1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 (During the 1.9 series, we will keep an incremental NEWS for the latest
9 prerelease, and a full NEWS corresponding to 1.8 -> 2.0.)
11 Changes in 1.9.3 (since the 1.9.2 prerelease):
14 ** Files loaded with `load' will now be compiled automatically.
16 As with files loaded via `primitive-load-path', `load' will also compile
17 its target if autocompilation is enabled, and a fresh compiled file is
20 There are two points of difference to note, however. First, `load' does
21 not search `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' for the file; it only looks in the
22 autocompilation directory, normally a subdirectory of ~/.cache/guile.
24 Secondly, autocompilation also applies to files loaded via the -l
25 command-line argument -- so the user may experience a slight slowdown
26 the first time they run a Guile script, as the script is autocompiled.
28 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
30 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
31 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
32 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
33 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
34 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
37 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
38 code. This use is now discouraged.
40 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
42 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
43 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
44 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
47 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
48 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
49 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
51 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
53 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
55 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
56 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
57 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
58 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
60 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
62 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
63 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
66 ** Unicode symbol support
68 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
70 ** New readline history functions
72 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
73 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
74 History library functions.
76 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
77 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
79 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
82 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
83 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
84 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
85 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
87 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
89 ** scm_array_p has one argument, not two
91 Use of the second argument produced a deprecation warning, so it is
92 unlikely that any code out there actually used this functionality.
94 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
96 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
97 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
99 ** And of course, the usual collection of bugfixes
101 Interested users should see the ChangeLog for more information.
104 Changes in 1.9.x (since the 1.8.x series):
106 * New modules (see the manual for details)
108 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
109 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
110 ** `(rnrs bytevector)', the R6RS bytevector API
111 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
112 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
114 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
116 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
118 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
119 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
121 ** The stack limit is now initialized from the environment.
123 If getrlimit(2) is available and a stack limit is set, Guile will set
124 its stack limit to 80% of the rlimit. Otherwise the limit is 160000
125 words, a four-fold increase from the earlier default limit.
127 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
128 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
130 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
131 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
132 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
135 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
137 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. While
138 it is self-documenting to an extent, the new REPL has not yet been
139 documented in the manual. This will be fixed before 2.0.
141 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
143 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
146 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
148 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
150 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
151 not apply to the compiler.
153 ** Files loaded with `primitive-load-path' will now be compiled
156 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
157 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
158 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
160 Note that this mechanism depends on preservation of the .scm and .go
161 modification times; if the .scm or .go files are moved after
162 installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
165 Autocompiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
166 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
167 will be created if needed.
169 To inhibit autocompilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
170 variable to 0, or pass --no-autocompile on the Guile command line.
172 Note that there is currently a bug here: automatic compilation will
173 sometimes be attempted when it shouldn't.
175 For example, the old (lang elisp) modules are meant to be interpreted,
176 not compiled. This bug will be fixed before 2.0. FIXME 2.0: Should say
177 something here about module-transformer called for compile.
179 ** Files loaded with `load' will now be compiled automatically.
181 As with files loaded via `primitive-load-path', `load' will also compile
182 its target if autocompilation is enabled, and a fresh compiled file is
185 There are two points of difference to note, however. First, `load' does
186 not search `GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH' for the file; it only looks in the
187 autocompilation directory, normally a subdirectory of ~/.cache/guile.
189 Secondly, autocompilation also applies to files loaded via the -l
190 command-line argument -- so the user may experience a slight slowdown
191 the first time they run a Guile script, as the script is autocompiled.
193 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
195 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
196 in the next prerelease.
198 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
200 ** BUG: (procedure-property func 'arity) does not work on compiled
203 This will be fixed one way or another before 2.0.
205 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
206 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
207 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments',
209 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
210 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
211 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
212 procedures' docstrings for more information.
214 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
215 combining arity and formals. For example:
217 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
218 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
220 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
223 ** Deprecated: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
225 These procedures will not work with syncase expansion, and indeed are
226 not used in the normal course of Guile. They are still used by the old
227 Emacs Lisp support, however.
229 ** New language: ECMAScript
231 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
232 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
233 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
234 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
236 ** New language: Brainfuck
238 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
239 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
240 languages. See the manual for details, or
241 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
242 Brainfuck language itself.
244 ** Defmacros may now have docstrings.
246 Indeed, any macro may have a docstring. `object-documentation' from
247 `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to retrieve the docstring, once you
248 have a macro value -- but see the above note about first-class macros.
249 Docstrings are associated with the syntax transformer procedures.
251 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
254 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
256 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
257 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
260 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
261 (define (helper x) ...)
263 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
265 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
268 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
269 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
271 ** New function, `procedure-module'
273 While useful on its own, `procedure-module' is used by psyntax on syntax
274 transformers to determine the module in which to scope introduced
277 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
279 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. It is still
280 missing documentation, however.
282 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
285 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
286 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
288 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
290 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
292 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
294 It is certainly possible to circumvent this resriction with e.g.
295 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. We would appreciate
296 feedback about this change (a consequence of using psyntax as the
297 default expander), and may choose to revisit this situation before 2.0
298 in response to user feedback.
300 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
302 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
303 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
306 (define (helper x) ...)
307 (define-macro (foo bar)
310 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
313 (define (helper x) ...)
314 (define-macro (foo bar)
315 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
317 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
321 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
323 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
325 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
332 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
333 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
336 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
338 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
342 (define-macro (ref x) x)
345 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
346 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
347 macros before code that uses them.
349 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
352 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
354 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
355 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
356 (double-literal 2) => 4
358 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
359 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
360 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
362 (eval-when (load compile eval)
363 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
364 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
365 (double-literal 2) => 4
367 See the (currently missing) documentation for eval-when for more
370 ** New variable, %pre-modules-transformer
372 Need to document this one some more.
374 ** Temporarily removed functions: `macroexpand', `macroexpand-1'
376 `macroexpand' will be added back before 2.0. It is unclear how to
377 implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though PLT Scheme does prove
380 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
382 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
383 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
384 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
386 ** Incompatible change to #'
388 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
389 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
390 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
391 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
393 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
395 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
398 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
399 works (with compiled procedures)
401 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
402 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
403 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
404 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
406 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
407 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
408 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
409 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
410 number of stack frames.
412 ** backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
413 active in the current continuation
415 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
416 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
417 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
418 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
420 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
421 through to the expanded code
423 This should result in better backtraces.
425 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
427 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
429 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
431 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
432 default. If there is sufficient demand, this syntax can be supported
435 ** All modules have names now
437 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
438 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
439 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
440 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
442 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
444 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
445 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
446 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
448 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
449 values to the expected number
451 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
452 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
453 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
455 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
456 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
457 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
458 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
460 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
461 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
462 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
464 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
467 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
469 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
471 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
472 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
473 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
474 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
475 the interpreter would proceed.
477 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
478 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
479 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
480 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
482 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
484 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
485 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
486 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
487 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
488 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
489 you to contact the Guile developers.
491 ** psyntax is now the default expander
493 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
494 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
497 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
498 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
499 code in question was memoized.
501 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
502 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
503 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
504 `x432' instead of `x'.
506 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
507 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
508 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
509 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
511 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
513 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
514 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
515 `sc-expand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
518 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
519 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
520 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
521 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
523 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
524 by nonhygienic macros.
526 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
527 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
530 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
531 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
532 (define-macro (ref x)
539 (define-syntax bind-x
541 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
542 (define-macro (ref x)
546 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
547 as code is ported over from defmacros to syntax-case, it is possible to
548 run into situations like this. In the future, Guile will probably port
549 its `while' macro to syntax-case, which makes this issue one to know
552 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
554 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
555 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
557 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
558 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
561 This decision may be revisited before the 2.0 release. Feedback welcome
562 to guile-devel@gnu.org (subscription required) or bug-guile@gnu.org (no
563 subscription required).
565 ** Unicode characters
567 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
568 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
569 probably be introduced at some point.
573 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
574 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
575 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
577 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
578 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
579 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
580 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
584 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
586 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
588 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
589 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
590 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
591 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
592 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
595 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
596 code. This use is now discouraged.
598 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
600 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
601 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
602 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
605 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
606 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
607 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
609 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
611 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
613 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
614 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
615 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
616 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
618 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
620 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
621 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
624 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
626 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
627 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
628 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
631 ** EBCDIC support is removed
633 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
634 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
635 and was unmaintained.
637 ** New macro type: syncase-macro
639 XXX Need to decide whether to document this for 2.0, probably should:
640 make-syncase-macro, make-extended-syncase-macro, macro-type,
641 syncase-macro-type, syncase-macro-binding
643 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
645 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
648 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
650 This slightly improves program startup times.
652 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
654 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
656 ** Fix bad interaction between `false-if-exception' and stack-call.
658 Exceptions thrown by `false-if-exception' were erronously causing the
659 stack to be saved, causing later errors to show the incorrectly-saved
660 backtrace. This has been fixed.
662 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
664 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
666 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
668 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
670 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
672 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
674 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
676 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
678 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
679 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
680 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
682 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
684 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
685 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
687 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
688 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
690 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
693 * Changes to the C interface
695 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
697 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
699 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
702 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
703 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
705 ** scm_primitive_load_path has additional argument, exception_on_error
707 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
709 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
711 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
712 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
714 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
716 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
717 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
719 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
721 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
722 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
723 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
724 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
726 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
728 ** scm_array_p has one argument, not two
730 Use of the second argument produced a deprecation warning, so it is
731 unlikely that any code out there actually used this functionality.
733 * Changes to the distribution
735 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
737 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
738 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
741 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
743 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
744 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
746 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
748 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
749 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
750 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
753 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
755 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
756 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
758 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
760 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
761 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
763 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring.
765 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
766 unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
770 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
774 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
775 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
778 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
780 * New modules (see the manual for details)
782 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
786 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
787 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
788 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
789 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
790 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
791 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
792 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
793 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
794 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
795 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
796 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
798 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
800 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
801 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
802 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
805 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
808 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
810 * New features (see the manual for details)
812 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
814 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
816 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
817 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
818 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
820 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
822 * Changes to the distribution
824 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
826 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
827 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
829 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
831 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
832 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
837 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
838 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
839 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
840 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
841 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
842 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
843 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
844 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
845 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
846 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
847 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
848 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
849 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
850 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
852 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
853 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
854 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
855 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
856 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
859 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
861 * Infrastructure changes
863 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
865 The new repository can be accessed using
866 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
867 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
869 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
871 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
873 * New modules (see the manual for details)
877 * New features (see the manual for details)
879 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
880 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
881 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
883 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
884 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
885 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
886 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
888 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
890 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
891 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
892 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
896 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
897 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
899 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
900 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
902 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
903 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
905 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
906 lead to a stack overflow.
908 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
909 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
910 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
911 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
912 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
913 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
914 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
915 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
916 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
917 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
918 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
919 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
920 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
921 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
922 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
923 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
926 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
930 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
931 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
932 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
933 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
934 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
935 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
936 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
937 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
938 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
939 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
940 system and library calls.
941 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
942 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
943 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
944 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
945 uniform vectors on AIX.
946 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
947 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
948 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
949 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
950 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
952 * New modules (see the manual for details)
956 * Documentation fixes and improvements
958 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
960 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
961 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
963 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
965 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
967 * Changes to the distribution
969 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
971 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
972 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
973 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
975 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
977 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
980 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
982 * New modules (see the manual for details)
989 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
990 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
991 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
992 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
993 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
994 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
995 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
997 * Implementation improvements
999 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
1000 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
1003 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
1005 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1007 ** set-program-arguments
1010 * Incompatible changes
1012 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
1014 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
1015 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
1016 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
1017 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
1022 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
1023 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
1024 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
1025 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
1026 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
1027 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
1029 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
1030 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
1031 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
1032 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
1033 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
1034 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
1035 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
1036 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
1037 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
1038 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
1039 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
1040 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
1041 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
1042 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
1043 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
1044 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
1047 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
1049 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
1051 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
1053 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
1054 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
1055 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
1056 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
1057 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
1058 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
1066 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
1068 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
1070 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
1072 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
1074 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
1076 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
1078 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
1079 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
1080 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
1082 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
1084 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
1086 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
1087 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
1089 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
1091 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
1092 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
1094 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
1096 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
1098 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
1100 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
1102 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
1104 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
1106 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
1108 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
1110 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
1112 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
1113 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
1114 file was on a different device.
1117 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
1119 * Changes to the distribution
1121 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
1123 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
1125 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
1127 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
1129 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
1131 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
1134 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
1136 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
1137 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
1138 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
1139 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
1140 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
1141 items like the versioned share directory name
1142 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
1144 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
1145 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
1146 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
1147 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
1148 with each micro release during a stable series.
1150 ** Thread implementation has changed.
1152 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
1153 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
1154 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
1155 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
1156 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
1159 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
1160 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
1161 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
1162 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
1165 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
1166 in which case "null" threads are used.
1168 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
1169 "Blocking", and others.
1171 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
1173 This is a milder form of deprecation.
1175 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
1176 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
1177 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
1178 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
1179 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
1181 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
1182 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
1184 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
1186 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
1187 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
1189 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
1192 This SRFI is always available.
1194 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
1196 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
1197 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
1198 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
1199 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
1202 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
1204 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
1205 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
1206 parameters without currying.
1208 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
1210 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
1211 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
1213 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
1214 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
1217 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
1218 with a renaming import, for example.
1220 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
1222 The official version is good enough now.
1224 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
1226 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
1227 provided. Use 'make html'.
1229 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
1231 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
1232 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
1233 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
1234 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
1236 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
1238 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
1241 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1243 ** New command line option `-L'.
1245 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
1247 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
1249 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
1250 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
1252 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
1254 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
1255 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
1257 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
1259 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
1260 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
1263 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
1266 (define-module (demo)
1270 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
1273 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1275 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
1277 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
1278 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
1279 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
1281 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
1283 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
1284 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
1286 ** New function hashx-remove!
1288 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
1290 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
1291 barriers and dynamic states.
1293 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
1294 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
1295 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
1298 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
1299 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
1300 Barriers" in the manual.
1302 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
1303 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
1305 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
1307 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
1308 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
1309 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
1310 variable %load-path.
1312 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
1314 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
1315 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
1317 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
1318 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
1319 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
1321 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
1322 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
1324 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
1325 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
1326 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
1328 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
1329 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
1330 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
1333 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
1334 substrings and read-only strings.
1336 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
1337 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
1340 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
1342 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
1351 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
1352 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
1353 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
1355 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
1356 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
1357 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
1358 on an ANSI terminal:
1360 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
1361 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
1364 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
1366 See the manual for details.
1368 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
1370 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
1373 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
1375 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
1376 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
1377 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
1378 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
1380 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
1381 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
1382 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
1385 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
1387 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
1388 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
1399 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
1403 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
1408 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
1412 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
1416 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
1419 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
1420 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
1421 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
1422 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
1424 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
1425 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
1428 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
1431 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
1435 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
1437 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
1438 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
1439 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
1442 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
1445 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
1447 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
1450 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
1451 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
1454 (define-module (foo)
1459 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
1460 has been detected is to
1462 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
1463 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
1464 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
1467 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
1470 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
1472 to your .guile init file.
1474 ** New define-module option: :replace
1476 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
1479 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
1480 for the core binding `format'.
1482 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
1484 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
1485 a prefix to all imported bindings.
1487 (define-module (foo)
1488 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
1490 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
1493 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
1495 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
1496 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
1497 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
1499 ** New function: effective-version
1501 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1502 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1503 to the distribution" above.
1505 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
1507 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
1508 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
1510 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
1512 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
1513 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
1515 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
1517 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
1518 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
1521 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
1523 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
1525 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
1527 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
1528 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
1529 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
1532 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
1533 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
1534 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
1535 'system-async-mark'.
1537 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
1538 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
1540 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
1541 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
1542 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
1545 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
1547 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
1548 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
1551 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
1552 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
1554 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
1555 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
1556 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
1557 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
1558 level for the current thread.
1560 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
1562 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
1564 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
1565 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
1568 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
1570 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
1572 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
1575 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
1577 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
1580 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
1581 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
1582 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
1584 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
1585 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
1586 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
1587 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
1598 ERROR: Numerical overflow
1600 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
1603 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
1605 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
1606 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
1607 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
1618 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
1620 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
1621 them is also done exactly, of course:
1626 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
1627 for exact arguments.
1629 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
1630 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
1632 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
1634 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
1635 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
1636 equal to a floating point number. For example:
1638 (inexact->exact 1.234)
1639 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
1641 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
1643 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
1646 ** New function 'rationalize'.
1648 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
1649 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
1651 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
1654 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
1655 result when both its arguments are exact.
1657 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
1659 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
1660 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
1661 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
1663 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
1665 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
1666 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
1667 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
1669 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
1672 ** pretty-print has more options.
1674 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
1675 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
1676 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
1678 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
1680 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
1681 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
1682 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
1684 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
1686 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
1687 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
1689 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
1691 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
1692 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
1695 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
1697 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
1698 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
1699 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
1700 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
1701 without the soft port blocking.
1703 ** Deprecated: undefine
1705 There is no replacement for undefine.
1707 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
1708 have been discouraged.
1710 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
1711 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
1712 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
1715 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
1717 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
1719 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
1720 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
1721 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
1722 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
1725 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
1726 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
1727 be removed in the next major Guile release.
1729 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
1731 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
1732 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
1733 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
1734 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
1735 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
1736 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
1738 * Changes to the C interface
1740 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
1741 take a 'delete' function argument.
1743 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
1744 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
1746 This is an incompatible change.
1748 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
1750 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
1751 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
1752 --disable-deprecated.
1754 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
1756 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
1757 Scheme values has been added.
1759 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
1760 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
1763 - int scm_is_* (...)
1765 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
1766 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
1768 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
1770 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
1771 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
1774 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
1776 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
1777 scm_from_int for ints.
1779 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
1780 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
1781 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
1783 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
1785 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
1786 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
1787 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
1790 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
1792 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
1794 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
1796 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
1797 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
1798 following alternatives.
1800 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
1801 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
1802 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
1803 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
1805 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
1806 do the validating for you.
1808 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
1809 have been discouraged.
1811 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
1812 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
1815 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
1817 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
1818 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
1821 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
1823 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
1826 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
1829 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
1831 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
1832 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
1834 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
1835 scm_truncate_number should have.
1837 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
1838 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
1840 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
1843 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
1844 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
1845 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
1847 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
1848 easier to use from C.
1850 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
1851 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
1853 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
1854 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
1855 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
1858 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
1859 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
1860 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
1861 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
1864 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
1865 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
1866 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
1867 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
1868 and is thus quite efficient.
1870 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
1872 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
1873 about the character encoding.
1875 Replace according to the following table:
1877 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
1878 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
1879 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
1880 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
1881 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
1882 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
1883 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
1884 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
1885 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
1887 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
1888 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
1890 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
1892 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
1893 now also available to C code.
1895 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
1897 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
1898 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
1899 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
1901 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
1904 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
1906 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
1907 unceremoniously removed.
1909 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
1910 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
1911 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
1913 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
1914 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
1915 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1916 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1917 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
1918 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
1921 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
1923 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
1924 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
1925 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
1926 manual for more details.
1928 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
1929 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1931 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
1932 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
1933 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
1935 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
1937 Migrate according to the following table:
1939 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
1940 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
1941 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
1942 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
1943 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
1944 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
1945 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
1947 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
1948 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
1949 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
1950 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
1951 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
1952 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
1953 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
1955 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
1957 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
1958 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
1960 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
1961 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
1962 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
1963 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
1965 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
1967 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
1968 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
1969 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
1971 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1972 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1974 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1975 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1976 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1977 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1979 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1981 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1982 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1983 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1984 prevent a potential memory leak:
1991 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1993 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1994 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1996 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1997 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
2004 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
2005 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
2009 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
2011 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
2013 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
2014 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
2015 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
2017 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
2018 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
2020 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
2022 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
2024 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
2025 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
2026 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
2028 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
2029 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
2031 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
2032 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
2033 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
2034 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
2037 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
2039 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
2040 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
2041 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
2043 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
2045 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
2046 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
2048 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
2050 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
2051 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
2053 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
2055 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
2056 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
2057 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
2059 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
2061 You should not have used them.
2063 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
2065 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
2066 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
2068 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
2070 This macro is not intended for public use.
2072 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
2074 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
2076 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
2078 Use scm_is_real instead.
2080 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
2082 Use scm_is_complex instead.
2084 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
2086 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
2087 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
2089 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
2090 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
2092 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
2093 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
2095 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
2097 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
2100 ** New function: scm_effective_version
2102 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
2103 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
2104 to the distribution" above.
2106 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
2108 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
2109 arguments are now passed directly:
2111 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
2113 This is an incompatible change.
2115 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
2117 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
2118 function in the init section.
2120 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
2122 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
2124 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
2125 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
2126 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
2127 stays roughly constant.
2129 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
2130 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
2131 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
2132 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
2133 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
2136 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
2137 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
2138 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
2139 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
2141 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
2142 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
2143 objects for every type.
2146 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
2148 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
2150 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
2152 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
2153 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
2154 initializes a new cell (see below).
2156 ** New functions for memory management
2158 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
2159 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
2160 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
2161 cause aborts in long running programs.
2163 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
2164 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
2166 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
2167 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
2168 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
2169 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
2170 details and for upgrading instructions.
2172 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
2173 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
2174 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
2176 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
2178 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
2179 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
2180 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
2181 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
2182 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
2184 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
2185 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
2186 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
2188 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
2189 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
2191 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
2193 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
2194 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
2195 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
2196 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
2197 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
2199 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
2201 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
2204 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
2206 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
2208 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
2210 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
2211 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
2213 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
2215 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
2216 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
2218 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
2219 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
2221 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
2223 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
2225 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
2226 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
2227 blocking it is not well defined.
2229 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
2231 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
2232 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
2233 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
2234 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
2235 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
2236 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
2237 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
2238 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
2239 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
2240 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
2241 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2242 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
2243 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
2244 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
2245 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
2246 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
2247 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
2248 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2249 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
2250 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
2251 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
2252 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
2253 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
2254 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
2255 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
2256 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
2257 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
2258 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
2259 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
2260 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
2261 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
2263 * Changes to bundled modules
2267 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
2268 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
2269 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
2270 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
2271 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
2274 Changes since Guile 1.4:
2276 * Changes to the distribution
2278 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
2280 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
2282 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
2283 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
2284 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
2285 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
2286 indicate major changes in Guile.
2288 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
2289 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
2290 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
2291 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
2293 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
2294 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
2295 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
2296 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
2297 micro version number.
2299 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
2301 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
2303 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
2304 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
2306 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
2308 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
2309 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
2310 See INSTALL and README for more information.
2312 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
2314 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
2315 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
2316 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
2319 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
2321 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
2324 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
2326 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
2327 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
2329 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
2331 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
2332 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
2335 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
2337 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
2340 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
2343 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
2345 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
2347 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
2348 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
2349 open-output-string, get-output-string.
2351 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
2353 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
2355 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
2358 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
2360 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
2362 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
2364 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
2365 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
2366 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
2368 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
2370 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
2372 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
2373 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
2382 See README there for more info.
2384 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
2385 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
2388 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
2390 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
2392 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
2394 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
2395 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
2396 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
2398 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
2400 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
2401 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
2402 to be named `and-let*', of course.
2404 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
2405 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
2407 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
2410 (oop goops describe)
2412 (oop goops active-slot)
2413 (oop goops composite-slot)
2415 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
2416 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
2417 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
2419 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
2421 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
2422 in the default environment:
2424 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
2425 %read-line write-line
2427 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
2428 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
2430 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
2432 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
2435 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
2436 can be used for similar functionality.
2438 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
2440 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
2441 it defines two procedures:
2443 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
2445 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
2446 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
2447 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
2450 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
2452 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
2453 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
2454 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
2455 write large strings.
2457 ** New module (ice-9 match)
2459 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
2460 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
2462 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
2464 for complete documentation.
2466 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
2468 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
2469 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
2470 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
2471 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
2473 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
2474 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
2478 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
2479 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
2480 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
2483 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
2486 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
2487 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
2489 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
2490 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
2493 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
2496 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
2498 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
2500 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2502 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
2504 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
2505 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
2506 Scheme programs easier.
2508 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
2509 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
2510 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
2511 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
2512 `cond-expand' when using this option.
2515 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
2516 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
2518 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
2521 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
2523 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
2524 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
2525 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
2528 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2530 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
2532 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
2533 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
2534 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
2535 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
2536 was also ASCII, for example.
2538 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
2540 tag - no replacement.
2541 fseek - replaced by seek.
2542 list* - replaced by cons*.
2544 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
2548 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
2549 (define m (make-safe-module))
2550 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
2551 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
2552 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
2554 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
2556 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
2557 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
2558 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
2560 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
2562 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
2563 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
2564 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
2565 from the issues related to the module system.
2567 *** New function: load-extension
2569 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
2571 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
2573 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
2574 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
2575 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
2577 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
2579 This function registers a initialization function for use by
2580 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
2581 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
2582 support dynamic linking).
2584 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
2586 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
2587 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
2588 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
2589 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
2592 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
2593 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
2594 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
2595 library and initialize it explicitly.
2597 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
2598 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
2600 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
2602 (define-module (foo bar))
2604 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
2606 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
2608 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
2609 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
2611 (scheme-report-environment 5)
2612 (null-environment 5)
2613 (interaction-environment)
2619 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
2621 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
2622 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
2623 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
2624 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
2626 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
2627 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
2628 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
2629 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
2630 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
2631 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
2632 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
2633 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
2634 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
2635 one eval to the next.
2637 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
2638 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
2639 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
2640 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
2641 subforms are at the top-level as well.
2643 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
2644 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
2645 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
2646 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
2647 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
2648 used in a lexical environment.
2650 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
2651 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
2652 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
2653 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
2654 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
2655 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
2657 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
2659 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
2660 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
2661 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
2662 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
2663 new facilities: selection and renaming.
2665 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
2666 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
2667 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
2669 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
2670 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
2672 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
2673 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
2674 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
2676 (remove-if . zonk-y)
2677 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
2679 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
2680 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
2681 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
2682 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
2685 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
2686 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
2687 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
2688 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
2690 (remove-if . zonk-y)
2691 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
2692 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
2694 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
2695 ;; and all four by upcasing.
2696 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
2697 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
2698 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
2700 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
2702 (remove-if . zonk-y)
2703 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
2704 :renamer upcase-symbol))
2706 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
2707 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
2708 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
2710 See manual for more info.
2712 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
2714 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
2715 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
2716 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
2718 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
2720 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
2721 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
2722 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
2724 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
2725 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
2726 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
2727 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
2729 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
2731 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
2732 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
2734 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
2735 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
2736 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
2737 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
2738 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
2741 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
2742 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
2743 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
2744 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
2745 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
2746 successful and #f if it wasn't.
2748 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
2749 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
2750 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
2751 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
2752 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
2754 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
2755 objects are usually permanent.
2757 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
2758 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
2760 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
2762 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
2763 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
2766 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
2770 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
2775 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
2777 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
2778 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
2779 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
2780 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
2782 ** New function `make-object-property'
2784 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
2785 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
2789 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
2790 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
2794 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
2795 source properties eventually.
2797 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
2799 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
2800 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
2801 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
2803 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
2804 will be removed in the next release.
2806 ** New define-module option: pure
2808 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
2813 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
2816 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
2818 Export names NAME1 ...
2820 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
2821 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
2825 (define-module (foo)
2827 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
2830 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
2835 ** New function: object->string OBJ
2837 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
2839 ** New function: port? X
2841 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
2842 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
2844 ** New function: file-port?
2846 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
2848 ** New function: port-for-each proc
2850 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
2851 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
2852 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
2853 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
2854 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
2856 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
2858 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
2859 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
2860 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
2861 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
2862 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
2865 ** New function: close-fdes fd
2867 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
2868 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
2869 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
2870 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
2873 ** New function: crypt password salt
2875 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
2878 ** New function: chroot path
2880 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
2882 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
2884 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
2887 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
2889 Get or set the priority of the running process.
2891 ** New function: getpass prompt
2893 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
2896 ** New function: flock file operation
2898 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
2900 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
2902 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
2905 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
2907 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
2908 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
2909 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
2910 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
2911 of the temporary file.
2913 ** New function: open-input-string string
2915 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
2916 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
2917 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
2919 ** New function: open-output-string
2921 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
2922 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
2924 ** New function: get-output-string
2926 Return the contents of an output string port.
2928 ** New function: identity
2930 Return the argument.
2932 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
2933 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
2935 ** New function: inet-pton family address
2937 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
2938 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
2939 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2942 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
2943 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
2945 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
2947 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
2948 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
2949 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
2952 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
2953 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
2954 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2958 Use `identity' instead.
2964 ** Deprecated: return-it
2968 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
2970 Use `string-length' instead.
2972 ** Deprecated: flags
2974 Use `logior' instead.
2976 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2978 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2979 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2980 port-for-each is more flexible.
2982 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2983 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2984 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2986 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2988 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2990 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2992 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2994 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2996 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2997 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2999 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
3000 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
3002 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
3003 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
3005 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
3007 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
3008 Removed function: builtin-bindings
3010 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
3011 Use module system operations for all variables.
3013 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
3015 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
3018 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
3020 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
3021 The following bugs have been fixed:
3023 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
3024 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
3027 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
3028 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
3029 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
3031 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
3032 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
3034 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
3035 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
3038 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
3039 The expansion used to be like so:
3041 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
3043 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
3045 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
3047 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
3048 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
3050 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
3052 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
3053 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
3054 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
3058 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
3059 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
3061 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
3066 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
3067 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
3069 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
3070 and `d', other keywords allowed.
3071 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
3073 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
3076 * Changes to the C interface
3078 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
3080 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
3081 with "_t". What a concept.
3083 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
3085 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
3087 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
3091 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
3092 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
3094 *** C Functions removed
3096 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
3097 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
3098 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
3099 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
3100 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
3101 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
3102 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
3104 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
3106 Use scm_mem2string instead.
3108 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
3110 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
3112 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
3113 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
3115 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
3117 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
3120 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
3122 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
3124 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
3126 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
3127 Evaluation" in the manual.
3129 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
3131 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
3132 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
3134 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
3136 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
3137 Constructors" in the manual.
3139 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
3141 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
3142 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
3144 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
3146 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
3148 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
3149 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
3150 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
3152 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
3154 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
3156 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
3157 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
3158 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
3161 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
3163 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
3165 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
3166 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
3168 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
3170 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
3171 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
3172 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
3173 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
3175 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
3176 scm_primitive_property_ref
3177 scm_primitive_property_set_x
3178 scm_primitive_property_del_x
3180 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
3181 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
3183 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
3185 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
3186 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
3187 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
3188 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
3190 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
3192 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
3193 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
3194 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
3195 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
3196 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
3197 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
3198 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
3200 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
3201 scm_remember_upto_here
3203 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
3205 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
3207 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
3208 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
3210 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
3212 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
3214 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
3216 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
3218 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
3220 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
3221 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
3222 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
3223 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
3224 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
3225 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
3227 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
3229 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
3231 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
3232 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
3233 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
3235 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
3237 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
3238 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
3239 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
3241 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
3243 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
3244 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
3247 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
3250 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
3251 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
3254 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
3256 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
3258 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
3260 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
3262 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
3264 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
3266 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
3267 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
3268 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
3269 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
3270 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
3271 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
3272 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
3273 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
3274 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
3275 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
3276 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
3277 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
3278 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
3279 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
3280 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
3282 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
3283 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
3284 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
3285 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
3286 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
3287 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
3288 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
3289 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
3290 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
3291 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
3292 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
3293 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
3294 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
3295 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
3296 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
3297 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
3298 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
3299 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
3300 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
3301 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
3302 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
3303 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
3304 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
3305 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
3306 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
3307 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
3308 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
3309 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
3310 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
3312 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
3314 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
3316 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
3317 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
3319 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
3321 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
3323 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
3325 Use scm_string_hash instead.
3327 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
3329 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
3331 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
3333 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
3335 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
3338 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
3339 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
3341 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
3343 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
3345 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
3347 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
3349 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
3351 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
3353 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
3355 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
3358 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
3360 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
3362 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
3364 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
3365 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
3367 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
3368 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
3370 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
3372 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
3373 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
3374 scm_module_define, scm_define.
3376 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
3378 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
3380 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
3381 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
3383 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
3384 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
3385 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
3386 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
3388 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
3389 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
3390 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
3392 Use the new ones from above instead.
3394 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
3396 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
3397 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
3398 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
3400 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
3401 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
3403 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
3404 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
3407 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
3408 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
3410 Use the new functions instead.
3412 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
3415 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
3417 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
3419 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
3422 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
3424 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
3427 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
3429 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
3432 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
3433 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
3434 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
3436 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
3438 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
3439 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
3441 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
3442 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
3443 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
3444 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
3447 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
3449 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
3450 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
3451 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
3452 inexact for an exact.
3454 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
3455 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
3456 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
3459 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
3460 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
3461 accept an inexact argument.
3463 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
3464 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
3466 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
3469 ** New number validation macros:
3470 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
3474 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
3476 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
3477 scm_unprotect_object.
3479 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
3481 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
3483 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
3486 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
3488 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
3492 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
3494 * Changes to the distribution
3496 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
3498 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
3499 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
3500 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
3501 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
3502 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
3503 obtain these programs.
3504 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
3505 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
3507 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
3508 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
3509 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
3510 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
3511 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
3513 However, this approach means that minor differences between
3514 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
3515 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
3516 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
3520 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
3523 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
3524 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
3525 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
3526 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
3528 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
3530 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
3532 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
3533 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
3535 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
3536 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
3538 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
3539 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
3541 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
3542 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
3543 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
3544 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
3546 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
3548 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
3552 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
3553 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
3555 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
3557 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
3558 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
3560 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
3561 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
3562 number of objects of that kind.
3564 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
3566 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
3567 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
3568 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
3569 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
3570 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
3572 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
3574 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
3576 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
3578 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
3581 ** New module (ice-9 time)
3583 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
3585 ** New module (ice-9 history)
3587 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
3589 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3591 ** New command line option --debug
3593 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
3595 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
3597 ** New help facility
3599 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
3600 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
3601 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
3602 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
3603 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
3604 (help) gives this text
3606 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
3607 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
3609 Examples: (help help)
3611 (help "output-string")
3613 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
3615 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
3617 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
3618 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
3621 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
3622 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
3623 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
3626 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
3627 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
3628 use absolute filenames when possible.
3630 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
3631 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
3632 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
3635 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
3637 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
3638 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
3639 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
3640 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
3642 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
3644 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
3646 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
3647 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
3648 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
3650 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
3651 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
3652 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
3654 (read-enable 'positions)
3655 (debug-enable 'debug)
3657 ** Backtraces in scripts
3659 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
3663 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
3665 at the top of the script.
3667 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
3668 The second enables backtraces.)
3670 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
3672 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
3673 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
3674 substantially faster than before.
3676 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
3677 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
3679 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
3680 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
3682 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
3684 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
3685 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
3686 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
3688 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
3689 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
3690 when this hook is run in the future.
3692 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
3693 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
3695 ** Improvements to garbage collector
3697 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
3698 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
3701 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
3702 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
3703 more and more memory for certain programs.)
3705 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
3706 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
3708 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
3709 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
3711 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
3712 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
3713 in order not to need further allocation.)
3715 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
3718 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
3719 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
3720 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
3721 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
3723 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
3725 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
3728 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
3730 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
3733 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
3734 GC in percent of total heap size
3737 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
3738 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
3740 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
3742 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
3743 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
3745 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
3747 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
3748 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
3750 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
3752 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
3753 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
3757 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
3758 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
3760 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
3762 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3764 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
3766 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
3768 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
3770 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
3771 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
3773 (simple-format port message . args)
3774 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
3775 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
3776 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
3777 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
3778 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
3779 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
3780 Does not add a trailing newline."
3782 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
3784 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
3785 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
3787 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
3788 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
3790 ** Deprecated: list*
3792 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
3794 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
3796 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
3797 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
3799 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
3800 is returned as result.
3802 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
3804 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
3806 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
3808 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
3809 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
3812 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
3814 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
3816 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
3817 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
3819 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3821 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
3823 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
3825 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3827 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
3829 Thanks to Greg Badros!
3831 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3833 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
3834 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
3835 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
3837 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
3840 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
3842 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
3843 the readability of argument checking.
3845 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
3847 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
3849 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
3851 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
3852 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
3853 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
3854 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
3855 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
3856 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
3857 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
3859 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
3861 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
3863 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
3864 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
3866 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
3868 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
3869 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
3872 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
3874 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
3875 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
3876 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
3878 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
3879 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
3880 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
3882 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
3883 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
3884 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
3885 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
3886 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
3887 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
3888 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
3890 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
3891 scm_end_input (object);
3892 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
3893 ptob->flush (object);
3895 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
3896 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
3899 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
3901 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
3903 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
3904 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
3905 removed in a future version.
3907 ** The format of error message strings has changed
3909 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
3910 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
3911 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
3912 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
3914 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
3915 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
3917 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
3920 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
3922 in your configure.in.
3924 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
3929 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
3935 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
3937 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
3941 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
3942 (define make-message string-append)
3944 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
3946 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
3950 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
3955 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
3959 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
3961 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
3962 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
3964 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
3966 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
3967 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
3968 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
3969 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
3970 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
3971 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3973 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3974 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3975 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3977 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3978 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3979 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3982 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3983 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3984 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3985 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3986 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3988 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3989 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3990 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3991 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3992 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3993 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3994 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3996 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3998 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3999 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
4000 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
4002 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
4003 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
4004 KEY in the calling thread.
4006 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
4007 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
4008 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
4009 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
4010 associated with the key.
4012 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
4014 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
4015 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
4017 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
4019 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
4020 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
4021 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
4023 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
4025 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
4026 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
4028 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
4030 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
4032 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
4033 returned is undefined.
4035 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
4036 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
4037 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
4039 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
4040 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
4041 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
4043 ** New C level GC hooks
4045 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
4047 scm_before_gc_c_hook
4050 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
4051 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
4052 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
4054 scm_before_mark_c_hook
4055 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
4056 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
4058 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
4059 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
4062 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
4064 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
4065 allocation parameters
4067 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
4068 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
4069 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
4073 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
4074 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
4075 scm_default_max_segment_size
4077 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
4079 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
4080 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
4082 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
4084 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
4085 object and count on the object being protected until
4086 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
4088 The functions also have better time complexity.
4090 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
4091 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
4092 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
4093 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
4094 are no longer needed.
4096 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
4098 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
4099 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
4100 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
4101 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
4103 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
4105 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
4107 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
4109 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
4110 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
4111 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
4112 until this issue has been settled.
4114 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
4116 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
4118 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
4121 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
4123 * Changes to system call interfaces:
4125 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
4126 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
4127 descriptors were checked.
4129 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
4130 atomically written to a pipe.
4132 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
4133 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
4134 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
4135 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
4136 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
4137 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
4138 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
4141 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
4142 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
4143 is changed without calling tzset.
4145 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
4147 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
4148 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
4149 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
4151 (define write-network-long
4152 (lambda (value port)
4153 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
4154 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
4155 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
4157 (define read-network-long
4159 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
4160 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
4161 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
4163 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
4164 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
4166 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
4167 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
4168 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
4169 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
4171 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
4172 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
4173 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
4174 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
4178 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
4180 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4184 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
4185 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
4186 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
4192 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
4193 for a description of available commands.
4195 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
4196 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
4197 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
4199 (debug-enable 'backwards)
4201 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
4202 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
4204 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
4206 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
4208 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
4209 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
4210 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
4211 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
4212 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
4213 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
4216 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
4218 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
4219 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
4220 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
4221 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
4223 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
4224 the file and should not be affected by this change.
4226 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
4228 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4230 ** Readline support has changed again.
4232 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
4233 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
4234 to activate readline is now
4236 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
4239 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
4241 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
4242 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
4243 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
4246 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
4247 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
4248 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
4251 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
4252 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
4253 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
4254 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
4255 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
4256 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
4258 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
4259 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
4261 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
4263 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
4264 object it receives is the same string passed to
4265 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
4266 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
4267 string, not the suffix.
4269 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
4270 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
4271 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
4273 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
4275 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
4276 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
4277 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
4278 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
4281 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
4283 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
4285 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
4286 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
4287 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
4288 appear from left to right.
4290 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
4293 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
4295 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
4296 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
4298 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
4302 *** New function: hook? OBJ
4304 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
4306 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
4308 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
4309 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
4310 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
4312 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
4314 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
4316 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
4318 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
4321 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
4323 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
4324 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
4325 mentioning it here anyway.
4327 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
4329 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
4330 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
4331 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
4332 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
4335 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
4337 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
4339 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
4341 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
4342 otherwise return #f.
4344 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
4346 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
4347 returned by `opendir'.
4349 ** New function: using-readline?
4351 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
4353 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
4355 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
4356 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
4358 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4360 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
4362 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
4363 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
4364 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
4366 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
4368 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
4369 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
4371 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
4373 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
4374 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
4375 documentation slots are not yet used.
4377 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
4379 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
4380 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
4381 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
4386 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
4387 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
4388 (string-append x y))
4390 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
4391 can also be used for concatenating strings.
4393 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
4394 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
4395 be made in a clean way.]
4397 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
4399 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
4401 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
4403 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
4404 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
4406 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4408 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
4410 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
4412 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
4414 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
4415 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
4416 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
4417 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
4420 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4422 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
4424 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
4426 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
4428 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
4429 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
4431 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
4433 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
4435 Evaluates the body of a special form.
4437 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
4439 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
4440 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
4441 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
4442 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
4443 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
4444 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
4446 This should not make any difference for most users.
4448 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
4450 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
4451 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
4453 *** New functions for applying generic functions
4455 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
4456 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
4457 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
4458 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
4459 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
4461 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
4463 It is now replaced by:
4465 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
4467 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4468 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4470 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4472 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
4473 This might change when we get the new module system.
4475 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
4479 Changes since Guile 1.3:
4481 * Changes to mailing lists
4483 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
4485 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
4488 * Changes to the distribution
4490 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
4492 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
4493 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
4494 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
4495 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
4496 you explicitly specify it.
4498 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
4499 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
4500 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
4501 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
4502 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
4505 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
4506 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
4507 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
4508 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
4510 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
4511 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
4512 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
4515 You can activate the readline support by issuing
4517 (use-modules (readline-activator))
4520 from your ".guile" file, for example.
4522 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4524 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
4525 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
4526 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
4527 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
4529 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
4530 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
4533 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4535 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
4536 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
4537 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
4538 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
4539 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
4540 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
4541 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
4542 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
4554 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
4555 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
4556 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
4557 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
4558 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
4563 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
4564 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
4572 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
4577 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
4578 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
4581 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
4582 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
4583 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
4584 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
4586 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
4588 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
4590 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
4591 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
4593 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
4595 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
4597 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
4598 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
4600 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
4603 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
4605 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
4607 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
4609 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
4611 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
4613 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
4615 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
4616 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
4617 when the hook was created.
4619 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
4620 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
4621 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
4622 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
4623 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
4624 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
4625 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
4626 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
4627 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
4629 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
4630 the dlopen family of functions.
4632 ** New function `provided?'
4634 - Function: provided? FEATURE
4635 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
4636 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
4637 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
4639 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
4641 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
4642 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
4643 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
4644 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
4647 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
4648 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
4649 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
4650 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
4652 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
4653 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
4654 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
4657 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
4658 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
4659 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
4660 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
4661 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
4662 but with the flag set.
4664 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
4666 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
4667 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
4669 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
4670 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
4671 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
4672 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
4673 available Scheme format implementations.
4675 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
4676 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
4677 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
4678 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
4679 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
4680 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
4681 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
4682 output is to the current error port if available by the
4683 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
4686 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
4687 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
4688 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
4689 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
4690 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
4691 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
4692 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
4693 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
4695 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
4696 be executed at a time.
4699 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
4701 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
4702 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
4703 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
4705 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
4706 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
4707 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
4708 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
4709 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
4710 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
4711 general form of a directive is:
4713 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
4715 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
4717 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4719 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
4720 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
4721 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
4724 Any (print as `display' does).
4728 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
4732 S-expression (print as `write' does).
4736 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
4742 print number sign always.
4745 print comma separated.
4747 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
4753 print number sign always.
4756 print comma separated.
4758 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
4764 print number sign always.
4767 print comma separated.
4769 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
4775 print number sign always.
4778 print comma separated.
4780 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
4785 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
4789 print a number as a Roman numeral.
4792 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
4795 print a number as an ordinal English number.
4798 print a number as a cardinal English number.
4803 prints `y' and `ies'.
4806 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4809 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
4814 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
4818 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
4821 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
4822 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
4824 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4827 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
4828 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
4830 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4833 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
4835 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
4837 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4840 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
4842 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
4844 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
4847 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
4850 The sign appears before the padding.
4858 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
4860 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
4865 print N page separators.
4875 newline is ignored, white space left.
4878 newline is left, white space ignored.
4883 relative tabulation.
4889 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
4891 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
4894 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
4896 converts by `string-capitalize'.
4899 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
4902 converts by `string-upcase'.
4905 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
4907 jumps N arguments forward.
4910 jumps 1 argument backward.
4913 jumps N arguments backward.
4916 jumps to the 0th argument.
4919 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
4921 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
4922 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
4924 take argument from N.
4927 true test conditional.
4930 if-else-then conditional.
4936 default clause follows.
4939 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
4941 at most N iterations.
4944 args from next arg (a list of lists).
4947 args from the rest of arguments.
4950 args from the rest args (lists).
4961 aborts if N <= M <= K
4963 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
4966 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4969 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4975 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4977 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4979 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4980 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4981 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4982 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4983 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4984 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4988 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4992 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4998 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
5001 Print a `#\space' character
5003 print N `#\space' characters.
5006 Print a `#\tab' character
5008 print N `#\tab' characters.
5011 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
5012 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
5013 must be a positive decimal number.
5016 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
5017 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
5018 be processed by `read'.
5021 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
5022 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
5023 be processed by `read'.
5026 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
5029 prints format version.
5032 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
5033 and format it accordingly.
5035 *** Configuration Variables
5037 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
5038 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
5039 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
5040 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
5043 format:symbol-case-conv
5044 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
5045 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
5046 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
5047 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
5048 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
5050 format:iobj-case-conv
5051 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
5052 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
5055 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
5058 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
5064 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
5065 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
5066 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
5067 `format' padding style.
5070 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
5071 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
5072 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
5073 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
5077 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
5078 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
5079 directive parameters or modifiers)).
5082 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
5083 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
5084 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
5085 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
5086 parameters or modifiers)).
5089 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
5091 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
5093 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
5094 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
5096 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
5097 string-downcase! functions.
5099 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
5100 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
5102 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
5105 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
5108 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
5109 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
5111 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
5113 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
5114 the symbol had be read by `read'.
5116 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
5117 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
5118 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
5119 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
5120 would if STRING were input.
5122 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
5124 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
5125 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
5126 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
5127 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
5130 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
5132 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
5133 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
5136 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
5138 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
5139 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
5141 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
5142 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
5144 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
5145 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
5146 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
5147 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
5149 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
5150 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
5152 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
5153 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
5154 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
5156 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
5157 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
5159 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
5160 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
5161 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
5162 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
5163 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
5165 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
5166 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
5167 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
5168 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
5169 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
5170 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
5172 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
5173 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
5174 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
5177 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
5178 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
5179 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
5180 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
5181 the following grammar:
5182 ((apples (single-char #\a))
5183 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
5184 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
5185 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
5186 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
5187 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
5188 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
5189 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
5190 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
5191 last option in its combination)
5193 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
5194 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
5195 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
5196 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
5198 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
5199 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
5200 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
5202 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
5203 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
5204 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
5206 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
5207 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
5208 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
5209 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
5210 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
5211 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
5212 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
5213 ordinary argument strings.
5215 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
5216 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
5217 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
5218 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
5220 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
5221 as a list, associated with the empty list.
5223 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
5224 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
5225 - a required option is omitted
5226 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
5227 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
5228 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
5229 - an option predicate fails
5234 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
5237 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
5238 (verbose (required? #f)
5241 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
5242 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
5243 (predicate ,string?))))
5245 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
5246 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
5248 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
5249 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
5250 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
5251 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
5254 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
5256 It will be removed in a few releases.
5258 ** New syntax: lambda*
5259 ** New syntax: define*
5260 ** New syntax: define*-public
5261 ** New syntax: defmacro*
5262 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
5263 Guile now supports optional arguments.
5265 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
5266 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
5267 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
5268 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
5269 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
5271 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
5272 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
5273 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
5275 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
5277 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
5278 and examples for `lambda*':
5281 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
5283 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
5284 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
5285 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
5286 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
5287 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
5288 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
5289 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
5290 can be checked with the bound? macro.
5292 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
5294 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
5295 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
5296 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
5297 are given as keywords are bound to values.
5299 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
5300 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
5301 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
5302 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
5303 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
5304 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
5305 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
5306 and until the procedure is called.
5308 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
5310 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
5311 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
5312 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
5313 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
5314 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
5315 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
5316 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
5317 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
5318 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
5319 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
5321 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
5322 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
5323 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
5324 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
5327 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
5329 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
5330 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
5331 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
5332 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
5334 ** New syntax: and-let*
5335 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
5337 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
5338 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
5339 (<variable> <expression>)
5342 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
5343 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
5344 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
5347 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
5348 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
5349 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
5350 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
5351 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
5352 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
5353 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
5355 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
5356 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
5357 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
5358 shadow earlier bindings.
5360 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
5362 ** New sorting functions
5364 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
5365 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
5366 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
5367 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
5369 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
5370 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
5373 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
5374 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
5375 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
5377 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
5378 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
5379 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
5380 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
5382 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
5383 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
5384 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
5385 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
5386 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
5389 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
5390 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
5391 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
5392 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
5393 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
5394 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
5396 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
5397 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
5398 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
5400 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
5401 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
5402 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
5405 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
5406 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
5407 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
5409 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
5410 Added for compatibility with scsh.
5412 ** New built-in random number support
5414 *** New function: random N [STATE]
5415 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
5416 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
5417 returned have a uniform distribution.
5419 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
5420 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
5421 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
5422 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
5423 effect of the `random' operation.
5425 *** New variable: *random-state*
5426 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
5427 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
5428 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
5429 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
5430 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
5433 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
5434 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
5435 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
5436 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
5437 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
5439 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
5440 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
5441 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
5442 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
5443 initialized using SEED.
5445 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
5446 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
5447 range between 0 and 1.
5449 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
5450 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
5451 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
5452 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
5453 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
5454 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
5455 or a uniform vector of doubles.
5457 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
5458 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
5459 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
5460 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
5461 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
5462 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
5464 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
5465 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
5466 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
5467 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
5469 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
5470 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
5471 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
5472 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
5474 *** New function: random:exp STATE
5475 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
5476 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
5478 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
5480 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
5483 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
5484 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
5487 ** New function: make-guardian
5488 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
5489 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
5490 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
5491 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
5492 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
5494 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
5495 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
5496 one object if at all.
5498 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
5499 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
5500 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
5502 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
5503 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
5504 read again in last-in first-out order.
5506 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
5507 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
5509 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
5511 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
5512 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
5513 file position is used.
5515 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
5516 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
5517 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
5519 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
5520 redefined using seek.
5522 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
5523 size is not supplied.
5525 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
5526 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
5528 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
5529 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
5531 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
5533 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
5534 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
5535 and returns the contents as a single string.
5537 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
5538 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
5539 lists in serial order.
5541 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
5542 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
5543 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
5545 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
5546 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
5547 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
5548 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
5550 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
5551 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
5552 and #f if an error occured.
5554 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
5556 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
5557 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
5558 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
5559 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
5561 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
5563 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
5566 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
5568 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
5571 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5575 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
5576 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
5578 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
5579 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
5583 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5585 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
5587 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
5588 binds a variable named NAME to it.
5590 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
5592 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
5593 might change when we get the new module system.
5595 ** The smob interface
5597 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
5598 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
5600 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
5602 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
5606 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
5607 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
5608 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
5609 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
5610 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
5611 will be freed by the default free function.
5613 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
5614 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
5615 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
5616 `scm_make_smob_type'.
5618 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
5619 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
5620 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
5621 `scm_make_smob_type'.
5623 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
5625 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
5626 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
5630 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
5631 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
5632 `scm_make_smob_type'.
5634 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
5635 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
5636 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
5637 `scm_make_smob_type'.
5639 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
5640 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
5641 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
5643 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
5644 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
5645 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
5646 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
5648 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
5649 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
5650 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
5652 *** scm_newptob has been removed
5656 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
5658 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
5659 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
5660 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
5662 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
5663 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
5664 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
5666 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
5667 a string port's buffer.
5669 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
5670 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
5671 function pointers which together define the current random number
5672 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
5673 number library functions.
5675 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
5678 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
5679 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
5682 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
5683 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
5685 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
5686 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
5688 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
5689 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
5692 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
5693 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
5694 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
5695 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
5697 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
5698 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
5699 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
5700 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
5701 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
5702 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
5703 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
5705 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
5706 by libguile and the application.
5708 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
5709 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
5710 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
5711 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
5713 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
5714 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
5716 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
5717 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
5718 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
5720 ** Random number library functions
5721 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
5722 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
5723 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
5725 The default random state is stored in:
5727 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
5728 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
5729 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
5734 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
5736 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
5737 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
5738 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
5739 isn't a random state.
5741 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
5742 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
5744 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
5745 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
5746 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
5747 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
5749 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5750 Return 32 random bits.
5752 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5753 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
5755 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5756 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
5758 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
5759 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
5761 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
5762 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
5764 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
5765 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
5766 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
5770 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
5772 * Changes to the distribution
5774 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
5775 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
5776 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
5779 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
5780 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
5781 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
5783 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
5784 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
5785 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
5786 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
5789 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
5790 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
5791 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
5793 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5795 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
5797 *** Function: batch-mode?
5799 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
5802 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
5804 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
5805 case has not been implemented.
5807 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
5808 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
5809 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
5812 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
5813 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
5815 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
5817 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5819 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
5821 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
5822 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
5825 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
5826 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
5827 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
5828 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
5831 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
5833 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
5834 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
5835 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
5836 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
5837 find those libraries.
5839 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
5840 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
5843 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
5845 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
5846 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
5847 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
5848 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
5850 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
5851 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
5852 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
5856 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
5858 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
5859 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
5860 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
5863 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
5864 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
5865 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
5866 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
5868 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
5869 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
5872 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
5873 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
5874 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
5875 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
5876 compiler where to find the libraries.
5878 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
5879 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
5880 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
5882 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
5883 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
5884 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
5885 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
5886 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
5890 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5892 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
5893 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
5894 internationalization support.
5896 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
5897 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
5898 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
5899 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
5900 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
5902 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
5903 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
5904 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
5905 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
5906 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
5908 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
5909 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
5910 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
5911 any GNU mirror site.
5913 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
5915 ** New function: add-history STRING
5916 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
5917 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
5918 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
5920 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
5922 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
5923 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
5924 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
5927 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
5928 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
5929 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
5931 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
5933 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
5936 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
5937 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
5940 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
5941 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
5942 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
5943 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
5944 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
5945 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
5947 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
5948 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
5949 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
5950 of the form mentioned above.
5952 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
5953 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
5954 returned in the special `rest' list.
5956 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
5957 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
5959 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
5961 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
5963 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
5965 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
5966 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
5967 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
5968 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
5969 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
5970 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
5971 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5972 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5975 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5977 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5979 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5980 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5983 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5984 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5985 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5989 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5990 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5991 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5992 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5993 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5994 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5995 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5996 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5999 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
6001 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
6002 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
6003 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
6005 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
6007 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
6008 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
6010 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
6011 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
6012 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
6014 Why do we have this function?
6015 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
6016 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
6017 primitive, and display it differently, and
6018 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
6019 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
6022 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
6023 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
6026 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
6027 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
6028 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
6029 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
6031 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
6032 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
6035 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
6036 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
6038 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
6040 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
6041 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
6042 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
6043 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
6044 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
6045 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
6046 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
6049 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
6051 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
6052 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
6054 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
6055 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
6056 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
6057 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
6058 properly continue the print chain.
6060 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
6061 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
6062 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
6063 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
6064 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
6065 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
6066 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
6067 print-state, it is simply ignored.
6069 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
6070 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
6071 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
6072 safest to not check for these pairs.
6074 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
6075 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
6076 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
6077 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
6079 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
6081 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
6082 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
6084 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
6086 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
6088 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
6089 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
6090 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
6092 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
6093 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
6094 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
6096 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
6097 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
6098 the following functions and macros:
6100 Function: make-fluid
6102 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
6103 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
6104 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
6105 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
6106 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
6108 Function: fluid? OBJ
6110 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
6112 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
6113 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
6115 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
6116 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
6118 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
6120 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
6121 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
6122 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
6123 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
6124 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
6125 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
6126 modified by `with-fluids*'.
6128 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
6130 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
6131 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
6132 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
6133 should evaluate to a fluid.
6135 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
6137 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
6138 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
6139 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
6140 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
6141 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
6143 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
6146 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
6148 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
6150 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
6152 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
6155 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
6156 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
6157 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
6158 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
6159 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
6162 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
6163 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
6164 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
6166 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
6167 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
6168 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
6170 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
6171 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
6172 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
6173 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
6175 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
6176 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
6177 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
6178 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
6180 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
6181 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
6182 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
6183 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
6185 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
6186 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
6187 their revealed counts set to zero.
6189 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6190 Returns an integer file descriptor.
6192 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6193 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
6195 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6196 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
6198 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
6199 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
6200 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
6202 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
6203 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
6204 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
6206 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
6207 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
6208 default environment inherited by child processes.
6210 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
6211 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
6212 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
6214 The return value is unspecified.
6216 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
6217 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
6218 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
6219 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
6220 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
6222 The return value is unspecified.
6224 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
6225 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
6233 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
6234 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
6237 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
6240 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
6241 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
6242 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
6244 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
6245 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
6246 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
6247 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
6250 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
6251 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
6253 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
6254 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
6255 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
6256 the `environ' procedure.
6258 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
6259 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
6262 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
6263 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
6265 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
6266 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
6267 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
6268 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
6270 *** procedure: times
6271 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
6272 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
6273 return a selected component:
6276 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
6280 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
6283 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
6287 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
6288 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
6292 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
6293 terminated child processes.
6295 ** Removed: list-length
6296 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
6297 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
6299 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
6301 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
6303 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
6305 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
6306 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
6307 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
6308 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
6310 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
6311 extra complexity it introduces.
6313 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
6314 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
6316 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
6317 variable to any non-empty value.
6319 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
6320 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
6322 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6324 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
6325 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
6327 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
6329 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
6330 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
6332 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
6334 ** vector handling routines
6336 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
6337 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
6338 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
6339 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
6340 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
6342 ** pair and list routines
6344 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
6347 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
6349 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
6352 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6354 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
6356 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
6357 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
6358 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
6359 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
6360 site-specific initialization code.
6362 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
6363 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
6364 initialization processes.
6366 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
6367 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
6368 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
6369 initialized properly.
6371 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
6372 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
6373 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
6375 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
6376 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
6377 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
6378 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
6379 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
6381 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
6383 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
6384 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
6385 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
6386 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
6387 objects the smob refers to get marked.
6389 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
6390 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
6391 which look like this:
6394 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
6396 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
6397 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
6400 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
6401 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
6404 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
6406 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
6407 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
6408 you will need to change your functions slightly.
6410 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
6411 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
6412 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
6413 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
6414 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
6416 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
6417 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
6419 int (*free) (SCM port);
6420 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
6421 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
6422 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
6426 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
6427 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
6428 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
6430 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
6433 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
6434 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
6435 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
6437 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
6438 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
6439 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
6442 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
6446 struct timeval *timeout);
6448 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
6449 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
6450 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
6451 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
6452 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
6453 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
6455 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
6456 scm_catch_body_t body,
6458 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
6461 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
6462 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
6463 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
6464 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
6465 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
6466 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
6468 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
6470 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
6473 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
6474 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
6475 spawning threads from application C code.
6477 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
6478 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
6479 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
6480 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
6481 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
6482 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
6484 ** Removed functions:
6486 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
6487 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
6489 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
6491 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
6492 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
6494 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
6496 ** mbstrings are now removed
6498 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
6499 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
6501 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
6503 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
6504 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
6505 their new names and arguments:
6507 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
6508 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
6509 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
6510 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
6513 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
6515 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
6517 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
6520 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
6522 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
6523 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
6524 pass a #f arg to catch.
6526 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
6528 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
6529 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
6532 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
6533 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
6534 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
6535 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
6536 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
6537 reclaim its storage.
6539 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
6540 worrying that some other function you call will call
6541 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
6542 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
6543 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
6544 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
6547 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
6549 * Changes to the distribution
6551 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
6552 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
6555 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
6556 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
6558 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
6559 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
6561 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
6563 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
6564 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
6565 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
6567 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6569 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
6570 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
6571 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
6572 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
6573 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
6574 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
6576 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
6577 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
6578 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
6581 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
6582 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
6583 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
6584 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
6586 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
6587 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
6588 libraries to your link command:
6590 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
6591 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
6592 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6593 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6595 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
6596 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
6597 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
6599 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6601 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
6602 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
6605 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
6607 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
6608 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
6609 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
6610 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
6611 searched is system dependent.
6613 (dynamic-object? VAL)
6615 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
6617 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
6619 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
6620 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
6622 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
6624 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
6625 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
6626 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
6627 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
6628 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
6631 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
6633 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
6634 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
6635 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
6636 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
6637 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
6639 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
6641 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
6642 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
6644 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
6646 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
6647 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
6648 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
6651 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
6653 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
6654 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
6655 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
6656 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
6658 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
6659 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
6661 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
6663 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
6664 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
6666 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
6668 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
6669 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
6677 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
6679 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
6680 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
6681 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
6682 a more informative way.
6684 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
6685 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
6686 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
6687 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
6688 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
6689 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
6691 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
6692 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
6695 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
6696 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
6697 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
6700 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
6701 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
6702 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
6703 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
6704 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
6705 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
6707 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
6708 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
6709 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
6710 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
6713 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
6714 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
6715 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
6716 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
6717 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
6718 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
6720 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
6721 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
6722 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
6723 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
6724 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
6726 *** regexp functions
6728 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
6729 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
6730 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
6732 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
6733 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
6734 with SCSH regular expressions.
6736 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
6737 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
6738 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
6739 position of STR at which to begin matching.
6741 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
6742 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
6743 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
6744 `string-match' returns `#f'.
6746 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
6747 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
6748 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
6749 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
6750 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
6751 match strings against the compiled regexp.
6753 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
6754 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
6755 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
6756 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
6757 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
6759 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6761 **** Constant: regexp/extended
6762 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
6763 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
6764 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
6766 **** Constant: regexp/icase
6767 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
6768 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
6770 **** Constant: regexp/newline
6771 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
6773 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
6776 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
6777 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6778 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
6780 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
6781 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
6782 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
6784 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
6785 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
6786 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
6787 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
6788 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
6791 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
6793 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
6794 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
6795 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
6796 used when different portions of a string are passed to
6797 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
6798 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
6800 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
6801 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
6802 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
6804 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
6805 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
6808 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
6809 and replace them with the contents of another string.
6811 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
6812 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
6813 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
6814 may be one of the following arguments:
6816 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
6818 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
6820 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
6821 the regexp match is written.
6823 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
6824 following the regexp match is written.
6826 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
6827 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
6830 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
6831 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
6832 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
6833 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
6834 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
6835 which should be matched against this regular expression.
6837 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
6840 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
6841 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
6842 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
6843 written out to PORT.
6845 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
6846 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
6847 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
6848 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
6849 will return after processing a single match.
6851 *** Match Structures
6853 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
6854 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
6855 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
6856 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
6857 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
6858 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
6861 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
6862 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
6863 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
6864 information about the original target string that was matched against a
6865 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
6867 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
6868 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
6869 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
6871 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
6872 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
6873 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
6874 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
6875 number N did not match, return `#f'.
6877 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
6878 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
6880 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
6881 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
6883 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
6884 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
6886 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
6887 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
6889 **** Function: match:count MATCH
6890 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
6891 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
6892 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
6894 **** Function: match:string MATCH
6895 Return the original TARGET string.
6897 *** Backslash Escapes
6899 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
6900 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
6901 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
6902 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
6903 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
6904 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
6906 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
6907 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
6908 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
6909 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
6910 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
6911 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
6912 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
6913 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
6915 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
6916 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
6917 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
6918 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
6919 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
6920 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
6921 each match a single backslash in the target string.
6923 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
6924 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
6925 return the resulting string.
6927 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
6928 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
6929 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
6930 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
6931 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
6932 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
6933 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
6934 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
6935 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
6936 translated to the single character `*'.
6938 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
6939 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
6940 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
6941 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
6942 consecutive backslashes:
6944 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
6946 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
6947 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
6948 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
6950 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
6951 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
6952 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
6953 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
6954 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
6955 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
6957 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
6959 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
6960 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
6961 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
6962 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
6963 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
6964 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
6965 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
6966 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
6967 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
6968 cumbersome escape syntax.
6970 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6972 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6974 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6976 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6979 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6981 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6983 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6986 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6987 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6988 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6989 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6990 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6992 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6993 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6994 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6995 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6996 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6997 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6998 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
7001 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
7002 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
7003 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
7006 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
7007 `force-output' on every port open for output.
7009 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
7010 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
7011 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
7012 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
7013 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
7014 installed, you can say:
7016 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
7019 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7021 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
7022 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
7023 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
7024 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
7025 new dynamic roots and threads.
7028 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
7030 * Changes to the distribution.
7032 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
7034 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
7035 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
7036 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
7037 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
7038 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
7039 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
7040 programming language. These are packaged together because the
7041 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
7043 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
7046 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
7047 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
7052 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7054 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
7055 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
7057 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
7058 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
7059 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
7060 the (command-line) function.
7061 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
7062 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
7063 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
7065 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
7066 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
7067 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
7068 command line arguments
7069 -ds do -s script at this point
7070 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
7071 -h, --help display this help and exit
7072 -v, --version display version information and exit
7073 \ read arguments from following script lines
7075 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
7076 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
7078 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7081 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
7085 (main (command-line))
7087 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
7089 ekko a speckled gecko
7091 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
7092 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
7093 following list of command-line arguments:
7095 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
7097 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
7098 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
7099 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
7100 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
7101 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
7103 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
7105 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
7107 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
7108 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
7111 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
7112 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
7113 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
7114 SCSH) for circumventing them.
7116 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
7117 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
7118 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
7119 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
7121 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
7125 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
7129 If the user invokes this script as follows:
7131 ekko a speckled gecko
7133 Unix expands this into
7135 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
7137 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
7138 read from the second line of the script, producing:
7140 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
7142 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
7143 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
7145 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
7146 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
7147 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
7148 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
7149 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
7150 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
7151 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
7152 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
7153 it only terminates the argument list.)
7154 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
7155 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
7156 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
7157 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
7158 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
7159 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
7160 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
7161 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
7163 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7165 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
7166 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
7167 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
7168 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
7169 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
7171 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
7172 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
7173 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
7175 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
7177 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
7178 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
7179 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
7180 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
7183 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
7184 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7185 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7187 * Changes to Scheme functions
7189 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
7190 and disabled by default.
7192 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
7193 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
7194 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
7195 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
7197 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
7199 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
7201 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
7202 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
7204 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
7205 (read-set! keywords #f)
7207 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
7208 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
7209 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
7212 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
7213 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
7214 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
7217 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
7218 support for Scheme functions.
7220 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
7221 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
7222 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
7223 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
7226 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
7227 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
7228 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
7231 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
7232 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
7233 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
7236 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
7237 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
7238 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
7239 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
7240 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
7241 display the result as a prompt.
7242 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
7244 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
7245 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
7246 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
7249 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
7250 procedure of zero arguments.
7252 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
7253 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
7254 argument is bound in the current module.
7256 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
7257 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
7258 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
7259 public bindings into the current module.
7261 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
7262 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
7264 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
7265 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
7267 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
7268 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
7270 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
7271 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
7273 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
7274 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
7276 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
7277 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
7278 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
7279 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
7280 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
7282 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
7283 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
7284 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
7285 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
7287 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
7290 ** Changes to I/O functions
7292 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
7293 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
7294 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
7296 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
7297 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
7298 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
7300 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
7301 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
7303 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
7304 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
7305 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
7306 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
7308 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
7310 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
7311 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
7313 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
7314 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
7315 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
7316 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
7317 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
7320 'trim omit delimiter from result
7321 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
7322 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
7323 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
7325 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
7327 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
7328 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
7330 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
7331 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
7332 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
7333 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
7334 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
7336 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
7337 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
7338 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
7340 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
7341 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
7342 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
7343 above, and defaults to 'peek.
7345 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
7346 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
7348 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
7349 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
7351 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
7353 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
7354 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
7355 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
7356 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
7357 a delimiting character.
7358 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
7360 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
7361 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
7362 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
7363 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
7364 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
7365 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
7367 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
7368 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
7370 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
7371 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
7372 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
7374 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
7375 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
7376 the array to read and write.
7378 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
7379 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
7382 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
7384 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
7387 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
7388 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
7389 Values for COMMAND are:
7391 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
7392 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
7393 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
7394 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
7395 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
7396 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
7397 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
7398 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
7400 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
7402 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
7403 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
7404 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
7405 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
7406 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
7407 corresponding return set will be the same.
7409 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
7412 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
7413 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
7414 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
7415 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
7416 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
7417 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
7418 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
7419 special file being created.
7421 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
7422 clashing with various SCSH forks.
7424 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
7425 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
7426 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
7427 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
7428 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
7429 and originating address.
7431 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
7432 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
7433 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
7435 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
7438 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
7439 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
7442 (status:exit-val STATUS)
7443 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
7444 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
7445 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
7446 this function returns #f.
7448 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
7449 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
7450 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
7453 (status:term-sig STATUS)
7454 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
7455 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
7458 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
7459 a valid STATUS value.
7461 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
7463 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
7464 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
7466 Component Accessor Setter
7467 ========================= ============ ============
7468 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
7469 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
7470 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
7471 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
7472 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
7473 year tm:year set-tm:year
7474 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
7475 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
7476 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
7477 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
7478 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
7480 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
7481 describing the host system:
7484 ============================================== ================
7485 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
7486 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
7487 release level of the operating system utsname:release
7488 version level of the operating system utsname:version
7489 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
7491 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
7492 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
7493 system's user database:
7496 ====================== =================
7497 user name passwd:name
7498 user password passwd:passwd
7501 real name passwd:gecos
7502 home directory passwd:dir
7503 shell program passwd:shell
7505 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
7506 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
7507 system's group database:
7510 ======================= ============
7511 group name group:name
7512 group password group:passwd
7514 group members group:mem
7516 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
7517 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
7521 ========================= ===============
7522 official name of host hostent:name
7523 alias list hostent:aliases
7524 host address type hostent:addrtype
7525 length of address hostent:length
7526 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
7528 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
7529 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
7533 ========================= ===============
7534 official name of net netent:name
7535 alias list netent:aliases
7536 net number type netent:addrtype
7537 net number netent:net
7539 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
7540 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
7544 ========================= ===============
7545 official protocol name protoent:name
7546 alias list protoent:aliases
7547 protocol number protoent:proto
7549 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
7550 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
7554 ========================= ===============
7555 official service name servent:name
7556 alias list servent:aliases
7557 port number servent:port
7558 protocol to use servent:proto
7560 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
7561 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
7564 ======================================== ===============
7565 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
7566 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
7567 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
7568 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
7570 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
7571 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
7572 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
7574 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
7575 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
7577 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
7578 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
7580 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
7581 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
7583 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
7585 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
7587 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
7588 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
7589 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
7591 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
7592 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
7593 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
7594 return the remaining characters as a string.
7596 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
7597 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
7598 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
7600 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
7602 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7604 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
7607 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
7610 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
7611 and returns the array
7613 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
7614 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
7615 the user to interpret the data both ways.
7617 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7619 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
7620 symbol's value from C code:
7622 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
7623 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
7624 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
7625 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
7627 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
7628 without assigning them a value.
7630 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
7631 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
7632 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
7634 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
7635 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
7636 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
7638 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
7639 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
7641 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
7642 doesn't actually care about that.
7644 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
7645 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
7646 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
7648 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
7649 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
7650 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
7651 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
7652 which we have just created and initialized.
7654 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
7655 should one occur. We call it like this:
7656 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
7658 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
7659 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
7660 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
7661 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
7662 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
7663 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
7666 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
7667 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
7668 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
7669 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
7670 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
7671 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
7672 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
7675 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
7676 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
7677 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
7678 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
7679 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
7682 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
7683 scm_internal_catch, except:
7685 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
7686 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
7687 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
7688 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
7691 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
7692 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
7693 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
7695 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
7696 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
7697 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
7698 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
7701 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
7702 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
7703 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
7705 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
7706 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
7707 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
7708 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
7709 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
7711 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
7712 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
7713 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
7715 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
7716 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
7717 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
7719 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
7720 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
7722 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
7723 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
7724 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
7727 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
7728 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
7729 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
7730 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
7731 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
7732 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
7733 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
7736 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
7737 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
7739 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
7740 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
7741 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
7742 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
7743 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
7746 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
7747 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
7749 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
7750 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
7753 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
7754 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
7756 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7759 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
7760 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
7761 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
7762 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
7763 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
7764 given the following arguments:
7766 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
7768 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
7770 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
7772 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7775 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
7776 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
7777 command-line arguments.
7779 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
7780 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
7781 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
7782 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
7783 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
7784 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
7787 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
7790 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
7791 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
7793 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
7794 rearranged slightly. They are now:
7796 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7797 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7798 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
7799 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
7801 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7802 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7804 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7805 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
7806 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
7807 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
7809 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
7810 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
7812 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
7813 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
7815 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
7817 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
7818 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
7819 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
7822 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
7823 returns a port instead of an FD object.
7825 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
7826 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
7831 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
7834 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
7836 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
7837 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
7838 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
7839 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
7841 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
7843 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
7845 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
7846 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
7847 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
7848 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
7849 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
7850 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
7851 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
7852 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
7853 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
7854 for more information.
7856 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
7857 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
7859 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
7860 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
7861 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
7862 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
7863 following two lines at the top of the file:
7865 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7868 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
7869 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
7870 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
7872 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
7874 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
7876 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
7879 (display (car args))
7880 (if (pair? (cdr args))
7882 (loop (cdr args)))))
7885 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
7886 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
7887 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
7888 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
7889 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
7890 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
7894 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
7897 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
7900 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
7902 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
7903 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
7904 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
7905 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
7906 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
7909 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
7910 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
7911 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
7912 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
7913 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
7916 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
7919 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
7920 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
7921 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
7924 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
7925 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
7926 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
7928 to see a backtrace, and
7929 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
7930 to see them by default.
7934 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
7936 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
7938 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
7939 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
7942 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
7943 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
7944 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
7945 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
7948 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
7949 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
7950 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
7951 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
7952 functions which inspired them.
7954 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
7955 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
7959 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
7961 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
7963 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
7964 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
7967 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
7968 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
7969 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
7971 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7972 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7973 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7974 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7975 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7977 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7979 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7980 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7981 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7984 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7987 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7989 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7990 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7991 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7992 above should serve their purposes.
7994 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7995 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7996 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7997 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7999 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
8002 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
8003 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
8004 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
8005 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
8007 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
8008 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
8009 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
8010 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
8012 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
8013 for the `read' function.
8016 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
8017 to that of `integer?'.
8019 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
8020 use the R4RS names for these functions.
8022 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
8023 it simply returns the object's property list.
8025 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
8026 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
8027 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
8028 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
8030 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
8032 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
8035 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
8037 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
8038 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
8040 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
8042 void (*main_func) (),
8045 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
8046 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
8047 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
8048 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
8049 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
8051 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
8052 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
8053 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
8054 know which arguments have been processed.
8056 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
8057 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
8058 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
8059 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
8060 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
8062 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
8063 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
8064 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
8065 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
8066 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
8067 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
8068 people from making that mistake.
8070 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
8071 convenient ways to override these when desired.
8073 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
8075 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
8079 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
8082 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
8083 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
8084 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
8085 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
8088 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
8089 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
8090 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
8091 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
8094 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
8095 have been added to the Guile library.
8097 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
8098 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
8099 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
8102 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
8103 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
8104 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
8106 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
8107 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
8108 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
8109 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
8110 argument from the list.
8113 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
8116 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
8117 null-terminated string, and returns it.
8119 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
8120 to a Scheme port object.
8122 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
8123 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
8128 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
8130 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
8131 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
8132 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
8133 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
8134 code as a special datatype.
8136 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
8137 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
8138 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
8139 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
8140 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
8143 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
8144 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
8145 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
8146 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
8147 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
8149 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
8152 Copyright information:
8154 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
8156 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
8157 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
8158 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
8159 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
8161 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
8162 of this document, or of portions of it,
8163 under the above conditions, provided also that they
8164 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
8169 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"