1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Each release reports the NEWS in the following sections:
9 * Changes to the distribution
10 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
11 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
12 * Changes to the C interface
15 Changes since the stable branch:
17 * Changes to the distribution
19 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
21 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
23 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
25 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
26 At the moment it is being used to handle Guile's bignums.
28 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
30 Guile now has config.h and libguile/scmconfig.h. The former is not
31 installed and is private. The latter is installed and used by Guile's
32 public headers. config.h is generated by configure and autoheader,
33 and scmconfig.h is generated by a small C program, gen-scmconfig at
34 build time based in part on the contents of config.h.
36 Seen libguile/__scm.h and gen-scmconfig.c for more information.
38 Note too that nearly all public defines are now set to either 1 or 0
39 rather than being set to 1 or left undefined. See gen-scmconfig.c and
40 the GNU Coding Guidelines for the rationale. However, pre-existing
41 defines that were not renamed were not changed. i.e. GUILE_DEBUG is
42 still either 1 or undefined.
44 ** The INSTALL file is now the generic automake installed one.
46 Guile specific instructions can be found in the README.
48 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
50 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
51 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
52 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
53 so the current effective-version is "1.6". The effective version
54 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
55 items like the versioned share directory name
56 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.6.
58 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
59 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
60 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
61 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
62 with each micro release during a stable series.
64 ** Thread implementation has changed.
66 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
67 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
68 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
69 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
70 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
73 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
74 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
75 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
76 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
77 the GC. See the manual for details. [XXX - write this.]
79 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
80 in which case "null" threads are used.
82 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
84 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when
85 you don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but
86 where you have some section(s) of code which you consider can run
87 in parallel to other sections.
89 They "flag" (with dynamic extent) sections of code to be of
90 "serial" or "parallel" nature and have the single effect of
91 preventing a serial section from being run in parallel with any
92 serial section (including itself).
94 Both serialize and parallelize can be nested. If so, the
95 inner-most construct is in effect.
97 NOTE 1: A serial section can run in parallel with a parallel
100 NOTE 2: If a serial section S is "interrupted" by a parallel
101 section P in the following manner: S = S1 P S2, S2 is not
102 guaranteed to be resumed by the same thread that previously
105 WARNING: Spawning new threads within a serial section have
106 undefined effects. It is OK, though, to spawn threads in unflagged
107 sections of code where neither serialize or parallelize is in
110 A typical usage is when Guile is used as scripting language in some
111 application doing heavy computations. If each thread is
112 encapsulated with a serialize form, you can then put a parallelize
113 form around the code performing the heavy computations (typically a
114 C code primitive), enabling the computations to run in parallel
115 while the scripting code runs single-threadedly.
117 ** New module (srfi srfi-26)
119 This is an implementation of SRFI-26.
121 ** Guile now includes its own version of libltdl.
123 We now use a modified version of libltdl that allows us to make
124 improvements to it without having to rely on libtool releases.
126 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
128 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
130 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
131 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
133 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
135 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
136 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
138 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
140 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
141 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
144 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
147 (define-module (demo)
151 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
154 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
156 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
158 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
161 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
163 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
164 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
165 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
168 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
169 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
170 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
173 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
175 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
176 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
177 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
180 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
183 ** Checking for duplicate bindings in module system
185 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
188 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more duplicates
189 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
197 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
198 has been detected is to
200 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
201 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
202 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
205 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
208 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
210 to your .guile init file.
212 The syntax for the :duplicates option is:
214 :duplicates HANDLER-NAME | (HANDLER1-NAME HANDLER2-NAME ...)
216 Specifying multiple handlers is useful since some handlers (such as
217 replace) can defer conflict resolution to others. Each handler is
218 tried until a binding is selected.
220 Currently available duplicates handlers are:
222 check report an error for bindings with a common name
223 warn issue a warning for bindings with a common name
224 replace replace bindings which have an imported replacement
225 warn-override-core issue a warning for imports which override core bindings
226 and accept the override
227 first select the first encountered binding (override)
228 last select the last encountered binding (override)
230 These two are provided by the (oop goops) module:
232 merge-generics merge generic functions with a common name
233 into an <extended-generic>
234 merge-accessors merge accessors with a common name
236 The default duplicates handler is:
238 (replace warn-override-core warn last)
240 A recommended handler (which is likely to correspond to future Guile
241 behavior) can be installed with:
243 (default-duplicate-binding-handler '(replace warn-override-core check))
245 ** New define-module option: :replace
247 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
250 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
251 for the core binding `format'.
253 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
255 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
256 a prefix to all imported bindings.
259 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
261 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
264 ** Merging generic functions
266 It is sometimes tempting to use GOOPS accessors with short names.
267 For example, it is tempting to use the name `x' for the x-coordinate
270 Assume that we work with a graphical package which needs to use two
271 independent vector packages for 2D and 3D vectors respectively. If
272 both packages export `x' we will encounter a name collision.
274 This can now be resolved automagically with the duplicates handler
275 `merge-generics' which gives the module system license to merge all
276 generic functions sharing a common name:
278 (define-module (math 2D-vectors)
279 :use-module (oop goops)
282 (define-module (math 3D-vectors)
283 :use-module (oop goops)
286 (define-module (my-module)
287 :use-module (math 2D-vectors)
288 :use-module (math 3D-vectors)
289 :duplicates merge-generics)
291 x in (my-module) will now share methods with x in both imported
294 There will, in fact, now be three distinct generic functions named
295 `x': x in (2D-vectors), x in (3D-vectors), and x in (my-module). The
296 last function will be an <extended-generic>, extending the previous
299 Let's call the imported generic functions the "ancestor functions". x
300 in (my-module) is, in turn, a "descendant function" of the imported
301 functions, extending its ancestors.
303 For any generic function G, the applicable methods are selected from
304 the union of the methods of the descendant functions, the methods of G
305 itself and the methods of the ancestor functions.
307 This, ancestor functions share methods with their descendants and vice
308 versa. This implies that x in (math 2D-vectors) can will share the
309 methods of x in (my-module) and vice versa, while x in (math 2D-vectors)
310 doesn't share the methods of x in (math 3D-vectors), thus preserving
313 Sharing is dynamic, so that adding new methods to a descendant implies
314 adding it to the ancestor.
316 If duplicates checking is desired in the above example, the following
317 form of the :duplicates option can be used instead:
319 :duplicates (merge-generics check)
321 ** New function: effective-version
323 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
324 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
325 to the distribution" above.
327 ** Futures: future, make-future, future-ref
329 Futures are like promises, but begun immediately in a new thread. See
330 the "Futures" section in the reference manual.
332 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
334 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
335 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
337 ** Fair mutexes and condition variables
339 Fair mutexes and condition variables have been added. The fairness
340 means that scheduling is arranged to give as equal time shares as
341 possible and that threads are awakened in a first-in-first-out
342 manner. This is not guaranteed with standard mutexes and condition
345 In addition, fair mutexes are recursive. Locking a fair mutex that
346 you have already locked will succeed. Every call to lock-mutex must
347 be matched with a call to unlock-mutex. Only the last call to
348 unlock-mutex will actually unlock the mutex.
350 A fair condition variable must be used together with a fair mutex,
351 just as a standard condition variable must be used together with a
354 ** New functions: make-fair-mutex, make-fair-condition-variable'
356 Make a new fair mutex and a new fair condition variable respectively.
358 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
360 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
361 instead if blocking and indicate failure.
363 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
365 The funtion 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
366 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
369 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
371 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
373 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
375 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
376 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
377 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
380 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
381 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
382 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
385 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
386 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
388 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
390 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
391 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
394 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
395 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
397 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
398 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
399 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
400 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
401 level for the current thread.
403 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
405 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
407 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
408 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
411 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
413 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
415 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
418 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
420 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
423 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
424 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
425 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
427 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
428 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
429 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
430 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
441 ERROR: Numerical overflow
443 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
446 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
448 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
449 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
450 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
461 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
463 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
464 them is also done exactly, of course:
469 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
472 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
473 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
475 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
477 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
478 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
479 equal to a floating point number. For example:
481 (inexact->exact 1.234)
482 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
484 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitely:
486 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
489 ** New function 'rationalize'.
491 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
492 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
494 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
497 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
498 result when both its arguments are exact.
500 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
502 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
503 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
504 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
506 ** We now have uninterned symbols.
508 The new function 'make-symbol' will return a uninterned symbol. This
509 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
510 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
512 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
515 ** pretty-print has more options.
517 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
518 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
519 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
521 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
523 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
524 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
525 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
527 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
529 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
530 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
532 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
534 Change your code to use either procedure->memoizing-macro or, probably better,
535 to use r5rs macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done
536 during evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
538 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
540 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
541 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
542 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
543 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
544 without the soft port blocking.
546 ** New debugging feature: breakpoints.
548 Guile now has breakpoints. For details see the `Debugging Features'
549 chapter in the reference manual.
551 ** Deprecated: undefine
553 There is no replacement for undefine.
555 ** call-with-output-string doesn't segv on closed port
557 Previously call-with-output-string would give a segmentation fault if
558 the string port was closed by the called function. An exception is
561 ** (ice-9 popen) duplicate pipe fd fix
563 open-pipe, open-input-pipe and open-output-pipe left an extra copy of
564 their pipe file descriptor in the child, which was normally harmless,
565 but it can prevent the parent seeing eof or a broken pipe immediately
566 and has now been fixed.
568 ** source-properties and set-source-properties! fix
570 Properties set with set-source-properties! can now be read back
571 correctly with source-properties.
575 delete and delete! now call the "=" procedure with arguments in the
576 order described by the SRFI-1 specification
578 list-copy now accepts improper lists, per the specification.
582 date-week-number now correctly respects the requested day of week
585 * Changes to the C interface
587 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and reentries.
589 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
590 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
591 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
592 prevent a potential memory leak:
601 mem = scm_malloc (100);
602 scm_frame_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITELY);
604 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
605 SCM_FRAME_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless. */
611 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITELY, MEM will be freed by
612 SCM_FRAME_END as well.
616 For full documentation, see the node "Frames" in the manual.
618 ** New way to block and unblock asyncs
620 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
621 scm_frame_block_asyncs in a 'frame' (see above). Likewise for
622 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_frame_unblock_asyncs.
624 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
626 C code can now use scm_frame_current_<foo>_port in a 'frame' (see
627 above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
629 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
631 C code can now use scm_frame_fluid in a 'frame' (see
632 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
634 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
636 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
637 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
638 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
640 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
642 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
643 private or renamed with a more suitable public name. See below for
644 the ones which have been renamed.
646 ** HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H have been removed from public use.
648 HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H removed from public use. These are
649 no longer needed since the older uses of stdint.h and inttypes.h are
650 now handled by configure.in and gen-scmconfig.c.
652 ** USE_DLL_IMPORT is no longer defined publically.
654 gen-scmconfig now uses it to decide what contents to place in the
655 public scmconfig.h header without adding the USE_DLL_IMPORT itself.
657 ** HAVE_LIMITS_H has been removed from public use.
659 gen-scmconfig now just uses HAVE_LIMITS_H to decide whether or not to
660 add a limits.h include in scmconfig.h.
662 ** time.h, sys/time.h, etc. #ifdefery has been removed from public headers.
664 gen-scmconfig now just uses the same logic to decide what time related
665 #includes to add to scmconfig.h.
667 ** HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC has been removed from public use.
669 scmconfig.h now just defines scm_t_timespec.
671 ** HAVE_PTRDIFF has been removed from public use and Guile doesn't
674 Guile now publically defines scm_t_ptrdiff and
675 SCM_SIZEOF_SCM_T_PTRDIFF in scmconfig.h, and all occurrences of
676 ptrdiff_t have been replaced with scm_t_ptrdiff.
678 Guile defines its own type this rather than just relying on ptrdiff_t
679 and SCM_SIZEOF_PTRDIFF_T because Guile actually typedefs long to
680 scm_t_ptrdiff when ptrdiff_t isn't available. A public "typedef long
681 ptrdiff_t" could conflict with other headers.
683 ** HAVE_UINTPTR_T and HAVE_UINTPTR_T have been removed from public use.
685 They are replaced by public definitions of SCM_SIZEOF_UINTPTR_T and
686 SCM_SIZEOF_INTPTR_T. These are defined to 0 if the corresponding type
689 ** The public #define STDC_HEADERS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_STDC_HEADERS.
691 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
693 ** The public #define HAVE_SYS_SELECT has been renamed to
694 SCM_HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H.
696 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
698 ** The public #define HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H has been renamed to
699 SCM_HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H.
701 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
703 ** The public #define HAVE_IEEEFP_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_IEEEFP_H.
705 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
707 ** The public #define HAVE_NAN_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_NAN_H.
709 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
711 ** The public #define HAVE_WINSOCK2_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_WINSOCK2_H.
713 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
715 ** The public #define HAVE_ARRAYS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_ARRAYS.
717 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
719 ** The public #define STACK_GROWS_UP has been renamed to SCM_STACK_GROWS_UP.
721 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
723 ** The public #define USE_PTHREAD_THREADS has been renamed to
724 SCM_USE_PTHREAD_THREADS.
726 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
728 ** The public #define USE_NULL_THREADS has been renamed to
729 SCM_USE_NULL_THREADS.
731 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
733 ** The public #define USE_COOP_THREADS has been renamed to
734 SCM_USE_COOP_THREADS.
736 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
738 ** SCM_C_INLINE is publically defined if possible.
740 If the platform has a way to define inline functions, SCM_C_INLINE
741 will be defined to that text. Otherwise it will be undefined. This
742 is a little bit different than autoconf's normal handling of the
743 inline define via AC_C_INLINE.
745 ** Guile now publically defines some basic type infrastructure.
750 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_CHAR
752 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_SHORT
754 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG
756 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_INT
757 SCM_SIZEOF_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
758 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
767 Guile always defines these to 0 or 1
772 and when either of these are defined to 1, also defines
783 ** The macro SCM_IFLAGP now only returns true for flags
785 User code should never have used this macro anyway. And, you should not use
786 it in the future either. Thus, the following explanation is just for the
787 impropable case that your code actually made use of this macro, and that you
788 are willing to depend on internals which will probably change in the near
791 Formerly, SCM_IFLAGP also returned true for evaluator bytecodes created with
792 SCM_MAKSPCSYM (short instructions) and evaluator bytecodes created with
793 SCM_MAKISYM (short instructions). Now, SCM_IFLAG only returns true for
794 Guile's special constants created with SCM_MAKIFLAG. To achieve the old
795 behaviour, instead of
799 you would have to write
801 (SCM_ISYMP(x) || SCM_IFLAGP(x))
803 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
805 This macro is not intended for public use. However, if you allocated types
806 with tc16 type codes in a way that you would have needed this macro, you are
807 expected to have a deep knowledge of Guile's type system. Thus, you should
808 know how to replace this macro.
810 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
812 Use SCM_INEXACTP instead.
814 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
816 Use SCM_REALP instead.
818 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
820 Use SCM_COMPLEXP instead.
822 ** The preprocessor define USE_THREADS has been deprecated.
824 Going forward, assume that the thread API is always present.
826 ** The preprocessor define GUILE_ISELECT has been deprecated.
828 Going forward, assume that scm_internal_select is always present.
830 ** The preprocessor define READER_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
832 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
833 READER_EXTENSIONS are always present.
835 ** The preprocessor define DEBUG_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
837 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
838 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS are always present.
840 ** The preprocessor define DYNAMIC_LINKING has been deprecated.
842 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
843 DYNAMIC_LINKING are always present.
845 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
847 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
848 programs. (Do not use.)
850 ** New function: scm_effective_version
852 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
853 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
854 to the distribution" above.
856 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
858 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
859 arguments are now passed directly:
861 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
863 This is an incompatible change.
865 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
867 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
868 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
869 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
871 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
872 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
874 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
876 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
878 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
879 function in the init section.
881 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
883 ** New macros SCM_VECTOR_REF and SCM_VECTOR_SET.
885 Use these in preference to SCM_VELTS.
887 ** The SCM_VELTS macros now returns a read-only vector. For writing,
888 use the new macros SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS or SCM_VECTOR_SET. The use of
889 SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS is discouraged, though.
891 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
893 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
894 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
895 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
896 stays roughly constant.
898 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
899 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
900 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
901 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
902 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
905 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
906 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
907 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
908 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
910 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
912 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
914 ** The struct scm_cell has been renamed to scm_t_cell
916 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
917 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
918 initializes a new cell (see below).
920 ** New functions for memory management
922 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
923 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
924 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
925 cause aborts in long running programs.
927 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
928 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
930 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
931 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
932 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
933 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
934 details and for upgrading instructions.
936 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
937 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
938 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
940 ** New function: scm_str2string
942 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
945 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
947 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
948 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
949 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
950 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
951 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
953 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
954 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
955 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
957 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, QT_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
958 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
960 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
962 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old macros
963 had problems because with them allocation and initialization was separated and
964 the GC could sometimes observe half initialized cells. Only careful coding by
965 the user of SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
967 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
969 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
972 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
974 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
976 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
978 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or, probably better, to use r5rs
979 macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done during
980 evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
982 ** Removed from scm_root_state: def_inp, def_outp, def_errp, together
983 with corresponding macros scm_def_inp, scm_def_outp and scm_def_errp.
984 These were undocumented and unused copies of the standard ports at the
985 time that Guile was initialised. Normally the current ports should be
986 used instead, obtained from scm_current_input_port () etc. If an
987 application needs to retain earlier ports, it should save them in a
988 gc-protected location.
990 ** Removed compile time option MEMOIZE_LOCALS
992 Now, caching of local variable positions during memoization is mandatory.
993 However, the option to disable the caching has most probably not been used
996 ** Removed compile time option SCM_RECKLESS
998 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
999 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
1001 ** Removed compile time option SCM_CAUTIOUS
1003 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
1004 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
1006 ** Deprecated configure flags USE_THREADS and GUILE_ISELECT
1008 Previously, when the C preprocessor macro USE_THREADS was defined,
1009 libguile included a thread API. This API is now always included, even
1010 when threads are not really supported. Thus, you don't need to test
1013 Analogously, GUILE_ISELECT was defined when the function
1014 scm_internal_select was provided by Guile. This function is now
1015 always defined, and GUILE_ISELECT with it.
1017 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1019 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1020 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1022 ** Deprecated definitions of error strings: scm_s_expression, scm_s_test,
1023 scm_s_body, scm_s_bindings, scm_s_variable, scm_s_clauses, scm_s_formals
1025 These error message strings were used to issue syntax error messages by
1026 guile's evaluator. It's unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1028 ** Deprecated helper macros for evaluation and application: SCM_EVALIM2,
1029 SCM_EVALIM, SCM_XEVAL, SCM_XEVALCAR
1031 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
1032 that they have been used by user code.
1034 ** Deprecated helper functions for evaluation and application:
1035 scm_m_expand_body, scm_macroexp
1037 These functions were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's
1038 unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1040 ** Deprecated functions for unmemoization: scm_unmemocar
1042 ** Deprecated macros for iloc handling: SCM_ILOC00, SCM_IDINC, SCM_IDSTMSK
1044 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
1045 that they have been used by user code.
1047 ** Removed definitions: scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify,
1048 scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify, scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify,
1049 scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify, scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell,
1050 scm_debug_newcell2, scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH,
1051 SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY, SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY,
1052 SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED, scm_debug_newcell,
1053 scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL,
1054 SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL,
1055 SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS,
1056 scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var, *top-level-lookup-closure*,
1057 scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3, scm_eval2,
1058 root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP,
1059 scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring, scm_tc7_substring,
1060 sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP, SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig,
1061 scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big,
1062 scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT, SCM_SETCHARS,
1063 SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_LENGTH_MAX,
1064 SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS,
1065 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern,
1066 scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1067 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1068 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1069 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1070 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1071 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1072 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1073 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1074 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1075 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1076 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1077 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable
1080 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1082 * Changes to the distribution
1084 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1086 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1088 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1089 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1090 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1091 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1092 indicate major changes in Guile.
1094 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1095 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1096 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1097 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1099 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1100 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1101 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1102 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1103 micro version number.
1105 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1107 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1109 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1110 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1112 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1114 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1115 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1116 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1118 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1120 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1121 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1122 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1125 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1127 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1130 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1132 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1133 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1135 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1137 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1138 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1141 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1143 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1146 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1149 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1151 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1153 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1154 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1155 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1157 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1159 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1161 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1164 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1166 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1168 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1170 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1171 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1172 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1174 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1176 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1178 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1179 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1188 See README there for more info.
1190 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1191 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1194 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1196 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1198 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1200 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1201 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1202 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1204 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1206 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1207 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1208 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1210 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1211 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1213 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1216 (oop goops describe)
1218 (oop goops active-slot)
1219 (oop goops composite-slot)
1221 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1222 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1223 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1225 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1227 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1228 in the default environment:
1230 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1231 %read-line write-line
1233 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1234 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1236 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1238 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1241 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1242 can be used for similar functionality.
1244 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1246 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1247 it defines two procedures:
1249 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1251 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1252 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1253 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1256 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1258 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1259 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1260 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1261 write large strings.
1263 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1265 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1266 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1268 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1270 for complete documentation.
1272 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1274 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1275 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1276 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1277 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1279 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1280 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1284 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1285 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1286 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1289 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1292 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1293 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1295 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1296 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1299 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1302 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1304 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1306 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1308 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1310 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1311 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1312 Scheme programs easier.
1314 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1315 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1316 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1317 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1318 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1321 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1322 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1324 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1327 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1329 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1330 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1331 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1334 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1336 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1338 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1339 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1340 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1341 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1342 was also ASCII, for example.
1344 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1346 tag - no replacement.
1347 fseek - replaced by seek.
1348 list* - replaced by cons*.
1350 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1354 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1355 (define m (make-safe-module))
1356 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1357 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1358 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1360 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1362 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1363 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1364 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1366 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1368 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1369 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1370 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1371 from the issues related to the module system.
1373 *** New function: load-extension
1375 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1377 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1379 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1380 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1381 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1383 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1385 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1386 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1387 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1388 support dynamic linking).
1390 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1392 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1393 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1394 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1395 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1398 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1399 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1400 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1401 library and initialize it explicitely.
1403 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1404 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1406 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1408 (define-module (foo bar))
1410 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1412 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1414 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1415 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1417 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1418 (null-environment 5)
1419 (interaction-environment)
1425 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1427 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1428 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1429 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1430 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1432 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1433 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1434 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1435 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1436 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1437 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1438 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1439 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1440 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1441 one eval to the next.
1443 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1444 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1445 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1446 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1447 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1449 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1450 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1451 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1452 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1453 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1454 used in a lexical environment.
1456 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1457 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1458 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1459 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1460 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1461 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1463 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1465 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1466 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1467 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1468 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1469 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1471 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1472 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1473 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1475 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1476 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1478 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1479 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1480 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1482 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1483 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1485 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1486 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1487 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1488 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1491 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1492 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1493 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1494 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1496 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1497 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1498 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1500 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1501 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1502 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1503 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1504 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1506 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1508 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1509 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1510 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1512 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1513 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1514 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1516 See manual for more info.
1518 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1520 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1521 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1522 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1524 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1526 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1527 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1528 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1530 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1531 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1532 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1533 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1535 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1537 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1538 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1540 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1541 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1542 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1543 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1544 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1547 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1548 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1549 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1550 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1551 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1552 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1554 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1555 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1556 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1557 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1558 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1560 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1561 objects are usually permanent.
1563 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1564 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1566 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1568 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1569 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1572 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1576 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1581 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1583 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1584 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1585 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1586 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1588 ** New function `make-object-property'
1590 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1591 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1595 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1596 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1600 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1601 source properties eventually.
1603 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1605 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1606 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1607 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1609 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1610 will be removed in the next release.
1612 ** New define-module option: pure
1614 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1619 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1622 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1624 Export names NAME1 ...
1626 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1627 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1631 (define-module (foo)
1633 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1636 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1641 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1643 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1645 ** New function: port? X
1647 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1648 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1650 ** New function: file-port?
1652 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1654 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1656 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1657 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1658 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1659 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1660 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1662 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1664 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1665 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1666 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1667 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1668 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1671 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1673 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1674 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1675 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1676 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1679 ** New function: crypt password salt
1681 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1684 ** New function: chroot path
1686 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1688 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1690 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1693 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1695 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1697 ** New function: getpass prompt
1699 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1702 ** New function: flock file operation
1704 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1706 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1708 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1711 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1713 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1714 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1715 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1716 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1717 of the temporary file.
1719 ** New function: open-input-string string
1721 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1722 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1723 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1725 ** New function: open-output-string
1727 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1728 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1730 ** New function: get-output-string
1732 Return the contents of an output string port.
1734 ** New function: identity
1736 Return the argument.
1738 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1739 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1741 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1743 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1744 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1745 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1748 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1749 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1751 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1753 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1754 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1755 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1758 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1759 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1760 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1764 Use `identity' instead.
1770 ** Deprecated: return-it
1774 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1776 Use `string-length' instead.
1778 ** Deprecated: flags
1780 Use `logior' instead.
1782 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1784 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1785 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
1786 port-for-each is more flexible.
1788 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
1789 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
1790 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
1792 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
1794 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
1796 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
1798 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
1800 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
1802 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
1803 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
1805 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
1806 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
1808 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
1809 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
1811 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
1813 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
1814 Removed function: builtin-bindings
1816 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
1817 Use module system operations for all variables.
1819 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
1821 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
1824 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
1826 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
1827 The following bugs have been fixed:
1829 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
1830 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
1833 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
1834 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
1835 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
1837 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
1838 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
1840 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
1841 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
1844 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
1845 The expansion used to be like so:
1847 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
1849 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
1851 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
1853 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
1854 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
1856 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
1858 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
1859 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
1860 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
1864 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
1865 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
1867 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
1872 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
1873 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
1875 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
1876 and `d', other keywords allowed.
1877 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
1879 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
1882 * Changes to the C interface
1884 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
1886 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
1887 with "_t". What a concept.
1889 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
1891 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
1893 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
1897 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
1898 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
1900 *** C Functions removed
1902 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
1903 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
1904 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
1905 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
1906 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
1907 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
1908 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
1910 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
1912 Use scm_mem2string instead.
1914 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
1916 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
1918 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
1919 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
1921 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
1923 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
1926 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
1928 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
1930 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
1932 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
1933 Evaluation" in the manual.
1935 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
1937 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
1938 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
1940 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
1942 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
1943 Constructors" in the manual.
1945 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
1947 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
1948 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
1950 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
1952 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
1954 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
1955 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
1956 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
1958 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1960 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
1962 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
1963 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
1964 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
1967 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1969 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
1971 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
1972 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
1974 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
1976 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
1977 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
1978 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
1979 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
1981 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
1982 scm_primitive_property_ref
1983 scm_primitive_property_set_x
1984 scm_primitive_property_del_x
1986 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
1987 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
1989 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
1991 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
1992 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
1993 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
1994 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
1996 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
1998 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
1999 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2000 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2001 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2002 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2003 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2004 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2006 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2007 scm_remember_upto_here
2009 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2011 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2013 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2014 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2016 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2018 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2020 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2022 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2024 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2026 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2027 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2028 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2029 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2030 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2031 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2033 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2035 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2037 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2038 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2039 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2041 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2043 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2044 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2045 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2047 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2049 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2050 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2053 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2056 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2057 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2060 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2062 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2064 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2066 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2068 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2070 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2072 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2073 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2074 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2075 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2076 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2077 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2078 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2079 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2080 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2081 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2082 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2083 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2084 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2085 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2086 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2088 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2089 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2090 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2091 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2092 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2093 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2094 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2095 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2096 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2097 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2098 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2099 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2100 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2101 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2102 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2103 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2104 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2105 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2106 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2107 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2108 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2109 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2110 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2111 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2112 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2113 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2114 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2115 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2116 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2118 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2120 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2122 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2123 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2125 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2127 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2129 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2131 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2133 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2135 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2137 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2139 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2141 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2144 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2145 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2147 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2149 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2151 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2153 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2155 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2157 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2159 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2161 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2164 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2166 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2168 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2170 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2171 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2173 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2174 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2176 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2178 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2179 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2180 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2182 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2184 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2186 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2187 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2189 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2190 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2191 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2192 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2194 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2195 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2196 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2198 Use the new ones from above instead.
2200 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2202 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2203 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2204 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2206 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2207 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2209 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2210 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2213 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2214 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2216 Use the new functions instead.
2218 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2221 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2223 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2225 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2228 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2230 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2233 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2235 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2238 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2239 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2240 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2242 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2244 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2245 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2247 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2248 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2249 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2250 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2253 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2255 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2256 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2257 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2258 inexact for an exact.
2260 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2261 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2262 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2265 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2266 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2267 accept an inexact argument.
2269 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2270 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2272 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2275 ** New number validation macros:
2276 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2280 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2282 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2283 scm_unprotect_object.
2285 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2287 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2289 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2292 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2294 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2298 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2300 * Changes to the distribution
2302 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2304 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2305 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2306 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2307 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2308 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2309 obtain these programs.
2310 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2311 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2313 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2314 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2315 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2316 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2317 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2319 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2320 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2321 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2322 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2326 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2329 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2330 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2331 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2332 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2334 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2336 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2338 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2339 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2341 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2342 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2344 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2345 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2347 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2348 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2349 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2350 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2352 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2354 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2358 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2359 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2361 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2363 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2364 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2366 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2367 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2368 number of objects of that kind.
2370 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2372 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2373 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2374 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2375 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2376 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2378 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2380 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2382 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2384 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2387 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2389 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2391 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2393 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2395 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2397 ** New command line option --debug
2399 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2401 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2403 ** New help facility
2405 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2406 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2407 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2408 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2409 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2410 (help) gives this text
2412 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2413 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2415 Examples: (help help)
2417 (help "output-string")
2419 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2421 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2423 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2424 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2427 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2428 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2429 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2432 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2433 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2434 use absolute filenames when possible.
2436 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2437 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2438 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2441 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2443 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2444 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2445 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2446 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2448 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2450 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2452 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2453 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2454 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2456 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2457 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2458 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2460 (read-enable 'positions)
2461 (debug-enable 'debug)
2463 ** Backtraces in scripts
2465 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2469 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2471 at the top of the script.
2473 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2474 The second enables backtraces.)
2476 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2478 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2479 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2480 substantially faster than before.
2482 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2483 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2485 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2486 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2488 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2490 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2491 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2492 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2494 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2495 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2496 when this hook is run in the future.
2498 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2499 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2501 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2503 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2504 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2507 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2508 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2509 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2511 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2512 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2514 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2515 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2517 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2518 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2519 in order not to need further allocation.)
2521 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2524 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2525 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2526 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2527 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2529 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2531 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2534 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2536 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2539 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2540 GC in percent of total heap size
2543 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2544 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2546 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2548 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2549 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2551 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2553 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2554 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2556 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2558 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2559 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2563 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2564 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2566 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2568 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2570 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2572 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2574 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2576 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2577 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2579 (simple-format port message . args)
2580 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2581 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2582 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2583 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2584 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2585 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2586 Does not add a trailing newline."
2588 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2590 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2591 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2593 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2594 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2596 ** Deprecated: list*
2598 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2600 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2602 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2603 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2605 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2606 is returned as result.
2608 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2610 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2612 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2614 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2615 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2618 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2620 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2622 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2623 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2625 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2627 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2629 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2631 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2633 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2635 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2637 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2639 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2640 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2641 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2643 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2646 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2648 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2649 the readability of argument checking.
2651 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2653 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2655 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2657 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2658 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2659 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2660 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2661 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2662 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2663 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2665 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2667 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2669 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2670 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2672 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2674 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2675 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2678 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2680 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2681 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2682 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2684 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2685 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2686 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2688 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2689 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2690 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2691 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2692 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2693 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2694 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2696 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2697 scm_end_input (object);
2698 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2699 ptob->flush (object);
2701 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2702 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2705 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2707 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2709 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2710 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2711 removed in a future version.
2713 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2715 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2716 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2717 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2718 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2720 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2721 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2723 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2726 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2728 in your configure.in.
2730 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2735 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2741 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2743 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2747 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2748 (define make-message string-append)
2750 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2752 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2756 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2761 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2765 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2767 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2768 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2770 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2772 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2773 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2774 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2775 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2776 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2777 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2779 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2780 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2781 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2783 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2784 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2785 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
2788 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
2789 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
2790 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
2791 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
2792 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
2794 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
2795 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
2796 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
2797 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
2798 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
2799 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
2800 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
2802 Destructors are not yet implemented.
2804 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
2805 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
2806 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
2808 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
2809 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
2810 KEY in the calling thread.
2812 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
2813 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
2814 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
2815 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
2816 associated with the key.
2818 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
2820 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
2821 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
2823 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
2825 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
2826 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
2827 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
2829 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
2831 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
2832 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
2834 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
2836 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
2838 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
2839 returned is undefined.
2841 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
2842 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
2843 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
2845 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
2846 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
2847 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
2849 ** New C level GC hooks
2851 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
2853 scm_before_gc_c_hook
2856 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
2857 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
2858 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
2860 scm_before_mark_c_hook
2861 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
2862 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
2864 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
2865 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
2868 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
2870 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
2871 allocation parameters
2873 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
2874 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
2875 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
2879 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
2880 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
2881 scm_default_max_segment_size
2883 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
2885 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
2886 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
2888 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
2890 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
2891 object and count on the object being protected until
2892 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
2894 The functions also have better time complexity.
2896 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
2897 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
2898 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
2899 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
2900 are no longer needed.
2902 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
2904 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
2905 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
2906 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
2907 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
2909 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
2911 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
2913 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
2915 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
2916 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
2917 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
2918 until this issue has been settled.
2920 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
2922 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
2924 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
2927 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
2929 * Changes to system call interfaces:
2931 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
2932 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
2933 descriptors were checked.
2935 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
2936 atomically written to a pipe.
2938 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
2939 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
2940 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
2941 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
2942 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
2943 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
2944 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
2947 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
2948 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
2949 is changed without calling tzset.
2951 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
2953 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
2954 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
2955 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
2957 (define write-network-long
2958 (lambda (value port)
2959 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2960 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
2961 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
2963 (define read-network-long
2965 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2966 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
2967 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
2969 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
2970 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
2972 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
2973 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
2974 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
2975 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
2977 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
2978 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
2979 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
2980 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
2984 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
2986 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2990 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
2991 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
2992 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
2998 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
2999 for a description of available commands.
3001 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3002 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3003 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3005 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3007 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3008 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3010 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3012 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3014 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3015 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3016 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3017 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3018 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3019 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3022 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3024 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3025 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3026 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3027 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3029 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3030 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3032 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3034 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3036 ** Readline support has changed again.
3038 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3039 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3040 to activate readline is now
3042 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3045 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3047 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3048 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3049 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3052 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3053 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3054 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3057 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3058 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3059 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3060 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3061 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3062 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3064 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3065 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3067 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3069 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3070 object it receives is the same string passed to
3071 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3072 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3073 string, not the suffix.
3075 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3076 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3077 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3079 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3081 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3082 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3083 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3084 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3087 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3089 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3091 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3092 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3093 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3094 appear from left to right.
3096 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3099 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3101 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3102 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3104 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3108 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3110 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3112 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3114 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3115 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3116 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3118 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3120 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3122 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3124 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3127 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3129 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3130 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3131 mentioning it here anyway.
3133 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3135 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3136 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3137 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3138 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3141 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3143 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3145 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3147 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3148 otherwise return #f.
3150 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3152 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3153 returned by `opendir'.
3155 ** New function: using-readline?
3157 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3159 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3161 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3162 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3164 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3166 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3168 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3169 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3170 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3172 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3174 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3175 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3177 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3179 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3180 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3181 documentation slots are not yet used.
3183 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3185 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3186 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3187 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3192 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3193 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3194 (string-append x y))
3196 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3197 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3199 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3200 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3201 be made in a clean way.]
3203 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3205 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3207 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3209 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3210 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3212 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3214 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3216 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3218 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3220 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3221 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3222 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3223 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3226 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3228 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3230 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3232 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3234 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3235 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3237 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3239 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3241 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3243 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3245 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3246 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3247 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3248 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3249 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3250 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3252 This should not make any difference for most users.
3254 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3256 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3257 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3259 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3261 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3262 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3263 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3264 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3265 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3267 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3269 It is now replaced by:
3271 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3273 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3274 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3276 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3278 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3279 This might change when we get the new module system.
3281 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3285 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3287 * Changes to mailing lists
3289 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3291 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3294 * Changes to the distribution
3296 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3298 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3299 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3300 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3301 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3302 you explicitly specify it.
3304 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3305 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3306 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3307 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3308 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3311 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3312 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3313 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3314 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3316 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3317 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3318 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3321 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3323 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3326 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3328 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3330 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3331 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3332 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3333 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3335 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3336 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3339 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3341 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3342 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3343 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3344 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3345 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3346 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3347 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3348 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3360 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3361 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3362 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3363 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3364 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3369 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3370 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3378 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3383 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3384 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3387 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3388 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3389 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3390 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3392 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3394 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3396 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3397 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3399 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3401 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3403 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3404 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3406 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3409 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3411 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3413 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3415 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3417 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3419 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3421 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3422 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3423 when the hook was created.
3425 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3426 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3427 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3428 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3429 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3430 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3431 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3432 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3433 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3435 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3436 the dlopen family of functions.
3438 ** New function `provided?'
3440 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3441 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3442 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3443 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3445 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3447 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3448 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3449 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3450 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3453 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3454 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3455 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3456 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3458 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3459 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3460 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3463 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3464 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3465 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3466 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3467 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3468 but with the flag set.
3470 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3472 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3473 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3475 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3476 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3477 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3478 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3479 available Scheme format implementations.
3481 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3482 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3483 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3484 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3485 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3486 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3487 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3488 output is to the current error port if available by the
3489 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3492 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3493 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3494 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3495 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3496 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3497 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3498 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3499 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3501 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3502 be executed at a time.
3505 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3507 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3508 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3509 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3511 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3512 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3513 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3514 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3515 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3516 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3517 general form of a directive is:
3519 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3521 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3523 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3525 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3526 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3527 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3530 Any (print as `display' does).
3534 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3538 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3542 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3548 print number sign always.
3551 print comma separated.
3553 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3559 print number sign always.
3562 print comma separated.
3564 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3570 print number sign always.
3573 print comma separated.
3575 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3581 print number sign always.
3584 print comma separated.
3586 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3591 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3595 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3598 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3601 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3604 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3609 prints `y' and `ies'.
3612 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3615 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3620 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3624 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3627 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3628 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3630 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3633 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3634 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3636 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3639 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3641 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3643 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3646 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3648 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3650 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3653 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3656 The sign appears before the padding.
3664 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3666 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3671 print N page separators.
3681 newline is ignored, white space left.
3684 newline is left, white space ignored.
3689 relative tabulation.
3695 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3697 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3700 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3702 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3705 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3708 converts by `string-upcase'.
3711 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3713 jumps N arguments forward.
3716 jumps 1 argument backward.
3719 jumps N arguments backward.
3722 jumps to the 0th argument.
3725 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3727 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3728 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3730 take argument from N.
3733 true test conditional.
3736 if-else-then conditional.
3742 default clause follows.
3745 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3747 at most N iterations.
3750 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3753 args from the rest of arguments.
3756 args from the rest args (lists).
3767 aborts if N <= M <= K
3769 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3772 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3775 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3781 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3783 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3785 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
3786 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
3787 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
3788 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
3789 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
3790 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
3794 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
3798 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
3804 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
3807 Print a `#\space' character
3809 print N `#\space' characters.
3812 Print a `#\tab' character
3814 print N `#\tab' characters.
3817 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
3818 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
3819 must be a positive decimal number.
3822 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3823 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3824 be processed by `read'.
3827 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3828 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3829 be processed by `read'.
3832 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
3835 prints format version.
3838 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
3839 and format it accordingly.
3841 *** Configuration Variables
3843 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
3844 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
3845 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
3846 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
3849 format:symbol-case-conv
3850 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
3851 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
3852 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
3853 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
3854 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
3856 format:iobj-case-conv
3857 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
3858 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
3861 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
3864 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
3870 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
3871 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
3872 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
3873 `format' padding style.
3876 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
3877 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
3878 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
3879 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
3883 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
3884 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
3885 directive parameters or modifiers)).
3888 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
3889 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
3890 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
3891 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
3892 parameters or modifiers)).
3895 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
3897 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
3899 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
3900 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
3902 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
3903 string-downcase! functions.
3905 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
3906 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
3908 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
3911 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
3914 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
3915 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
3917 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
3919 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
3920 the symbol had be read by `read'.
3922 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
3923 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
3924 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
3925 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
3926 would if STRING were input.
3928 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
3930 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
3931 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
3932 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
3933 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
3936 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
3938 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
3939 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
3942 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
3944 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
3945 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
3947 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
3948 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
3950 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
3951 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
3952 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
3953 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
3955 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
3956 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
3958 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
3959 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
3960 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
3962 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
3963 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
3965 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
3966 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
3967 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
3968 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
3969 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
3971 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
3972 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
3973 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
3974 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
3975 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
3976 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
3978 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
3979 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
3980 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
3983 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
3984 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
3985 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
3986 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
3987 the following grammar:
3988 ((apples (single-char #\a))
3989 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
3990 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
3991 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
3992 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
3993 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
3994 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
3995 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
3996 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
3997 last option in its combination)
3999 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4000 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4001 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4002 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4004 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4005 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4006 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4008 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4009 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4010 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4012 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4013 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4014 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4015 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4016 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4017 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4018 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4019 ordinary argument strings.
4021 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4022 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4023 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4024 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4026 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4027 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4029 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4030 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4031 - a required option is omitted
4032 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4033 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4034 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4035 - an option predicate fails
4040 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4043 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4044 (verbose (required? #f)
4047 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4048 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4049 (predicate ,string?))))
4051 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4052 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4054 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4055 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4056 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4057 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4060 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4062 It will be removed in a few releases.
4064 ** New syntax: lambda*
4065 ** New syntax: define*
4066 ** New syntax: define*-public
4067 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4068 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4069 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4071 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4072 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4073 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4074 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4075 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4077 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4078 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4079 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4081 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4083 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4084 and examples for `lambda*':
4087 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4089 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4090 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4091 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4092 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4093 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4094 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4095 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4096 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4098 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4100 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4101 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4102 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4103 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4105 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4106 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4107 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4108 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4109 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4110 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4111 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4112 and until the procedure is called.
4114 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4116 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4117 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4118 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4119 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4120 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4121 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4122 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4123 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4124 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4125 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4127 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4128 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4129 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4130 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4133 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4135 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4136 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4137 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4138 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4140 ** New syntax: and-let*
4141 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4143 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4144 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4145 (<variable> <expression>)
4148 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4149 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4150 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4153 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4154 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4155 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4156 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4157 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4158 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4159 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4161 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4162 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4163 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4164 shadow earlier bindings.
4166 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4168 ** New sorting functions
4170 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4171 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4172 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4173 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4175 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4176 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4179 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4180 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4181 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4183 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4184 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4185 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4186 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4188 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4189 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4190 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4191 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4192 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4195 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4196 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4197 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4198 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4199 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4200 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4202 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4203 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4204 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4206 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4207 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4208 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4211 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4212 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4213 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4215 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4216 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4218 ** New built-in random number support
4220 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4221 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4222 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4223 returned have a uniform distribution.
4225 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4226 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4227 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4228 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4229 effect of the `random' operation.
4231 *** New variable: *random-state*
4232 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4233 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4234 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4235 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4236 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4239 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4240 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4241 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4242 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4243 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4245 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4246 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4247 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4248 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4249 initialized using SEED.
4251 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4252 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4253 range between 0 and 1.
4255 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4256 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4257 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4258 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4259 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4260 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4261 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4263 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4264 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4265 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4266 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4267 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4268 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4270 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4271 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4272 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4273 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4275 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4276 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4277 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4278 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4280 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4281 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4282 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4284 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4286 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4289 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4290 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4293 ** New function: make-guardian
4294 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4295 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4296 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4297 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4298 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4300 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4301 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4302 one object if at all.
4304 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4305 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4306 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4308 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4309 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4310 read again in last-in first-out order.
4312 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4313 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4315 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4317 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4318 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4319 file position is used.
4321 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4322 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4323 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4325 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4326 redefined using seek.
4328 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4329 size is not supplied.
4331 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4332 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4334 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4335 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4337 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4339 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4340 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4341 and returns the contents as a single string.
4343 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4344 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4345 lists in serial order.
4347 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4348 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4349 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4351 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4352 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4353 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4354 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4356 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4357 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4358 and #f if an error occured.
4360 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4362 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4363 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4364 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4365 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4367 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4369 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4372 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4374 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4377 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4381 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4382 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4384 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4385 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4389 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4391 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4393 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4394 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4396 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4398 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4399 might change when we get the new module system.
4401 ** The smob interface
4403 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4404 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4406 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4408 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4412 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4413 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4414 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4415 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4416 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4417 will be freed by the default free function.
4419 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4420 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4421 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4422 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4424 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4425 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4426 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4427 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4429 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4431 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4432 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4436 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4437 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4438 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4440 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4441 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4442 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4443 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4445 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4446 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4447 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4449 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4450 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4451 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4452 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4454 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4455 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4456 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4458 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4462 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4464 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4465 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4466 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4468 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4469 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4470 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4472 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4473 a string port's buffer.
4475 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4476 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4477 function pointers which together define the current random number
4478 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4479 number library functions.
4481 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4484 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4485 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4488 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4489 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4491 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4492 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4494 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4495 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4498 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4499 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4500 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4501 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4503 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4504 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4505 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4506 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4507 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4508 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4509 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4511 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4512 by libguile and the application.
4514 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4515 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4516 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4517 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4519 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4520 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4522 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4523 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4524 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4526 ** Random number library functions
4527 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4528 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4529 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4531 The default random state is stored in:
4533 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4534 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4535 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4540 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4542 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4543 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4544 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4545 isn't a random state.
4547 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4548 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4550 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4551 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4552 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4553 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4555 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4556 Return 32 random bits.
4558 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4559 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4561 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4562 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4564 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4565 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4567 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4568 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4570 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4571 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4572 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4576 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4578 * Changes to the distribution
4580 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4581 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4582 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4585 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4586 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4587 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4589 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4590 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4591 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4592 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4595 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4596 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4597 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4599 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4601 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4603 *** Function: batch-mode?
4605 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4608 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4610 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4611 case has not been implemented.
4613 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4614 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4615 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4618 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4619 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4621 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4623 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4625 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4627 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4628 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4631 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4632 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4633 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4634 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4637 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4639 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4640 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4641 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4642 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4643 find those libraries.
4645 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4646 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4649 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4651 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4652 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4653 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4654 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4656 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4657 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4658 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4662 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4664 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4665 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4666 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4669 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4670 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4671 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4672 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4674 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4675 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4678 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4679 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4680 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4681 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4682 compiler where to find the libraries.
4684 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4685 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4686 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4688 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4689 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4690 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4691 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4692 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4696 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4698 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4699 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4700 internationalization support.
4702 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4703 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4704 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4705 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4706 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4708 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4709 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4710 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4711 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4712 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4714 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4715 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4716 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4717 any GNU mirror site.
4719 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4721 ** New function: add-history STRING
4722 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4723 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4724 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4726 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4728 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4729 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4730 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4733 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4734 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4735 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4737 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4739 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4742 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4743 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4746 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4747 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4748 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4749 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4750 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4751 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4753 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4754 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4755 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4756 of the form mentioned above.
4758 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4759 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4760 returned in the special `rest' list.
4762 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4763 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4765 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4767 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4769 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4771 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4772 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4773 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4774 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4775 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4776 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4777 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4778 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4781 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4783 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4785 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
4786 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
4789 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
4790 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
4791 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
4795 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
4796 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
4797 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
4798 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
4799 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
4800 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
4801 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
4802 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
4805 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
4807 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
4808 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
4809 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
4811 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
4813 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
4814 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
4816 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
4817 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
4818 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
4820 Why do we have this function?
4821 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
4822 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
4823 primitive, and display it differently, and
4824 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
4825 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
4828 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
4829 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
4832 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
4833 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
4834 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
4835 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
4837 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
4838 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
4841 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
4842 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
4844 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
4846 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
4847 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
4848 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
4849 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
4850 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
4851 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
4852 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
4855 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
4857 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
4858 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
4860 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
4861 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
4862 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
4863 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
4864 properly continue the print chain.
4866 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
4867 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
4868 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
4869 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
4870 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
4871 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
4872 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
4873 print-state, it is simply ignored.
4875 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
4876 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
4877 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
4878 safest to not check for these pairs.
4880 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
4881 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
4882 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
4883 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
4885 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
4887 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
4888 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
4890 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
4892 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
4894 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
4895 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
4896 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
4898 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
4899 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
4900 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
4902 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
4903 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
4904 the following functions and macros:
4906 Function: make-fluid
4908 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
4909 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
4910 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
4911 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
4912 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
4914 Function: fluid? OBJ
4916 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
4918 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
4919 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
4921 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
4922 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
4924 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
4926 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
4927 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
4928 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
4929 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
4930 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
4931 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
4932 modified by `with-fluids*'.
4934 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
4936 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
4937 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
4938 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
4939 should evaluate to a fluid.
4941 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
4943 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
4944 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
4945 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
4946 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
4947 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
4949 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
4952 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
4954 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
4956 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
4958 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
4961 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
4962 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
4963 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
4964 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
4965 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
4968 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
4969 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
4970 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
4972 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
4973 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
4974 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
4976 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
4977 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
4978 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4979 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
4981 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
4982 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
4983 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4984 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
4986 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
4987 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
4988 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
4989 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
4991 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
4992 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
4993 their revealed counts set to zero.
4995 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4996 Returns an integer file descriptor.
4998 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4999 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5001 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5002 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5004 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5005 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5006 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5008 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5009 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5010 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5012 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5013 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5014 default environment inherited by child processes.
5016 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5017 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5018 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5020 The return value is unspecified.
5022 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5023 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5024 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5025 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5026 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5028 The return value is unspecified.
5030 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5031 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5039 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5040 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5043 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5046 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5047 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5048 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5050 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5051 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5052 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5053 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5056 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5057 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5059 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5060 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5061 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5062 the `environ' procedure.
5064 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5065 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5068 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5069 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5071 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5072 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5073 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5074 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5076 *** procedure: times
5077 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5078 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5079 return a selected component:
5082 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5086 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5089 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5093 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5094 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5098 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5099 terminated child processes.
5101 ** Removed: list-length
5102 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5103 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5105 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5107 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5109 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5111 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5112 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5113 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5114 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5116 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5117 extra complexity it introduces.
5119 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5120 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5122 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5123 variable to any non-empty value.
5125 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5126 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5128 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5130 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5131 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5133 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5135 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5136 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5138 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5140 ** vector handling routines
5142 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5143 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5144 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5145 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5146 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5148 ** pair and list routines
5150 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5153 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5155 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5158 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5160 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5162 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5163 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5164 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5165 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5166 site-specific initialization code.
5168 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5169 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5170 initialization processes.
5172 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5173 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5174 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5175 initialized properly.
5177 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5178 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5179 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5181 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5182 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5183 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5184 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5185 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5187 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5189 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5190 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5191 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5192 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5193 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5195 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5196 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5197 which look like this:
5200 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5202 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5203 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5206 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5207 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5210 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5212 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5213 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5214 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5216 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5217 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5218 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5219 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5220 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5222 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5223 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5225 int (*free) (SCM port);
5226 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5227 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5228 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5232 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5233 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5234 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5236 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5239 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5240 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5241 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5243 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5244 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5245 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5248 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5252 struct timeval *timeout);
5254 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5255 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5256 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5257 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5258 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5259 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5261 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5262 scm_catch_body_t body,
5264 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5267 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5268 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5269 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5270 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5271 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5272 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5274 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5276 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5279 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5280 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5281 spawning threads from application C code.
5283 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5284 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5285 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5286 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5287 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5288 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5290 ** Removed functions:
5292 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5293 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5295 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5297 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5298 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5300 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5302 ** mbstrings are now removed
5304 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5305 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5307 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5309 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5310 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5311 their new names and arguments:
5313 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5314 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5315 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5316 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5319 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5321 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5323 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5326 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5328 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5329 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5330 pass a #f arg to catch.
5332 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5334 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5335 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5338 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5339 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5340 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5341 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5342 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5343 reclaim its storage.
5345 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5346 worrying that some other function you call will call
5347 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5348 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5349 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5350 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5353 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5355 * Changes to the distribution
5357 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5358 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5361 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5362 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5364 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5365 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5367 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5369 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5370 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5371 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5373 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5375 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5376 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5377 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5378 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5379 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5380 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5382 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5383 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5384 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5387 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5388 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5389 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5390 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5392 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5393 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5394 libraries to your link command:
5396 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5397 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5398 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5399 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5401 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5402 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5403 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5405 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5407 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5408 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5411 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5413 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5414 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5415 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5416 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5417 searched is system dependent.
5419 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5421 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5423 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5425 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5426 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5428 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5430 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5431 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5432 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5433 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5434 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5437 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5439 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5440 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5441 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5442 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5443 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5445 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5447 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5448 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5450 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5452 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5453 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5454 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5457 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5459 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5460 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5461 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5462 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5464 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5465 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5467 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5469 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5470 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5472 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5474 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5475 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5483 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5485 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5486 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5487 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5488 a more informative way.
5490 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5491 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5492 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5493 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5494 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5495 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5497 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5498 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5501 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5502 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5503 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5506 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5507 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5508 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5509 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5510 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5511 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5513 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5514 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5515 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5516 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5519 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5520 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5521 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5522 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5523 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5524 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5526 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5527 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5528 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5529 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5530 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5532 *** regexp functions
5534 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5535 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5536 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5538 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5539 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5540 with SCSH regular expressions.
5542 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5543 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5544 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5545 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5547 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5548 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5549 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5550 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5552 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5553 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5554 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5555 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5556 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5557 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5559 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5560 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5561 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5562 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5563 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5565 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5567 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5568 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5569 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5570 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5572 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5573 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5574 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5576 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5577 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5579 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5582 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5583 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5584 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5586 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5587 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5588 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5590 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5591 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5592 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5593 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5594 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5597 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5599 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5600 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5601 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5602 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5603 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5604 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5606 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5607 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5608 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5610 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5611 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5614 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5615 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5617 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5618 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5619 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5620 may be one of the following arguments:
5622 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5624 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5626 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5627 the regexp match is written.
5629 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5630 following the regexp match is written.
5632 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5633 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5636 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5637 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5638 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5639 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5640 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5641 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5643 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5646 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5647 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5648 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5649 written out to PORT.
5651 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5652 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5653 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5654 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5655 will return after processing a single match.
5657 *** Match Structures
5659 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5660 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5661 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5662 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5663 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5664 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5667 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5668 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5669 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5670 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5671 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5673 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5674 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5675 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5677 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5678 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5679 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5680 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5681 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5683 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5684 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5686 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5687 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5689 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5690 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5692 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5693 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5695 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5696 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5697 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5698 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5700 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5701 Return the original TARGET string.
5703 *** Backslash Escapes
5705 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5706 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5707 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5708 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5709 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5710 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5712 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5713 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5714 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5715 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5716 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5717 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5718 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5719 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5721 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5722 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5723 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5724 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5725 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5726 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5727 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5729 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5730 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5731 return the resulting string.
5733 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5734 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5735 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5736 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5737 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5738 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5739 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5740 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5741 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5742 translated to the single character `*'.
5744 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5745 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5746 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5747 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5748 consecutive backslashes:
5750 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5752 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5753 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5754 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5756 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5757 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5758 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5759 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5760 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5761 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5763 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5765 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5766 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5767 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5768 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5769 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5770 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5771 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5772 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5773 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5774 cumbersome escape syntax.
5776 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5778 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5780 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5782 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5785 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
5787 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
5789 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
5792 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
5793 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
5794 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
5795 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
5796 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
5798 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
5799 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
5800 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
5801 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
5802 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
5803 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
5804 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
5807 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
5808 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
5809 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
5812 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
5813 `force-output' on every port open for output.
5815 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
5816 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
5817 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
5818 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
5819 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
5820 installed, you can say:
5822 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
5825 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5827 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
5828 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
5829 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
5830 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
5831 new dynamic roots and threads.
5834 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
5836 * Changes to the distribution.
5838 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
5840 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
5841 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
5842 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
5843 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
5844 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
5845 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
5846 programming language. These are packaged together because the
5847 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
5849 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
5852 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
5853 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
5858 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5860 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
5861 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
5863 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
5864 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
5865 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
5866 the (command-line) function.
5867 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
5868 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
5869 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
5871 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
5872 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
5873 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
5874 command line arguments
5875 -ds do -s script at this point
5876 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
5877 -h, --help display this help and exit
5878 -v, --version display version information and exit
5879 \ read arguments from following script lines
5881 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
5882 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
5884 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5887 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5891 (main (command-line))
5893 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
5895 ekko a speckled gecko
5897 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
5898 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
5899 following list of command-line arguments:
5901 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
5903 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
5904 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
5905 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
5906 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
5907 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5909 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
5911 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
5913 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
5914 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
5917 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
5918 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
5919 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
5920 SCSH) for circumventing them.
5922 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
5923 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
5924 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
5925 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
5927 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
5931 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5935 If the user invokes this script as follows:
5937 ekko a speckled gecko
5939 Unix expands this into
5941 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
5943 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
5944 read from the second line of the script, producing:
5946 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5948 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
5949 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5951 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
5952 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
5953 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
5954 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
5955 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
5956 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
5957 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
5958 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
5959 it only terminates the argument list.)
5960 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
5961 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
5962 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
5963 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
5964 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
5965 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
5966 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
5967 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
5969 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5971 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
5972 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
5973 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
5974 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
5975 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
5977 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
5978 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
5979 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
5981 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
5983 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
5984 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
5985 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
5986 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
5989 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
5990 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5991 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5993 * Changes to Scheme functions
5995 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
5996 and disabled by default.
5998 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
5999 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6000 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6001 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6003 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6005 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6007 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6008 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6010 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6011 (read-set! keywords #f)
6013 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6014 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6015 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6018 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6019 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6020 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6023 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6024 support for Scheme functions.
6026 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6027 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6028 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6029 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6032 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6033 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6034 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6037 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6038 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6039 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6042 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6043 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6044 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6045 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6046 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6047 display the result as a prompt.
6048 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6050 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6051 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6052 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6055 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6056 procedure of zero arguments.
6058 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6059 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6060 argument is bound in the current module.
6062 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6063 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6064 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6065 public bindings into the current module.
6067 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6068 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6070 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6071 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6073 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6074 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6076 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6077 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6079 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6080 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6082 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6083 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6084 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6085 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6086 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6088 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6089 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6090 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6091 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6093 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6096 ** Changes to I/O functions
6098 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6099 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6100 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6102 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6103 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6104 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6106 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6107 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6109 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6110 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6111 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6112 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6114 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6116 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6117 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6119 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6120 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6121 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6122 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6123 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6126 'trim omit delimiter from result
6127 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6128 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6129 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6131 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6133 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6134 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6136 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6137 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6138 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6139 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6140 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6142 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6143 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6144 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6146 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6147 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6148 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6149 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6151 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6152 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6154 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6155 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6157 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6159 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6160 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6161 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6162 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6163 a delimiting character.
6164 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6166 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6167 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6168 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6169 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6170 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6171 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6173 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6174 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6176 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6177 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6178 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6180 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6181 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6182 the array to read and write.
6184 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6185 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6188 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6190 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6193 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6194 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6195 Values for COMMAND are:
6197 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6198 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6199 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6200 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6201 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6202 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6203 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6204 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6206 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6208 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6209 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6210 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6211 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6212 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6213 corresponding return set will be the same.
6215 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6218 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6219 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6220 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6221 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6222 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6223 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6224 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6225 special file being created.
6227 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6228 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6230 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6231 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6232 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6233 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6234 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6235 and originating address.
6237 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6238 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6239 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6241 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6244 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6245 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6248 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6249 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6250 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6251 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6252 this function returns #f.
6254 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6255 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6256 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6259 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6260 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6261 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6264 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6265 a valid STATUS value.
6267 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6269 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6270 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6272 Component Accessor Setter
6273 ========================= ============ ============
6274 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6275 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6276 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6277 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6278 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6279 year tm:year set-tm:year
6280 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6281 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6282 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6283 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6284 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6286 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6287 describing the host system:
6290 ============================================== ================
6291 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6292 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6293 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6294 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6295 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6297 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6298 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6299 system's user database:
6302 ====================== =================
6303 user name passwd:name
6304 user password passwd:passwd
6307 real name passwd:gecos
6308 home directory passwd:dir
6309 shell program passwd:shell
6311 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6312 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6313 system's group database:
6316 ======================= ============
6317 group name group:name
6318 group password group:passwd
6320 group members group:mem
6322 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6323 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6327 ========================= ===============
6328 official name of host hostent:name
6329 alias list hostent:aliases
6330 host address type hostent:addrtype
6331 length of address hostent:length
6332 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6334 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6335 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6339 ========================= ===============
6340 official name of net netent:name
6341 alias list netent:aliases
6342 net number type netent:addrtype
6343 net number netent:net
6345 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6346 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6350 ========================= ===============
6351 official protocol name protoent:name
6352 alias list protoent:aliases
6353 protocol number protoent:proto
6355 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6356 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6360 ========================= ===============
6361 official service name servent:name
6362 alias list servent:aliases
6363 port number servent:port
6364 protocol to use servent:proto
6366 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6367 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6370 ======================================== ===============
6371 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6372 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6373 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6374 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6376 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6377 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6378 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6380 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6381 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6383 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6384 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6386 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6387 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6389 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6391 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6393 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6394 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6395 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6397 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6398 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6399 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6400 return the remaining characters as a string.
6402 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6403 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6404 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6406 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6408 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6410 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6413 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6416 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6417 and returns the array
6419 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6420 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6421 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6423 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6425 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6426 symbol's value from C code:
6428 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6429 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6430 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6431 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6433 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6434 without assigning them a value.
6436 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6437 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6438 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6440 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6441 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6442 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6444 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6445 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6447 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6448 doesn't actually care about that.
6450 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6451 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6452 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6454 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6455 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6456 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6457 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6458 which we have just created and initialized.
6460 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6461 should one occur. We call it like this:
6462 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6464 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6465 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6466 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6467 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6468 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6469 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6472 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6473 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6474 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6475 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6476 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6477 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6478 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6481 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6482 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6483 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6484 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6485 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6488 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6489 scm_internal_catch, except:
6491 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6492 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6493 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6494 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6497 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6498 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6499 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6501 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6502 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6503 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6504 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6507 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6508 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6509 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6511 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6512 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6513 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6514 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6515 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6517 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6518 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6519 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6521 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6522 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6523 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6525 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6526 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6528 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6529 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6530 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6533 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6534 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6535 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6536 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6537 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6538 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6539 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6542 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6543 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6545 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6546 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6547 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6548 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6549 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6552 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6553 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6555 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6556 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6559 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6560 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6562 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6565 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6566 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6567 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6568 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6569 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6570 given the following arguments:
6572 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6574 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6576 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6578 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6581 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6582 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6583 command-line arguments.
6585 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6586 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6587 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6588 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6589 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6590 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6593 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6596 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6597 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6599 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6600 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6602 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6603 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6604 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6605 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6607 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6608 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6610 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6611 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6612 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6613 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6615 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6616 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6618 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6619 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6621 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6623 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6624 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6625 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6628 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6629 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6631 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6632 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6637 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6640 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6642 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6643 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6644 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6645 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6647 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6649 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6651 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6652 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6653 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6654 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6655 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6656 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6657 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6658 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6659 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6660 for more information.
6662 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6663 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6665 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6666 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6667 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6668 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6669 following two lines at the top of the file:
6671 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6674 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6675 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6676 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6678 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6680 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6682 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6685 (display (car args))
6686 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6688 (loop (cdr args)))))
6691 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6692 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6693 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6694 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6695 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6696 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6700 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6703 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6706 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6708 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6709 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6710 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6711 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6712 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6715 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6716 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6717 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6718 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6719 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6722 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6725 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6726 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6727 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6730 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6731 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6732 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6734 to see a backtrace, and
6735 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6736 to see them by default.
6740 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6742 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6744 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6745 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6748 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6749 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6750 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6751 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6754 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6755 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6756 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6757 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6758 functions which inspired them.
6760 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6761 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6765 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6767 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6769 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6770 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6773 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6774 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6775 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6777 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6778 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6779 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6780 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6781 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6783 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6785 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
6786 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
6787 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
6790 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
6793 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
6795 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
6796 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
6797 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
6798 above should serve their purposes.
6800 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
6801 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
6802 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
6803 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
6805 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
6808 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
6809 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
6810 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
6811 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
6813 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
6814 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
6815 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
6816 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
6818 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
6819 for the `read' function.
6822 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
6823 to that of `integer?'.
6825 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
6826 use the R4RS names for these functions.
6828 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
6829 it simply returns the object's property list.
6831 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
6832 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
6833 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
6834 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
6836 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
6838 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
6841 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
6843 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
6844 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
6846 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
6848 void (*main_func) (),
6851 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
6852 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
6853 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
6854 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
6855 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
6857 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
6858 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
6859 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
6860 know which arguments have been processed.
6862 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
6863 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
6864 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
6865 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
6866 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
6868 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
6869 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
6870 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
6871 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
6872 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
6873 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
6874 people from making that mistake.
6876 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
6877 convenient ways to override these when desired.
6879 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
6881 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
6885 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
6888 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
6889 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
6890 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
6891 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
6894 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
6895 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
6896 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
6897 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
6900 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
6901 have been added to the Guile library.
6903 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
6904 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
6905 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
6908 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
6909 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
6910 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
6912 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
6913 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
6914 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
6915 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
6916 argument from the list.
6919 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
6922 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
6923 null-terminated string, and returns it.
6925 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
6926 to a Scheme port object.
6928 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
6929 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
6934 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
6936 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
6937 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
6938 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
6939 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
6940 code as a special datatype.
6942 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
6943 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
6944 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
6945 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
6946 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
6949 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
6950 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
6951 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
6952 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
6953 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
6955 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
6958 Copyright information:
6960 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
6962 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
6963 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
6964 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
6965 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
6967 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
6968 of this document, or of portions of it,
6969 under the above conditions, provided also that they
6970 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
6975 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"