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, 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 Note: During the 1.9 series, we will keep an incremental NEWS for the
9 latest prerelease, and a full NEWS corresponding to 1.8 -> 2.0.
11 Changes in 1.9.15 (since the 1.9.14 prerelease):
13 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
15 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
17 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
18 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
19 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
20 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
23 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
25 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
26 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
27 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
28 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
30 *** Infinities are no longer integers.
32 Following the R6RS, infinities (+inf.0 and -inf.0) are no longer
33 considered to be integers.
35 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
37 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
38 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
39 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
40 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
43 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
45 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
46 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
47 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
50 *** New procedure: `finite?'
52 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
53 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
54 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
55 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
57 *** R6RS base library changes
59 **** `infinite?' changes
61 `infinite?' now returns #t for non-real complex infinities, and throws
62 exceptions for non-numbers. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers
63 by scheme, despite their name).
65 **** `finite?' changes
67 `finite?' now returns #f for NaNs and non-real complex infinities, and
68 throws exceptions for non-numbers. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered
69 numbers by scheme, despite their name).
71 ** New reader option: `hungry-eol-escapes'
73 Guile's string syntax is more compatible with R6RS when the
74 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled. See "String Syntax" in the
75 manual, for more information.
77 ** And of course, the usual collection of bugfixes
79 Interested users should see the ChangeLog for more information.
83 Changes in 1.9.x (since the 1.8.x series):
85 * New modules (see the manual for details)
87 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
88 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
89 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
90 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
91 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
92 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
93 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
94 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
95 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
96 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
97 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
98 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
99 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
100 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
101 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
102 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
103 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
104 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
105 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
106 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
107 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
108 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
109 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
111 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
113 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
114 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
115 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
117 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
118 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
119 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
121 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
123 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
124 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
125 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
127 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
129 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
130 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
133 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
135 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
137 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
138 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
140 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
142 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
143 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
144 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
146 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
147 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
149 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
150 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
151 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
154 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
156 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
157 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
159 ** Remove old Emacs interface
161 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
162 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
163 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
166 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
168 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
169 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
170 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
173 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
175 ** Command line additions
177 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
178 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
181 ** New reader options: `square-brackets' and `r6rs-hex-escapes'
183 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
184 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
185 parentheses. This option is on by default.
187 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
188 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
189 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
190 so this option is off by default.
192 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
194 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
195 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
196 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
198 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
199 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
201 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
203 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
204 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
205 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
207 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
208 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
209 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
210 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
212 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
213 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
216 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
218 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
221 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
223 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
224 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
225 include `/path/to/lib'.
227 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
229 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
232 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
234 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
235 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
236 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
237 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
240 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
242 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
243 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
244 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
246 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
248 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
249 just for the operator position.
251 ** Expression-oriented readline history
253 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
254 input lines. Let us know what you think!
256 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
258 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
259 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
261 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
263 ** Support for R6RS libraries
265 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
266 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
267 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
268 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
269 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
271 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
273 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
274 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
275 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
277 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
279 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
282 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
283 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
284 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
287 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
288 mentioned in that compatibility list.
290 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
292 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
293 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
294 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
295 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
297 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
298 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
299 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
300 code, and simplifying debugging.
302 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
303 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
305 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
306 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
307 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
308 both of these situations.
310 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
311 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
312 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
313 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
315 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
317 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
318 not apply to the compiler.
320 ** No more `local-eval'
322 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
323 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
324 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
325 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
328 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
329 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
332 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
334 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
335 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
336 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
338 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
339 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
340 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
343 Autocompiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
344 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
345 will be created if needed.
347 To inhibit autocompilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
348 variable to 0, or pass --no-autocompile on the Guile command line.
350 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
352 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
353 in the next prerelease.
355 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
357 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
359 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
361 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
363 ** Multicast socket options
365 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
366 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
369 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
371 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
373 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
375 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
377 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
379 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
380 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
381 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
383 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
384 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
385 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
386 procedures' docstrings for more information.
388 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
389 combining arity and formals. For example:
391 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
392 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
394 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
397 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
399 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
400 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
401 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
402 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
404 ** New language: ECMAScript
406 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
407 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
408 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
409 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
411 ** New language: Brainfuck
413 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
414 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
415 languages. See the manual for details, or
416 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
417 Brainfuck language itself.
419 ** New language: Elisp
421 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
422 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
423 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
425 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
427 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
428 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
429 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
430 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
433 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
435 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
436 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
437 properties. For example:
443 (procedure-properties foo)
444 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
446 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
449 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
451 (procedure-properties bar)
452 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
454 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
457 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
460 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
462 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
463 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
466 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
467 (define (helper x) ...)
469 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
471 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
474 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
475 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
477 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
479 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
480 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
481 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
483 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
485 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
486 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
487 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
488 for more information.
490 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
492 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
493 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
495 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
497 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
500 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
502 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
503 in the manual, for more information.
505 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
508 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
509 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
511 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
513 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
515 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
517 It is certainly possible to circumvent this resriction with e.g.
518 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. We would appreciate
519 feedback about this change (a consequence of using psyntax as the
520 default expander), and may choose to revisit this situation before 2.0
521 in response to user feedback.
523 ** Support for `letrec*'
525 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
526 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
527 manual, for more details.
529 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
531 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
532 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
537 (define baz (+ bar 20))
540 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
541 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
542 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
545 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
546 in earlier Guile dialects.
548 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
550 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
551 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
552 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
553 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
555 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
556 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
557 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
558 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
561 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
563 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
564 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
567 (define (helper x) ...)
568 (define-macro (foo bar)
571 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
574 (define (helper x) ...)
575 (define-macro (foo bar)
576 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
578 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
582 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
584 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
586 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
593 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
594 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
597 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
599 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
600 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
603 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
605 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
606 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
607 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
609 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
611 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
615 (define-macro (ref x) x)
618 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
619 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
620 macros before code that uses them.
622 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
625 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
627 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
628 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
629 (double-literal 2) => 4
631 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
632 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
633 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
635 (eval-when (load compile eval)
636 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
637 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
638 (double-literal 2) => 4
640 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
642 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
644 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
645 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
646 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
647 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
650 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
652 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
653 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
655 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
657 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
658 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
659 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
661 ** Incompatible change to #'
663 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
664 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
665 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
666 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
668 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
670 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
673 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
675 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
676 in the manual, for more information.
678 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
679 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
681 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
682 works (with compiled procedures)
684 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
685 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
686 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
687 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
689 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
690 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
691 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
692 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
693 number of stack frames.
695 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
696 active in the current continuation
698 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
699 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
700 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
701 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
703 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
705 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
707 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
708 through to the expanded code
710 This should result in better backtraces.
712 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
714 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
716 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
718 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
719 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
722 ** New procedure, `define!'
724 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
725 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
726 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
727 less verbose than `module-define!'.
729 ** All modules have names now
731 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
732 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
733 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
734 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
736 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
738 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
739 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
740 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
741 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
743 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
744 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
745 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
746 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
747 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
748 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
750 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
751 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
752 days of Guile's modules.
754 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
755 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
756 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
757 record accessors appropriately.
759 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
760 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
761 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
763 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
764 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
765 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
767 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
768 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
771 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
772 namespaces instead of values.
774 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
776 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
777 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
778 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
779 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
781 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
783 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
785 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
787 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
788 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
790 ** Modules load within a known environment
792 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
793 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
794 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
797 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
799 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
800 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
801 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
803 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
804 values to the expected number
806 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
807 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
808 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
810 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
811 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
812 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
813 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
815 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
816 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
817 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
819 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
822 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
824 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
826 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
827 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
828 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
829 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
830 the interpreter would proceed.
832 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
833 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
834 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
835 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
837 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
839 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
840 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
841 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
842 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
843 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
844 you to contact the Guile developers.
846 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
848 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
849 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
850 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
852 ** psyntax is now the default expander
854 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
855 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
858 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
859 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
860 code in question was memoized.
862 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
863 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
864 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
865 `x432' instead of `x'.
867 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
868 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
869 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
870 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
872 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
874 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
875 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
876 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
879 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
880 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
881 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
882 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
884 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
886 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
887 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
888 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
889 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
893 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
896 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
897 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
898 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
900 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
901 by nonhygienic macros.
903 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
904 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
907 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
908 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
909 (define-macro (ref x)
916 (define-syntax bind-x
918 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
919 (define-macro (ref x)
923 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
924 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
925 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
926 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
927 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
928 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
930 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
932 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
933 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
935 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
936 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
939 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
941 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
942 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
943 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
944 transformer procedures.
946 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
948 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
949 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
950 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
952 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
954 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
955 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
956 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
957 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
959 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
961 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
962 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
963 arity that the the function has, in the same format as the old arity
966 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
968 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
969 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
970 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
971 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
973 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
975 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
976 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
977 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
980 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
981 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
982 documentation for more details.
984 ** Better pretty-printing
986 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
987 macros like `quote' are printed better.
989 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
991 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
992 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
994 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
996 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
997 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
998 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
999 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
1000 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
1001 addressed by element and not by byte.
1003 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
1004 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
1005 endianness, as one would expect.
1007 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
1008 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
1009 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
1010 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
1013 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
1014 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
1016 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
1017 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
1019 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
1021 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
1023 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
1024 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
1025 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
1027 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
1028 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
1030 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
1032 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
1034 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
1035 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
1037 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
1039 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
1040 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
1043 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
1045 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
1046 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
1048 ** Unicode characters
1050 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
1051 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
1052 probably be introduced at some point.
1056 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
1057 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
1058 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
1060 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
1061 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
1062 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
1063 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
1067 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
1069 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
1071 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
1072 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
1073 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
1074 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
1075 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
1078 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
1079 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
1080 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
1082 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
1084 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
1085 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
1086 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
1089 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
1090 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
1091 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
1093 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
1095 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
1097 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
1098 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
1099 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
1100 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
1102 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
1104 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
1105 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
1106 Unicode code points.
1108 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
1110 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
1111 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
1112 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
1115 ** EBCDIC support is removed
1117 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
1118 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
1119 and was unmaintained.
1121 ** Compile-time warnings
1123 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
1124 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
1125 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
1126 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
1129 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
1130 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
1131 `#:warnings' as above.
1133 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
1134 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
1135 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
1137 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
1139 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
1142 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
1144 This slightly improves program startup times.
1146 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
1148 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
1150 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
1152 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
1153 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
1154 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
1155 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
1157 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
1159 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
1160 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
1161 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
1162 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
1164 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
1165 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
1166 implement method combinations.
1168 ** Applicable struct support
1170 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
1171 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
1172 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
1173 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
1174 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
1175 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
1176 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
1177 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
1181 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
1182 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
1183 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
1184 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
1185 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
1187 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
1189 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
1190 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
1191 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
1192 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
1194 ** eqv? not a generic
1196 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
1197 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
1198 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
1199 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
1201 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
1203 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
1204 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
1205 functions are deprecated.
1207 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
1209 See "File System" in the manual.
1211 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
1213 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
1214 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
1215 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
1217 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
1219 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
1220 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
1221 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
1223 ** Fast bit operations.
1225 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
1226 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
1227 it's for number crunching too.
1229 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
1231 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
1232 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
1233 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
1234 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
1236 ** R6RS block comment support
1238 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
1239 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
1241 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
1243 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
1244 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
1246 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
1247 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
1248 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1250 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
1251 ;; separate compilation phase.
1252 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1254 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
1256 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
1258 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
1260 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
1261 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
1262 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
1263 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
1264 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
1267 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
1268 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
1269 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
1270 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
1271 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
1273 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
1275 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
1277 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
1279 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
1281 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
1283 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
1285 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
1286 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
1287 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
1289 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
1291 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
1292 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
1294 ** New readline history functions
1296 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
1297 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
1298 History library functions.
1300 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
1301 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
1303 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
1306 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
1308 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
1309 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
1310 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
1311 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
1312 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
1313 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
1314 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
1316 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
1317 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
1319 The following bindings have been totally removed:
1320 `before-signal-stack'.
1322 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
1323 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
1324 a deprecation warning.
1326 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
1328 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
1329 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
1330 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
1331 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
1334 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
1336 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
1337 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
1338 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
1339 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
1341 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
1342 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
1344 ** `top-repl' has its own module
1346 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
1347 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
1348 left in the default environment.
1350 ** `display-error' takes a frame
1352 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
1353 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
1354 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
1355 information for the error.
1357 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
1359 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
1360 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
1361 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
1363 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
1365 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
1366 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
1368 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
1370 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
1373 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
1375 ** Remove obsolete print-options
1377 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
1380 ** Remove obsolete read-options
1382 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
1383 obsolete, so they have been removed.
1385 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
1387 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
1390 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
1392 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
1393 on their replacements.
1395 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
1397 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
1398 should use Guile with Emacs.
1400 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
1402 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
1403 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
1404 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
1405 `with-throw-handler'.
1407 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
1409 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
1410 and is no longer used.
1412 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
1414 `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
1415 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
1416 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', `set-batch-mode?!',
1418 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
1419 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
1421 ** Add support for unbound fluids
1423 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
1426 ** Add `variable-unset!'
1428 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
1430 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
1432 * Changes to the C interface
1434 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
1436 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
1437 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
1438 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
1440 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
1441 code easier and less error-prone.
1443 ** New procedures: `scm_to_latin1_stringn', `scm_from_latin1_stringn'
1445 Use these procedures when you know you have latin1-encoded or
1446 ASCII-encoded strings.
1448 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
1450 Use these procedures if you want to encode or decode from a particular
1453 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
1455 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
1456 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
1457 available to C. Have fun!
1459 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
1461 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
1463 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
1466 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
1467 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
1469 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
1471 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
1472 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
1473 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
1476 ** Remove old evaluator closures
1478 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
1479 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
1480 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
1481 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
1484 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
1486 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
1487 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
1488 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
1489 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
1490 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
1491 both with the old 1.8 and and with the current 1.9 branch.
1493 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
1494 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
1495 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
1496 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
1497 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
1498 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
1500 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
1501 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
1502 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
1503 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
1504 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
1506 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
1507 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
1508 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
1509 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
1510 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
1511 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
1513 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
1514 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
1515 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
1516 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
1519 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
1520 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
1523 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
1525 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
1526 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
1527 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
1528 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
1529 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
1531 ** Remove unused snarf macros
1533 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
1534 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
1536 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
1538 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
1539 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
1541 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
1543 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
1544 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
1546 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
1548 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
1549 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
1550 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
1551 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
1552 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
1555 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
1557 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
1558 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
1559 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
1560 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
1563 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
1564 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
1565 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
1566 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
1568 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
1570 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
1571 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
1572 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
1575 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
1576 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
1577 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
1578 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
1580 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
1582 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
1584 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
1586 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
1589 ** Inline vector allocation
1591 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
1592 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
1593 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
1594 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
1597 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
1599 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
1600 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
1604 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
1605 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
1606 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
1607 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
1608 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
1610 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
1612 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
1613 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
1614 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
1615 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
1616 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
1617 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
1621 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
1622 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
1623 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
1624 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
1626 ** Deprecate trampolines
1628 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
1629 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
1630 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
1631 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
1632 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
1634 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
1636 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
1638 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
1640 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
1641 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
1642 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
1643 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
1645 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
1647 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
1648 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
1649 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
1650 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
1651 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
1652 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
1653 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
1655 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
1657 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
1658 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
1661 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
1662 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
1664 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
1666 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
1667 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
1669 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
1671 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
1672 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
1673 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
1674 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
1676 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
1678 * Changes to the distribution
1680 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
1682 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
1683 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
1688 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
1689 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
1691 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
1693 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
1694 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
1696 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
1698 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
1699 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
1700 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
1703 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
1705 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
1706 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
1708 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
1710 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
1711 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
1713 ** Parallel installability fixes
1715 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
1716 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
1717 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
1719 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
1720 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
1721 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
1724 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
1726 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
1727 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
1728 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
1729 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
1730 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
1732 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
1734 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
1735 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
1736 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
1737 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
1738 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
1739 searched before the global site directory.
1741 ** New dependency: libgc
1743 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
1745 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
1747 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
1748 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
1750 ** New dependency: libffi
1752 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
1756 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
1760 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
1761 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
1762 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
1765 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
1767 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1769 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
1773 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
1774 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
1775 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
1776 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
1777 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
1778 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
1779 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
1780 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
1781 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
1782 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
1783 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
1785 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
1787 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
1788 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
1789 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
1792 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
1795 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
1797 * New features (see the manual for details)
1799 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
1801 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
1803 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
1804 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
1805 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
1807 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
1809 * Changes to the distribution
1811 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
1813 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
1814 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
1816 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
1818 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
1819 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
1824 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
1825 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
1826 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
1827 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
1828 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
1829 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
1830 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
1831 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
1832 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
1833 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
1834 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
1835 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
1836 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
1837 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
1839 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
1840 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
1841 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
1842 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
1843 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
1846 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
1848 * Infrastructure changes
1850 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
1852 The new repository can be accessed using
1853 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
1854 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
1856 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
1858 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
1860 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1864 * New features (see the manual for details)
1866 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
1867 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
1868 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
1870 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
1871 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
1872 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
1873 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
1875 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
1877 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
1878 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
1879 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
1883 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
1884 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
1886 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
1887 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
1889 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
1890 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
1892 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
1893 lead to a stack overflow.
1895 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
1896 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
1897 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
1898 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
1899 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
1900 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
1901 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
1902 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
1903 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
1904 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
1905 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
1906 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
1907 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
1908 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
1909 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
1910 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
1913 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
1917 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
1918 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
1919 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
1920 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
1921 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
1922 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
1923 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
1924 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
1925 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
1926 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
1927 system and library calls.
1928 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
1929 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
1930 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
1931 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
1932 uniform vectors on AIX.
1933 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
1934 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
1935 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
1936 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
1937 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
1939 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1943 * Documentation fixes and improvements
1945 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
1947 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
1948 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
1950 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
1952 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
1954 * Changes to the distribution
1956 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
1958 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
1959 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
1960 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
1962 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
1964 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
1967 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
1969 * New modules (see the manual for details)
1976 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
1977 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
1978 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
1979 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
1980 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
1981 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
1982 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
1984 * Implementation improvements
1986 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
1987 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
1990 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
1992 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1994 ** set-program-arguments
1997 * Incompatible changes
1999 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
2001 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
2002 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
2003 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
2004 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
2009 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
2010 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
2011 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
2012 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
2013 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
2014 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
2016 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
2017 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
2018 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
2019 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
2020 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
2021 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
2022 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
2023 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
2024 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
2025 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
2026 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
2027 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
2028 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
2029 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
2030 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
2031 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
2034 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
2036 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
2038 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
2040 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
2041 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
2042 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
2043 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
2044 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
2045 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
2053 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
2055 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
2057 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
2059 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
2061 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
2063 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
2065 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
2066 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
2067 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
2069 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
2071 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
2073 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
2074 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
2076 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
2078 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
2079 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
2081 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
2083 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
2085 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
2087 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
2089 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
2091 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
2093 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
2095 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
2097 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
2099 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
2100 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
2101 file was on a different device.
2104 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
2106 * Changes to the distribution
2108 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
2110 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
2112 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
2114 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
2116 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
2118 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
2121 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
2123 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
2124 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
2125 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
2126 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
2127 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
2128 items like the versioned share directory name
2129 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
2131 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
2132 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
2133 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
2134 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
2135 with each micro release during a stable series.
2137 ** Thread implementation has changed.
2139 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
2140 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
2141 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
2142 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
2143 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
2146 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
2147 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
2148 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
2149 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
2152 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
2153 in which case "null" threads are used.
2155 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
2156 "Blocking", and others.
2158 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
2160 This is a milder form of deprecation.
2162 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
2163 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
2164 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
2165 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
2166 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
2168 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
2169 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
2171 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
2173 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
2174 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
2176 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
2179 This SRFI is always available.
2181 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
2183 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
2184 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
2185 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
2186 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
2189 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
2191 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
2192 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
2193 parameters without currying.
2195 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
2197 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
2198 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
2200 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
2201 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
2204 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
2205 with a renaming import, for example.
2207 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
2209 The official version is good enough now.
2211 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
2213 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
2214 provided. Use 'make html'.
2216 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
2218 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
2219 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
2220 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
2221 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
2223 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
2225 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
2228 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2230 ** New command line option `-L'.
2232 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
2234 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
2236 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
2237 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
2239 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
2241 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
2242 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
2244 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
2246 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
2247 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
2250 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
2253 (define-module (demo)
2257 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
2260 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2262 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
2264 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
2265 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
2266 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
2268 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
2270 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
2271 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
2273 ** New function hashx-remove!
2275 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
2277 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
2278 barriers and dynamic states.
2280 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
2281 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
2282 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
2285 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
2286 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
2287 Barriers" in the manual.
2289 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
2290 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
2292 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
2294 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
2295 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
2296 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
2297 variable %load-path.
2299 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
2301 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
2302 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
2304 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
2305 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
2306 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
2308 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
2309 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
2311 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
2312 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
2313 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
2315 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
2316 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
2317 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
2320 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
2321 substrings and read-only strings.
2323 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
2324 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
2327 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
2329 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
2338 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
2339 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
2340 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
2342 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
2343 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
2344 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
2345 on an ANSI terminal:
2347 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
2348 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
2351 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
2353 See the manual for details.
2355 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
2357 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
2360 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
2362 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
2363 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
2364 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
2365 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
2367 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
2368 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
2369 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
2372 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
2374 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
2375 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
2386 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
2390 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
2395 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
2399 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
2403 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
2406 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
2407 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
2408 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
2409 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
2411 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
2412 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
2415 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
2418 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
2422 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
2424 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
2425 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
2426 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
2429 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
2432 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
2434 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
2437 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
2438 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
2441 (define-module (foo)
2446 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
2447 has been detected is to
2449 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
2450 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
2451 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
2454 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
2457 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
2459 to your .guile init file.
2461 ** New define-module option: :replace
2463 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
2466 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
2467 for the core binding `format'.
2469 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
2471 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
2472 a prefix to all imported bindings.
2474 (define-module (foo)
2475 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
2477 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
2480 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
2482 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
2483 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
2484 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
2486 ** New function: effective-version
2488 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
2489 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
2490 to the distribution" above.
2492 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
2494 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
2495 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
2497 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
2499 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
2500 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
2502 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
2504 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
2505 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
2508 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
2510 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
2512 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
2514 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
2515 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
2516 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
2519 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
2520 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
2521 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
2522 'system-async-mark'.
2524 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
2525 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
2527 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
2528 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
2529 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
2532 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
2534 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
2535 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
2538 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
2539 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2541 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
2542 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
2543 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
2544 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
2545 level for the current thread.
2547 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
2549 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
2551 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2552 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
2555 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
2557 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
2559 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
2562 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
2564 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
2567 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
2568 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
2569 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
2571 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
2572 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
2573 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
2574 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
2585 ERROR: Numerical overflow
2587 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
2590 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
2592 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
2593 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
2594 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
2605 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
2607 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
2608 them is also done exactly, of course:
2613 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
2614 for exact arguments.
2616 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
2617 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
2619 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
2621 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
2622 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
2623 equal to a floating point number. For example:
2625 (inexact->exact 1.234)
2626 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
2628 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
2630 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
2633 ** New function 'rationalize'.
2635 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
2636 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
2638 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
2641 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
2642 result when both its arguments are exact.
2644 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
2646 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
2647 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
2648 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
2650 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
2652 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
2653 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
2654 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
2656 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
2659 ** pretty-print has more options.
2661 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
2662 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
2663 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
2665 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
2667 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
2668 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
2669 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
2671 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
2673 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
2674 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
2676 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
2678 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
2679 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
2682 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
2684 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
2685 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
2686 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
2687 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
2688 without the soft port blocking.
2690 ** Deprecated: undefine
2692 There is no replacement for undefine.
2694 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
2695 have been discouraged.
2697 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
2698 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
2699 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
2702 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
2704 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
2706 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
2707 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
2708 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
2709 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
2712 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
2713 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
2714 be removed in the next major Guile release.
2716 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
2718 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
2719 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
2720 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
2721 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
2722 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
2723 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
2725 * Changes to the C interface
2727 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
2728 take a 'delete' function argument.
2730 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
2731 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
2733 This is an incompatible change.
2735 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
2737 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
2738 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
2739 --disable-deprecated.
2741 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
2743 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
2744 Scheme values has been added.
2746 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
2747 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
2750 - int scm_is_* (...)
2752 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
2753 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
2755 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
2757 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
2758 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
2761 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
2763 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
2764 scm_from_int for ints.
2766 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
2767 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
2768 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
2770 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
2772 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
2773 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
2774 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
2777 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
2779 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
2781 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
2783 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
2784 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
2785 following alternatives.
2787 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
2788 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
2789 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
2790 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
2792 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
2793 do the validating for you.
2795 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
2796 have been discouraged.
2798 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
2799 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
2802 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
2804 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
2805 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
2808 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
2810 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
2813 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
2816 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
2818 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
2819 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
2821 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
2822 scm_truncate_number should have.
2824 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
2825 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
2827 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
2830 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
2831 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
2832 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
2834 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
2835 easier to use from C.
2837 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
2838 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
2840 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
2841 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
2842 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
2845 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
2846 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
2847 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
2848 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
2851 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
2852 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
2853 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
2854 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
2855 and is thus quite efficient.
2857 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
2859 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
2860 about the character encoding.
2862 Replace according to the following table:
2864 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
2865 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
2866 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
2867 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
2868 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
2869 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
2870 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
2871 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
2872 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
2874 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
2875 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
2877 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
2879 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
2880 now also available to C code.
2882 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
2884 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
2885 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
2886 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
2888 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
2891 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
2893 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
2894 unceremoniously removed.
2896 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
2897 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
2898 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
2900 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
2901 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
2902 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2903 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
2904 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
2905 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
2908 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
2910 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
2911 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
2912 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
2913 manual for more details.
2915 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
2916 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
2918 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
2919 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
2920 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
2922 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
2924 Migrate according to the following table:
2926 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
2927 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
2928 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
2929 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
2930 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
2931 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
2932 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
2934 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
2935 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
2936 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
2937 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
2938 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
2939 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
2940 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
2942 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
2944 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
2945 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
2947 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
2948 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
2949 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
2950 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
2952 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
2954 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
2955 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
2956 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
2958 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
2959 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
2961 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
2962 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
2963 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
2964 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
2966 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
2968 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
2969 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
2970 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
2971 prevent a potential memory leak:
2978 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
2980 mem = scm_malloc (100);
2981 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
2983 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
2984 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
2991 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
2992 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
2996 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
2998 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
3000 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
3001 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
3002 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
3004 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
3005 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
3007 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
3009 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
3011 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
3012 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
3013 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
3015 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
3016 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
3018 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
3019 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
3020 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
3021 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
3024 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
3026 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
3027 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
3028 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
3030 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
3032 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
3033 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
3035 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
3037 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
3038 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
3040 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
3042 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
3043 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
3044 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
3046 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
3048 You should not have used them.
3050 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
3052 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
3053 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
3055 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
3057 This macro is not intended for public use.
3059 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
3061 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
3063 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
3065 Use scm_is_real instead.
3067 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
3069 Use scm_is_complex instead.
3071 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
3073 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
3074 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
3076 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
3077 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
3079 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
3080 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
3082 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
3084 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
3087 ** New function: scm_effective_version
3089 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
3090 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
3091 to the distribution" above.
3093 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
3095 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
3096 arguments are now passed directly:
3098 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
3100 This is an incompatible change.
3102 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
3104 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
3105 function in the init section.
3107 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
3109 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
3111 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
3112 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
3113 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
3114 stays roughly constant.
3116 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
3117 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
3118 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
3119 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
3120 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
3123 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
3124 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
3125 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
3126 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
3128 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
3129 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
3130 objects for every type.
3133 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
3135 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
3137 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
3139 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
3140 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
3141 initializes a new cell (see below).
3143 ** New functions for memory management
3145 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
3146 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
3147 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
3148 cause aborts in long running programs.
3150 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
3151 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
3153 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
3154 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
3155 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
3156 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
3157 details and for upgrading instructions.
3159 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
3160 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
3161 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
3163 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
3165 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
3166 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
3167 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
3168 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
3169 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
3171 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
3172 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
3173 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
3175 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
3176 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
3178 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
3180 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
3181 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
3182 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
3183 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
3184 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
3186 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
3188 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
3191 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
3193 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
3195 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
3197 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
3198 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
3200 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
3202 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
3203 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
3205 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
3206 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
3208 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
3210 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
3212 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
3213 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
3214 blocking it is not well defined.
3216 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
3218 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
3219 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
3220 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
3221 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
3222 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
3223 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
3224 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
3225 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
3226 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
3227 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
3228 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
3229 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
3230 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
3231 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
3232 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
3233 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
3234 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
3235 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
3236 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
3237 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
3238 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
3239 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
3240 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
3241 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
3242 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
3243 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
3244 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
3245 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
3246 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
3247 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
3248 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
3250 * Changes to bundled modules
3254 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
3255 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
3256 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
3257 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
3258 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
3261 Changes since Guile 1.4:
3263 * Changes to the distribution
3265 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
3267 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
3269 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
3270 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
3271 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
3272 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
3273 indicate major changes in Guile.
3275 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
3276 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
3277 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
3278 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
3280 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
3281 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
3282 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
3283 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
3284 micro version number.
3286 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
3288 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
3290 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
3291 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
3293 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
3295 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
3296 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
3297 See INSTALL and README for more information.
3299 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
3301 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
3302 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
3303 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
3306 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
3308 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
3311 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
3313 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
3314 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
3316 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
3318 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
3319 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
3322 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
3324 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
3327 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
3330 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
3332 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
3334 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
3335 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
3336 open-output-string, get-output-string.
3338 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
3340 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
3342 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
3345 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
3347 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
3349 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
3351 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
3352 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
3353 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
3355 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
3357 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
3359 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
3360 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
3369 See README there for more info.
3371 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
3372 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
3375 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
3377 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
3379 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
3381 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
3382 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
3383 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
3385 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
3387 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
3388 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
3389 to be named `and-let*', of course.
3391 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
3392 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
3394 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
3397 (oop goops describe)
3399 (oop goops active-slot)
3400 (oop goops composite-slot)
3402 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
3403 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
3404 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
3406 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
3408 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
3409 in the default environment:
3411 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
3412 %read-line write-line
3414 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
3415 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
3417 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
3419 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
3422 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
3423 can be used for similar functionality.
3425 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
3427 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
3428 it defines two procedures:
3430 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
3432 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
3433 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
3434 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
3437 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
3439 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
3440 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
3441 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
3442 write large strings.
3444 ** New module (ice-9 match)
3446 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
3447 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
3449 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
3451 for complete documentation.
3453 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
3455 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
3456 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
3457 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
3458 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
3460 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
3461 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
3465 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
3466 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
3467 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
3470 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
3473 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
3474 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
3476 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
3477 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
3480 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
3483 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
3485 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
3487 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3489 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
3491 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
3492 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
3493 Scheme programs easier.
3495 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
3496 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
3497 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
3498 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
3499 `cond-expand' when using this option.
3502 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
3503 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
3505 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
3508 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
3510 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
3511 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
3512 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
3515 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3517 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
3519 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
3520 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
3521 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
3522 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
3523 was also ASCII, for example.
3525 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
3527 tag - no replacement.
3528 fseek - replaced by seek.
3529 list* - replaced by cons*.
3531 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
3535 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
3536 (define m (make-safe-module))
3537 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
3538 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
3539 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
3541 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
3543 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
3544 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
3545 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
3547 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
3549 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
3550 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
3551 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
3552 from the issues related to the module system.
3554 *** New function: load-extension
3556 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
3558 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
3560 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
3561 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
3562 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
3564 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
3566 This function registers a initialization function for use by
3567 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
3568 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
3569 support dynamic linking).
3571 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
3573 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
3574 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
3575 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
3576 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
3579 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
3580 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
3581 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
3582 library and initialize it explicitly.
3584 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
3585 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
3587 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
3589 (define-module (foo bar))
3591 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
3593 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
3595 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
3596 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
3598 (scheme-report-environment 5)
3599 (null-environment 5)
3600 (interaction-environment)
3606 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
3608 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
3609 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
3610 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
3611 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
3613 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
3614 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
3615 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
3616 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
3617 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
3618 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
3619 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
3620 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
3621 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
3622 one eval to the next.
3624 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
3625 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
3626 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
3627 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
3628 subforms are at the top-level as well.
3630 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
3631 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
3632 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
3633 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
3634 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
3635 used in a lexical environment.
3637 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
3638 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
3639 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
3640 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
3641 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
3642 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
3644 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
3646 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
3647 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
3648 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
3649 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
3650 new facilities: selection and renaming.
3652 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
3653 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
3654 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
3656 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
3657 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
3659 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
3660 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
3661 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3663 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3664 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
3666 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
3667 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
3668 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
3669 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
3672 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
3673 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
3674 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
3675 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3677 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3678 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
3679 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
3681 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
3682 ;; and all four by upcasing.
3683 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
3684 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
3685 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
3687 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
3689 (remove-if . zonk-y)
3690 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
3691 :renamer upcase-symbol))
3693 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
3694 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
3695 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
3697 See manual for more info.
3699 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
3701 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
3702 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
3703 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
3705 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
3707 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
3708 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
3709 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
3711 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
3712 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
3713 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
3714 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
3716 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
3718 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
3719 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
3721 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
3722 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
3723 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
3724 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
3725 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
3728 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
3729 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
3730 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
3731 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
3732 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
3733 successful and #f if it wasn't.
3735 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
3736 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
3737 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
3738 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
3739 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
3741 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
3742 objects are usually permanent.
3744 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
3745 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
3747 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
3749 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
3750 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
3753 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
3757 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
3762 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
3764 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
3765 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
3766 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
3767 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
3769 ** New function `make-object-property'
3771 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
3772 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
3776 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
3777 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
3781 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
3782 source properties eventually.
3784 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
3786 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
3787 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
3788 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
3790 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
3791 will be removed in the next release.
3793 ** New define-module option: pure
3795 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
3800 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
3803 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
3805 Export names NAME1 ...
3807 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
3808 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
3812 (define-module (foo)
3814 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
3817 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
3822 ** New function: object->string OBJ
3824 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
3826 ** New function: port? X
3828 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
3829 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
3831 ** New function: file-port?
3833 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
3835 ** New function: port-for-each proc
3837 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
3838 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
3839 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
3840 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
3841 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
3843 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
3845 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
3846 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
3847 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
3848 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
3849 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
3852 ** New function: close-fdes fd
3854 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
3855 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
3856 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
3857 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
3860 ** New function: crypt password salt
3862 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
3865 ** New function: chroot path
3867 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
3869 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
3871 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
3874 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
3876 Get or set the priority of the running process.
3878 ** New function: getpass prompt
3880 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
3883 ** New function: flock file operation
3885 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
3887 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
3889 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
3892 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
3894 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
3895 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
3896 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
3897 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
3898 of the temporary file.
3900 ** New function: open-input-string string
3902 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
3903 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
3904 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
3906 ** New function: open-output-string
3908 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
3909 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
3911 ** New function: get-output-string
3913 Return the contents of an output string port.
3915 ** New function: identity
3917 Return the argument.
3919 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
3920 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
3922 ** New function: inet-pton family address
3924 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
3925 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
3926 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
3929 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
3930 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
3932 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
3934 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
3935 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
3936 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
3939 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
3940 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
3941 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
3945 Use `identity' instead.
3951 ** Deprecated: return-it
3955 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
3957 Use `string-length' instead.
3959 ** Deprecated: flags
3961 Use `logior' instead.
3963 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
3965 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
3966 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
3967 port-for-each is more flexible.
3969 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
3970 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
3971 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
3973 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
3975 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
3977 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
3979 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
3981 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
3983 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
3984 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
3986 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
3987 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
3989 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
3990 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
3992 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
3994 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
3995 Removed function: builtin-bindings
3997 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
3998 Use module system operations for all variables.
4000 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
4002 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
4005 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
4007 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
4008 The following bugs have been fixed:
4010 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
4011 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
4014 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
4015 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
4016 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
4018 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
4019 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
4021 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
4022 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
4025 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
4026 The expansion used to be like so:
4028 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
4030 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
4032 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
4034 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
4035 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
4037 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
4039 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
4040 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
4041 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
4045 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
4046 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
4048 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
4053 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
4054 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
4056 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
4057 and `d', other keywords allowed.
4058 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
4060 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
4063 * Changes to the C interface
4065 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
4067 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
4068 with "_t". What a concept.
4070 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
4072 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
4074 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
4078 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
4079 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
4081 *** C Functions removed
4083 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
4084 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
4085 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
4086 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
4087 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
4088 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
4089 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
4091 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
4093 Use scm_mem2string instead.
4095 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
4097 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
4099 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
4100 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
4102 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
4104 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
4107 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
4109 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
4111 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
4113 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
4114 Evaluation" in the manual.
4116 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
4118 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
4119 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
4121 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
4123 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
4124 Constructors" in the manual.
4126 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
4128 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
4129 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
4131 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
4133 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
4135 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
4136 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
4137 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
4139 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
4141 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
4143 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
4144 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
4145 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
4148 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
4150 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
4152 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
4153 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
4155 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
4157 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
4158 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
4159 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
4160 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
4162 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
4163 scm_primitive_property_ref
4164 scm_primitive_property_set_x
4165 scm_primitive_property_del_x
4167 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
4168 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
4170 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
4172 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
4173 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
4174 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
4175 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
4177 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
4179 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
4180 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
4181 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
4182 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
4183 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
4184 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
4185 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
4187 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
4188 scm_remember_upto_here
4190 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
4192 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
4194 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
4195 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
4197 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
4199 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
4201 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
4203 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
4205 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
4207 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
4208 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
4209 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
4210 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
4211 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
4212 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
4214 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
4216 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
4218 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
4219 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
4220 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
4222 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
4224 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
4225 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
4226 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
4228 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
4230 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
4231 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
4234 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
4237 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
4238 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
4241 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
4243 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
4245 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
4247 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
4249 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
4251 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
4253 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
4254 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
4255 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
4256 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
4257 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
4258 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
4259 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
4260 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
4261 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
4262 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
4263 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
4264 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
4265 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
4266 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
4267 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
4269 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
4270 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
4271 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
4272 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
4273 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
4274 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
4275 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
4276 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
4277 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
4278 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
4279 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
4280 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
4281 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
4282 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
4283 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
4284 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
4285 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
4286 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
4287 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
4288 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
4289 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
4290 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
4291 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
4292 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
4293 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
4294 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
4295 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
4296 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
4297 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
4299 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
4301 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
4303 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
4304 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
4306 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
4308 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
4310 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
4312 Use scm_string_hash instead.
4314 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
4316 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
4318 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
4320 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
4322 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
4325 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
4326 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
4328 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
4330 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
4332 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
4334 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
4336 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
4338 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
4340 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
4342 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
4345 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
4347 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
4349 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
4351 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
4352 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
4354 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
4355 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
4357 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
4359 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
4360 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
4361 scm_module_define, scm_define.
4363 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
4365 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
4367 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
4368 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
4370 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
4371 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
4372 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
4373 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
4375 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
4376 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
4377 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
4379 Use the new ones from above instead.
4381 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
4383 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
4384 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
4385 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
4387 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
4388 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
4390 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
4391 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
4394 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
4395 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
4397 Use the new functions instead.
4399 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
4402 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
4404 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
4406 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
4409 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
4411 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
4414 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
4416 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
4419 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
4420 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
4421 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
4423 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
4425 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
4426 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
4428 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
4429 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
4430 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
4431 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
4434 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
4436 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
4437 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
4438 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
4439 inexact for an exact.
4441 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
4442 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
4443 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
4446 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
4447 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
4448 accept an inexact argument.
4450 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
4451 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
4453 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
4456 ** New number validation macros:
4457 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
4461 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
4463 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
4464 scm_unprotect_object.
4466 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
4468 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
4470 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
4473 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
4475 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
4479 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
4481 * Changes to the distribution
4483 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
4485 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
4486 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
4487 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
4488 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
4489 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
4490 obtain these programs.
4491 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
4492 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
4494 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
4495 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
4496 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
4497 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
4498 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
4500 However, this approach means that minor differences between
4501 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
4502 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
4503 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
4507 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
4510 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
4511 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
4512 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
4513 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
4515 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
4517 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
4519 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
4520 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
4522 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
4523 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
4525 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
4526 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
4528 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
4529 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
4530 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
4531 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
4533 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
4535 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
4539 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
4540 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
4542 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
4544 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
4545 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
4547 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
4548 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
4549 number of objects of that kind.
4551 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
4553 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
4554 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
4555 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
4556 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
4557 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
4559 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
4561 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
4563 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
4565 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
4568 ** New module (ice-9 time)
4570 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
4572 ** New module (ice-9 history)
4574 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
4576 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4578 ** New command line option --debug
4580 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
4582 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
4584 ** New help facility
4586 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
4587 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
4588 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
4589 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
4590 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
4591 (help) gives this text
4593 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
4594 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
4596 Examples: (help help)
4598 (help "output-string")
4600 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
4602 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
4604 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
4605 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
4608 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
4609 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
4610 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
4613 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
4614 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
4615 use absolute filenames when possible.
4617 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
4618 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
4619 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
4622 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
4624 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
4625 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
4626 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
4627 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
4629 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
4631 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
4633 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
4634 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
4635 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
4637 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
4638 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
4639 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
4641 (read-enable 'positions)
4642 (debug-enable 'debug)
4644 ** Backtraces in scripts
4646 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
4650 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
4652 at the top of the script.
4654 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
4655 The second enables backtraces.)
4657 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
4659 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
4660 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
4661 substantially faster than before.
4663 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
4664 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
4666 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
4667 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
4669 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
4671 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
4672 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
4673 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
4675 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
4676 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
4677 when this hook is run in the future.
4679 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
4680 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
4682 ** Improvements to garbage collector
4684 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
4685 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
4688 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
4689 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
4690 more and more memory for certain programs.)
4692 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
4693 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
4695 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
4696 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
4698 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
4699 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
4700 in order not to need further allocation.)
4702 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
4705 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
4706 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
4707 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
4708 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
4710 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
4712 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
4715 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
4717 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
4720 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
4721 GC in percent of total heap size
4724 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
4725 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
4727 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
4729 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
4730 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
4732 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
4734 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
4735 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
4737 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
4739 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
4740 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
4744 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
4745 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
4747 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
4749 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4751 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
4753 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
4755 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
4757 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
4758 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
4760 (simple-format port message . args)
4761 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
4762 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
4763 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
4764 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
4765 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
4766 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
4767 Does not add a trailing newline."
4769 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
4771 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
4772 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
4774 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
4775 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
4777 ** Deprecated: list*
4779 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
4781 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
4783 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
4784 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
4786 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
4787 is returned as result.
4789 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
4791 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
4793 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
4795 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
4796 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
4799 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
4801 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
4803 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
4804 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
4806 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4808 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
4810 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
4812 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4814 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
4816 Thanks to Greg Badros!
4818 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
4820 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
4821 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
4822 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
4824 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
4827 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
4829 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
4830 the readability of argument checking.
4832 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
4834 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
4836 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
4838 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
4839 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
4840 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
4841 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
4842 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
4843 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
4844 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
4846 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
4848 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
4850 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
4851 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
4853 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
4855 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
4856 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
4859 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
4861 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
4862 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
4863 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
4865 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
4866 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
4867 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
4869 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
4870 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
4871 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
4872 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
4873 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
4874 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
4875 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
4877 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
4878 scm_end_input (object);
4879 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
4880 ptob->flush (object);
4882 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
4883 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
4886 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
4888 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
4890 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
4891 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
4892 removed in a future version.
4894 ** The format of error message strings has changed
4896 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
4897 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
4898 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
4899 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
4901 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
4902 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
4904 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
4907 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
4909 in your configure.in.
4911 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
4916 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
4922 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
4924 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
4928 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
4929 (define make-message string-append)
4931 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
4933 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
4937 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
4942 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
4946 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
4948 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
4949 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
4951 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
4953 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
4954 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
4955 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
4956 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
4957 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
4958 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
4960 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
4961 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
4962 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
4964 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
4965 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
4966 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
4969 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
4970 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
4971 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
4972 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
4973 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
4975 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
4976 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
4977 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
4978 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
4979 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
4980 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
4981 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
4983 Destructors are not yet implemented.
4985 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
4986 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
4987 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
4989 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
4990 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
4991 KEY in the calling thread.
4993 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
4994 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
4995 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
4996 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
4997 associated with the key.
4999 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
5001 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
5002 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
5004 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
5006 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
5007 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
5008 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
5010 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
5012 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
5013 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
5015 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
5017 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
5019 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
5020 returned is undefined.
5022 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
5023 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
5024 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
5026 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
5027 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
5028 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
5030 ** New C level GC hooks
5032 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
5034 scm_before_gc_c_hook
5037 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
5038 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
5039 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
5041 scm_before_mark_c_hook
5042 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
5043 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
5045 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
5046 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
5049 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
5051 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
5052 allocation parameters
5054 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
5055 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
5056 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
5060 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
5061 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
5062 scm_default_max_segment_size
5064 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
5066 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
5067 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
5069 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
5071 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
5072 object and count on the object being protected until
5073 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
5075 The functions also have better time complexity.
5077 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
5078 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
5079 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
5080 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
5081 are no longer needed.
5083 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
5085 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
5086 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
5087 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
5088 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
5090 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
5092 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
5094 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
5096 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
5097 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
5098 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
5099 until this issue has been settled.
5101 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
5103 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
5105 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
5108 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
5110 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5112 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
5113 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
5114 descriptors were checked.
5116 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
5117 atomically written to a pipe.
5119 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
5120 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
5121 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
5122 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
5123 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
5124 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
5125 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
5128 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
5129 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
5130 is changed without calling tzset.
5132 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
5134 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
5135 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
5136 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
5138 (define write-network-long
5139 (lambda (value port)
5140 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
5141 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
5142 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
5144 (define read-network-long
5146 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
5147 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
5148 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
5150 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
5151 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
5153 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
5154 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
5155 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
5156 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
5158 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
5159 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
5160 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
5161 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
5165 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
5167 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5171 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
5172 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
5173 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
5179 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
5180 for a description of available commands.
5182 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
5183 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
5184 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
5186 (debug-enable 'backwards)
5188 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
5189 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
5191 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
5193 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
5195 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
5196 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
5197 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
5198 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
5199 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
5200 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
5203 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
5205 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
5206 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
5207 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
5208 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
5210 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
5211 the file and should not be affected by this change.
5213 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
5215 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5217 ** Readline support has changed again.
5219 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
5220 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
5221 to activate readline is now
5223 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
5226 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
5228 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
5229 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
5230 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
5233 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
5234 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
5235 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
5238 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
5239 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
5240 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
5241 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
5242 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
5243 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
5245 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
5246 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
5248 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
5250 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
5251 object it receives is the same string passed to
5252 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
5253 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
5254 string, not the suffix.
5256 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
5257 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
5258 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
5260 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
5262 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
5263 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
5264 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
5265 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
5268 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
5270 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
5272 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
5273 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
5274 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
5275 appear from left to right.
5277 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
5280 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
5282 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
5283 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
5285 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
5289 *** New function: hook? OBJ
5291 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
5293 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
5295 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
5296 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
5297 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
5299 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
5301 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
5303 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
5305 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
5308 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
5310 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
5311 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
5312 mentioning it here anyway.
5314 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
5316 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
5317 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
5318 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
5319 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
5322 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
5324 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
5326 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
5328 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
5329 otherwise return #f.
5331 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
5333 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
5334 returned by `opendir'.
5336 ** New function: using-readline?
5338 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
5340 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
5342 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
5343 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
5345 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5347 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
5349 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
5350 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
5351 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
5353 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
5355 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
5356 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
5358 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
5360 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
5361 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
5362 documentation slots are not yet used.
5364 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
5366 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
5367 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
5368 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
5373 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
5374 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
5375 (string-append x y))
5377 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
5378 can also be used for concatenating strings.
5380 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
5381 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
5382 be made in a clean way.]
5384 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
5386 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
5388 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
5390 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
5391 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
5393 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5395 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
5397 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
5399 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
5401 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
5402 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
5403 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
5404 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
5407 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5409 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
5411 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
5413 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
5415 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
5416 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
5418 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5420 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
5422 Evaluates the body of a special form.
5424 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
5426 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
5427 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
5428 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
5429 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
5430 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
5431 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
5433 This should not make any difference for most users.
5435 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
5437 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
5438 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
5440 *** New functions for applying generic functions
5442 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
5443 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
5444 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
5445 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
5446 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
5448 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
5450 It is now replaced by:
5452 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
5454 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
5455 binds a variable named NAME to it.
5457 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
5459 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
5460 This might change when we get the new module system.
5462 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
5466 Changes since Guile 1.3:
5468 * Changes to mailing lists
5470 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
5472 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
5475 * Changes to the distribution
5477 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
5479 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
5480 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
5481 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
5482 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
5483 you explicitly specify it.
5485 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
5486 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
5487 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
5488 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
5489 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
5492 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
5493 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
5494 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
5495 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
5497 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
5498 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
5499 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
5502 You can activate the readline support by issuing
5504 (use-modules (readline-activator))
5507 from your ".guile" file, for example.
5509 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5511 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
5512 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
5513 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
5514 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
5516 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
5517 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
5520 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5522 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
5523 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
5524 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
5525 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
5526 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
5527 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
5528 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
5529 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
5541 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
5542 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
5543 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
5544 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
5545 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
5550 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
5551 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
5559 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
5564 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
5565 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
5568 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
5569 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
5570 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
5571 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
5573 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
5575 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
5577 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
5578 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
5580 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
5582 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
5584 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
5585 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
5587 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
5590 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
5592 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
5594 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
5596 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
5598 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
5600 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
5602 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
5603 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
5604 when the hook was created.
5606 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
5607 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
5608 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
5609 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
5610 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
5611 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
5612 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
5613 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
5614 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
5616 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
5617 the dlopen family of functions.
5619 ** New function `provided?'
5621 - Function: provided? FEATURE
5622 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
5623 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
5624 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
5626 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
5628 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
5629 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
5630 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
5631 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
5634 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
5635 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
5636 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
5637 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
5639 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
5640 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
5641 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
5644 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
5645 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
5646 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
5647 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
5648 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
5649 but with the flag set.
5651 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
5653 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
5654 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
5656 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
5657 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
5658 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
5659 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
5660 available Scheme format implementations.
5662 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
5663 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
5664 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
5665 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
5666 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
5667 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
5668 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
5669 output is to the current error port if available by the
5670 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
5673 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
5674 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
5675 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
5676 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
5677 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
5678 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
5679 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
5680 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
5682 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
5683 be executed at a time.
5686 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
5688 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
5689 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
5690 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
5692 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
5693 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
5694 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
5695 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
5696 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
5697 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
5698 general form of a directive is:
5700 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
5702 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
5704 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
5706 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
5707 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
5708 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
5711 Any (print as `display' does).
5715 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
5719 S-expression (print as `write' does).
5723 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
5729 print number sign always.
5732 print comma separated.
5734 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
5740 print number sign always.
5743 print comma separated.
5745 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
5751 print number sign always.
5754 print comma separated.
5756 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
5762 print number sign always.
5765 print comma separated.
5767 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
5772 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
5776 print a number as a Roman numeral.
5779 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
5782 print a number as an ordinal English number.
5785 print a number as a cardinal English number.
5790 prints `y' and `ies'.
5793 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
5796 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
5801 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
5805 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
5808 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
5809 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
5811 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5814 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
5815 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
5817 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5820 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
5822 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
5824 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5827 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
5829 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
5831 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
5834 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
5837 The sign appears before the padding.
5845 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
5847 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
5852 print N page separators.
5862 newline is ignored, white space left.
5865 newline is left, white space ignored.
5870 relative tabulation.
5876 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
5878 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
5881 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
5883 converts by `string-capitalize'.
5886 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
5889 converts by `string-upcase'.
5892 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
5894 jumps N arguments forward.
5897 jumps 1 argument backward.
5900 jumps N arguments backward.
5903 jumps to the 0th argument.
5906 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
5908 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
5909 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
5911 take argument from N.
5914 true test conditional.
5917 if-else-then conditional.
5923 default clause follows.
5926 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
5928 at most N iterations.
5931 args from next arg (a list of lists).
5934 args from the rest of arguments.
5937 args from the rest args (lists).
5948 aborts if N <= M <= K
5950 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
5953 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
5956 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
5962 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
5964 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
5966 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
5967 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
5968 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
5969 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
5970 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
5971 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
5975 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
5979 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
5985 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
5988 Print a `#\space' character
5990 print N `#\space' characters.
5993 Print a `#\tab' character
5995 print N `#\tab' characters.
5998 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
5999 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
6000 must be a positive decimal number.
6003 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
6004 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
6005 be processed by `read'.
6008 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
6009 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
6010 be processed by `read'.
6013 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
6016 prints format version.
6019 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
6020 and format it accordingly.
6022 *** Configuration Variables
6024 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
6025 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
6026 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
6027 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
6030 format:symbol-case-conv
6031 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
6032 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
6033 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
6034 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
6035 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
6037 format:iobj-case-conv
6038 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
6039 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
6042 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
6045 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
6051 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
6052 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
6053 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
6054 `format' padding style.
6057 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
6058 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
6059 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
6060 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
6064 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
6065 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
6066 directive parameters or modifiers)).
6069 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
6070 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
6071 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
6072 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
6073 parameters or modifiers)).
6076 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
6078 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
6080 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
6081 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
6083 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
6084 string-downcase! functions.
6086 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
6087 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
6089 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
6092 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
6095 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
6096 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
6098 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
6100 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
6101 the symbol had be read by `read'.
6103 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
6104 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
6105 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
6106 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
6107 would if STRING were input.
6109 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
6111 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
6112 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
6113 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
6114 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
6117 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
6119 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
6120 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
6123 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
6125 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
6126 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
6128 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
6129 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
6131 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
6132 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
6133 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
6134 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
6136 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
6137 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
6139 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
6140 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
6141 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
6143 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
6144 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
6146 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
6147 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
6148 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
6149 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
6150 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
6152 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
6153 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
6154 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
6155 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
6156 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
6157 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
6159 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
6160 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
6161 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
6164 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
6165 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
6166 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
6167 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
6168 the following grammar:
6169 ((apples (single-char #\a))
6170 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
6171 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
6172 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
6173 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
6174 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
6175 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
6176 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
6177 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
6178 last option in its combination)
6180 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
6181 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
6182 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
6183 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
6185 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
6186 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
6187 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
6189 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
6190 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
6191 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
6193 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
6194 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
6195 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
6196 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
6197 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
6198 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
6199 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
6200 ordinary argument strings.
6202 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
6203 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
6204 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
6205 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
6207 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
6208 as a list, associated with the empty list.
6210 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
6211 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
6212 - a required option is omitted
6213 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
6214 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
6215 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
6216 - an option predicate fails
6221 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
6224 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
6225 (verbose (required? #f)
6228 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
6229 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
6230 (predicate ,string?))))
6232 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
6233 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
6235 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
6236 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
6237 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
6238 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
6241 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
6243 It will be removed in a few releases.
6245 ** New syntax: lambda*
6246 ** New syntax: define*
6247 ** New syntax: define*-public
6248 ** New syntax: defmacro*
6249 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
6250 Guile now supports optional arguments.
6252 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
6253 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
6254 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
6255 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
6256 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
6258 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
6259 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
6260 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
6262 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
6264 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
6265 and examples for `lambda*':
6268 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
6270 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
6271 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
6272 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
6273 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
6274 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
6275 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
6276 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
6277 can be checked with the bound? macro.
6279 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
6281 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
6282 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
6283 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
6284 are given as keywords are bound to values.
6286 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
6287 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
6288 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
6289 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
6290 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
6291 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
6292 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
6293 and until the procedure is called.
6295 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
6297 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
6298 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
6299 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
6300 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
6301 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
6302 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
6303 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
6304 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
6305 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
6306 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
6308 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
6309 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
6310 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
6311 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
6314 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
6316 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
6317 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
6318 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
6319 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
6321 ** New syntax: and-let*
6322 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
6324 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
6325 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
6326 (<variable> <expression>)
6329 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
6330 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
6331 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
6334 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
6335 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
6336 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
6337 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
6338 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
6339 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
6340 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
6342 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
6343 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
6344 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
6345 shadow earlier bindings.
6347 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
6349 ** New sorting functions
6351 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
6352 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
6353 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
6354 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
6356 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
6357 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
6360 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
6361 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
6362 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
6364 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
6365 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
6366 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
6367 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
6369 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
6370 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
6371 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
6372 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
6373 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
6376 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
6377 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
6378 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
6379 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
6380 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
6381 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
6383 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
6384 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
6385 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
6387 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
6388 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
6389 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
6392 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
6393 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
6394 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
6396 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
6397 Added for compatibility with scsh.
6399 ** New built-in random number support
6401 *** New function: random N [STATE]
6402 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
6403 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
6404 returned have a uniform distribution.
6406 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
6407 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
6408 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
6409 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
6410 effect of the `random' operation.
6412 *** New variable: *random-state*
6413 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
6414 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
6415 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
6416 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
6417 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
6420 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
6421 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
6422 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
6423 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
6424 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
6426 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
6427 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
6428 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
6429 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
6430 initialized using SEED.
6432 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
6433 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
6434 range between 0 and 1.
6436 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
6437 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
6438 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
6439 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
6440 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
6441 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
6442 or a uniform vector of doubles.
6444 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
6445 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
6446 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
6447 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
6448 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
6449 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
6451 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
6452 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
6453 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
6454 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
6456 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
6457 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
6458 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
6459 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
6461 *** New function: random:exp STATE
6462 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
6463 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
6465 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
6467 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
6470 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
6471 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
6474 ** New function: make-guardian
6475 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
6476 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
6477 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
6478 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
6479 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
6481 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
6482 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
6483 one object if at all.
6485 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
6486 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
6487 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
6489 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
6490 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
6491 read again in last-in first-out order.
6493 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
6494 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
6496 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
6498 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
6499 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
6500 file position is used.
6502 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
6503 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
6504 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
6506 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
6507 redefined using seek.
6509 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
6510 size is not supplied.
6512 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
6513 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
6515 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
6516 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
6518 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
6520 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
6521 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
6522 and returns the contents as a single string.
6524 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
6525 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
6526 lists in serial order.
6528 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
6529 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
6530 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
6532 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
6533 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
6534 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
6535 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
6537 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
6538 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
6539 and #f if an error occured.
6541 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
6543 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
6544 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
6545 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
6546 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
6548 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
6550 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
6553 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
6555 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
6558 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6562 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
6563 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
6565 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
6566 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
6570 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6572 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
6574 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
6575 binds a variable named NAME to it.
6577 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
6579 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
6580 might change when we get the new module system.
6582 ** The smob interface
6584 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
6585 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
6587 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
6589 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
6593 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
6594 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
6595 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
6596 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
6597 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
6598 will be freed by the default free function.
6600 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6601 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
6602 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6603 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6605 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6606 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
6607 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6608 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6610 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
6612 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
6613 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
6617 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
6618 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6619 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6621 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
6622 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
6623 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6624 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6626 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
6627 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
6628 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
6630 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
6631 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
6632 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
6633 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
6635 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
6636 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
6637 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
6639 *** scm_newptob has been removed
6643 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
6645 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
6646 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
6647 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
6649 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
6650 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
6651 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
6653 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
6654 a string port's buffer.
6656 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
6657 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
6658 function pointers which together define the current random number
6659 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
6660 number library functions.
6662 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
6665 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
6666 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
6669 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
6670 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
6672 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
6673 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
6675 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
6676 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
6679 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
6680 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
6681 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
6682 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
6684 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
6685 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
6686 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
6687 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
6688 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
6689 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
6690 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
6692 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
6693 by libguile and the application.
6695 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
6696 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
6697 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
6698 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
6700 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
6701 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
6703 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
6704 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
6705 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
6707 ** Random number library functions
6708 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
6709 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
6710 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
6712 The default random state is stored in:
6714 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
6715 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
6716 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
6721 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
6723 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
6724 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
6725 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
6726 isn't a random state.
6728 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
6729 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
6731 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
6732 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
6733 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
6734 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
6736 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6737 Return 32 random bits.
6739 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6740 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
6742 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6743 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
6745 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
6746 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
6748 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
6749 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
6751 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
6752 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
6753 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
6757 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
6759 * Changes to the distribution
6761 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
6762 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
6763 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
6766 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
6767 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
6768 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
6770 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
6771 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
6772 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
6773 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
6776 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
6777 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
6778 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
6780 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6782 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
6784 *** Function: batch-mode?
6786 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
6789 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
6791 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
6792 case has not been implemented.
6794 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
6795 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
6796 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
6799 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
6800 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
6802 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
6804 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6806 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
6808 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
6809 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
6812 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
6813 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
6814 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
6815 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
6818 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
6820 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
6821 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
6822 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
6823 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
6824 find those libraries.
6826 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
6827 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
6830 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
6832 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
6833 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
6834 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
6835 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
6837 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
6838 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
6839 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
6843 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
6845 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
6846 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
6847 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
6850 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
6851 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
6852 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
6853 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
6855 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
6856 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
6859 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
6860 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
6861 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
6862 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
6863 compiler where to find the libraries.
6865 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
6866 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
6867 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
6869 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
6870 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
6871 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
6872 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
6873 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
6877 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6879 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
6880 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
6881 internationalization support.
6883 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
6884 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
6885 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
6886 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
6887 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
6889 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
6890 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
6891 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
6892 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
6893 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
6895 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
6896 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
6897 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
6898 any GNU mirror site.
6900 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
6902 ** New function: add-history STRING
6903 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
6904 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
6905 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
6907 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
6909 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
6910 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
6911 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
6914 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
6915 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
6916 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
6918 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
6920 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
6923 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
6924 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
6927 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
6928 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
6929 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
6930 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
6931 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
6932 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
6934 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
6935 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
6936 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
6937 of the form mentioned above.
6939 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
6940 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
6941 returned in the special `rest' list.
6943 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
6944 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
6946 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
6948 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
6950 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
6952 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
6953 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
6954 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
6955 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
6956 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
6957 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
6958 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
6959 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
6962 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
6964 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
6966 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
6967 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
6970 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
6971 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
6972 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
6976 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
6977 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
6978 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
6979 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
6980 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
6981 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
6982 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
6983 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
6986 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
6988 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
6989 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
6990 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
6992 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
6994 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
6995 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
6997 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
6998 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
6999 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
7001 Why do we have this function?
7002 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
7003 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
7004 primitive, and display it differently, and
7005 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
7006 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
7009 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
7010 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
7013 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
7014 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
7015 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
7016 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
7018 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
7019 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
7022 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
7023 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
7025 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
7027 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
7028 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
7029 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
7030 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
7031 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
7032 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
7033 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
7036 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
7038 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
7039 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
7041 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
7042 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
7043 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
7044 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
7045 properly continue the print chain.
7047 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
7048 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
7049 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
7050 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
7051 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
7052 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
7053 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
7054 print-state, it is simply ignored.
7056 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
7057 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
7058 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
7059 safest to not check for these pairs.
7061 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
7062 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
7063 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
7064 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
7066 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
7068 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
7069 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
7071 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
7073 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
7075 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
7076 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
7077 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
7079 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
7080 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
7081 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
7083 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
7084 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
7085 the following functions and macros:
7087 Function: make-fluid
7089 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
7090 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
7091 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
7092 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
7093 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
7095 Function: fluid? OBJ
7097 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
7099 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
7100 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
7102 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
7103 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
7105 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
7107 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
7108 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
7109 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
7110 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
7111 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
7112 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
7113 modified by `with-fluids*'.
7115 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
7117 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
7118 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
7119 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
7120 should evaluate to a fluid.
7122 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
7124 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
7125 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
7126 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
7127 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
7128 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
7130 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
7133 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
7135 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
7137 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
7139 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
7142 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
7143 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
7144 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
7145 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
7146 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
7149 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
7150 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
7151 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
7153 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
7154 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
7155 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
7157 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
7158 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
7159 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
7160 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
7162 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
7163 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
7164 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
7165 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
7167 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
7168 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
7169 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
7170 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
7172 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
7173 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
7174 their revealed counts set to zero.
7176 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7177 Returns an integer file descriptor.
7179 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7180 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
7182 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7183 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
7185 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7186 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
7187 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
7189 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
7190 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
7191 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
7193 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
7194 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
7195 default environment inherited by child processes.
7197 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
7198 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
7199 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
7201 The return value is unspecified.
7203 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
7204 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
7205 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
7206 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
7207 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
7209 The return value is unspecified.
7211 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
7212 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
7220 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
7221 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
7224 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
7227 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
7228 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
7229 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
7231 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
7232 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
7233 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
7234 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
7237 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
7238 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
7240 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
7241 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
7242 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
7243 the `environ' procedure.
7245 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
7246 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
7249 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
7250 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
7252 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
7253 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
7254 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
7255 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
7257 *** procedure: times
7258 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
7259 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
7260 return a selected component:
7263 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
7267 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
7270 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
7274 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
7275 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
7279 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
7280 terminated child processes.
7282 ** Removed: list-length
7283 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
7284 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
7286 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
7288 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
7290 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
7292 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
7293 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
7294 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
7295 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
7297 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
7298 extra complexity it introduces.
7300 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
7301 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
7303 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
7304 variable to any non-empty value.
7306 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
7307 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
7309 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7311 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
7312 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
7314 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
7316 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
7317 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
7319 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
7321 ** vector handling routines
7323 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
7324 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
7325 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
7326 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
7327 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
7329 ** pair and list routines
7331 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
7334 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
7336 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
7339 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7341 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
7343 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
7344 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
7345 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
7346 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
7347 site-specific initialization code.
7349 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
7350 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
7351 initialization processes.
7353 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
7354 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
7355 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
7356 initialized properly.
7358 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
7359 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
7360 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
7362 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
7363 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
7364 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
7365 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
7366 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
7368 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
7370 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
7371 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
7372 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
7373 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
7374 objects the smob refers to get marked.
7376 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
7377 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
7378 which look like this:
7381 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
7383 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
7384 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
7387 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
7388 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
7391 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
7393 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
7394 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
7395 you will need to change your functions slightly.
7397 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
7398 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
7399 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
7400 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
7401 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
7403 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
7404 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
7406 int (*free) (SCM port);
7407 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
7408 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
7409 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
7413 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
7414 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
7415 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
7417 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
7420 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
7421 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
7422 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
7424 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
7425 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
7426 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
7429 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
7433 struct timeval *timeout);
7435 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
7436 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
7437 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
7438 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
7439 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
7440 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
7442 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
7443 scm_catch_body_t body,
7445 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
7448 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
7449 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
7450 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
7451 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
7452 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
7453 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
7455 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
7457 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
7460 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
7461 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
7462 spawning threads from application C code.
7464 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
7465 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
7466 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
7467 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
7468 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
7469 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
7471 ** Removed functions:
7473 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
7474 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
7476 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
7478 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
7479 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
7481 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
7483 ** mbstrings are now removed
7485 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
7486 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
7488 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
7490 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
7491 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
7492 their new names and arguments:
7494 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
7495 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
7496 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
7497 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
7500 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
7502 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
7504 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
7507 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
7509 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
7510 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
7511 pass a #f arg to catch.
7513 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
7515 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
7516 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
7519 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
7520 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
7521 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
7522 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
7523 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
7524 reclaim its storage.
7526 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
7527 worrying that some other function you call will call
7528 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
7529 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
7530 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
7531 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
7534 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
7536 * Changes to the distribution
7538 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
7539 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
7542 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
7543 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
7545 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7546 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7548 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
7550 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
7551 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
7552 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
7554 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7556 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
7557 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
7558 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
7559 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
7560 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
7561 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
7563 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
7564 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
7565 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
7568 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
7569 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
7570 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
7571 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
7573 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
7574 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
7575 libraries to your link command:
7577 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
7578 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
7579 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7580 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7582 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
7583 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
7584 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
7586 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7588 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
7589 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
7592 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
7594 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
7595 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
7596 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
7597 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
7598 searched is system dependent.
7600 (dynamic-object? VAL)
7602 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
7604 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
7606 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
7607 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
7609 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
7611 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
7612 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
7613 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
7614 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
7615 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
7618 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
7620 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
7621 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
7622 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
7623 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
7624 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
7626 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
7628 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
7629 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
7631 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
7633 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
7634 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
7635 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
7638 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
7640 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
7641 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
7642 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
7643 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
7645 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
7646 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
7648 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
7650 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
7651 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
7653 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
7655 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
7656 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
7664 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
7666 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
7667 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
7668 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
7669 a more informative way.
7671 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
7672 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
7673 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
7674 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
7675 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
7676 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
7678 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
7679 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
7682 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
7683 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
7684 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
7687 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
7688 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
7689 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
7690 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
7691 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
7692 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
7694 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
7695 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
7696 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
7697 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
7700 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
7701 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
7702 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
7703 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
7704 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
7705 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
7707 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
7708 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
7709 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
7710 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
7711 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
7713 *** regexp functions
7715 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
7716 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
7717 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
7719 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
7720 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
7721 with SCSH regular expressions.
7723 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
7724 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
7725 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
7726 position of STR at which to begin matching.
7728 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
7729 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
7730 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
7731 `string-match' returns `#f'.
7733 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
7734 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
7735 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
7736 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
7737 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
7738 match strings against the compiled regexp.
7740 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
7741 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
7742 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
7743 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
7744 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
7746 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
7748 **** Constant: regexp/extended
7749 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
7750 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
7751 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
7753 **** Constant: regexp/icase
7754 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
7755 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
7757 **** Constant: regexp/newline
7758 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
7760 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
7763 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
7764 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
7765 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
7767 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
7768 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
7769 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
7771 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
7772 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
7773 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
7774 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
7775 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
7778 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
7780 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
7781 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
7782 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
7783 used when different portions of a string are passed to
7784 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
7785 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
7787 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
7788 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
7789 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
7791 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
7792 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
7795 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
7796 and replace them with the contents of another string.
7798 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
7799 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
7800 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
7801 may be one of the following arguments:
7803 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
7805 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
7807 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
7808 the regexp match is written.
7810 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
7811 following the regexp match is written.
7813 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
7814 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
7817 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
7818 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
7819 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
7820 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
7821 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
7822 which should be matched against this regular expression.
7824 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
7827 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
7828 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
7829 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
7830 written out to PORT.
7832 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
7833 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
7834 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
7835 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
7836 will return after processing a single match.
7838 *** Match Structures
7840 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
7841 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
7842 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
7843 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
7844 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
7845 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
7848 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
7849 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
7850 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
7851 information about the original target string that was matched against a
7852 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
7854 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
7855 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
7856 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
7858 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
7859 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
7860 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
7861 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
7862 number N did not match, return `#f'.
7864 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
7865 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
7867 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
7868 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
7870 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
7871 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
7873 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
7874 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
7876 **** Function: match:count MATCH
7877 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
7878 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
7879 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
7881 **** Function: match:string MATCH
7882 Return the original TARGET string.
7884 *** Backslash Escapes
7886 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
7887 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
7888 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
7889 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
7890 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
7891 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
7893 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
7894 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
7895 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
7896 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
7897 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
7898 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
7899 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
7900 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
7902 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
7903 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
7904 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
7905 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
7906 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
7907 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
7908 each match a single backslash in the target string.
7910 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
7911 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
7912 return the resulting string.
7914 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
7915 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
7916 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
7917 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
7918 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
7919 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
7920 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
7921 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
7922 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
7923 translated to the single character `*'.
7925 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
7926 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
7927 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
7928 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
7929 consecutive backslashes:
7931 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
7933 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
7934 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
7935 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
7937 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
7938 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
7939 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
7940 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
7941 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
7942 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
7944 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
7946 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
7947 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
7948 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
7949 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
7950 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
7951 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
7952 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
7953 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
7954 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
7955 cumbersome escape syntax.
7957 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7959 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7961 * Changes to system call interfaces:
7963 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
7966 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
7968 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
7970 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
7973 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
7974 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
7975 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
7976 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
7977 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
7979 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
7980 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
7981 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
7982 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
7983 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
7984 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
7985 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
7988 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
7989 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
7990 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
7993 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
7994 `force-output' on every port open for output.
7996 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
7997 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
7998 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
7999 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
8000 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
8001 installed, you can say:
8003 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
8006 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8008 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
8009 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
8010 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
8011 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
8012 new dynamic roots and threads.
8015 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
8017 * Changes to the distribution.
8019 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
8021 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
8022 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
8023 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
8024 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
8025 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
8026 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
8027 programming language. These are packaged together because the
8028 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
8030 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
8033 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
8034 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
8039 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
8041 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
8042 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
8044 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
8045 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
8046 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
8047 the (command-line) function.
8048 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
8049 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
8050 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
8052 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
8053 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
8054 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
8055 command line arguments
8056 -ds do -s script at this point
8057 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
8058 -h, --help display this help and exit
8059 -v, --version display version information and exit
8060 \ read arguments from following script lines
8062 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
8063 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
8065 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8068 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
8072 (main (command-line))
8074 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
8076 ekko a speckled gecko
8078 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
8079 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
8080 following list of command-line arguments:
8082 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
8084 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
8085 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
8086 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
8087 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
8088 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
8090 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
8092 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
8094 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
8095 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
8098 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
8099 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
8100 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
8101 SCSH) for circumventing them.
8103 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
8104 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
8105 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
8106 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
8108 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
8112 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
8116 If the user invokes this script as follows:
8118 ekko a speckled gecko
8120 Unix expands this into
8122 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
8124 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
8125 read from the second line of the script, producing:
8127 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
8129 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
8130 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
8132 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
8133 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
8134 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
8135 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
8136 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
8137 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
8138 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
8139 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
8140 it only terminates the argument list.)
8141 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
8142 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
8143 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
8144 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
8145 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
8146 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
8147 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
8148 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
8150 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8152 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
8153 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
8154 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
8155 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
8156 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
8158 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
8159 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
8160 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
8162 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
8164 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
8165 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
8166 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
8167 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
8170 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
8171 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
8172 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
8174 * Changes to Scheme functions
8176 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
8177 and disabled by default.
8179 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
8180 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
8181 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
8182 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
8184 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
8186 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
8188 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
8189 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
8191 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
8192 (read-set! keywords #f)
8194 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
8195 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
8196 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
8199 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
8200 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
8201 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
8204 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
8205 support for Scheme functions.
8207 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
8208 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
8209 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
8210 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
8213 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
8214 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
8215 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
8218 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
8219 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
8220 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
8223 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
8224 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
8225 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
8226 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
8227 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
8228 display the result as a prompt.
8229 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
8231 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
8232 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
8233 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
8236 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
8237 procedure of zero arguments.
8239 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
8240 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
8241 argument is bound in the current module.
8243 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
8244 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
8245 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
8246 public bindings into the current module.
8248 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
8249 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
8251 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
8252 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
8254 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
8255 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
8257 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
8258 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
8260 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
8261 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
8263 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
8264 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
8265 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
8266 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
8267 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
8269 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
8270 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
8271 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
8272 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
8274 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
8277 ** Changes to I/O functions
8279 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
8280 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
8281 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
8283 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
8284 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
8285 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
8287 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
8288 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
8290 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
8291 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
8292 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
8293 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
8295 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
8297 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
8298 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
8300 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
8301 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
8302 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
8303 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
8304 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
8307 'trim omit delimiter from result
8308 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
8309 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
8310 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
8312 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
8314 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
8315 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
8317 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
8318 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
8319 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
8320 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
8321 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
8323 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
8324 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
8325 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
8327 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
8328 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
8329 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
8330 above, and defaults to 'peek.
8332 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
8333 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
8335 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
8336 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
8338 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
8340 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
8341 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
8342 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
8343 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
8344 a delimiting character.
8345 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
8347 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
8348 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
8349 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
8350 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
8351 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
8352 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
8354 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
8355 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
8357 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
8358 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
8359 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
8361 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
8362 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
8363 the array to read and write.
8365 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
8366 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
8369 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
8371 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
8374 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
8375 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
8376 Values for COMMAND are:
8378 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
8379 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
8380 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
8381 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
8382 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
8383 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
8384 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
8385 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
8387 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
8389 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
8390 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
8391 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
8392 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
8393 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
8394 corresponding return set will be the same.
8396 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
8399 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
8400 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
8401 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
8402 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
8403 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
8404 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
8405 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
8406 special file being created.
8408 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
8409 clashing with various SCSH forks.
8411 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
8412 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
8413 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
8414 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
8415 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
8416 and originating address.
8418 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
8419 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
8420 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
8422 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
8425 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
8426 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
8429 (status:exit-val STATUS)
8430 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
8431 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
8432 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
8433 this function returns #f.
8435 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
8436 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
8437 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
8440 (status:term-sig STATUS)
8441 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
8442 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
8445 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
8446 a valid STATUS value.
8448 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
8450 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
8451 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
8453 Component Accessor Setter
8454 ========================= ============ ============
8455 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
8456 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
8457 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
8458 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
8459 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
8460 year tm:year set-tm:year
8461 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
8462 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
8463 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
8464 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
8465 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
8467 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
8468 describing the host system:
8471 ============================================== ================
8472 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
8473 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
8474 release level of the operating system utsname:release
8475 version level of the operating system utsname:version
8476 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
8478 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
8479 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
8480 system's user database:
8483 ====================== =================
8484 user name passwd:name
8485 user password passwd:passwd
8488 real name passwd:gecos
8489 home directory passwd:dir
8490 shell program passwd:shell
8492 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
8493 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
8494 system's group database:
8497 ======================= ============
8498 group name group:name
8499 group password group:passwd
8501 group members group:mem
8503 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
8504 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
8508 ========================= ===============
8509 official name of host hostent:name
8510 alias list hostent:aliases
8511 host address type hostent:addrtype
8512 length of address hostent:length
8513 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
8515 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
8516 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
8520 ========================= ===============
8521 official name of net netent:name
8522 alias list netent:aliases
8523 net number type netent:addrtype
8524 net number netent:net
8526 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
8527 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
8531 ========================= ===============
8532 official protocol name protoent:name
8533 alias list protoent:aliases
8534 protocol number protoent:proto
8536 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
8537 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
8541 ========================= ===============
8542 official service name servent:name
8543 alias list servent:aliases
8544 port number servent:port
8545 protocol to use servent:proto
8547 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
8548 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
8551 ======================================== ===============
8552 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
8553 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
8554 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
8555 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
8557 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
8558 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
8559 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
8561 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
8562 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
8564 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
8565 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
8567 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
8568 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
8570 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
8572 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
8574 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
8575 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
8576 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
8578 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
8579 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
8580 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
8581 return the remaining characters as a string.
8583 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
8584 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
8585 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
8587 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
8589 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8591 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
8594 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
8597 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
8598 and returns the array
8600 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
8601 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
8602 the user to interpret the data both ways.
8604 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8606 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
8607 symbol's value from C code:
8609 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
8610 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
8611 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
8612 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
8614 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
8615 without assigning them a value.
8617 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
8618 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
8619 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
8621 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
8622 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
8623 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
8625 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
8626 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
8628 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
8629 doesn't actually care about that.
8631 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
8632 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
8633 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
8635 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
8636 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
8637 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
8638 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
8639 which we have just created and initialized.
8641 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
8642 should one occur. We call it like this:
8643 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
8645 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
8646 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
8647 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
8648 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
8649 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
8650 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
8653 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
8654 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
8655 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
8656 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
8657 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
8658 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
8659 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
8662 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
8663 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
8664 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
8665 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
8666 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
8669 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
8670 scm_internal_catch, except:
8672 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
8673 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
8674 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
8675 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
8678 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
8679 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
8680 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
8682 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
8683 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
8684 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
8685 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
8688 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
8689 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
8690 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
8692 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
8693 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
8694 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
8695 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
8696 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
8698 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
8699 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
8700 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
8702 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
8703 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
8704 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
8706 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
8707 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
8709 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
8710 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
8711 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
8714 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
8715 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
8716 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
8717 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
8718 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
8719 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
8720 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
8723 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
8724 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
8726 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
8727 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
8728 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
8729 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
8730 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
8733 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
8734 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
8736 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
8737 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
8740 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
8741 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
8743 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8746 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
8747 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
8748 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
8749 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
8750 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
8751 given the following arguments:
8753 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
8755 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
8757 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
8759 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8762 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
8763 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
8764 command-line arguments.
8766 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
8767 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
8768 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
8769 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
8770 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
8771 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
8774 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
8777 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
8778 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
8780 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
8781 rearranged slightly. They are now:
8783 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8784 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
8785 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
8786 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
8788 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8789 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
8791 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8792 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
8793 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
8794 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
8796 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
8797 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
8799 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
8800 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
8802 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
8804 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
8805 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
8806 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
8809 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
8810 returns a port instead of an FD object.
8812 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
8813 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
8818 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
8821 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
8823 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
8824 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
8825 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
8826 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
8828 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
8830 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
8832 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
8833 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
8834 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
8835 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
8836 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
8837 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
8838 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
8839 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
8840 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
8841 for more information.
8843 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
8844 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
8846 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
8847 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
8848 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
8849 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
8850 following two lines at the top of the file:
8852 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8855 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
8856 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
8857 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
8859 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
8861 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8863 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
8866 (display (car args))
8867 (if (pair? (cdr args))
8869 (loop (cdr args)))))
8872 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
8873 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
8874 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
8875 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
8876 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
8877 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
8881 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
8884 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
8887 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
8889 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
8890 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
8891 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
8892 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
8893 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
8896 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
8897 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
8898 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
8899 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
8900 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
8903 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
8906 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
8907 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
8908 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
8911 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
8912 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
8913 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
8915 to see a backtrace, and
8916 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
8917 to see them by default.
8921 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
8923 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
8925 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
8926 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
8929 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
8930 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
8931 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
8932 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
8935 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
8936 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
8937 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
8938 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
8939 functions which inspired them.
8941 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
8942 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
8946 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
8948 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
8950 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
8951 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
8954 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
8955 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
8956 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
8958 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
8959 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
8960 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
8961 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
8962 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
8964 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
8966 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
8967 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
8968 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
8971 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
8974 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
8976 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
8977 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
8978 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
8979 above should serve their purposes.
8981 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
8982 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
8983 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
8984 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
8986 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
8989 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
8990 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
8991 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
8992 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
8994 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
8995 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
8996 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
8997 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
8999 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
9000 for the `read' function.
9003 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
9004 to that of `integer?'.
9006 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
9007 use the R4RS names for these functions.
9009 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
9010 it simply returns the object's property list.
9012 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
9013 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
9014 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
9015 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
9017 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
9019 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
9022 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
9024 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
9025 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
9027 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
9029 void (*main_func) (),
9032 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
9033 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
9034 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
9035 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
9036 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
9038 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
9039 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
9040 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
9041 know which arguments have been processed.
9043 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
9044 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
9045 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
9046 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
9047 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
9049 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
9050 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
9051 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
9052 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
9053 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
9054 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
9055 people from making that mistake.
9057 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
9058 convenient ways to override these when desired.
9060 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
9062 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
9066 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
9069 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
9070 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
9071 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
9072 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
9075 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
9076 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
9077 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
9078 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
9081 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
9082 have been added to the Guile library.
9084 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
9085 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
9086 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
9089 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
9090 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
9091 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
9093 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
9094 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
9095 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
9096 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
9097 argument from the list.
9100 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
9103 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
9104 null-terminated string, and returns it.
9106 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
9107 to a Scheme port object.
9109 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
9110 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
9115 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
9117 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
9118 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
9119 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
9120 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
9121 code as a special datatype.
9123 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
9124 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
9125 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
9126 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
9127 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
9130 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
9131 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
9132 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
9133 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
9134 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
9136 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
9139 Copyright information:
9141 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
9143 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
9144 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
9145 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
9146 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
9148 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
9149 of this document, or of portions of it,
9150 under the above conditions, provided also that they
9151 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
9156 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"