1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes. -*- text -*-
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Changes since the stable branch:
9 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
11 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
12 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
13 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
15 * Changes to the C interface
17 ** New function: scm_str2string
19 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
22 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
24 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
25 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
26 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
27 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
28 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
30 If you `#define __SCM_IMPORT__' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
31 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
32 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
34 There are also __SCM_RL_IMPORT__, __SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT__, and
35 __SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT__, for the corresponding libraries.
37 Changes since Guile 1.4:
39 * Changes to the distribution
41 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
43 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
45 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
46 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
47 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
48 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
49 indicate major changes in Guile.
51 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
52 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
53 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
54 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
56 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
57 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
58 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
59 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
62 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
64 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
66 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
67 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
68 See INSTALL and README for more information.
70 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
72 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
73 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
74 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
77 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
79 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
82 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
84 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
85 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
87 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
89 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
90 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
93 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
95 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
98 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
101 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
103 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
105 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
106 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
107 open-output-string, get-output-string.
109 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
111 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
113 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
116 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
118 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
120 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
122 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
123 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
124 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
126 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
128 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
130 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
131 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
140 See README there for more info.
142 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
143 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
146 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
148 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
150 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
152 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
153 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
154 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
156 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
158 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
159 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
160 to be named `and-let*', of course.
162 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
163 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
165 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
170 (oop goops active-slot)
171 (oop goops composite-slot)
173 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
174 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
175 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
177 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
179 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
180 in the default environment:
182 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
183 %read-line write-line
185 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
186 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
188 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
190 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
193 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
194 can be used for similar functionality.
196 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
198 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
199 it defines two procedures:
201 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
203 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
204 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
205 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
208 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
210 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
211 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
212 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
215 ** New module (ice-9 match)
217 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
218 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
220 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
222 for complete documentation.
224 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
226 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
227 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
228 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
229 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
231 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
232 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
236 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
237 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
238 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
241 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
244 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
245 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
247 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
248 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
251 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
254 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
256 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
258 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
260 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
262 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
263 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
264 Scheme programs easier.
266 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
267 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
268 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
269 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
270 `cond-expand' when using this option.
273 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
274 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
276 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
279 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
281 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
282 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
283 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
286 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
288 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
290 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
291 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
292 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
293 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
294 was also ASCII, for example.
296 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
298 tag - no replacement.
299 fseek - replaced by seek.
300 list* - replaced by cons*.
302 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
306 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
307 (define m (make-safe-module))
308 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
309 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
310 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
312 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
314 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
315 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
316 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
318 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
320 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
321 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
322 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
323 from the issues related to the module system.
325 *** New function: load-extension
327 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
329 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
331 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
332 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
333 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
335 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
337 This function registers a initialization function for use by
338 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
339 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
340 support dynamic linking).
342 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
344 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
345 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
346 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
347 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
350 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
351 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
352 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
353 library and initialize it explicitely.
355 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
356 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
358 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
360 (define-module (foo bar))
362 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
364 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
366 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
367 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
369 (scheme-report-environment 5)
371 (interaction-environment)
377 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
379 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
380 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
381 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
382 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
384 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
385 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
386 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
387 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
388 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
389 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
390 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
391 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
392 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
393 one eval to the next.
395 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
396 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
397 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
398 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
399 subforms are at the top-level as well.
401 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
402 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
403 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
404 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
405 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
406 used in a lexical environment.
408 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
409 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
410 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
411 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
412 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
413 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
415 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
417 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
418 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
419 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
420 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
421 new facilities: selection and renaming.
423 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
424 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
425 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
427 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
428 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
430 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
431 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
432 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
435 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
437 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
438 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
439 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
440 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
443 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
444 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
445 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
446 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
449 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
450 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
452 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
453 ;; and all four by upcasing.
454 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
455 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
456 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
458 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
461 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
462 :renamer upcase-symbol))
464 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
465 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
466 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
468 See manual for more info.
470 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
472 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
473 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
474 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
476 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
478 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
479 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
480 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
482 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
483 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
484 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
485 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
487 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
489 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
490 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
492 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
493 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
494 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
495 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
496 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
499 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
500 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
501 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
502 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
503 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
504 successful and #f if it wasn't.
506 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
507 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
508 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
509 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
510 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
512 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
513 objects are usually permanent.
515 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
516 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
518 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
520 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
521 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
524 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
528 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
533 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
535 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
536 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
537 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
538 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
540 ** New function `make-object-property'
542 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
543 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
547 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
548 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
552 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
553 source properties eventually.
555 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
557 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
558 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
559 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
561 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
562 will be removed in the next release.
564 ** New define-module option: pure
566 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
571 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
574 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
576 Export names NAME1 ...
578 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
579 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
585 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
588 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
593 ** New function: object->string OBJ
595 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
597 ** New function: port? X
599 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
600 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
602 ** New function: file-port?
604 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
606 ** New function: port-for-each proc
608 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
609 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
610 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
611 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
612 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
614 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
616 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
617 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
618 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
619 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
620 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
623 ** New function: close-fdes fd
625 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
626 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
627 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
628 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
631 ** New function: crypt password salt
633 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
636 ** New function: chroot path
638 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
640 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
642 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
645 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
647 Get or set the priority of the running process.
649 ** New function: getpass prompt
651 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
654 ** New function: flock file operation
656 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
658 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
660 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
663 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
665 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
666 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
667 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
668 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
669 of the temporary file.
671 ** New function: open-input-string string
673 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
674 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
675 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
677 ** New function: open-output-string
679 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
680 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
682 ** New function: get-output-string
684 Return the contents of an output string port.
686 ** New function: identity
690 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
691 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
693 ** New function: inet-pton family address
695 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
696 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
697 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
700 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
701 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
703 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
705 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
706 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
707 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
710 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
711 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
712 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
716 Use `identity' instead.
722 ** Deprecated: return-it
726 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
728 Use `string-length' instead.
732 Use `logior' instead.
734 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
736 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
737 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
738 port-for-each is more flexible.
740 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
741 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
742 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
744 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
746 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
748 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
750 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
752 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
754 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
755 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
757 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
758 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
760 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
761 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
763 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
765 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
766 Removed function: builtin-bindings
768 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
769 Use module system operations for all variables.
771 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
773 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
776 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
778 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
779 The following bugs have been fixed:
781 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
782 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
785 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
786 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
787 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
789 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
790 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
792 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
793 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
796 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
797 The expansion used to be like so:
799 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
801 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
803 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
805 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
806 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
808 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
810 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
811 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
812 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
816 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
817 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
819 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
824 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
825 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
827 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
828 and `d', other keywords allowed.
829 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
831 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
834 * Changes to the C interface
836 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
838 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
839 with "_t". What a concept.
841 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
843 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
845 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
849 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
850 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
852 *** C Functions removed
854 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
855 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
856 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
857 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
858 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
859 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
860 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
862 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
864 Use scm_mem2string instead.
866 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
868 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
870 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
871 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
873 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
875 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
878 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
880 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
882 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
884 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments.
888 scm_call_1 (proc, arg1);
890 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
892 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list
897 scm_apply_1 (proc, arg1, args);
899 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
901 Create a list of the given number of elements.
903 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
905 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
906 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
908 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
910 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
912 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
913 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
914 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
916 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
918 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
920 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
921 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
922 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
925 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
927 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
929 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
930 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
932 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
934 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
935 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
936 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
937 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
939 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
940 scm_primitive_property_ref
941 scm_primitive_property_set_x
942 scm_primitive_property_del_x
944 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
945 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
947 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
949 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
950 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
951 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
952 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
954 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
956 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
957 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
958 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
959 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
960 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
961 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
962 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
964 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
965 scm_remember_upto_here
967 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
969 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
971 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
972 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
974 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
976 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
978 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
980 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
982 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
984 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
985 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
986 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
987 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
988 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
989 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
991 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
993 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
995 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
996 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
997 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
999 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
1001 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
1002 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1003 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
1005 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
1007 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
1008 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
1011 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
1014 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
1015 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1018 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1020 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
1022 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
1024 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1026 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
1028 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
1030 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
1031 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
1032 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
1033 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1034 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
1035 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
1036 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
1037 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1038 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
1039 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
1040 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
1041 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
1042 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
1043 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
1044 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
1046 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
1047 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
1048 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
1049 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
1050 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
1051 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
1052 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
1053 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
1054 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1055 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
1056 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
1057 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
1058 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
1059 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
1060 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
1061 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1062 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1063 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
1064 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
1065 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
1066 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
1067 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
1068 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
1069 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
1070 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
1071 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
1072 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
1073 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
1074 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
1076 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
1078 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
1080 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
1081 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
1083 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
1085 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
1087 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
1089 Use scm_string_hash instead.
1091 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
1093 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
1095 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
1097 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
1099 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
1102 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
1103 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
1105 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
1107 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
1109 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
1111 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
1113 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
1115 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
1117 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
1119 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
1122 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
1124 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
1126 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
1128 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
1129 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
1131 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
1132 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
1134 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
1136 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
1137 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
1138 scm_module_define, scm_define.
1140 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
1142 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
1144 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
1145 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
1147 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
1148 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
1149 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
1150 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
1152 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
1153 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
1154 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
1156 Use the new ones from above instead.
1158 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
1160 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
1161 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
1162 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
1164 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
1165 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
1167 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
1168 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
1171 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
1172 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
1174 Use the new functions instead.
1176 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
1179 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
1181 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
1183 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
1186 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
1188 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
1191 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
1193 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
1196 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
1197 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
1198 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
1200 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
1202 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
1203 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
1205 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
1206 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
1207 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
1208 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
1211 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
1213 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
1214 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
1215 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
1216 inexact for an exact.
1218 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
1219 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
1220 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
1223 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
1224 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
1225 accept an inexact argument.
1227 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
1228 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
1230 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
1233 ** New number validation macros:
1234 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
1238 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
1240 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
1241 scm_unprotect_object.
1243 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
1245 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
1247 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
1250 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
1252 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
1256 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
1258 * Changes to the distribution
1260 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
1262 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
1263 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
1264 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
1265 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
1266 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
1267 obtain these programs.
1268 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
1269 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
1271 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
1272 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
1273 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
1274 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
1275 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
1277 However, this approach means that minor differences between
1278 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
1279 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
1280 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
1284 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
1287 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
1288 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
1289 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
1290 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
1292 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
1294 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
1296 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
1297 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
1299 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
1300 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
1302 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
1303 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
1305 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
1306 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
1307 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
1308 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
1310 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
1312 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
1316 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
1317 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
1319 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
1321 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
1322 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
1324 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
1325 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
1326 number of objects of that kind.
1328 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
1330 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
1331 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
1332 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
1333 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
1334 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
1336 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
1338 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
1340 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
1342 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
1345 ** New module (ice-9 time)
1347 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
1349 ** New module (ice-9 history)
1351 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
1353 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1355 ** New command line option --debug
1357 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
1359 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
1361 ** New help facility
1363 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
1364 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
1365 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
1366 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
1367 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
1368 (help) gives this text
1370 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
1371 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
1373 Examples: (help help)
1375 (help "output-string")
1377 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
1379 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
1381 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
1382 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
1385 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
1386 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
1387 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
1390 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
1391 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
1392 use absolute filenames when possible.
1394 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
1395 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
1396 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
1399 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
1401 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
1402 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
1403 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
1404 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
1406 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
1408 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
1410 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
1411 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
1412 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
1414 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
1415 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
1416 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
1418 (read-enable 'positions)
1419 (debug-enable 'debug)
1421 ** Backtraces in scripts
1423 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
1427 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
1429 at the top of the script.
1431 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
1432 The second enables backtraces.)
1434 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
1436 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
1437 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
1438 substantially faster than before.
1440 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
1441 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
1443 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
1444 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
1446 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
1448 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
1449 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
1450 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
1452 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
1453 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
1454 when this hook is run in the future.
1456 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
1457 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
1459 ** Improvements to garbage collector
1461 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
1462 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
1465 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
1466 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
1467 more and more memory for certain programs.)
1469 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
1470 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
1472 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
1473 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
1475 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
1476 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
1477 in order not to need further allocation.)
1479 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
1482 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
1483 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
1484 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
1485 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
1487 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
1489 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
1492 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
1494 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
1497 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
1498 GC in percent of total heap size
1501 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
1502 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
1504 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
1506 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
1507 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
1509 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
1511 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
1512 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
1514 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
1516 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
1517 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
1521 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
1522 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
1524 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
1526 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1528 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
1530 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
1532 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
1534 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
1535 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
1537 (simple-format port message . args)
1538 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
1539 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
1540 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
1541 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
1542 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
1543 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
1544 Does not add a trailing newline."
1546 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
1548 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
1549 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
1551 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
1552 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
1554 ** Deprecated: list*
1556 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
1558 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
1560 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
1561 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
1563 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
1564 is returned as result.
1566 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
1568 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
1570 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
1572 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
1573 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
1576 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
1578 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
1580 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
1581 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
1583 * Changes to the gh_ interface
1585 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
1587 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
1589 * Changes to the scm_ interface
1591 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
1593 Thanks to Greg Badros!
1595 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
1597 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
1598 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
1599 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
1601 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
1604 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
1606 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
1607 the readability of argument checking.
1609 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
1611 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
1613 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
1615 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
1616 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
1617 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
1618 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
1619 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
1620 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
1621 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
1623 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
1625 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
1627 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
1628 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
1630 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
1632 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
1633 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
1636 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
1638 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
1639 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
1640 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
1642 Further, it is recommended not to rely on implementation details for guile's
1643 current implementation of bignums. It is planned to replace this
1644 implementation with gmp in the future.
1646 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
1647 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
1648 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
1650 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
1651 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
1652 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
1653 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
1654 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
1655 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
1656 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
1658 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
1659 scm_end_input (object);
1660 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
1661 ptob->flush (object);
1663 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
1664 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
1667 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
1669 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
1671 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
1672 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
1673 removed in a future version.
1675 ** The format of error message strings has changed
1677 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
1678 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
1679 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
1680 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
1682 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
1683 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
1685 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
1688 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
1690 in your configure.in.
1692 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
1697 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
1703 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
1705 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
1709 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
1710 (define make-message string-append)
1712 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
1714 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
1718 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
1723 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
1727 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
1729 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
1730 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
1732 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
1734 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
1735 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
1736 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
1737 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
1738 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
1739 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
1741 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
1742 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
1743 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
1745 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
1746 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
1747 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
1750 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
1751 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
1752 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
1753 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
1754 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
1756 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
1757 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
1758 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
1759 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
1760 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
1761 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
1762 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
1764 Destructors are not yet implemented.
1766 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
1767 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
1768 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
1770 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
1771 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
1772 KEY in the calling thread.
1774 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
1775 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
1776 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
1777 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
1778 associated with the key.
1780 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
1782 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
1783 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
1785 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
1787 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
1788 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
1789 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
1791 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
1793 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
1794 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
1796 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
1798 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
1800 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
1801 returned is undefined.
1803 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
1804 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
1805 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
1807 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
1808 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
1809 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
1811 ** New C level GC hooks
1813 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
1815 scm_before_gc_c_hook
1818 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
1819 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
1820 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
1822 scm_before_mark_c_hook
1823 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
1824 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
1826 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
1827 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
1830 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
1832 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
1833 allocation parameters
1835 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
1836 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
1837 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
1841 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
1842 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
1843 scm_default_max_segment_size
1845 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
1847 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
1848 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
1850 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
1852 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
1853 object and count on the object being protected until
1854 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
1856 The functions also have better time complexity.
1858 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
1859 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
1860 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
1861 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
1862 are no longer needed.
1864 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
1866 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
1867 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
1868 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
1869 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
1871 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
1873 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
1875 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
1877 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
1878 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
1879 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
1880 until this issue has been settled.
1882 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
1884 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
1886 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
1889 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
1891 * Changes to system call interfaces:
1893 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
1894 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
1895 descriptors were checked.
1897 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
1898 atomically written to a pipe.
1900 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
1901 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
1902 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
1903 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
1904 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
1905 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
1906 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
1909 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
1910 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
1911 is changed without calling tzset.
1913 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
1915 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
1916 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
1917 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
1919 (define write-network-long
1920 (lambda (value port)
1921 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
1922 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
1923 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
1925 (define read-network-long
1927 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
1928 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
1929 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
1931 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
1932 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
1934 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
1935 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
1936 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
1937 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
1939 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
1940 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
1941 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
1942 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
1946 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
1948 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1952 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
1953 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
1954 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
1960 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
1961 for a description of available commands.
1963 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
1964 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
1965 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
1967 (debug-enable 'backwards)
1969 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
1970 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
1972 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
1974 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
1976 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
1977 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
1978 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
1979 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
1980 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
1981 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
1984 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
1986 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
1987 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
1988 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
1989 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
1991 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
1992 the file and should not be affected by this change.
1994 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
1996 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1998 ** Readline support has changed again.
2000 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
2001 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
2002 to activate readline is now
2004 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
2007 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
2009 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
2010 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
2011 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
2014 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
2015 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
2016 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
2019 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
2020 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
2021 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
2022 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
2023 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
2024 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
2026 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
2027 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
2029 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
2031 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
2032 object it receives is the same string passed to
2033 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
2034 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
2035 string, not the suffix.
2037 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
2038 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
2039 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
2041 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
2043 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
2044 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
2045 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
2046 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
2049 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2051 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
2053 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
2054 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
2055 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
2056 appear from left to right.
2058 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
2061 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
2063 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
2064 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
2066 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2070 *** New function: hook? OBJ
2072 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
2074 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
2076 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
2077 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
2078 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
2080 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
2082 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
2084 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
2086 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
2089 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
2091 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
2092 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
2093 mentioning it here anyway.
2095 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
2097 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
2098 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
2099 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
2100 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
2103 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
2105 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
2107 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
2109 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
2110 otherwise return #f.
2112 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
2114 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
2115 returned by `opendir'.
2117 ** New function: using-readline?
2119 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
2121 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
2123 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
2124 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
2126 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2128 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
2130 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
2131 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
2132 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
2134 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
2136 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
2137 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
2139 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
2141 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
2142 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
2143 documentation slots are not yet used.
2145 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
2147 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
2148 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
2149 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
2154 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
2155 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
2156 (string-append x y))
2158 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
2159 can also be used for concatenating strings.
2161 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
2162 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
2163 be made in a clean way.]
2165 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
2167 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
2169 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
2171 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
2172 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
2174 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2176 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
2178 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
2180 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
2182 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
2183 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
2184 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
2185 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
2188 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2190 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
2192 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
2194 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
2196 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
2197 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
2199 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
2201 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
2203 Evaluates the body of a special form.
2205 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
2207 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
2208 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
2209 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
2210 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
2211 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
2212 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
2214 This should not make any difference for most users.
2216 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
2218 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
2219 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
2221 *** New functions for applying generic functions
2223 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
2224 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
2225 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
2226 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
2227 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
2229 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
2231 It is now replaced by:
2233 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
2235 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
2236 binds a variable named NAME to it.
2238 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
2240 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
2241 This might change when we get the new module system.
2243 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
2247 Changes since Guile 1.3:
2249 * Changes to mailing lists
2251 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
2253 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
2256 * Changes to the distribution
2258 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
2260 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
2261 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
2262 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
2263 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
2264 you explicitly specify it.
2266 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
2267 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
2268 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
2269 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
2270 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
2273 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
2274 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
2275 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
2276 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
2278 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
2279 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
2280 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
2283 You can activate the readline support by issuing
2285 (use-modules (readline-activator))
2288 from your ".guile" file, for example.
2290 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2292 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
2293 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
2294 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
2295 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
2297 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
2298 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
2301 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2303 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
2304 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
2305 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
2306 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
2307 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
2308 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
2309 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
2310 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
2322 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
2323 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
2324 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
2325 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
2326 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
2331 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
2332 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
2340 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
2345 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
2346 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
2349 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
2350 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
2351 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
2352 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
2354 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
2356 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
2358 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
2359 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
2361 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
2363 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
2365 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
2366 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
2368 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
2371 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
2373 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
2375 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
2377 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
2379 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
2381 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
2383 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
2384 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
2385 when the hook was created.
2387 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
2388 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
2389 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
2390 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
2391 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
2392 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
2393 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
2394 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
2395 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
2397 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
2398 the dlopen family of functions.
2400 ** New function `provided?'
2402 - Function: provided? FEATURE
2403 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
2404 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
2405 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
2407 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
2409 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
2410 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
2411 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
2412 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
2415 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
2416 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
2417 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
2418 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
2420 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
2421 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
2422 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
2425 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
2426 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
2427 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
2428 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
2429 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
2430 but with the flag set.
2432 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
2434 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
2435 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
2437 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
2438 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
2439 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
2440 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
2441 available Scheme format implementations.
2443 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
2444 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
2445 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
2446 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
2447 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
2448 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
2449 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
2450 output is to the current error port if available by the
2451 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
2454 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
2455 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
2456 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
2457 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
2458 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
2459 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
2460 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
2461 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
2463 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
2464 be executed at a time.
2467 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
2469 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
2470 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
2471 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
2473 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
2474 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
2475 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
2476 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
2477 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
2478 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
2479 general form of a directive is:
2481 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
2483 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
2485 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
2487 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
2488 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
2489 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
2492 Any (print as `display' does).
2496 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
2500 S-expression (print as `write' does).
2504 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
2510 print number sign always.
2513 print comma separated.
2515 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
2521 print number sign always.
2524 print comma separated.
2526 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
2532 print number sign always.
2535 print comma separated.
2537 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
2543 print number sign always.
2546 print comma separated.
2548 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
2553 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
2557 print a number as a Roman numeral.
2560 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
2563 print a number as an ordinal English number.
2566 print a number as a cardinal English number.
2571 prints `y' and `ies'.
2574 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
2577 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
2582 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
2586 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
2589 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
2590 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
2592 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2595 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
2596 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
2598 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2601 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
2603 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
2605 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2608 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
2610 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
2612 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2615 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
2618 The sign appears before the padding.
2626 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
2628 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
2633 print N page separators.
2643 newline is ignored, white space left.
2646 newline is left, white space ignored.
2651 relative tabulation.
2657 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
2659 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
2662 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
2664 converts by `string-capitalize'.
2667 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
2670 converts by `string-upcase'.
2673 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
2675 jumps N arguments forward.
2678 jumps 1 argument backward.
2681 jumps N arguments backward.
2684 jumps to the 0th argument.
2687 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
2689 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
2690 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
2692 take argument from N.
2695 true test conditional.
2698 if-else-then conditional.
2704 default clause follows.
2707 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
2709 at most N iterations.
2712 args from next arg (a list of lists).
2715 args from the rest of arguments.
2718 args from the rest args (lists).
2729 aborts if N <= M <= K
2731 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
2734 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
2737 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
2743 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
2745 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
2747 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
2748 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
2749 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
2750 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
2751 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
2752 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
2756 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
2760 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
2766 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
2769 Print a `#\space' character
2771 print N `#\space' characters.
2774 Print a `#\tab' character
2776 print N `#\tab' characters.
2779 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
2780 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
2781 must be a positive decimal number.
2784 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
2785 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
2786 be processed by `read'.
2789 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
2790 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
2791 be processed by `read'.
2794 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
2797 prints format version.
2800 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
2801 and format it accordingly.
2803 *** Configuration Variables
2805 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
2806 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
2807 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
2808 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
2811 format:symbol-case-conv
2812 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
2813 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
2814 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
2815 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
2816 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
2818 format:iobj-case-conv
2819 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
2820 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
2823 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
2826 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
2832 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
2833 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
2834 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
2835 `format' padding style.
2838 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
2839 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
2840 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
2841 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
2845 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
2846 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
2847 directive parameters or modifiers)).
2850 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
2851 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
2852 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
2853 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
2854 parameters or modifiers)).
2857 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
2859 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
2861 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
2862 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
2864 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
2865 string-downcase! functions.
2867 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
2868 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
2870 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
2873 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
2876 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
2877 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
2879 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
2881 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
2882 the symbol had be read by `read'.
2884 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
2885 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
2886 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
2887 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
2888 would if STRING were input.
2890 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
2892 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
2893 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
2894 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
2895 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
2898 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
2900 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
2901 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
2904 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
2906 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
2907 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
2909 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
2910 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
2912 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
2913 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
2914 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
2915 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
2917 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
2918 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
2920 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
2921 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
2922 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
2924 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
2925 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
2927 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
2928 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
2929 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
2930 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
2931 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
2933 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
2934 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
2935 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
2936 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
2937 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
2938 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
2940 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
2941 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
2942 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
2945 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
2946 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
2947 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
2948 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
2949 the following grammar:
2950 ((apples (single-char #\a))
2951 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
2952 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
2953 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
2954 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
2955 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
2956 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
2957 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
2958 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
2959 last option in its combination)
2961 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
2962 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
2963 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
2964 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
2966 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
2967 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
2968 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
2970 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
2971 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
2972 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
2974 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
2975 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
2976 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
2977 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
2978 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
2979 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
2980 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
2981 ordinary argument strings.
2983 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
2984 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
2985 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
2986 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
2988 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
2989 as a list, associated with the empty list.
2991 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
2992 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
2993 - a required option is omitted
2994 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
2995 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
2996 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
2997 - an option predicate fails
3002 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
3005 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
3006 (verbose (required? #f)
3009 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
3010 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
3011 (predicate ,string?))))
3013 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
3014 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3016 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3017 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
3018 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
3019 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
3022 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
3024 It will be removed in a few releases.
3026 ** New syntax: lambda*
3027 ** New syntax: define*
3028 ** New syntax: define*-public
3029 ** New syntax: defmacro*
3030 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
3031 Guile now supports optional arguments.
3033 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
3034 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
3035 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
3036 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
3037 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
3039 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
3040 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
3041 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
3043 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
3045 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
3046 and examples for `lambda*':
3049 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
3051 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
3052 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
3053 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
3054 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
3055 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
3056 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
3057 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
3058 can be checked with the bound? macro.
3060 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
3062 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
3063 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
3064 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
3065 are given as keywords are bound to values.
3067 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
3068 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
3069 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
3070 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
3071 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
3072 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
3073 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
3074 and until the procedure is called.
3076 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
3078 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
3079 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
3080 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
3081 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
3082 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
3083 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
3084 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
3085 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
3086 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
3087 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
3089 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
3090 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
3091 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
3092 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
3095 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
3097 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
3098 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
3099 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
3100 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
3102 ** New syntax: and-let*
3103 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
3105 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
3106 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
3107 (<variable> <expression>)
3110 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
3111 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
3112 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
3115 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
3116 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
3117 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
3118 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
3119 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
3120 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
3121 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
3123 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
3124 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
3125 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
3126 shadow earlier bindings.
3128 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
3130 ** New sorting functions
3132 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
3133 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
3134 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
3135 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
3137 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
3138 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
3141 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
3142 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
3143 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
3145 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
3146 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
3147 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
3148 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
3150 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
3151 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
3152 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
3153 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
3154 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
3157 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
3158 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
3159 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
3160 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
3161 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
3162 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
3164 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
3165 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
3166 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
3168 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
3169 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
3170 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
3173 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
3174 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
3175 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
3177 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
3178 Added for compatibility with scsh.
3180 ** New built-in random number support
3182 *** New function: random N [STATE]
3183 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
3184 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
3185 returned have a uniform distribution.
3187 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
3188 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
3189 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
3190 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
3191 effect of the `random' operation.
3193 *** New variable: *random-state*
3194 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
3195 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
3196 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
3197 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
3198 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
3201 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
3202 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
3203 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
3204 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
3205 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
3207 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
3208 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
3209 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
3210 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
3211 initialized using SEED.
3213 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
3214 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
3215 range between 0 and 1.
3217 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
3218 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
3219 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
3220 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
3221 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
3222 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
3223 or a uniform vector of doubles.
3225 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
3226 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
3227 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
3228 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
3229 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
3230 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
3232 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
3233 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
3234 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
3235 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
3237 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
3238 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
3239 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
3240 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
3242 *** New function: random:exp STATE
3243 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
3244 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
3246 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
3248 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
3251 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
3252 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
3255 ** New function: make-guardian
3256 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
3257 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
3258 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
3259 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
3260 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
3262 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
3263 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
3264 one object if at all.
3266 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
3267 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
3268 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
3270 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
3271 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
3272 read again in last-in first-out order.
3274 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
3275 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
3277 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
3279 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
3280 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
3281 file position is used.
3283 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
3284 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
3285 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
3287 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
3288 redefined using seek.
3290 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
3291 size is not supplied.
3293 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
3294 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
3296 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
3297 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
3299 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
3301 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
3302 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
3303 and returns the contents as a single string.
3305 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
3306 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
3307 lists in serial order.
3309 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
3310 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
3311 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
3313 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
3314 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
3315 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
3316 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
3318 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
3319 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
3320 and #f if an error occured.
3322 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
3324 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
3325 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
3326 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
3327 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
3329 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
3331 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
3334 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
3336 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
3339 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3343 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
3344 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
3346 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
3347 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
3351 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3353 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
3355 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3356 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3358 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3360 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
3361 might change when we get the new module system.
3363 ** The smob interface
3365 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
3366 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
3368 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
3370 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
3374 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
3375 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
3376 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
3377 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
3378 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
3379 will be freed by the default free function.
3381 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
3382 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
3383 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3384 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3386 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
3387 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
3388 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3389 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3391 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
3393 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
3394 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
3398 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
3399 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3400 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3402 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
3403 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
3404 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
3405 `scm_make_smob_type'.
3407 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
3408 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
3409 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
3411 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
3412 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
3413 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
3414 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
3416 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
3417 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
3418 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
3420 *** scm_newptob has been removed
3424 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
3426 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
3427 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
3428 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
3430 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
3431 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
3432 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
3434 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
3435 a string port's buffer.
3437 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
3438 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
3439 function pointers which together define the current random number
3440 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
3441 number library functions.
3443 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
3446 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
3447 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
3450 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
3451 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
3453 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
3454 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
3456 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
3457 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
3460 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
3461 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
3462 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
3463 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
3465 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
3466 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
3467 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
3468 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
3469 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
3470 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
3471 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
3473 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
3474 by libguile and the application.
3476 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
3477 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
3478 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
3479 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
3481 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
3482 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
3484 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
3485 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
3486 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
3488 ** Random number library functions
3489 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
3490 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
3491 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
3493 The default random state is stored in:
3495 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
3496 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
3497 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
3502 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
3504 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
3505 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
3506 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
3507 isn't a random state.
3509 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
3510 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
3512 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
3513 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
3514 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
3515 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
3517 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3518 Return 32 random bits.
3520 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3521 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
3523 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3524 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
3526 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3527 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
3529 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
3530 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
3532 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
3533 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
3534 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
3538 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
3540 * Changes to the distribution
3542 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
3543 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
3544 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
3547 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
3548 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
3549 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
3551 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
3552 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
3553 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
3554 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
3557 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
3558 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
3559 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
3561 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3563 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
3565 *** Function: batch-mode?
3567 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
3570 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
3572 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
3573 case has not been implemented.
3575 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
3576 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
3577 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
3580 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
3581 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
3583 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
3585 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
3587 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
3589 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
3590 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
3593 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
3594 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
3595 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
3596 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
3599 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
3601 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
3602 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
3603 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
3604 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
3605 find those libraries.
3607 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
3608 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
3611 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
3613 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
3614 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
3615 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
3616 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
3618 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
3619 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
3620 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
3624 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
3626 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
3627 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
3628 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
3631 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
3632 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
3633 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
3634 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
3636 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
3637 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
3640 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
3641 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
3642 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
3643 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
3644 compiler where to find the libraries.
3646 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
3647 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
3648 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
3650 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
3651 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
3652 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
3653 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
3654 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
3658 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3660 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
3661 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
3662 internationalization support.
3664 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
3665 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
3666 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
3667 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
3668 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
3670 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
3671 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
3672 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
3673 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
3674 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
3676 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
3677 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
3678 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
3679 any GNU mirror site.
3681 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
3683 ** New function: add-history STRING
3684 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
3685 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
3686 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
3688 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
3690 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
3691 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
3692 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
3695 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
3696 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
3697 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
3699 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
3701 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
3704 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
3705 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
3708 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
3709 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
3710 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
3711 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
3712 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
3713 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
3715 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
3716 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
3717 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
3718 of the form mentioned above.
3720 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
3721 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
3722 returned in the special `rest' list.
3724 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
3725 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
3727 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
3729 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
3731 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
3733 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
3734 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
3735 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
3736 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
3737 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
3738 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
3739 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
3740 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
3743 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
3745 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
3747 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
3748 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
3751 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
3752 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
3753 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
3757 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
3758 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
3759 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
3760 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
3761 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
3762 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
3763 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
3764 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
3767 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
3769 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
3770 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
3771 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
3773 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
3775 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
3776 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
3778 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
3779 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
3780 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
3782 Why do we have this function?
3783 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
3784 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
3785 primitive, and display it differently, and
3786 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
3787 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
3790 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
3791 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
3794 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
3795 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
3796 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
3797 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
3799 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
3800 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
3803 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
3804 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
3806 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
3808 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
3809 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
3810 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
3811 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
3812 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
3813 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
3814 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
3817 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
3819 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
3820 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
3822 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
3823 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
3824 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
3825 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
3826 properly continue the print chain.
3828 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
3829 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
3830 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
3831 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
3832 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
3833 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
3834 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
3835 print-state, it is simply ignored.
3837 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
3838 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
3839 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
3840 safest to not check for these pairs.
3842 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
3843 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
3844 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
3845 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
3847 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
3849 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
3850 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
3852 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
3854 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
3856 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
3857 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
3858 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
3860 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
3861 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
3862 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
3864 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
3865 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
3866 the following functions and macros:
3868 Function: make-fluid
3870 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
3871 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
3872 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
3873 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
3874 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
3876 Function: fluid? OBJ
3878 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
3880 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
3881 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
3883 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
3884 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
3886 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
3888 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
3889 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
3890 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
3891 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
3892 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
3893 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
3894 modified by `with-fluids*'.
3896 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
3898 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
3899 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
3900 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
3901 should evaluate to a fluid.
3903 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
3905 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
3906 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
3907 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
3908 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
3909 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
3911 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
3914 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
3916 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
3918 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
3920 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
3923 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
3924 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
3925 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
3926 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
3927 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
3930 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
3931 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
3932 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
3934 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
3935 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
3936 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
3938 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
3939 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
3940 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
3941 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
3943 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
3944 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
3945 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
3946 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
3948 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
3949 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
3950 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
3951 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
3953 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
3954 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
3955 their revealed counts set to zero.
3957 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3958 Returns an integer file descriptor.
3960 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3961 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
3963 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3964 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
3966 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3967 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
3968 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
3970 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
3971 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
3972 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
3974 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
3975 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
3976 default environment inherited by child processes.
3978 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
3979 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
3980 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
3982 The return value is unspecified.
3984 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
3985 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
3986 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
3987 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
3988 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
3990 The return value is unspecified.
3992 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
3993 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
4001 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
4002 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
4005 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
4008 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
4009 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
4010 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
4012 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
4013 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
4014 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
4015 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
4018 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
4019 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
4021 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
4022 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
4023 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
4024 the `environ' procedure.
4026 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
4027 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
4030 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
4031 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
4033 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
4034 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
4035 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
4036 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
4038 *** procedure: times
4039 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
4040 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
4041 return a selected component:
4044 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
4048 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
4051 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
4055 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
4056 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
4060 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
4061 terminated child processes.
4063 ** Removed: list-length
4064 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
4065 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
4067 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
4069 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
4071 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
4073 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
4074 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
4075 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
4076 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
4078 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
4079 extra complexity it introduces.
4081 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
4082 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
4084 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
4085 variable to any non-empty value.
4087 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
4088 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
4090 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4092 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
4093 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
4095 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
4097 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
4098 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
4100 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
4102 ** vector handling routines
4104 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
4105 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
4106 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
4107 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
4108 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
4110 ** pair and list routines
4112 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
4115 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
4117 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
4120 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4122 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
4124 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
4125 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
4126 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
4127 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
4128 site-specific initialization code.
4130 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
4131 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
4132 initialization processes.
4134 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
4135 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
4136 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
4137 initialized properly.
4139 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
4140 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
4141 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
4143 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
4144 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
4145 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
4146 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
4147 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
4149 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
4151 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
4152 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
4153 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
4154 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
4155 objects the smob refers to get marked.
4157 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
4158 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
4159 which look like this:
4162 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
4164 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
4165 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
4168 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
4169 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
4172 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
4174 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
4175 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
4176 you will need to change your functions slightly.
4178 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
4179 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
4180 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
4181 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
4182 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
4184 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
4185 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
4187 int (*free) (SCM port);
4188 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
4189 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
4190 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
4194 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
4195 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
4196 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
4198 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
4201 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
4202 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
4203 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
4205 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
4206 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
4207 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
4210 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
4214 struct timeval *timeout);
4216 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
4217 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
4218 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
4219 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
4220 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
4221 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
4223 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
4224 scm_catch_body_t body,
4226 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
4229 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
4230 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
4231 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
4232 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
4233 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
4234 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
4236 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
4238 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
4241 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
4242 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
4243 spawning threads from application C code.
4245 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
4246 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
4247 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
4248 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
4249 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
4250 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
4252 ** Removed functions:
4254 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
4255 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
4257 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
4259 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
4260 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
4262 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
4264 ** mbstrings are now removed
4266 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
4267 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
4269 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
4271 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
4272 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
4273 their new names and arguments:
4275 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
4276 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
4277 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
4278 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
4281 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
4283 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
4285 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
4288 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
4290 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
4291 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
4292 pass a #f arg to catch.
4294 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
4296 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
4297 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
4300 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
4301 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
4302 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
4303 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
4304 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
4305 reclaim its storage.
4307 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
4308 worrying that some other function you call will call
4309 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
4310 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
4311 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
4312 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
4315 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
4317 * Changes to the distribution
4319 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
4320 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
4323 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
4324 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
4326 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
4327 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
4329 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
4331 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
4332 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
4333 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
4335 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4337 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
4338 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
4339 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
4340 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
4341 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
4342 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
4344 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
4345 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
4346 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
4349 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
4350 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
4351 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
4352 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
4354 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
4355 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
4356 libraries to your link command:
4358 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
4359 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
4360 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
4361 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
4363 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
4364 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
4365 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
4367 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4369 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
4370 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
4373 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
4375 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
4376 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
4377 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
4378 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
4379 searched is system dependent.
4381 (dynamic-object? VAL)
4383 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
4385 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
4387 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
4388 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
4390 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
4392 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
4393 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
4394 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
4395 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
4396 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
4399 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
4401 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
4402 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
4403 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
4404 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
4405 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
4407 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
4409 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
4410 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
4412 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
4414 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
4415 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
4416 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
4419 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
4421 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
4422 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
4423 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
4424 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
4426 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
4427 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
4429 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
4431 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
4432 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
4434 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
4436 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
4437 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
4445 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
4447 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
4448 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
4449 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
4450 a more informative way.
4452 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
4453 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
4454 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
4455 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
4456 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
4457 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
4459 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
4460 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
4463 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
4464 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
4465 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
4468 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
4469 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
4470 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
4471 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
4472 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
4473 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
4475 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
4476 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
4477 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
4478 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
4481 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
4482 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
4483 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
4484 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
4485 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
4486 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
4488 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
4489 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
4490 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
4491 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
4492 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
4494 *** regexp functions
4496 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
4497 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
4498 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
4500 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
4501 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
4502 with SCSH regular expressions.
4504 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
4505 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
4506 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
4507 position of STR at which to begin matching.
4509 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
4510 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
4511 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
4512 `string-match' returns `#f'.
4514 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
4515 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
4516 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
4517 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
4518 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
4519 match strings against the compiled regexp.
4521 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
4522 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
4523 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
4524 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
4525 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
4527 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
4529 **** Constant: regexp/extended
4530 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
4531 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
4532 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
4534 **** Constant: regexp/icase
4535 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
4536 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
4538 **** Constant: regexp/newline
4539 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
4541 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
4544 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
4545 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
4546 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
4548 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
4549 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
4550 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
4552 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
4553 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
4554 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
4555 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
4556 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
4559 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
4561 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
4562 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
4563 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
4564 used when different portions of a string are passed to
4565 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
4566 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
4568 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
4569 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
4570 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
4572 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
4573 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
4576 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
4577 and replace them with the contents of another string.
4579 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
4580 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
4581 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
4582 may be one of the following arguments:
4584 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
4586 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
4588 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
4589 the regexp match is written.
4591 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
4592 following the regexp match is written.
4594 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
4595 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
4598 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
4599 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
4600 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
4601 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
4602 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
4603 which should be matched against this regular expression.
4605 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
4608 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
4609 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
4610 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
4611 written out to PORT.
4613 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
4614 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
4615 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
4616 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
4617 will return after processing a single match.
4619 *** Match Structures
4621 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
4622 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
4623 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
4624 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
4625 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
4626 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
4629 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
4630 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
4631 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
4632 information about the original target string that was matched against a
4633 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
4635 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
4636 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
4637 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
4639 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
4640 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
4641 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
4642 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
4643 number N did not match, return `#f'.
4645 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
4646 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
4648 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
4649 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
4651 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
4652 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
4654 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
4655 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
4657 **** Function: match:count MATCH
4658 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
4659 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
4660 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
4662 **** Function: match:string MATCH
4663 Return the original TARGET string.
4665 *** Backslash Escapes
4667 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
4668 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
4669 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
4670 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
4671 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
4672 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
4674 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
4675 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
4676 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
4677 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
4678 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
4679 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
4680 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
4681 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
4683 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
4684 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
4685 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
4686 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
4687 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
4688 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
4689 each match a single backslash in the target string.
4691 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
4692 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
4693 return the resulting string.
4695 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
4696 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
4697 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
4698 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
4699 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
4700 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
4701 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
4702 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
4703 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
4704 translated to the single character `*'.
4706 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
4707 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
4708 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
4709 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
4710 consecutive backslashes:
4712 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
4714 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
4715 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
4716 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
4718 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
4719 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
4720 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
4721 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
4722 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
4723 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
4725 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
4727 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
4728 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
4729 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
4730 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
4731 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
4732 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
4733 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
4734 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
4735 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
4736 cumbersome escape syntax.
4738 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4740 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4742 * Changes to system call interfaces:
4744 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
4747 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
4749 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
4751 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
4754 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
4755 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
4756 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
4757 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
4758 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
4760 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
4761 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
4762 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
4763 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
4764 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
4765 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
4766 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
4769 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
4770 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
4771 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
4774 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
4775 `force-output' on every port open for output.
4777 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
4778 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
4779 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
4780 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
4781 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
4782 installed, you can say:
4784 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
4787 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4789 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
4790 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
4791 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
4792 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
4793 new dynamic roots and threads.
4796 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
4798 * Changes to the distribution.
4800 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
4802 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
4803 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
4804 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
4805 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
4806 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
4807 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
4808 programming language. These are packaged together because the
4809 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
4811 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
4814 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
4815 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
4820 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4822 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
4823 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
4825 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
4826 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
4827 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
4828 the (command-line) function.
4829 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
4830 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
4831 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
4833 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
4834 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
4835 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
4836 command line arguments
4837 -ds do -s script at this point
4838 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
4839 -h, --help display this help and exit
4840 -v, --version display version information and exit
4841 \ read arguments from following script lines
4843 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
4844 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
4846 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
4849 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
4853 (main (command-line))
4855 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
4857 ekko a speckled gecko
4859 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
4860 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
4861 following list of command-line arguments:
4863 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
4865 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
4866 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
4867 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
4868 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
4869 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
4871 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
4873 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
4875 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
4876 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
4879 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
4880 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
4881 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
4882 SCSH) for circumventing them.
4884 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
4885 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
4886 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
4887 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
4889 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
4893 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
4897 If the user invokes this script as follows:
4899 ekko a speckled gecko
4901 Unix expands this into
4903 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
4905 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
4906 read from the second line of the script, producing:
4908 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
4910 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
4911 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
4913 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
4914 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
4915 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
4916 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
4917 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
4918 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
4919 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
4920 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
4921 it only terminates the argument list.)
4922 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
4923 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
4924 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
4925 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
4926 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
4927 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
4928 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
4929 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
4931 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4933 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
4934 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
4935 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
4936 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
4937 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
4939 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
4940 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
4941 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
4943 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
4945 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
4946 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
4947 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
4948 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
4951 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
4952 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
4953 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
4955 * Changes to Scheme functions
4957 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
4958 and disabled by default.
4960 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
4961 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
4962 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
4963 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
4965 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
4967 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
4969 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
4970 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
4972 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
4973 (read-set! keywords #f)
4975 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
4976 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
4977 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
4980 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
4981 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
4982 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
4985 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
4986 support for Scheme functions.
4988 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
4989 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
4990 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
4991 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
4994 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
4995 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
4996 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
4999 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
5000 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
5001 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
5004 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
5005 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
5006 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
5007 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
5008 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
5009 display the result as a prompt.
5010 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
5012 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
5013 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
5014 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
5017 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
5018 procedure of zero arguments.
5020 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
5021 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
5022 argument is bound in the current module.
5024 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
5025 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
5026 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
5027 public bindings into the current module.
5029 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
5030 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
5032 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
5033 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
5035 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
5036 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
5038 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
5039 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
5041 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
5042 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
5044 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
5045 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
5046 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
5047 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
5048 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
5050 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
5051 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
5052 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
5053 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
5055 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
5058 ** Changes to I/O functions
5060 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
5061 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
5062 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
5064 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
5065 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
5066 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
5068 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
5069 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
5071 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
5072 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
5073 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
5074 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
5076 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
5078 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
5079 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
5081 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
5082 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
5083 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
5084 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
5085 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
5088 'trim omit delimiter from result
5089 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
5090 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
5091 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
5093 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
5095 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
5096 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
5098 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
5099 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
5100 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
5101 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
5102 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
5104 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
5105 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
5106 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
5108 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
5109 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
5110 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
5111 above, and defaults to 'peek.
5113 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
5114 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
5116 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
5117 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
5119 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
5121 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
5122 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
5123 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
5124 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
5125 a delimiting character.
5126 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
5128 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
5129 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
5130 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
5131 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
5132 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
5133 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
5135 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
5136 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
5138 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
5139 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
5140 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
5142 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
5143 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
5144 the array to read and write.
5146 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
5147 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
5150 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
5152 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
5155 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
5156 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
5157 Values for COMMAND are:
5159 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
5160 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
5161 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
5162 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
5163 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
5164 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
5165 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
5166 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
5168 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
5170 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
5171 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
5172 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
5173 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
5174 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
5175 corresponding return set will be the same.
5177 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
5180 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
5181 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
5182 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
5183 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
5184 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
5185 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
5186 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
5187 special file being created.
5189 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
5190 clashing with various SCSH forks.
5192 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
5193 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
5194 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
5195 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
5196 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
5197 and originating address.
5199 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
5200 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
5201 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
5203 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
5206 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
5207 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
5210 (status:exit-val STATUS)
5211 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
5212 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
5213 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
5214 this function returns #f.
5216 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
5217 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
5218 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
5221 (status:term-sig STATUS)
5222 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
5223 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
5226 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
5227 a valid STATUS value.
5229 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
5231 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
5232 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
5234 Component Accessor Setter
5235 ========================= ============ ============
5236 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
5237 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
5238 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
5239 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
5240 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
5241 year tm:year set-tm:year
5242 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
5243 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
5244 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
5245 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
5246 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
5248 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
5249 describing the host system:
5252 ============================================== ================
5253 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
5254 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
5255 release level of the operating system utsname:release
5256 version level of the operating system utsname:version
5257 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
5259 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
5260 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
5261 system's user database:
5264 ====================== =================
5265 user name passwd:name
5266 user password passwd:passwd
5269 real name passwd:gecos
5270 home directory passwd:dir
5271 shell program passwd:shell
5273 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
5274 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
5275 system's group database:
5278 ======================= ============
5279 group name group:name
5280 group password group:passwd
5282 group members group:mem
5284 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
5285 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
5289 ========================= ===============
5290 official name of host hostent:name
5291 alias list hostent:aliases
5292 host address type hostent:addrtype
5293 length of address hostent:length
5294 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
5296 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
5297 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
5301 ========================= ===============
5302 official name of net netent:name
5303 alias list netent:aliases
5304 net number type netent:addrtype
5305 net number netent:net
5307 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
5308 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
5312 ========================= ===============
5313 official protocol name protoent:name
5314 alias list protoent:aliases
5315 protocol number protoent:proto
5317 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
5318 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
5322 ========================= ===============
5323 official service name servent:name
5324 alias list servent:aliases
5325 port number servent:port
5326 protocol to use servent:proto
5328 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
5329 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
5332 ======================================== ===============
5333 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
5334 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
5335 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
5336 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
5338 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
5339 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
5340 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
5342 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
5343 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
5345 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
5346 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
5348 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
5349 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
5351 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
5353 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
5355 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
5356 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
5357 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
5359 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
5360 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
5361 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
5362 return the remaining characters as a string.
5364 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
5365 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
5366 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
5368 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
5370 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5372 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
5375 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
5378 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
5379 and returns the array
5381 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
5382 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
5383 the user to interpret the data both ways.
5385 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5387 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
5388 symbol's value from C code:
5390 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
5391 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
5392 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
5393 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
5395 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
5396 without assigning them a value.
5398 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
5399 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
5400 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
5402 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
5403 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
5404 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
5406 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
5407 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
5409 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
5410 doesn't actually care about that.
5412 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
5413 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
5414 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
5416 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
5417 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
5418 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
5419 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
5420 which we have just created and initialized.
5422 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
5423 should one occur. We call it like this:
5424 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
5426 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
5427 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
5428 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
5429 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
5430 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
5431 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
5434 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
5435 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
5436 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
5437 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
5438 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
5439 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
5440 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
5443 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
5444 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
5445 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
5446 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
5447 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
5450 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
5451 scm_internal_catch, except:
5453 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
5454 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
5455 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
5456 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
5459 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
5460 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
5461 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
5463 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
5464 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
5465 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
5466 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
5469 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
5470 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
5471 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
5473 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
5474 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
5475 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
5476 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
5477 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
5479 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
5480 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
5481 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
5483 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
5484 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
5485 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
5487 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
5488 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
5490 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
5491 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
5492 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
5495 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
5496 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
5497 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
5498 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
5499 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
5500 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
5501 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
5504 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
5505 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
5507 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
5508 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
5509 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
5510 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
5511 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
5514 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
5515 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
5517 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
5518 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
5521 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
5522 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
5524 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5527 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
5528 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
5529 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
5530 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
5531 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
5532 given the following arguments:
5534 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5536 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
5538 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
5540 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5543 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
5544 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
5545 command-line arguments.
5547 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
5548 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
5549 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
5550 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
5551 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
5552 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
5555 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5558 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
5559 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
5561 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
5562 rearranged slightly. They are now:
5564 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5565 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
5566 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
5567 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
5569 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5570 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
5572 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5573 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
5574 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
5575 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
5577 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5578 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
5580 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
5581 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
5583 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
5585 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
5586 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
5587 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
5590 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
5591 returns a port instead of an FD object.
5593 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
5594 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
5599 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
5602 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
5604 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
5605 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
5606 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
5607 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
5609 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
5611 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
5613 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
5614 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
5615 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
5616 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
5617 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
5618 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
5619 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
5620 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
5621 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
5622 for more information.
5624 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
5625 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
5627 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
5628 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
5629 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
5630 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
5631 following two lines at the top of the file:
5633 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5636 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
5637 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
5638 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
5640 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
5642 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5644 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
5647 (display (car args))
5648 (if (pair? (cdr args))
5650 (loop (cdr args)))))
5653 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
5654 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
5655 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
5656 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
5657 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
5658 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
5662 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
5665 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
5668 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
5670 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
5671 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
5672 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
5673 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
5674 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
5677 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
5678 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
5679 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
5680 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
5681 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
5684 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
5687 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
5688 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
5689 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
5692 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
5693 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
5694 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
5696 to see a backtrace, and
5697 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
5698 to see them by default.
5702 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
5704 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
5706 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
5707 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
5710 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
5711 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
5712 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
5713 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
5716 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
5717 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
5718 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
5719 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
5720 functions which inspired them.
5722 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
5723 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
5727 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
5729 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
5731 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
5732 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
5735 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
5736 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
5737 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
5739 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
5740 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
5741 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
5742 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
5743 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
5745 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
5747 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
5748 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
5749 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
5752 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
5755 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
5757 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
5758 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
5759 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
5760 above should serve their purposes.
5762 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
5763 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
5764 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
5765 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
5767 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
5770 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
5771 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
5772 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
5773 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
5775 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
5776 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
5777 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
5778 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
5780 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
5781 for the `read' function.
5784 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
5785 to that of `integer?'.
5787 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
5788 use the R4RS names for these functions.
5790 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
5791 it simply returns the object's property list.
5793 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
5794 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
5795 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
5796 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
5798 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
5800 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
5803 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
5805 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
5806 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
5808 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
5810 void (*main_func) (),
5813 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
5814 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
5815 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
5816 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
5817 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
5819 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
5820 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
5821 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
5822 know which arguments have been processed.
5824 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
5825 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
5826 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
5827 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
5828 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
5830 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
5831 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
5832 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
5833 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
5834 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
5835 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
5836 people from making that mistake.
5838 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
5839 convenient ways to override these when desired.
5841 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
5843 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
5847 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
5850 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
5851 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
5852 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
5853 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
5856 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
5857 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
5858 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
5859 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
5862 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
5863 have been added to the Guile library.
5865 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
5866 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
5867 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
5870 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
5871 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
5872 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
5874 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
5875 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
5876 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
5877 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
5878 argument from the list.
5881 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
5884 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
5885 null-terminated string, and returns it.
5887 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
5888 to a Scheme port object.
5890 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
5891 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
5896 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
5898 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
5899 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
5900 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
5901 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
5902 code as a special datatype.
5904 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
5905 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
5906 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
5907 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
5908 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
5911 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
5912 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
5913 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
5914 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
5915 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
5917 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
5920 Copyright information:
5922 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5924 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
5925 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
5926 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
5927 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
5929 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
5930 of this document, or of portions of it,
5931 under the above conditions, provided also that they
5932 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
5937 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"