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
7204 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
7205 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
7206 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
7207 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
7209 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
7210 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
7211 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
7214 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
7215 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
7216 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
7217 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
7219 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
7220 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
7221 libraries to your link command:
7223 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
7224 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
7225 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7226 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7228 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
7229 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
7230 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
7232 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7234 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
7235 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
7238 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
7240 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
7241 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
7242 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
7243 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
7244 searched is system dependent.
7246 (dynamic-object? VAL)
7248 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
7250 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
7252 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
7253 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
7255 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
7257 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
7258 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
7259 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
7260 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
7261 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
7264 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
7266 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
7267 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
7268 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
7269 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
7270 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
7272 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
7274 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
7275 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
7277 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
7279 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
7280 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
7281 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
7284 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
7286 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
7287 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
7288 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
7289 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
7291 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
7292 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
7294 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
7296 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
7297 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
7299 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
7301 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
7302 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
7310 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
7312 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
7313 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
7314 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
7315 a more informative way.
7317 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
7318 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
7319 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
7320 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
7321 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
7322 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
7324 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
7325 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
7328 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
7329 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
7330 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
7333 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
7334 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
7335 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
7336 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
7337 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
7338 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
7340 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
7341 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
7342 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
7343 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
7346 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
7347 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
7348 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
7349 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
7350 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
7351 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
7353 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
7354 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
7355 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
7356 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
7357 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
7359 *** regexp functions
7361 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
7362 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
7363 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
7365 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
7366 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
7367 with SCSH regular expressions.
7369 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
7370 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
7371 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
7372 position of STR at which to begin matching.
7374 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
7375 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
7376 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
7377 `string-match' returns `#f'.
7379 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
7380 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
7381 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
7382 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
7383 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
7384 match strings against the compiled regexp.
7386 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
7387 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
7388 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
7389 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
7390 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
7392 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
7394 **** Constant: regexp/extended
7395 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
7396 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
7397 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
7399 **** Constant: regexp/icase
7400 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
7401 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
7403 **** Constant: regexp/newline
7404 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
7406 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
7409 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
7410 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
7411 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
7413 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
7414 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
7415 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
7417 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
7418 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
7419 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
7420 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
7421 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
7424 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
7426 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
7427 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
7428 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
7429 used when different portions of a string are passed to
7430 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
7431 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
7433 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
7434 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
7435 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
7437 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
7438 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
7441 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
7442 and replace them with the contents of another string.
7444 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
7445 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
7446 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
7447 may be one of the following arguments:
7449 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
7451 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
7453 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
7454 the regexp match is written.
7456 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
7457 following the regexp match is written.
7459 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
7460 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
7463 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
7464 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
7465 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
7466 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
7467 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
7468 which should be matched against this regular expression.
7470 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
7473 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
7474 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
7475 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
7476 written out to PORT.
7478 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
7479 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
7480 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
7481 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
7482 will return after processing a single match.
7484 *** Match Structures
7486 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
7487 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
7488 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
7489 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
7490 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
7491 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
7494 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
7495 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
7496 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
7497 information about the original target string that was matched against a
7498 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
7500 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
7501 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
7502 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
7504 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
7505 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
7506 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
7507 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
7508 number N did not match, return `#f'.
7510 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
7511 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
7513 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
7514 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
7516 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
7517 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
7519 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
7520 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
7522 **** Function: match:count MATCH
7523 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
7524 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
7525 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
7527 **** Function: match:string MATCH
7528 Return the original TARGET string.
7530 *** Backslash Escapes
7532 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
7533 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
7534 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
7535 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
7536 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
7537 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
7539 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
7540 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
7541 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
7542 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
7543 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
7544 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
7545 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
7546 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
7548 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
7549 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
7550 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
7551 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
7552 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
7553 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
7554 each match a single backslash in the target string.
7556 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
7557 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
7558 return the resulting string.
7560 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
7561 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
7562 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
7563 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
7564 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
7565 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
7566 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
7567 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
7568 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
7569 translated to the single character `*'.
7571 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
7572 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
7573 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
7574 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
7575 consecutive backslashes:
7577 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
7579 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
7580 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
7581 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
7583 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
7584 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
7585 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
7586 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
7587 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
7588 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
7590 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
7592 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
7593 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
7594 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
7595 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
7596 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
7597 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
7598 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
7599 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
7600 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
7601 cumbersome escape syntax.
7603 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7605 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7607 * Changes to system call interfaces:
7609 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
7612 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
7614 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
7616 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
7619 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
7620 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
7621 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
7622 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
7623 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
7625 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
7626 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
7627 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
7628 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
7629 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
7630 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
7631 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
7634 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
7635 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
7636 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
7639 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
7640 `force-output' on every port open for output.
7642 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
7643 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
7644 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
7645 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
7646 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
7647 installed, you can say:
7649 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
7652 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7654 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
7655 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
7656 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
7657 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
7658 new dynamic roots and threads.
7661 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
7663 * Changes to the distribution.
7665 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
7667 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
7668 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
7669 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
7670 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
7671 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
7672 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
7673 programming language. These are packaged together because the
7674 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
7676 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
7679 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
7680 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
7685 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7687 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
7688 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
7690 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
7691 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
7692 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
7693 the (command-line) function.
7694 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
7695 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
7696 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
7698 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
7699 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
7700 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
7701 command line arguments
7702 -ds do -s script at this point
7703 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
7704 -h, --help display this help and exit
7705 -v, --version display version information and exit
7706 \ read arguments from following script lines
7708 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
7709 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
7711 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7714 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
7718 (main (command-line))
7720 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
7722 ekko a speckled gecko
7724 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
7725 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
7726 following list of command-line arguments:
7728 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
7730 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
7731 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
7732 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
7733 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
7734 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
7736 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
7738 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
7740 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
7741 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
7744 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
7745 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
7746 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
7747 SCSH) for circumventing them.
7749 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
7750 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
7751 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
7752 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
7754 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
7758 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
7762 If the user invokes this script as follows:
7764 ekko a speckled gecko
7766 Unix expands this into
7768 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
7770 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
7771 read from the second line of the script, producing:
7773 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
7775 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
7776 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
7778 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
7779 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
7780 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
7781 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
7782 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
7783 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
7784 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
7785 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
7786 it only terminates the argument list.)
7787 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
7788 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
7789 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
7790 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
7791 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
7792 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
7793 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
7794 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
7796 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7798 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
7799 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
7800 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
7801 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
7802 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
7804 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
7805 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
7806 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
7808 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
7810 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
7811 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
7812 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
7813 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
7816 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
7817 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7818 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7820 * Changes to Scheme functions
7822 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
7823 and disabled by default.
7825 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
7826 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
7827 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
7828 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
7830 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
7832 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
7834 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
7835 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
7837 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
7838 (read-set! keywords #f)
7840 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
7841 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
7842 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
7845 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
7846 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
7847 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
7850 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
7851 support for Scheme functions.
7853 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
7854 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
7855 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
7856 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
7859 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
7860 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
7861 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
7864 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
7865 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
7866 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
7869 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
7870 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
7871 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
7872 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
7873 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
7874 display the result as a prompt.
7875 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
7877 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
7878 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
7879 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
7882 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
7883 procedure of zero arguments.
7885 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
7886 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
7887 argument is bound in the current module.
7889 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
7890 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
7891 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
7892 public bindings into the current module.
7894 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
7895 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
7897 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
7898 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
7900 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
7901 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
7903 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
7904 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
7906 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
7907 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
7909 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
7910 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
7911 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
7912 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
7913 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
7915 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
7916 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
7917 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
7918 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
7920 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
7923 ** Changes to I/O functions
7925 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
7926 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
7927 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
7929 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
7930 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
7931 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
7933 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
7934 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
7936 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
7937 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
7938 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
7939 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
7941 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
7943 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
7944 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
7946 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
7947 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
7948 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
7949 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
7950 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
7953 'trim omit delimiter from result
7954 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
7955 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
7956 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
7958 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
7960 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
7961 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
7963 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
7964 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
7965 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
7966 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
7967 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
7969 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
7970 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
7971 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
7973 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
7974 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
7975 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
7976 above, and defaults to 'peek.
7978 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
7979 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
7981 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
7982 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
7984 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
7986 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
7987 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
7988 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
7989 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
7990 a delimiting character.
7991 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
7993 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
7994 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
7995 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
7996 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
7997 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
7998 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
8000 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
8001 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
8003 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
8004 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
8005 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
8007 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
8008 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
8009 the array to read and write.
8011 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
8012 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
8015 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
8017 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
8020 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
8021 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
8022 Values for COMMAND are:
8024 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
8025 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
8026 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
8027 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
8028 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
8029 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
8030 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
8031 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
8033 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
8035 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
8036 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
8037 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
8038 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
8039 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
8040 corresponding return set will be the same.
8042 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
8045 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
8046 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
8047 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
8048 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
8049 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
8050 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
8051 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
8052 special file being created.
8054 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
8055 clashing with various SCSH forks.
8057 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
8058 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
8059 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
8060 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
8061 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
8062 and originating address.
8064 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
8065 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
8066 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
8068 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
8071 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
8072 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
8075 (status:exit-val STATUS)
8076 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
8077 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
8078 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
8079 this function returns #f.
8081 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
8082 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
8083 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
8086 (status:term-sig STATUS)
8087 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
8088 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
8091 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
8092 a valid STATUS value.
8094 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
8096 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
8097 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
8099 Component Accessor Setter
8100 ========================= ============ ============
8101 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
8102 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
8103 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
8104 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
8105 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
8106 year tm:year set-tm:year
8107 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
8108 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
8109 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
8110 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
8111 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
8113 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
8114 describing the host system:
8117 ============================================== ================
8118 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
8119 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
8120 release level of the operating system utsname:release
8121 version level of the operating system utsname:version
8122 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
8124 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
8125 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
8126 system's user database:
8129 ====================== =================
8130 user name passwd:name
8131 user password passwd:passwd
8134 real name passwd:gecos
8135 home directory passwd:dir
8136 shell program passwd:shell
8138 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
8139 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
8140 system's group database:
8143 ======================= ============
8144 group name group:name
8145 group password group:passwd
8147 group members group:mem
8149 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
8150 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
8154 ========================= ===============
8155 official name of host hostent:name
8156 alias list hostent:aliases
8157 host address type hostent:addrtype
8158 length of address hostent:length
8159 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
8161 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
8162 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
8166 ========================= ===============
8167 official name of net netent:name
8168 alias list netent:aliases
8169 net number type netent:addrtype
8170 net number netent:net
8172 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
8173 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
8177 ========================= ===============
8178 official protocol name protoent:name
8179 alias list protoent:aliases
8180 protocol number protoent:proto
8182 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
8183 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
8187 ========================= ===============
8188 official service name servent:name
8189 alias list servent:aliases
8190 port number servent:port
8191 protocol to use servent:proto
8193 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
8194 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
8197 ======================================== ===============
8198 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
8199 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
8200 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
8201 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
8203 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
8204 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
8205 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
8207 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
8208 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
8210 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
8211 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
8213 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
8214 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
8216 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
8218 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
8220 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
8221 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
8222 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
8224 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
8225 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
8226 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
8227 return the remaining characters as a string.
8229 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
8230 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
8231 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
8233 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
8235 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8237 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
8240 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
8243 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
8244 and returns the array
8246 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
8247 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
8248 the user to interpret the data both ways.
8250 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8252 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
8253 symbol's value from C code:
8255 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
8256 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
8257 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
8258 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
8260 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
8261 without assigning them a value.
8263 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
8264 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
8265 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
8267 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
8268 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
8269 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
8271 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
8272 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
8274 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
8275 doesn't actually care about that.
8277 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
8278 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
8279 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
8281 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
8282 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
8283 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
8284 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
8285 which we have just created and initialized.
8287 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
8288 should one occur. We call it like this:
8289 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
8291 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
8292 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
8293 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
8294 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
8295 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
8296 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
8299 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
8300 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
8301 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
8302 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
8303 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
8304 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
8305 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
8308 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
8309 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
8310 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
8311 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
8312 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
8315 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
8316 scm_internal_catch, except:
8318 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
8319 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
8320 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
8321 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
8324 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
8325 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
8326 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
8328 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
8329 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
8330 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
8331 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
8334 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
8335 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
8336 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
8338 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
8339 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
8340 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
8341 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
8342 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
8344 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
8345 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
8346 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
8348 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
8349 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
8350 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
8352 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
8353 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
8355 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
8356 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
8357 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
8360 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
8361 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
8362 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
8363 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
8364 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
8365 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
8366 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
8369 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
8370 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
8372 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
8373 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
8374 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
8375 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
8376 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
8379 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
8380 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
8382 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
8383 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
8386 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
8387 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
8389 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8392 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
8393 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
8394 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
8395 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
8396 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
8397 given the following arguments:
8399 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
8401 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
8403 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
8405 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8408 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
8409 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
8410 command-line arguments.
8412 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
8413 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
8414 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
8415 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
8416 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
8417 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
8420 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8423 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
8424 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
8426 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
8427 rearranged slightly. They are now:
8429 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8430 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
8431 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
8432 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
8434 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8435 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
8437 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8438 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
8439 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
8440 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
8442 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8443 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
8445 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
8446 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
8448 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
8450 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
8451 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
8452 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
8455 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
8456 returns a port instead of an FD object.
8458 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
8459 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
8464 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
8467 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
8469 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
8470 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
8471 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
8472 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
8474 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
8476 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
8478 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
8479 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
8480 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
8481 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
8482 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
8483 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
8484 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
8485 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
8486 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
8487 for more information.
8489 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
8490 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
8492 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
8493 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
8494 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
8495 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
8496 following two lines at the top of the file:
8498 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8501 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
8502 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
8503 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
8505 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
8507 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8509 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
8512 (display (car args))
8513 (if (pair? (cdr args))
8515 (loop (cdr args)))))
8518 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
8519 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
8520 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
8521 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
8522 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
8523 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
8527 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
8530 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
8533 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
8535 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
8536 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
8537 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
8538 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
8539 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
8542 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
8543 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
8544 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
8545 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
8546 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
8549 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
8552 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
8553 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
8554 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
8557 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
8558 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
8559 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
8561 to see a backtrace, and
8562 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
8563 to see them by default.
8567 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
8569 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
8571 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
8572 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
8575 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
8576 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
8577 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
8578 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
8581 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
8582 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
8583 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
8584 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
8585 functions which inspired them.
8587 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
8588 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
8592 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
8594 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
8596 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
8597 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
8600 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
8601 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
8602 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
8604 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
8605 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
8606 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
8607 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
8608 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
8610 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
8612 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
8613 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
8614 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
8617 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
8620 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
8622 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
8623 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
8624 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
8625 above should serve their purposes.
8627 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
8628 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
8629 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
8630 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
8632 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
8635 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
8636 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
8637 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
8638 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
8640 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
8641 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
8642 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
8643 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
8645 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
8646 for the `read' function.
8649 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
8650 to that of `integer?'.
8652 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
8653 use the R4RS names for these functions.
8655 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
8656 it simply returns the object's property list.
8658 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
8659 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
8660 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
8661 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
8663 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
8665 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
8668 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
8670 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
8671 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
8673 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
8675 void (*main_func) (),
8678 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
8679 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
8680 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
8681 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
8682 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
8684 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
8685 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
8686 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
8687 know which arguments have been processed.
8689 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
8690 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
8691 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
8692 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
8693 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
8695 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
8696 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
8697 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
8698 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
8699 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
8700 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
8701 people from making that mistake.
8703 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
8704 convenient ways to override these when desired.
8706 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
8708 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
8712 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
8715 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
8716 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
8717 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
8718 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
8721 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
8722 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
8723 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
8724 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
8727 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
8728 have been added to the Guile library.
8730 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
8731 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
8732 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
8735 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
8736 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
8737 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
8739 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
8740 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
8741 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
8742 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
8743 argument from the list.
8746 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
8749 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
8750 null-terminated string, and returns it.
8752 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
8753 to a Scheme port object.
8755 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
8756 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
8761 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
8763 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
8764 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
8765 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
8766 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
8767 code as a special datatype.
8769 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
8770 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
8771 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
8772 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
8773 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
8776 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
8777 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
8778 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
8779 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
8780 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
8782 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
8785 Copyright information:
8787 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
8789 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
8790 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
8791 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
8792 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
8794 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
8795 of this document, or of portions of it,
8796 under the above conditions, provided also that they
8797 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
8802 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"